Celebrate Ancient Crafts At The Moundville Lithic Arts Festival

Want to learn flintknapping? What is it? It is mankind's first true technology, and it dates back 2.5 million years. Flintknapping is the art of creating stone tools, such as arrowheads and knives, by shaping materials like flint, chert, or obsidian through controlled intentional fracturing according to stonetoolsmueum.com.

This Friday and Saturday you can step way back in time at the Moundville Lithic Arts Festival to learn about the ancient craft. Lithics, by the way, is a term that refers to stone tools or any other objects made from stone.

The festival will feature live flintknapping demonstrations, education about the natural world, traditional and Native arts and tools, Native food vendors, a silent auction and opportunities for the public to play the traditional game of Chunkey.

“The festival offers visitors a chance to see how stone tools were made and used for thousands of years while engaging directly with living traditions,” said Jessica Dees, education outreach coordinator at Moundville Archaeological Park in a UA News Center press release. “The descendants of Moundville are part of many living and thriving indigenous cultures that continue traditional arts today.”

The festival will be from 9:00 am until 3:00 pm each day at the Moundville Archaeological Park located on the Tuscaloosa and Hale County line, just off Highway 69 South.

Admission to the event runs:

• Adults – $8
• Seniors – $7
• Students – $6
• Military – $6
• Under 5 – Free
• Native American visitors – Free with tribal membership card
• UA Museums members – Free with museum membership
• Bryant Museum Circle of Champions – Free

University of Alabama students can participate in a free flintknapping workshop Saturday. There will have two sessions to choose from: 10:00 a.m. – 11:00 a.m. and 12:30 p.m. – 1:30 p.m. Registration is required and available through an online form.