Technology and Terminology of Knapped Stone - IRIT

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Chapter 5 Retouching Definition 0 1 2 33 The term "retouch" describes removals obtained by percussion or pressure, with the intention of making, finishing or sharpening tools. The terms retouch and retouched will therefore by definition be applied to any object that is presumed to be a tool. Retouching modifies a blank, whether natural or intentionally obtained by knapping. A retouch will have the negative morphological characteristics of a removal, a term that remains general enough not to presuppose the purpose involved in the action. Removals can be single or repeated, depending on the techniques. Removals can derive from actions prior to the finishing of the tool (preparation), or from a later action, such as use or mechanical damage. It is sometimes very difficult to distinguish the latter from manufacturing retouches. Caution and elementary logic should therefore be the rule : retouches or traces of use should only be referred to as such when there is clear evidence or proof. The same applies to "spontaneous removals". Characteristics "Characteristics" refers to a coherent set of terms used to describe a retouch or a line of retouches. There are seven such terms : delineation, extent, angle, localization, morphology, position and distribution. Each of these characteristics is further defined by a series of descriptors. The list of descriptors should cover all removals. In different combinations, they allow the classification of tools. We do not claim the list to be exhaustive, as it depends on the available means of examination. It should also be noted that some combinations of descriptors pertaining to different characteristics are incompatible, for instance invasive (extent), and abrupt (angle). 81
These seven characteristics, as well as the possible combinations of descriptors (see p. 87), are necessary to accurately describe a tool, but their appreciation remains very personal. All the terms are defined in the lexicon. Orientation o f tool s The retouch that characterizes some tools plays an important part in their orientation, but once again no logical or fixed rules have yet been established. The position of the piece while being drawn or examined varies according to the different authors, as do descriptions of tools, which begin either with the retouch or the blank, sometimes even alternating the two. Nevertheless, for the reproduction of a tool to be more conveniently interpreted and understood, it is necessary to adopt a certain number of symbols, and to define them clearly when they are not in current use (ch. 7, fig. 53). Special techniques and their product s Some special debitage techniques and methods, such as the manufacture of crested blades (fig. 68) and the rejuvenation of striking or pressure platforms (fig. 77), leave characteristic and easily recognizable waste products. In a similar way, some retouching techniques (lato sensu) leave such characteristic negative marks, and corresponding waste products, that they deserve a special, separate place in stone-working technology. Some retouch flakes have specific morphologies, which are in themselves sufficient to characterize the technique used. For instance, it is quite easy to recognize flakes resulting from "Quina" retouch : they are fan-shaped, with a hinged distal end (fig. 34 : 5 and 6). A number of special techniques were used in tool making, and they sometimes mark the ultimate stage of manufacture. They are also sometimes difficult to distinguish from knapping accidents. Note the case of intentional fractures caused by flexion or any other process : the fractured element can be used directly, or transformed by retouch. Our aim is not to establish an exhaustive explanatory list of such techniques, but to highlight their importance by illustrating a few examples. As waste products are still thought of as the "poor relatives" of lithic assemblages, it is certain that a good number of special techniques are still undiscovered... This is not the case for the famous microburin, known since 1875 79 , and about which thousands of pages have been written. 1. Microburin blow techniqu e This special technique is very widespread in the Old World, but has not yet been documented in the New World. Although it was used for making various types of tools (see below), it is primarily associated with the manufacture of geometrical microliths : mainly triangles and trapezes, but also crescents. Any prehistorian confronted with such shapes should therefore keep an even sharper lookout for microburins among the knapping products. The purpose of the microburin blow (a technique that was perhaps born from the repetition of a common knapping accident occurring during the manufacture of artefacts with m backed edges), is to achieve a technical morphology known as a "piquant-triedre" . A flake, blade or bladelet is placed on an anvil with an open dihedral angle (e.g. a flake with a triangular cross-section lying on its lower face, a block of stone, a wooden board), its upper face in contact with the ridge of the dihedral angle so that the axis of the blade or bladelet 79 Chierici, 1875. 80 Gobert, 1955. 82
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Technology and Terminology of Knapp
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In the same collection Préhistoire
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Authors Marie-Louise Inizan*, Mich
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Chapter 4 : Debitage 59 The core De
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List o f illustration s Fig. 1 Raw
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Foreword Many students and research
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Why? Technology has its place withi
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In blade debitage 17 , for instance
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Chapter 1 Raw material s Knapped ha
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2. Knappin g suitability o f hard r
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• A single block of raw material
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Raw material procuremen t strategie
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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: method was invented in a Sibero-Mon
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
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produced at the very moment the fla
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Fig. 60 — Inclination of a burin
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Fig. 62 — Various types of butts.
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If the morphology of the raw materi
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7 8 9 11 1 2 13 1 4 1 5 Fig. 65 —
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- or from a cobble, a slab, a core,
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INVERSE. A term defining a position
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distinguish the types of certain to
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Fig. 72 — The stone-knapper's set
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5 Fig. 74 — Various examples of p
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1 2 3 Fig. 75 — Position of remov
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0 1 cm Fig. 78 — Proximal fragmen
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conventionally applied to "the fash
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AKAZAWA T., ODA S., YAMANAKA I. 198
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CRABTREE D.E. 1966 A stone worker's
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LAPLACE G. 1964 Essai de typologie
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SEMENOV S. A. 1964 Prehistoric tech
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Multilingual vocabulary
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pressure platfor m : proximal: f i
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ENGLISH : FRENCH abrasion : abrasio
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Levallois (méthode, éclat, etc.)
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punctiform : punktförmi g refittin
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ENGLISH : GREEK translated by A. Mo
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epiklinήV (epexergasίa) : low ang
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punch : punzone punctiform : puntif
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ENGLISH : PORTUGUESE translated by
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face : fac e faceta: buri n face t
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pressure platform : plano de presi
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