Republic of the Philippines

PARTIDO STATE UNIVERSITY

Goa, Camarines Sur

_______Tinambac____________
Name of Campus/ College

Module 2
Basic Tools and Equipment

Name of Student: _________________________________ Week No: _____2-3_______________________

Course Code: _____ESELEC3______________________ Name of Faculty: ______YOLDA T. ABANTE___
Course Title: _ Indigenous Creative Craft_____________________________________________________

I. OBJECTIVES

We already understand the basic concepts of arts and crafts as contained in the previous module. In order to
create arts and crafts, there are various tools and equipment used by indigenous peoples and craftsmen making
it unique to other works of arts and crafts. Therefore at the end of the lesson, the students should:

1. Enumerate and list down different tools and equipment used in crafting.
2. Differentiate each tools and equipment and explain their uses.

II. LESSON

Chemical analyses of ancient organic compounds absorbed into pottery jars from the early Neolithic village of  Jiahu in
Henan province in China show that a mixed fermented beverage of rice, honey, and fruit (hawthorn fruit and/or grape) was
being produced about 7000 BCE. The rice was probably prepared for fermentation by mastication or malting,

"This prehistoric drink paved the way for unique cereal beverages of the proto-historic second millennium B.C., remarkably
preserved as liquids inside sealed bronze vessels of the Shang and Western Zhou Dynasties. These findings provide direct
evidence for fermented beverages in ancient Chinese culture, which were of considerable social, religious, and medical
significance, and help elucidate their earliest descriptions in the Shang Dynasty oracle inscriptions.

"Throughout history and around the world, human societies at every level of complexity discovered how to make fermented
beverages from sugar sources available in their local habitats. This nearly universal phenomenon of fermented beverage
production is explained by ethanol's combined analgesic, disinfectant, and profound mind-altering effects. Moreover,
fermentation helps to preserve and enhance the nutritional value of foods and beverages. Because of their perceived
pharmacological, nutritional, and sensory benefits, fermented beverages thus have played key roles in the development of
human culture and technology, contributing to the advance and intensification of agriculture, horticulture, and food-
processing techniques. Among all strata of society, they have marked major life events, from birth to death, as well as
victories, auspicious events, and harvests, etc. Rulers and “upper class” individuals with leisure and resources particularly
were drawn to feasting on a grand scale, which often featured special fermented beverages served in and drunk from
special vessels. In their most developed form, such celebrations were formalized into secular or religious ceremonies for the
society at large.

"How does ancient China, one of the primal centers for the rise of human civilization, fit into this picture of fermented
beverage production, conspicuous consumption, and celebratory and ritual activities that are so well documented
archaeologically, historically, and ethnographically elsewhere? Based on the oracle inscriptions from the late Shang Dynasty
[circa (ca.) 1200–1046 before Christ (B.C.)], the earliest texts from China, at least three beverages were distinguished:
chang (an herbal wine), li (probably a sweet, low-alcoholic rice or millet beverage), and jiu (a fully fermented and filtered rice
or millet beverage or “wine,” with an alcoholic content of probably 10–15% by weight). According to inscriptions, the Shang
palace administration included officials who made the beverages, which sometimes were inspected by the king. Fermented
beverages and other foods were offered as sacrifices to royal ancestors in various forms of bronze vessels, likely
accompanied by elite feasting. Later documents, incorporating traditions from the Zhou period (ca. 1046–221 B.C.), describe
 Republic of the Philippines
PARTIDO STATE UNIVERSITY
Goa, Camarines Sur

another two beverages: luo (likely made from a fruit) and lao (an unfiltered, fermented rice or millet beverage or the
unfermented wort).  

"A much earlier history for fermented beverages in China has long been hypothesized based on the similar shapes and
styles of Neolithic pottery vessels to the magnificent Shang Dynasty bronze vessels, which were used to present, store,
serve, drink, and ritually present fermented beverages during that period. By using a combined chemical, archaeobotanical,
and archaeological approach, we present evidence here that ancient Chinese fermented beverage production does indeed
extend back nearly nine millennia. Moreover, our analyses of unique liquid samples from tightly lidded bronze vessels, dated
to the Shang/Western Zhou Dynasties (ca. 1250–1000 B.C.), reveal that refinements in beverage production took place over
the ensuing 5,000 years, including the development of a special saccharification (amylolysis) fermentation system in which
fungi break down the polysaccharides in rice and millet" (Patrick E. McGovern, Juzhong Zhang, et al, "Fermented beverages
of pre-and proto-historic China," Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of
America, Published online before print December 8, 2004, 101, no. 51, December 21, 2004, 17593-17598.)

