By: Denys Rodríguez Bernet

Weapons are one of the oldest artifacts used by man, both for war and for hunting and sustaining food. Over time, these were perfected to the extent that human groups were developing new techniques and inventions.

Many of the advances occurred due to the need to improve the attack and defense in the midst of conflagrations that occurred throughout history. In this sense, firearms have also undergone important technological advances since their appearance. Since the eleventh century, there is reference to the emergence of gunpowder in China, with which they created very rudimentary weapons made even of bamboo.

In Europe, the Arabs promoted the knowledge of gunpowder and its use between the end of the 13th century and the beginning of the following century. However, it was not until the second half of the 14th century that they were frequently used on the battlefields. From that moment on, different firing systems were developed in firearms, which led to the successive passage from the arquebus to the musket, and finally to the rifle.

These technical systems for improving weapons were used during the colonial expansion of Europe in the world, providing an advantage in the confrontation of societies that often had very rudimentary weapons or were simply unaware of gunpowder.

The flintlock was a firing mechanism used in muskets and muzzleloaders of the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries, for which a piece of flint flake was used between two jaws at the end of a short hammer -which once put in its position it was released when the trigger was pulled. The strike of the flint produced a series of sparks that ignited the propellant charge, causing the weapon to fire.

Another likely use for flintstones was as a tinderbox to produce flares. These functioned like an old matchbox, in which the collision of flint with tinder quickly produced fire, very useful until the creation of modern self-combustible matches in 1805.

The provenance of the flintstones has not been established with certainty. Most of them were imported from Europe, especially from France, where their production flourished, being the main supplier to Spain, although in America they were also manufactured locally to make up for their lack.

In our ancient city, the flintstones have appeared in archaeological excavations carried out by the Archeology Department of the Historian’s Office of Camagüey city (OHCC) in several lots and buildings, among them: Independencia 219, Cisneros 208 and Luaces 7 , in contexts from the end of the 18th century and the beginning of the 19th century, which shows the extent of its use during these centuries. We must point out the case of Luaces #7, the space where the León Battalion was established during the Ten Years’ War.

According to the specialized bibliography, the flintstone was carved from a flint core, with a disc-shaped hammer on a sweet anvil. This gave them a flake shape with a square or rectangular section, sometimes with a convex edge measuring between 2 and 3 centimeters, and up to 5 millimeters thick.

In general, the ones found in Camagüey maintain this morphology, and in them you can see the wear due to intense use, which was done repeatedly when changing their position -which produced several notches in the pieces along all their edges.

Translated by: Aileen Álvarez García