Fairs & Festivals Programs - Stage Acts - Entertainers - Productions

Larry Kinsella Programs

Flintknapping

 (Ages 14 thru adult)

In the adult flintknapping class, the goal is to learn the basic principles involved in making flint/chert tools, using both percussion and pressure. Larry provides all safety equipment, flint, tools, and instruction. Students may bring their own tools, if they wish. Minimum class size is 5 and maximum is 25. All participants are asked to wear long pants to prevent leg injury. Larry will also cover the floor, with a tarp, to prevent scratching the floor. This class may be presented indoors or outdoors.

Flintknapping

(Children ages 7 thru 13))

In the junior class, children will learn the basics of pressure flaking flint/chert, by applying pressure to the edge of the flakes. Larry provides all safety equipment, flint, tools and instruction, and will lay down a tarp, to prevent scratching the floor. Small zip-lock bags will be provided to keep student's arrowheads from cutting holes in their pockets on the way home. Students will transform flakes of flint/chert, (# 7, on the hardness scale) into arrowheads, and take them home.

This class takes from 45 minutes to 1 hour to complete and may be presented indoors or outdoors.

Cordage

(All ages, from 7 thru adult)

In the cordage class, students will make a simple cord from jute twine. This 20-minute class teaches the basic skill of cordage. The students will make a cord, from 12 to 14 inches long, that can be made into a bracelet and taken home. This skill is not recommended for children under 7.

 

If local natural fibers are used, the availability of the materials, must be taken into consideration. For example: if stinging nettle is to be used, it can only be cut after the first frost (about early November) so Larry will need sufficient lead time to harvest enough for the class. Dogbane is suggested for adults only. Two extra hours are needed for this class, to allow for processing the materials. This class may be presented indoors or outdoors.

Basic Coil Pottery

(all ages, 6 thru adult)

In the pottery class, students will make a very basic pinch-pot, then add a single coil to the rim to produce a small pot similar to vessels made by the ancient ones. When the shape is completed, students may decorate their pot with various tools Larry provides such as, animal bones, antlers, cordage, mussel shells, and various other tools, both ancient and modern. Larry uses quick-hardening clay so the students may take finished pots home, without fear of them falling apart. This class takes about 45 minutes to 1 hour to complete and a $1.00-per-student fee must be added, to offset the cost of the clay. This class may be presented indoors or outdoors.

Atlatls

(All ages, 6 thru adult)

In this class, students will learn to throw spears with the atlatl, an ancient spear-throwing device. Larry will provide all materials and instruction but will need about ½ hour set-up time, to prepare the throwing area. A field, about 100 yards long and about 30 yards wide, is needed for this program. Naturally, this class must be held outdoors. For a normal class of 25 to 35 students, from 20 to 40 minutes should be allotted.

Hand-drill Fire-making

(18 thru adult)

In this class, students will be taught to make fire with the hand-drill and fire-board, using only natural materials. Allow from 30 minutes to 1½ hours for this class and it must be held outdoors.  Students will be taught techniques to produce a coal, then place the coal in a small bundle of cedar bark, and blow the coal into a fire.

Larry's Lecture Programs

Larry offers a variety of lectures on primitive technologies and/or experimental archaeology.

Topics include:

  • Basic experimental archaeology: This lecture includes about 30 or 40 replicas of ancient tools and/or weapons and Larry explains their manufacture and use.
  • Stone axes: This Power-point-assisted talk explains Larry's recent experiments with replicating and using stone axes found on archaeological sites in his region.
  • Core-drilling shell disk beads: A Power-point presentation where an attempt is made to make shell beads by cutting them with cane and flint dust
  • Gregory Perino's Cahokia artifacts: Another Power-point assisted program presenting slides of unusual artifacts found by Greg, at Cahokia Mounds, in the 1940s and 50s.
  • Atlatl Components from Indian Knoll: In this Power-point assisted program, Larry discusses atlatl use and function while showing materials from the famous Indian Knoll site, in Kentucky.

Additionally, Larry teams up with his Storyteller-wife, Marilyn, to present a series of programs entitled Stories-N-Stones. They now offer 9 different programs including:

  • Regular (Stories containing artifacts and explanations of the artifact's use)
  • Along the Reading Trail  (Lewis and Clark emphasis)
  • Bringing the Light (Spider Woman brings fire and different ways to make fire without matches)
  • Ishi, Last of the Stone Age Superheroes  (The story of Ishi and his primitive skills)
  • Survival on Book Island   (Robinson Crusoe and Survival Techniques)
  • to Woodhenge and beyond  (Star stories and the reconstruction of Cahokia's Woodhenge)
  • "The Games the Ancient Ones Played"  (Ancient games and their archaeological evidence)
  • "From Little Egypt to big Egypt" (Similarities and differences between Southern Illinois and Egypt)