Technology and Terminology of Knapped Stone - IRIT

If the microburin blow has removed the bulb-and-butt part, the microburin is termed
proximal; the removal of the opposite end results in a distal microburin (fig. 33 : 5).
On its upper face, a microburin displays part of a notch with direct retouches, while the
lower face shows a fracture facet extending from the hollow of the notch to the opposite edge.
A proximal microburin therefore often has a slightly asymmetrical, escutcheon-like morphology
(fig. 33 : 6).
The most important part of a microburin is the fracture facet, on which any diagnosis
must be based. Besides being oblique both to the axis and the faces of the blade or bladelet, it
must display all the characteristics of a fracture face : small to very small bulb, sometimes quite
flat, common occurrence of hackles fanning out from the bulb, hardly noticeable fracture ripples.
The facet is often twisted, and very slightly hinged where it meets the upper face of the blade or
bladelet. The use of a stereoscopic microscope may be necessary to appreciate this tiny
convexity, more prominent in its central part, to which corresponds, on the "piquant-triedre", a
ridge that separates the fracture facet from the upper face. Running one's nail across the ridge is
a useful trick : if the nail catches against the ridge, this will generally confirm the presence of a
"piquant-triedre" (the nail does not catch against normal debitage arrises).
Another characteristic of the fracture facet of the microburin is the frequent presence of
fine direct retouches, or even of a shallow notch, located near the vertex of the angle formed by
the fracture facet and what is left of the notch. Such "retouches" have often been used as an
argument by those who insisted that the microburin was not a waste product, and who thus tried
to prove it was used as a tool. Knapping experiments have shown that spontaneous removals
could be generated by the very blow that produces the microburin. Reacting to the blow of the
hammer, the microburin sometimes acts as a lever within a fraction of a second after fracture;
the part formed by the fracture facet and the upper face presses down on the ridge of the anvil,
and this is sufficient to produce a small continuous retouch, up to 1 cm long. A microburin can
thus fall off already "retouched" by what really are spontaneous removals.
Several types of blunders can occur : pronounced hinging, inverted angle of the fracture
facet, fracture perpendicular to the axis and the two faces of the blank, etc.
2. Burin blow techniqu e
This follows the same principles as debitage : using as a striking or pressure platform
one of the surfaces (natural or prepared) of a blank, a usually elongated fragment, called "burin
spall" (fig. 61), is removed by pressure or percussion along an edge or a line of preparation. By
such means, one or more burin facets are produced. A burin blow can be applied by direct
percussion of the hammer, or by striking the burin-to-be against a hammer held stationary in the
hand, or even by pressure. Frequently, several burin facets can be produced on a single blank by
means of the burin blow, and as any position is possible, combinations of surfaces are
innumerable (see lexicon). Since a single burin blow can produce several spalls, sharpening by
one or more burin blows can only be proved by means of refits and/or the presence of traces of
use - except perhaps in the case of complete repair (for instance, a truncated burin with a new
burin blow applied on the other edge, fig. 79 : 5). Although systematically recorded, the
characteristics waste products of burins - spalls and sharpening spalls - are rarely included in
the technological analysis of a lithic assemblage.
Stylistic variations are virtually infinite, and in the west European Upper Palaeolithic
some very special types of burins (e.g. : "carinated", "Noailles", "parrot's beak"), being
short-lived, are characteristic of certain periods.
The burin waste products - spalls and sharpening spalls - can be retouched, and thus
become tools. For instance, such spalls can be excellent blanks for the production of drill-bits.
The use of this technique does not necessarily imply the manufacture of a tool. Indeed,
if it can be shown that the production of blanks is intended, the burin is referred to as a core. At
the Neolithic site of Lagreich (Mali) 81
, all the burins are cores for the production of spalls, which
were used for pecking holes in carnelian beads. It is quite plausible to consider that burins could
be used both as tools and as cores. The idea that burins must be equated with tools, and spalls
81 Gaussen, Gaussen, 1965.
84