A Fragile Craft
JAMES DILLEY is part of a very exclusive club. “I’m one of the few people with work on display at the British Museum who hasn’t been dead for thousands of years,” he jokes.
His collection of replica Stone Age tools and weapons is part of a display commissioned by the museum in 2017, and has been viewed by thousands – including the Queen.
James is one of only a handful of people worldwide with the experience and expertise to produce authentic replicas of prehistoric artefacts from the Iron, Bronze and Stone Ages, using the same methods as the workers of the time.
His unusual skillset includes flint-knapping – breaking flint into a useable blade – and producing bronze arrowheads and swords.
Unsurprisingly, James has gained a reputation as a respected authority on these ancient activities.
As a result, he has appeared on both “Coast” and “Invasion!” for the
BBC, Channel 4’s “Time Team”, and on the National Geographic and Travel channels, sharing his knowledge with the cameras.
But how did this twentyfive-year-old acquire skills that were in use thousands of years ago?
“I was about seven years old and watching a programme on the Stone Age when I saw someone demonstrate flintknapping,” he explains.
“The craftsman on the TV made it look easy – the raw material just seemed to buckle to his will.
“I rushed into the garden and grabbed the gnarliest, most frost-damaged bit of flint you can imagine, whacked it and tried to beat it into submission!”
While this first attempt resulted in some “rubbishy chunks”, James spent the 18 years that followed honing his skills, practisingnd and learning from experts in order to acquire a level of flint-knapping prowess rarely seen in modern times.
“Workers in pre-history would have faced exactly the same problems that I face today,” he says. “But they managed to get around it, using the same tools as I do – just pebbles and pieces of antler.”
“Flint-knapping is very unforgiving and very difficult; it’s quite a craft to understand the angles and fracture mechanics, and the way the shock travels through the stone.
“It’s very unpredictable, and never consistent. You can get two flints from next to each other in the ground and they can react completely differently.”
Despite the difficulties he faced in his Hertfordshire garden as a child, James persevered and developed an interest in pre-history that not only shaped his childhood, but eventually his career.
“I joined the Young Archaeologists’ Club in Cambridge in 2003 when I was ten.
“We used to go on outings to various sites – my most memorable was a trip to Bodmin Moor in Cornwall in 2005, where I met archaeologist Tony Blackman, who was a real inspiration.
“We also got to watch a flint-knapping demonstration, and even saw some bronze casting, carried out by Neil Burridge, a great bronze swordsmith.”
While flint-knapping is something anyone can have a go at in their own back garden, few of us would consider trying to cast bronze at home.
But such was his enthusiasm to learn, James carried out an experiment in the back garden aged seventeen that would make most parents turn pale.
“I started off with a metal tin lined with sand, a hairdryer, a load of charcoal and a clay pot with bits of old copper in,” he says.
“I actually got this to melt at 1,200 degrees and poured glops into the sand.
“With no foundry safety equipment such as an apron or mask – just a pair of old tongs to pick up this glowing pot full of molten
James Dilley tells Gillian Harvey all about forging his own path, and keeping prehistoric practices alive.
metal – it was a health and safety nightmare!
“But if you’ve ever seen molten metal in front of you, it is unbelievable; this glowing liquid like the sun. Just pouring it out is very special, but it’s even better when you can control it.”
Thankfully, with a mixture of collaboration, trial and error and selfdiscovery, James has learned to bend metal to his will – and safely – and can now create authentic replicas of Bronze Age weapons and tools, including axeheads and swords.
As well as enjoying the more rudimentary side of prehistoric craft, the young James was keen to learn more about prehistoric life and the process of archaeology.
“When I was thirteen, in year nine at school, my dad suggested I try to take a GCSE in archaeology,” he says. “I had an online tutor, then sat the exam at my school. I got an A, and people were amazed! A couple of days later, my dad suggested I try the A-level course.”
James excelled in his studies, obtaining an A at the age of fifteen, before going on to sit his standard GCSEs and A-levels over the two years that followed.
He went on to study archaeology at the University of Southampton, where he is currently finishing his PhD, with which he hopes to question certain unproven theories about the kinds of tools used 40,000 years ago.
“There have been certain assumptions made about the materials used,” he explains. “But looking at the climate at the time, I’m not sure these assumptions are correct – I’m hoping to throw open the doors for further discussion.”
As for the future, while there may not be any openings for flint-knappers or bronze-casters in your average recruitment agency, their rarity and the high level of skill James has developed mean that he’s very much in demand.
“I do demonstrations and workshops on Stone, Bronze and Iron Age crafts at different locations throughout the UK. And
I’ve also made appearances on documentaries about prehistoric times.”
By exposing his work to a wider audience through his demonstrations and his website, James is also hoping to inspire another youngster to turn their garden play into something more meaningful.
Ultimately, his aim is to keep flint-knapping – and other ancient skills – alive.
“When I started out, I was the youngest professional flint-knapper in the world,” he says. “And that’s still true now.
“I hope that I’ll be able to inspire another version of me, somewhere, to have a go and prevent it from dying out – it’s a very fragile craft.”