is not the first artisan who made tools . In the Paleolithic Age , for example , the flint knapper created the axes , needles , spear tips , arrow points , and other tools that helped the tribe survive . The potter , too , may predate the Blacksmith : Pottery shards , clay vessels and figurines , and kilns have been discovered in Neolithic villages of Europe that date as far back as the seventh millennium bc ( Gimbutas 75 ).
Some of humankind ’ s earliest myths evolved from the flint knapper and the potter as well . The stone axe became linked to the Thunder God and thereby to “ agricultural fecundity ” ( Eliade 30 ). This tie between the axe and fecundity is made explicit in the statuary of the Yoruba thunder god Shàngó , who is often represented on an axe , wearing a crownlike double-axe ( representing meteorites or thunderstones ), or wielding an axe and pointing at the sky with one hand while touching or pointing to his genitals with the other ( Thompson loc . 1323-62 ). Further , the double-axe was linked to the union of the Thunder God with the Earth Mother ( Eliade 21 , 30 ). The double-axe was also sacred to the Mother Goddess herself in her role as regeneratrix ( Baring and Cashford 112-13 ). The potter , on the other hand , is linked to the creation of humankind . In Genesis , God creates Adam from the earth . In The Epic of Gilgamesh , the goddess Aruru creates Enkidu from clay , and in a fragmentary creation myth , an alternative to the Enuma Elish , Aruru and Marduk cocreate humankind and animals from a reed and dust ( Baring and Cashford 280 ). In Greek mythology , Prometheus creates humankind from mud , taking the best pieces from the animals he has already created . In Native American mythologies , a Pima legend shows how Se-eh-ha and Coyote reform the people out of earth after a flood has destroyed them ( Shaw 4-5 ). In a Yakima story , Great Chief Above creates the world and then man and woman out of mud ( qtd . in American 117-18 ). Similarly , an Okanogan creation story sees the Old One fashioning the Earth out of a woman and rolling mud balls from the Earth ’ s flesh to create first the Animal People and then the human race ( qtd . in American 14-15 ).
In some cultures , the smith , the knapper , and the potter are inextricably woven . The ancient myths of the stone tools , which focused on their power to strike , create sparks , cause injury , and produce explosions , were transferred to and magnified by the iron tools that replaced them ( Eliade 29-30 ). Among the Yakuts , the smith and the potter were “ blood brothers ” ( Eliade 81 ). In some African tribes , the wife of the blacksmith was the village potter ( Eliade 90 ). In Ancient Egypt , the god Ptah , the creator of the universe , was the god of all artisans . However , the Iron Age brought many changes to human culture . The Blacksmith superseded the knapper in occupation and the potter in cultural
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