ÇAkmak Revisited: Turkish Flintknappers Today

Abstract

Flintknappers from the village of Çakmak in western Turkey made flint blades for threshing sledges until the early 1980s. Former knappers are still able to provide a description of mining, knapping, and distribution, consistent with information collected by previous archaeologists. Informants agree that the mines provided an excellent living but, compared to a similar village industry making gunflints at Brandon, England, there is little local or national interest in Çakmak's now extinct craft. The social and symbolic meanings of stone tool technologies to their practitioners are separate from simple economic concerns and the encouragement of external forces may be necessary to maintain these meanings.

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