Technology and Terminology of Knapped Stone - IRIT

More documents

Recommendations

Info

2. Knappin g suitability o f hard rocks One should bear in mind that experimentation witnesses constant breakthroughs, and that the assessment of rocks' suitability for knapping progresses accordingly. Nevertheless, although we are perforce guided by what we currently know, our assessment of the knapping suitability of a particular rock must absolutely be based on experimental tests. 2.1. A n experimenter' s viewpoin t Prehistoric people worked all the raw materials at their disposal, testing, selecting and choosing them according to their knapping suitability, their abundance and their shape. The following presentation of raw materials takes absolutely no account of mineralogical or petrographical classifications; it is based solely on the knapping characteristics of different rock types, appreciated in the course of experimental tests. The viewpoint of a single experimenter could well be considered empirical. However, allowances made for minor details, most modern stone-knappers come to similar conclusions, even though some of them may attain a higher degree of proficiency in certain techniques and methods. The opinions professed here concerning a few dozen materials are therefore those of a single experimenter, whose motivations differ from prehistoric man's. This does not purport to be a comprehensive survey of the question, for the varieties of rocks knapped by prehistoric workers are countless. One of the authors (J.T.) has applied the principle of trying out every conceivable technique on as many natural materials as possible (pressure and percussion debitage and retouching, using stone, bone, wood, antler, ivory, etc.); this led to many attemps, which were not however pursued over a long period of time. At the moment, we are far from having exhausted all the possibilities of systematic experimentation to further our understanding of knapped tools. We shall not re-examine the physical qualities that cause a material to be good or bad, such as elasticity, homogeneity or fragility 21 . What we offer is a basic global appreciation, bearing in mind however that homogeneity is the main prerequisite for regular debitage (as in standardized blade production, for instance) or long retouches. As a matter of fact, rocks can be placed on a continuum, and range from those with which "anything is possible" to those from which flakes can only be removed with difficulty. In order to clarify by simplifying, we propose three grades of suitability for knapping. • Rocks that are very easy to work. These fall into two main categories : vitreous and fragile rocks, such as obsidian; non-vitreous and moderately fragile rocks, such as certain flints. • Rocks that are quite easy to work. • Rocks that are difficult to work. These three grades are shown in the table (fig. 2), as well as those resulting from heat treatment; it seemed both convenient and effective to thus sum up experiments for the manufacure of: - leaf-shaped bifacial pieces by percussion with a soft hammer; - blades by direct percussion with a soft hammer, or by indirect percussion; - blades by pectoral pressure with a crutch; - long parallel retouches by pressure. These appreciations must however be qualified. • The properties of some rocks may allow the application of certain techniques, while few good results, if any, will be achieved when other techniques are applied. For instance, very good handaxes, or even good thin leaf-shaped bifacial pieces, can be made from sanukite, a variety of andesite from Japan. On the other hand, the removal of flakes proves difficult, and the extraction of blades by percussion is virtually impossible. • A very few rocks require flaking "with the grain". For instance, the fossil wood from Tidikelt, in the Algerian Sahara, is much more easily worked if debitage follows the veins (fibres, in fact), which are still apparent - and that is precisely what the Aterians did. 21 Crabtree, 1967. 21
RAW MATERIALS EXPERIMENTS Obsidian (U.S.A., Japan, Iceland, Italy, Turkey, Greece, Kenya, Ethiopia, Mexico, Guatemala, Ecuador) bifacial pieces soft hammer blades soft hammer blades pressure parallel retouch pressure improvement heat treatment + + + + + + + + - Ignimbrite (U.S.A.) + + + + + + - Resinite (France) + + / + - Quartz Crystal, Amethyst (France, Brazil) Translucent flin t (France, England, Belgium, Denmark, Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Senegal, Lebanon, Qatar) Opaque flint (Europe, Africa, South-West Asia, North and South America) Chalcedony (France, Algeria, U.S.A.) + + / / + - + + + + + + + + + + + + / + + + + + + + + + + + Jasper (France, Greece, U.S.A.) + + + + / + + - Lydianstone (Algeria) + + / 1 + + Opali te (France) + + + + 1 + + + + Agate (Egypt, SouthAfrica) + / + + • Green "dacite" (Tenere / Niger) + + + + / + - Silicified wood (U.S.A., Algeria, Niger) + + / - + + Basalt (France, U.S.A., Brazil, Kenya) + - / + / "Sanukite" (Andesite) (Japan) + + - / + / Quarzite, Sandstone (France,U.S.A., Algeria), Silicified "arenite " (Brazil) + + + / + / Rhyolite (Algeria) + / - / Siliceous limestone (France, U.S.A.) + + / / - Novaculite (U.S.A.) + / / - + + Experiments : Heat treatment ++ : very good ++ : very much improved + : middling + : improved - : bad - : not improved / : untested / : untested Fig. 2 — Knapping suitability tests.
