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Long blade technology in the Old World
of the time with two or three crests. In the Middle Neolithic of Belgium,
at Spiennes (Michelsberg culture), large blade cores and blades were found
together with an antler punch (Cels & De Pauw 1886). During the Late Neo
lithic (3 rd
(Switzerland, Belgium).
The indirect percussion technique consists in using an intermediary tool
(punch; chasse-lame in French) to deliver the impact provoked by a mallet (a
stone, wooden or antler billet) after placing the point of the punch near or at
logical punches (Poplin 1976, 1979, 1980) and numerous experiments helped
of the mallet, indirect percussion – or punch technique – can detach a very
technique, and attains a regularity close to that achieved by pressure. Moreo
ver, experiments proved that varying the holding positions of the core allows
Pressure
The pressure technique is known in the Old World since the Upper Paleo
of small and medium size Solutrean laurel leaves, and for the production of
et al. 1992) and in Europe (Alix et al. 1995). During the Neolithic or a little
before (Callahan 1985), pressure is used to produce bladelets and blades in
From the 7 th millennium on, and culminating during the 3 rd millennium,
the use of a lever to multiply human strength is demonstrated or suspected
in a dozen different production areas, extending from the Near East to Por
tugal, and from Denmark to Algeria.
From my experiments, I could recognize that in some cases the pressure
stick was probably made out of an antler tine, while in other cases it was
armed with a copper point. I could also show that the blade core had to be
completely immobilized, at best in a grooved tree trunk in which the lever
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