real prehistoric life in the Netherlands as an experiment.

About the skinning of a hare in the Dutch bronze age

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Everything you always wanted to know about Dutch prehistoric life between 2000-800BC,a.k.a the Dutch bronze age.
Results of prehistoric experiments: skinning a hare
Problems and solutions in a prehistoric point of view.

The skinning of a hare; a gruesome job

A while ago I catched a hare. Rabbits were imported by the Romans, but hares belong to the original fauna of the Netherlands. I ate the dry meat and made a puppet and a sheath for a knife of it.
Although it`s possible to skin with a bronze knife, I`ll stick by my flints. They`re very sharp,light and easy to handle once you`re used to it. A small piece of leather protects my skin against the sharp edges of the flint.
First I have to decide; what do I want to make of the skin? And second: do I also want to eat the meat?
The first answer is: small bag, with the head-skin attached to it. So I won`t open the hare`s chest. And yes, I want to eat the meat, so I wash the flints carefully in warm, salty water during the skinning.
I start by widening the mouth in the direction of the cheeks by cutting the mouth`s edges. Then follows the hardest job; loosening the skin from the jaws without damaging the thin skin. It takes a long time, but finally the head is done.
I hang the hare with its rear legs on a rope near the fire to prevent animals and insects from approaching it. Now everything goes fast. The legs are loosened from the inside and the remains without the skin are given to my wife, except for the skull.
Now I`ll have to perform an even more gruesome job. Although it`s about the 9th time for me I`ll probably never get used to it. The skull must be opened at the back to get the brains out. This job must be done, because I use the greasy brains to make the skin flexible. Otherwise the skin would become hard and breakable during the drying.
Two women offer to help me (unbelievable but true). After rubbing in the brains on the flesh-side another `flexible job` has to be done.Grab the skin between pointing-fingers and thumbs and start to stretch the skin veeeeery careful, about a half a square inch (4cm2) each turn. Than you can see that the colour of the flesh-side turns white instead of red which is a good sign.
Unfortunately the skin became too dry so it was torn in a few places. It`s better to moisten the skin now and again.

After hanging in the smoke for about 6 hours the skin is a bit smoked or `tanned`. That`s enough to prevent the skin from rotting, but it has to be smoked again if it becomes wet by accident.
The final skin became 2 separate parts because of the damages. The front halfwith the headf becomes a kind of puppet to play with. The back half is sowed with a thread of linen and a bone-needle onto a sheath of a knife, purely for decoration.

Of course tanning with smoke only works well with thin skins.

Rawhide.

Bigger skins need more work. My ancestors tought me how to prepare a skin so it can be storaged or exchanged.
Of course the 2 questions (purpose of the skin and purpose of the remaining parts) must be answered again before starting.
I haven`t done its skinning yet (except the cleaning of the hide), but I`ll discuss the skinning of a lamb to storage the rawhide.Of course the meat, bones and other remains will be used, too, but that`s another story.
The lamb hangs with its rear legs attached to a horizontal bar. The skin is incised from the anus down to the throat.Beware of damaging the intestins! then the skin must be incised from the anus around the rear legs and tail.
In some cases the skin almost falls of the flesh if you just pull the skin downwards. When the chest is cleared it`s time to cut loose the intestines very carefully and drop them in a pot. The liver must be put aside for a further preparation later on, together with the brains. Stretch the skin on the ground, flesh-side up and nail it with wooden pins.
Clean it: scrape remains of flesh and fat off the skin.
Put the skin in the water/river for 3 or 4 days.
Make a big fire (wood only) and collect the ash.
Mix the ash with some water.
Get the skin out of the water and nail it to the ground again.
Rub the ash with water good into the skin.
Role the skin with the flesh-side outside and store it 3 days on a cool place (a pit in the ground).
Scrape/shave the hair of the skin and scrape the last remains of fat and flesh off the skin. Now it`s prepared to proceed with the `buckskin-preparation`, for a smooth and flexible result (see later).
The skin can now be stretched and hanged in a frame where it must dry slowly in the shadow.
After 24 hours you can hang the frame on the ceiling until it is needed. The skin is hard, almost waterproof and can be used for shoes, shields, water bags, rain coats, etc.

Buckskin; smooth leather

After the preparation into rawhide the skin can be prepared onto soft leather.
Ther must be almost no remains of flesh or fat on the skin. Then wash it well in clear water. Wring out well and stretch the skin in a frame.
Put the brains and liver in water, heat it and stirr it to a thick porridge. rub the porridge into the shaved side without skipping one spot.
Let it dry 1 or 2 hours, then sprinkle it with hand-warm water and start to rub again for a few hours.
Take the skin at 4 points and put some water in it. The water must flow through easily.Wring out, and make the skin flexible between your hands.
When the skin is too dry, moisture it and continue to make it flexible. Stretch the skin between your hands; the colour must change from red to white. It`s also possible to rub the skin over a piece of wood without rind or sharp edges.
The almost dry skin can finally be streched in aframe for the last job. the skin must be scraped on both sides with a `scraping-stick`; it mustn`t be a sharp stick. Push as hard as possible and make scraping moves.
Now the skin has turned into flexible leather. It gets rotten and a bit harder when it becomes wet, so it isn`t water-proof either, but it`s tanned and feels smooth.
The leather is suited to make clothes from. Please feel free to :

watch more about experimental skinning