Technology and Terminology of Knapped Stone - IRIT
Technology and Terminology of Knapped Stone - IRIT
Technology and Terminology of Knapped Stone - IRIT
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could not be reached with such other currently used rocks as quartzites, basalts, flints, etc., which<br />
are harder <strong>and</strong> more resistant.<br />
• Direct percussion with a s<strong>of</strong>t hammer (wood, antler, bone, ivory, etc.) occurs later in<br />
time (fig. 4 : 2). Evidence for this technique dates back to 700 000 years in Africa, but it probably<br />
appeared even earlier.<br />
Indirect percussion<br />
• Indirect percussion, in the accepted meaning <strong>of</strong> the word, involves the application <strong>of</strong><br />
an intermediary tool, called punch, which can be <strong>of</strong> wood, antler, bone or metal (fig. 4 : 3). There<br />
is no indisputable evidence for this technique before the Mesolithic.<br />
• Indirect percussion by counter-blow (fig. 4 : 4) is used today in Khambhat (Gujarat,<br />
India) 33<br />
to make carnelian <strong>and</strong> agate beads <strong>and</strong> trinkets. The piece to be knapped is held in the<br />
h<strong>and</strong>, touching the end <strong>of</strong> a pointed iron rod stuck in the ground; the opposite side <strong>of</strong> the stone<br />
is then struck with a buffalo-horn-topped hammer; the flake is removed by the counter-blow <strong>of</strong><br />
the pointed iron rod. It is a remarkably effective technique, <strong>and</strong> could have been invented in<br />
prehistoric times, or at least when bronze appeared.<br />
2. Pressur e<br />
Application <strong>of</strong> pressure to fracture raw materials (fig. 4 : 5 <strong>and</strong> 6).<br />
• Pressure is applied with the narrow end <strong>of</strong> a tool made <strong>of</strong> wood, antler, bone or metal.<br />
This debitage <strong>and</strong> retouching technique was invented in the Upper Palaeolithic. There are many<br />
different ways in which pressure can be applied (chap. 4, p. 76; fig. 30).<br />
• Pressure with a lever<br />
Considerable pressure (300 kg) can be exerted when a lever is used. This technique has<br />
only recently been experimented 34<br />
, <strong>and</strong> is suggested to have been used for the production <strong>of</strong> the<br />
outsize (up to 41 cm) Varna type <strong>of</strong> blades 35<br />
. It appears quite late in time, in the Chalcolithic <strong>and</strong><br />
the Bronze Age, <strong>and</strong> is possibly connected with the use <strong>of</strong> copper.<br />
Knapping product s<br />
The expression "knapping products" has a general meaning, which does not prejudge<br />
their possible final use. Knapping products are thus, in a broad sense, flakes (for the moment<br />
there is no need to be more specific) produced by any knapping operation.<br />
Once knapping is shown to involve the production <strong>of</strong> blanks, these are known as debitage<br />
products. If <strong>and</strong> when a knapping product can be situated in its chaîne opératoire, it should be<br />
specified whether it is : a flake (lato sensu) resulting from the shaping out <strong>of</strong> a core ; a flake<br />
resulting from the shaping <strong>of</strong> a h<strong>and</strong>axe ; or a retouch flake, etc.<br />
It is only after having studied the tools <strong>and</strong> the production <strong>of</strong> blanks that one may apply<br />
the more restrictive term "knapping waste products" to the residue <strong>of</strong> material that is obviously<br />
not predetermined, not retouched, <strong>and</strong> not conceived as tool blanks (even though any ordinary<br />
flake is always a potential blank).<br />
33 Possehl, 1981 ; Roux, Pelegrin, 1989.<br />
34 Pelegrin, 1988 : 48; Volk<strong>of</strong>, Guiria, 1991.<br />
35 See Pelegrin's diagnosis in : Manolakakis, 1994.<br />
32