Image Source: www.pnas.org

Two types of Tools:

1. Hand tools – used to process materials by hand.

2. Power tools – mechanical devices used to speed up function.

Traditionally Indigenous Australians have used a variety of tools and weapons in their everyday life, often for collecting food
and carrying it from place to place. Most of the wooden tools, implements and weapons use local materials – different
timbers for particular tools and weapons, strings for various uses come from different plants and even from the sinews of
animals, as well as glues from plants. Traditional people also use fire to bend or straighten timber, or to make it harder.

Although western people often think of Aborigines as nomadic, moving from place to place, usually their movement was for
following the bush foods according to a seasonal pattern and for ceremonies. Many of the tools they needed could be left
behind until they returned the following year. For example, grinding stones were left near where the grasses grew so they
could be used from harvest to harvest.

Other tools

Wood and stone together

Many wooden implements have stone points attached as well, including some spears, stone axes and adzes. These were
tied on with string or animal sinews and glued in place using natural resins. The resins were collected from various plants
(for example Xanthorrhoea and spinifex) and could be softened and worked into place over a small fire. The resins would
turn hard as they cooled down. Sometimes the resin would be applied to a shaped stone to make a knife, or to a didgeridu
to make a mouthpiece.
 Republic of the Philippines
PARTIDO STATE UNIVERSITY
Goa, Camarines Sur

Bowls

Bowls have a wide range of uses, usually for women to carry things such as foods, water and even babies. They can be
used for winnowing grain and for digging. Bowls are made from wood, not bark, and have to be shaped according to their
purpose. Women usually do the work of making bowls and they often decorate the outside with traditional designs. These
days many bowls are made and sold to tourists. These are often called coolamons but this is the name given to particular
bowls in only a few language groups.

Other wooden tools

Other wooden tools include digging sticks, adzes and clapsticks. Digging sticks are long and hard, with the end pointed and
often hardened over a fire. Adzes are used for scraping out other wooden tools, such as boomerangs and coolamons. There
is a sharp stone or kangaroo teeth set in the end of the adze with resin. 

String

String can be made from various plants or from the hair or fur of animals and humans. It could then be woven into ropes to
give it increased strength. String has many uses for Indigenous peoples, including making baskets and traps of different
types and for making rope. Torres Strait Islanders made ropes which were strong enough to catch dugong and to bring them
back ashore.

Weaving

In Northern Australia, Aboriginal women weave baskets and mats using fibres they obtain from the pandanus plant. The
leaves of the pandanus are collected and dried, then torn into strips. The strips could be dyed various colours using dyes
from some other plants, to produce yellow, red and brown string. Baskets could be used for collecting and carrying foods,
and these days are also sold to tourists.

Other plants could be woven into baskets and traps to catch animals. Fish traps could be made from the bulrushes growing
alongside wetlands.

Cloaks

Skins of various animals could be made into cloaks and blankets, to keep warm in the cooler times of the year. In southeast
Australia the skins of up to 80 possums were sown together to make heavy cloaks which were highly prized. The skins were
first dried out then sown together using vegetable fibres or animal sinews. Designs were cut into the cloaks that told of the
maker and the group the wearer belonged to. People were often buried in their cloaks.

Pearl shell and bone

Pearl shell was used for decoration and was traded from its sources in Torres Strait and the Kimberleys along trade routes
extending to southwest and southern Australia.

Bone from a variety of animals was used to make points for spears and other purposes. Awls made of bone were used for
punching holes into skins for cloaks and or bark to make canoes. Sometimes teeth, particularly of kangaroos, were used as
tools because of their hardness, and they were sometimes made into necklaces.

III. ACTIVITIES

Identify the tools and equipment used in the crafting of the following:
 Republic of the Philippines
PARTIDO STATE UNIVERSITY
Goa, Camarines Sur

1. Basket
2. Sculpture
3. Mat
4. Embroidery.

IV. ASSESSMENT

List down and explain the use/s of common tools and equipment in making a craft.

V. REFERENCES

Patrick E. McGovern, Juzhong Zhang, et al, "Fermented beverages of pre-and proto-historic China," Proceedings of the
National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America , Published online before print December 8, 2004, 101, no.
51, December 21, 2004, 17593-17598.)
https://www.slideshare.net/myzelbaltazar/tools-and-equipment-in-handicrafts
http://members.ozemail.com.au/~mmichie/engag_t&w.htm
https://www.slideshare.net/myzelbaltazar/tools-and-equipment-in-handicrafts