Flintknapping is defined as the art of making stone tools through lithic reduction (reducing rocks to smaller sizes). The types of stone that are usable for flintknapping have to fracture conchiodally, which means that when force is applied to the rock, the force spreads out in a 110 degree cone. This cone is what initiates a flake, a shard of the rock. By taking off flakes of various sizes and shapes, one can shape the stone into a tool.
What stones have conchiodal fractures? Some of the stones that can be used are: flint, chert, jasper, agate, chalcedony, petrified wood, glass, obsidian, basalt, dacite, rhyolite, fused shale, ingimbrite, fused shale, quartz, quartzite, silicafied sandstone, porcelain, etc.
The first type of method used to flintknap is called direct percussion. Direct percussion is directly hitting the rock with a stone, antler, bone, copper, ivory, or piece of wood. In order to detach a flake, one must strike a platform (striking surface) that has an angle that is less than ninety degrees. the surface that you want to detach a flake from must be convex or have a ridge.
The second method is called pressure flaking. Pressure flaking involves applying pressure with a narrow piece of antler, bone, copper, ivory, shell. A prying motion is used, with pressure being applied both into the stone and down to release a flake.
More information coming soon!
(maybe videos too!)
No comments:
Post a Comment