Page 1 and 2: Technology and Terminology of Knapp
Page 3 and 4: In the same collection Préhistoire
Page 5 and 6: Authors Marie-Louise Inizan*, Mich
Page 7 and 8: Chapter 4 : Debitage 59 The core De
Page 9 and 10: List o f illustration s Fig. 1 Raw
Page 12: Foreword Many students and research
Page 15 and 16: Why? Technology has its place withi
Page 17 and 18: In blade debitage 17 , for instance
Page 20 and 21: Chapter 1 Raw material s Knapped ha
Page 24 and 25: • A single block of raw material
Page 26 and 27: Raw material procuremen t strategie
Page 28: unmodified block roughed ou t or pr
Page 31 and 32: Knapping, shaping, flaking, retouch
Page 33 and 34: could not be reached with such othe
Page 35 and 36: ipples, hackles (see p. 142). Parad
Page 37 and 38: • Languette 31 breaks occurring o
Page 39 and 40: - distinguish intentional from unin
Page 41 and 42: Fig. 9 — Blade debitage carried o
Page 44 and 45: Chapter 3 Shaping We use the term s
Page 46 and 47: to another in the course of roughin
Page 48 and 49: Fig. 13 — Example of bifacial sha
Page 50 and 51: aspects be from now on taken into c
Page 52 and 53: Polyhedral and spheroidal shaping a
Page 54 and 55: Fig. 18 — Preforms. 1 : experimen
Page 56 and 57: (fig. 18 : 3), using indirect percu
Page 58: As a rule, the part played by shapi
Page 61 and 62: study should not be dissociated fro
Page 63 and 64: Fig. 21 62 1 — Relatively simple
Page 65 and 66: Fig. 22 — Volumetric representati
Page 67 and 68: 66 Fig. 23 — Levallois debitage o
Page 69 and 70: 1. Recurrent unipolar Levallois met
Page 71 and 72: 0 1 2 3 9 Fig. 26 — Various examp
Page 73 and 74:
72 Fig. 28 — Phonolite cleaver on
Page 75 and 76:
In the repeated production of blade
Page 77 and 78:
Indirect percussion Strangely enoug
Page 79 and 80:
Fig. 31 — Pressure debitage of bl
Page 81 and 82:
method was invented in a Sibero-Mon
Page 83 and 84:
These seven characteristics, as wel
Page 85 and 86:
If the microburin blow has removed
Page 87 and 88:
Fig. 34 — Various examples of spe
Page 90 and 91:
Chapter 6 Technology a s a means to
Page 92 and 93:
1. Observation o f surface conditio
Page 94 and 95:
3. Framework fo r th e readin g o f
Page 96 and 97:
Fig. 36 — Refitting. Centripetal
Page 98 and 99:
hammer, the stability of the core o
Page 100 and 101:
Only the major milestones in the co
Page 102 and 103:
Chapter 7 0 I ~"~2 3 4 o Graphic re
Page 104 and 105:
103 Fig. 37 — Acheulean handaxe,
Page 106 and 107:
Fig. 39 — Pressure-flaked bladele
Page 108 and 109:
Fig. 41 — Examples of orientation
Page 110 and 111:
1 I Fig. 43 — Two layouts of view
Page 112 and 113:
4. Graphi c desig n an d techniqu e
Page 114 and 115:
Fig. 46 — Tracing the outline and
Page 116 and 117:
Fig. 47 — Uncompleted laurel leaf
Page 118 and 119:
Fig. 48 — Graphical treatment of
Page 120 and 121:
Fig. 50 — Large convex Mousterian
Page 122 and 123:
6. Symbol s Although multiple views
Page 124 and 125:
Clean breaks are indicated by two s
Page 126 and 127:
Fig. 54 — Schematic representatio
Page 128:
indicated by numbered arrows. The p
Page 131 and 132:
ANVIL. A block of relatively hard s
Page 133 and 134:
produced at the very moment the fla
Page 135 and 136:
Fig. 60 — Inclination of a burin
Page 137 and 138:
Fig. 62 — Various types of butts.
Page 139 and 140:
If the morphology of the raw materi
Page 141 and 142:
7 8 9 11 1 2 13 1 4 1 5 Fig. 65 —
Page 143 and 144:
- or from a cobble, a slab, a core,
Page 145 and 146:
INVERSE. A term defining a position
Page 147 and 148:
distinguish the types of certain to
Page 149 and 150:
Fig. 72 — The stone-knapper's set
Page 151 and 152:
5 Fig. 74 — Various examples of p
Page 153 and 154:
1 2 3 Fig. 75 — Position of remov
Page 155 and 156:
0 1 cm Fig. 78 — Proximal fragmen
Page 157 and 158:
conventionally applied to "the fash
Page 160 and 161:
AKAZAWA T., ODA S., YAMANAKA I. 198
Page 162 and 163:
CRABTREE D.E. 1966 A stone worker's
Page 164 and 165:
LAPLACE G. 1964 Essai de typologie
Page 166 and 167:
SEMENOV S. A. 1964 Prehistoric tech
Page 168:
Multilingual vocabulary
Page 171 and 172:
pressure platfor m : proximal: f i
Page 173 and 174:
ENGLISH : FRENCH abrasion : abrasio
Page 175 and 176:
Levallois (méthode, éclat, etc.)
Page 177 and 178:
punctiform : punktförmi g refittin
Page 179 and 180:
ENGLISH : GREEK translated by A. Mo
Page 181 and 182:
epiklinήV (epexergasίa) : low ang
Page 183 and 184:
punch : punzone punctiform : puntif
Page 185 and 186:
ENGLISH : PORTUGUESE translated by
Page 187 and 188:
face : fac e faceta: buri n face t
Page 189 and 190:
pressure platform : plano de presi
Page 192:
LOUIS-JEAN avenue d'Embrun, 05003 G
show all

Technology and Terminology of Knapped Stone - IRIT

Create successful ePaper yourself

Delete template?

Save as template?