Archaeology Test 2 3rd Set

Blade

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Reductive technique

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Core

A chunk of stone from which flakes are removed. The core itself can be shaped into a tool or used as a source of flakes to be formed into tools.

Flake

A piece of stone removed from a core for use as a tool or as debitage.

Achulean Handaxes

A stone tool industry, in use from about 1.6 million years ago until 125,000 years ago. It was characterized by large bifaces, particularly hand axes. This tool-making technology was a more complex way of making stone tools than the earlier Oldowan technology. More flakes were knocked off from both sides of a stone and there is evidence that the maker had a preconceived notion of the tool's final form.

Projectile point

Arrowheads, dart points, or spear points.

Direct or indirect flaking

Direct: Force may be introduced by direct percussion (striking the core with a percussor such as a rock or antler), Indirect: Indirect percussion involves the use of a punch and hammer. The punch and hammer make it possible to apply large force to very small areas of a stone tool. Indirect percussion is therefore often used to achieve detail work on smaller tools.

Soft and hard hammer

Hard hammer techniques are generally used to remove large flakes of stone. Soft-hammer percussion involves the use of a billet, usually made of wood, bone or antler as the percussor. These softer materials are easier to shape than stone hammers, and therefore can be made into more precise tools. Soft hammers also deform around the sharp edges of worked stone, rather than shattering through them, making it desirable for working tool stone that already has been worked to some degree before. Soft hammers of course also do not have as much force behind them as hard hammers do. Flakes produced by soft hammers are generally smaller and thinner than those produced by hard-hammer flaking; thus, soft-hammer flaking is often used after hard-hammer flaking in a lithic reduction sequence to do finer work.

Clovis points

Large stone projectile point used by early American hunters to kill game animals.

Oldowan tools

Name for the earliest stone tool industry, dating from about 2.6 million until 1.5 million years ago. Characterized by large tools with a sharp edge created by the removal, through direct percussion, of a few flakes (sometimes as few as 3) without much preconceived planning.

Percussion and pressure flaking

Percussion reduction, or percussion flaking, refers to removal of flakes by impact. Generally, a core or other objective piece, such as a partially formed tool, is held in one hand, and struck with a hammer or percussor. Pressure flaking - Technique of removing flakes from a core by applying pressure steadily until the flake breaks off, in contrast to percussion flaking, in which the flake is struck off.

Bifacial

Stone tools that have been worked on both sides or faces, meaning that flakes have been intentionally (not naturally) chipped off from both sides of the stone.

Cortex

The rough outer surface of a stone, usually removed to reveal the smooth interior during flint knapping (the making of stone tools).

Unifacial

Tools or points that are worked or knapped on only one side or face.