Technology and Terminology of Knapped Stone - IRIT

HEAT TREATMENT (THERMA L TREATMENT) .
The flaking qualities (for debitage and retouching)
of some siliceous rocks can be
improved by preliminary heat treatment,
especially where pressure is used (fig. 1 : 7
and fig. 68). This technical advantage
seems to have been discovered by the inventors
of pressure-retouching and pressure
debitage, some 15 to 20 000 years ago, in
different parts of the world (p. 23-24).
HINGED. This describes any removal whose
fracture plane, normal in its proximal zone,
arches suddenly and intersects prematurely
the upper face of the blank, which is therefore
shorter than what was expected (fig.
7 : 1, and fig. 61 : 6). The exact opposite
of this kind of accident is plunging .
i
IMPACT POINT . The point (in fact a small
surface) where the blow is applied to fracture
a piece of raw material. It is visible on
the edge of the butt adjacent to the lower
face. The con e and the bul b both develop
from the impact point (fig. 5).
INDIRECT. Although this is the antonym of
direct, the term is not used to denote a
removal positio n (see inverse) . It applies
only to a percussion technique.
INDUSTRY. Broadly defined, the word "industry"
describes human action applied to
raw materials in order to transform them. It
thus encompasses all activities aimed at
producing useful objects. Mauss defined an
industry as being "a set of techniques implying
the use of different mechanisms
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towards a single goal" or, for specialized
industries, "as a set of techniques converging
to satisfy a need, or more exactly, a
consumer requirement [...] but it is this
concept of consumption that permits the
determination of the industries, systems
138 Dauvois, 1976. "[Ces stigmates] sont souvent
assez étroits, plus larges à leur origine qu'à leur
extrémité".
139 Mauss, 1947 : 26. "un ensemble de techniques qui
suppose l'emploi de machines différentes concourant à
un même but ".
Fig. 68 — Thermally treated and subsequently
pressure-retouched flint blade. Note
the lustre on the three parallel removal
negatives (Photo J. Tixier).
of techniques appropriate to objectives, or­
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ganization of industries " .
The prehistorian gives a more restricted
and concrete meaning to this word by strictly
applying it to artefacts, and referring to
bone and stone industries. Indeed, he must
rely on objects made by prehistoric men in
order to judge how they met their requirements
and dealt with their problems of
consumption.
INVASIVE. A term describing the exten t of
removals (fig. 67 : 3).
140 Mauss, 1947 : 41. "comme un ensemble de techniques
concourant à la satisfaction d'un besoin - ou plus
exactement à la satisfaction d'une consommation [...]
mais c'est la notion de consommation qui permet de
déterminer les industries, systèmes de techniques appropriés
à des fins, agencement d'industries".
143