Editing Knapping (section)

== Uses ==
[[File:Aztec sacrificial knives.jpg|thumb|right|[[Aztec]] stone knives]]
[[File:Steinschloss.jpg|thumb|right|A gun-flint mounted in the jaws of a flintlock musket]]
[[File:Stratford_St_Mary_church_April_2005.JPG|thumb|right|Knapped flint walls and [[flushwork]] at the church of [[Stratford St. Mary]]]]
In cultures that have not adopted metalworking technologies, the production of stone tools by knappers is common, but in modern cultures the making of such tools is the domain of [[experimental archaeology|experimental archaeologists]] and hobbyists. [[Archaeologist]]s usually undertake the task so that they can better understand how prehistoric [[stone tool]]s were made.

Knapping is often learned by outdoor enthusiasts.

During the time when knapping was used to make tools, flaked tools are no less effective compared to other tools making methods. With modern technology, it shows how flake tools stood against environmental shifts and was fit for purpose.<ref>Bamforth, D. B. (1991). Technological Organization and Hunter-Gatherer Land Use: A California Example. American Antiquity, 56(2), 216–234. https://doi.org/10.2307/281416</ref> 

Knapping ''gun flints'', used by [[Flintlock mechanism|flintlock firearms]] was formerly a major industry in flint-bearing locations, such as [[Brandon, Suffolk|Brandon]] in [[Suffolk]], England, and the small towns of [[Meusnes]] and [[Couffy]] in France.<ref name="ancientcrafts" /> Meusnes has a small museum dedicated to the industry.

In 1804, during the [[Napoleonic Wars]], Brandon was supplying over 400,000 flints a month for use by the British Army and Navy.<ref name="whittaker">{{cite journal | url=http://web.grinnell.edu/anthropology/Faculty/JohnWhittaker/Articles/2001_The_Oldest_British.pdf | title=The Oldest British Industry: continuity and obsolescence in a flintknapper's sample set | last=Whittaker | first=John | journal=Antiquity | year=2001 | volume=75 | issue=288 | pages=382–90 | doi=10.1017/s0003598x00061032 | s2cid=163235035 | access-date=2015-08-18 | archive-date=2020-04-28 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200428192652/http://web.grinnell.edu/anthropology/Faculty/JohnWhittaker/Articles/2001_The_Oldest_British.pdf | url-status=dead }}</ref> Brandon knappers made gun flints for export to Africa as late as the 1960s.

Knapping for building purposes is still a skill that is practiced in the flint-bearing regions of southern England, such as [[Sussex]], Suffolk, and [[Norfolk]], and in northern France, especially [[Brittany]] and [[Normandy]], where there is a resurgence of the craft due to government funding.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.flintknapping.co.uk/arch.html|title = Architectural flintwork}}</ref>