ArchaeoCafé - Episode 10 - Knapping on the job: An interview with Morten Kutschera (Part 1)

In this episode, I talk with Morten Kutschera about hands-on approaches to teaching history and his work producing replicas of artefacts for museums and experimental archaeologists.

Episode notes are available on the ArchaeoCafé website.
http://archaeocafe.kvasirpublishing.com/archaeocafe-podcast-ep-10-kutschera-pt-1/

About Morten Kutschera

A large part of Morten Kutschera’s work focuses on producing replicas of prehistoric artefacts and teaching children about history though hand-on activites. One of his long time interests has been stone tool technologies of the Early Mesolithic and Late Upper Paleolithic of north-western Europe. He has produced replicas for museums throughout Scandinavia and elsewhere in Europe as well as regularly producing accurate replicas of prehistoric tools, particularly knapped stone tools, for use by experimental archaeologists. Morten currently runs his own company ‘Morten Kutschera’s Prehistoric Arts & Crafts’ through which he produces and sells replica artefacts. He is also an honorary research fellow at Exeter University in the U.K. where he teaches various skills related to prehistoric technology.

Web:
https://exarc.net/members/ind/morten-kutschera
https://www.prehistoryalive.com/over-prehistory-alive-worldwide/over-ons/docenten/morten-kutschera/
https://livingbynature.nl/amo-team/morten-kutschera/

Some useful terminology and links

Mesolithic
The period between the Upper Paleolithic and the Neolithic - it refers to the final period of hunter-gatherer cultures in Europe and Western Asia, between the end of the Last Glacial Maximum and the Neolithic Revolution.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mesolithic

Upper Palaeolithic
The third and last subdivision of the Paleolithic. The earliest evidence of organized settlements and art come from this period.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Upper_Paleolithic
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paleolithic_Europe

Knapping
The shaping of stone into tools by impact and pressure to remove material in a predictable way. .
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knapping

Pfahlbaumuseum (Pile Dwelling Museum)
An open air Stone Age archaeological museum and research institute with a Stone Age village reconstruction on an excavation site, with lake dwellings & demos of handicrafts.
https://www.pfahlbauten.com/lake-dwelling-museum/virtual-museum-tour.html

Videos

Morten Kutschera making a Mesolithic flake axe
https://vimeo.com/159599180
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ifYwLOP2T-k

Steinalderbyen by Fosnstraumen [Stone Age towns at Fosnstraumen]
https://fosnstraumen.com/

Kjerner og flekker [Cores and flakes] (with English subtitles)
https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=708183136045311

Sharing Heritage @ Pfahlbauten: Feuersteinbearbeitung
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L49TpbmKPCA

Morten Kutschera viser flinthandverk [Morten Kutschera shows flint handicrafts]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qLIfV73NRNQ

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