We’re delighted to now be able to offer a free PDF download of ‘The Joy of Flint’, a short, fully illustrated introduction to chipped stone tools!
Written by our own MD, Clive Waddington, and published by the Museum of Antiquities, University of Newcastle upon Tyne, this is an ideal introductory text for those wanting to know more about stone tools as used in Britain and how to identify them.
Unusually for a book on flint, this handbook is richly illustrated with colour photographs, as well as freehand drawings. It covers sections on the raw materials and anatomy of chipped lithics, before providing a period-by-period overview.
It also serves as an accessible guide to the lithic collections held by the Museum of Antiquities of the University and Society of Antiquaries of Newcastle upon Tyne (what is now the Great North Museum). This is particularly important, as publications on lithic artefacts tend to be dominated by accounts based on collections in the south of the UK, so it acts as a contrast to what has come before by offering a rare northern perspective.
We hope that by making this book freely available it will assist interested readers, students and those looking to find out more about stone tools. Although not intended as an in-depth text, you will find the bibliography is extensive and should aid further research, guiding any readers to a wide range of more specialist publications.