Technology and Terminology of Knapped Stone - IRIT

NOTCH. A term describing the delineatio n
of an edge, indicating a sharp dent, generally
concave, sometimes V-shaped, with a
small curvature radius, and created by various
retouch techniques (fig. 34 : 4). See
Clactonian.
o
OPENING FLAKE . See first flake.
ORIENTATION. The orientation of knapped
stone objects is entirely a matter of convention.
It can vary, depending on whether
objects are being drawn or studied. See
debitage axis , morphologica l axis , locali -
zation (fig. 41).
OVERHANG. A projection crowning a core.
The strikin g or pressur e platfor m
overhangs the negative bulb s (fig. 20). Its
abrasion signally eases debitage,
especially in the case of direct percussion
with a soft hammer. It is not, however,
necessarily required for debitage by
percussion with a hard hammer, or for
pressure debitage. The presence or absence
of an overhang therefore supplies useful
information about the debitage or
preparation techniques.
p
PARALLEL. A term describing the morphology
o f removals (fig. 70 : 3, fig. 71).
PARTIAL. A term applying to :
- the distributio n of removals along an
edge (fig. 66 : 3);
- bifacial tools not entirely knapped (partial
biface).
PATINA. A natural alteration of the outer
part of an object, after its intentional
knapping. On a single object therefore, the
patina always develops later than the
cortex. A tool can show several patinas,
which can demonstrate the sequence of
transformation to which it has been
subjected.
PECKING. The stone-cutter's pick-hammer
(or pecker), a pointed hammer used for
tooling the faces of a stone, is a modern
instrument. "The pick-hammer is used for
Fig. 71 — Examples of oblique covering parallel
retouch. Left: obsidian, J. Tixier.
Right: Grand-Pressigny heat-treated
flint, DE. Crabtree. (Atelier photo
C.N.R.S., Meudon).
crushing and levelling out the roughest
edges of the stone" 148
. When applied to a
smooth surface, it has a reverse effect,
producing small indentations. This action is
known as pecking, and in archaeology the
term refers to a technique that can be
detected on artefacts bearing a pitted facing
produced by a stone hammer. Pecking can
be used for :
- blunting ridges and obtaining a rounded
form, as in the shaping of spheroids and
bolas (which should not be mistaken for
hammerstones, although the difference is
not always obvious, fig. 16 : 2, 3);
- for roughening surfaces, as in the case of
grinding stones (querns and mortars), or, in
more recent prehistoric times, for dressing
building stones;
- for preparing a surface prior to polishing
it;
- etc.
148 Bessac, 1987 : 79. "La boucharde écrase ou
égalise les plus grosses aspérités de la pierre".
147