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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method was invented in a Sibero-Mongolian area during the Upper Palaeolithic. While there is<br />
but a single conception underlying this type <strong>of</strong> bladelet debitage, many variants have been<br />
identified, which st<strong>and</strong> for cultural markers, as in Japan for instance.<br />
The main stages <strong>of</strong> the operative scheme are the following.<br />
• The raw material is shaped out by means <strong>of</strong> bifacial percussion removals, resulting in<br />
a more or less regular, <strong>of</strong>ten asymmetrical, leaf-shaped bifacial piece (fig. 32 : 1).<br />
• The least convex ridge <strong>of</strong> this "biface" is then removed, usually by successive<br />
removals called "ski spalls". In cross-section, the first removal (akin to a crested blade) is<br />
triangular, <strong>and</strong> the following removals are trapezoidal (fig. 32 : 2). Such removals are characteristic<br />
enough for the debitage scheme to be reconstructed, even in the absence <strong>of</strong> refits.<br />
• The negatives <strong>of</strong> these characteristic blades are used as a pressure platform to remove<br />
the bladelets (fig. 32 : 3 <strong>and</strong> 4).<br />
• The first bladelet displays negatives <strong>of</strong> the bifacial removals from the other ridge <strong>of</strong><br />
the biface; this is a first crest, as defined in blade debitage.<br />
• The narrow cross-section <strong>of</strong> the biface <strong>of</strong>fers but a small debitage surface, which is<br />
why the core has such a specific shape, known as a "wedge-shaped core" (fig. 32 : 5).<br />
As debitage is carried out along the width <strong>of</strong> the biface, <strong>and</strong> as the debitage surface is no<br />
larger than the cross-section <strong>of</strong> the core, the blade products are <strong>of</strong> relatively constant length, but<br />
small in size.<br />
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