Technology and Terminology of Knapped Stone - IRIT

Clean breaks are indicated by two short parallel dashes on either side of the broken zone.
Barring exceptions, breaks do not require being represented on any particular view. However,
when the break can be observed on the upper or lower face view it is shaded and hatched with
direction lines like the rest of the drawing.
Some objects display modern breaks or retouches, which should be left blank. Any blank
area is considered to be of modern origin; it is therefore very important that the entire surface of
the drawing should be inked (using dots, dashes, direction lines).
• Knapping accidents
Flakes that display a "Siret" accidental break are oriented like any other flake, with a
symbol accompanying the proximal part: a double crossed arrow pulled out of line. A dot
denotes the presence of a half-butt (fig. 34 : 7).
Languette breaks are indicated by two short, wide dashes on either side of the fracture,
and by the side view of its missing complement.
The same conventions apply to nacelle breaks (figs. 7 : 3, 4, 5).
• Special techniques
Microburin blow technique (fig. 33)
The "piquant-triedre" is shown on the upper face view and is supplemented by the
outline drawing of the missing part, i.e. the microburin. This device allows an unambiguous
rendering of the technique itself, which is otherwise difficult to portray.
Burin blow technique (figs. 57, 58, 59, 79)
The removal negatives associated with this technique are emphasized by arrows. These
are oriented and directed according to the burin blow negatives they indicate. Numbers specify
the order of removal, when the latter can be determined.
The last burin blow is symbolized by a solid arrow. When the negative bulb is present a
dot is added to the arrow.
The negatives of previous burin blows are symbolized by broken arrows (short dashes).
• Macroscopic wear traces (figs. 51 and 53)
Blunting is the outcome of any action that has altered a cutting edge by making it less
sharp. Abrasion refers to the wear of an edge through friction.
These two types of wear are symbolized by a dotted line outside the drawing. The length
and position of the dotted line indicates the altered zones. The intensity of wear is empirically
shown by varying the size of the dots.
• Gloss (fig. 51)
This refers to the shiny aspect of a surface brought about by friction. Gloss is symbolized
by applying a fine grade stippled shading film to all the surfaces where it can be observed, both
on the upper and lower faces. Sometimes, a line of small regular circles or dots accompanies the
shading film symbol. It is positioned outside the drawing, along the gloss-bearing zone on the
upper or lower face.
Assessing
The quality of a published illustration should be assessed to ensure that it can be correctly
interpreted. Indeed, an aesthetically pleasing drawing is not necessarily an informative one. There
are six indispensable criteria to be considered for the adequate assessment of a graphical
representation.
1. Scal e
Illustrations must always include a bar scale specifying the standard of measurement. For
the sake of consistency and legibility, all the drawings for one article should have the same scale.
If drawings displayed on the same plate do not have the same reduction factor because of layout
constraints, a bar scale must be related to each of them.
Bar scales are often subsituted for by verbal scales (e.g. FS for Full Scale) or by
representative fractions in the caption. This is strongly advised against because the true
proportions will not be retained when the drawing is reduced. Some illustrations have been
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