Glossary

Biface Refers to a tool shaped by the removal of flakes from two surfaces ofapiece ofraw material (a cobble or a large flake). The characteristic retouch flakes generally cover most of the two opposing surfaces.

Blade Refers to an elongated flake, with a length equal to at least twice its width, and more or less parallel edges. A bladelet is a small blade. Tools made from blades or bladelets are termed blade or bladelet tools.

Blank Refers to products (e. g., flakes, blades or bladelets) or pieces of raw material (e. g., cobble) that can potentially be transformed by retouch into a formal tool, hence the terms flake blank, blade blank, bladelet blank.

Chalne opefratoire Refers to the successive stages involved in the production of lithic artifacts, beginning with the procurement of the block of raw material and ending with the discard of the used artifacts. A concept somewhat broader than that of reduction sequence (see ‘lithic reduction’), with which it is often equated.

Core Any piece of raw material from which flakes, blades, or bladelets have been detached, in order to produce blanks for tools, hence the terms flake core, blade core, and bladelet core. down-the-line trade Refers to a process in which goods (here lithic items) move through reciprocal exchange from group to

Group, thus involving a series of successive exchanges of material from a point source.

Flake Refers to any fragment of stone that is removed from either a core or a tool during manufacture. No particular size or shape is implied by this term. A tool made from a flake blank is termed a flake tool.

Levallois Refers to an elaborate Middle Palaeolithic core preparation and reduction process, by which are predetermined the shape and character of the products (also termed Levallois) sought by the knapper. Sometimes, the aim is to manufacture a single large flake rather than a series of smaller flakes: in that case, the product is called a Levallois preferential flake. The flakes detached in order to prepare the core for production are also quite specific and are called Levallois preparation flakes.

Lithic reduction Refers to the subtractive process by which a block of raw material is transformed, through successive stages, into a tool. This involves the detachment of ‘flakes’, ‘blades’, or bladelets using a hard (stone) or soft (wood, antler) hammer. The block or nodule may have to be rid of its outer part (roughing-out stage), before being prepared in order to give it an adequate shape for the subsequent operations. Once prepared, the block has become a preformed ‘core’, from which the desired products (flakes, blades, or bladelets) are obtained according to a variety of methods and techniques. These products can subsequently be transformed into tools.

Middle Palaeolithic (Europe) Refers to the time period beginning about 250 000 years ago and ending about 40 000-35 000years ago, during which a particular culture developed, the Mousterian, characterized by the use of flake tools. This culture is associated with Neandertal man. Five stable types of Mousterian industries have been recognized. Among these, the Quina Mousterian is characterized by high amounts of large, thick side-scrapers, the Mousterian of Acheulean Tradition by high amounts of bifaces.

Retouch Refers to removals carried out for the purpose of obtaining a tool.

Technology Refers to the methods and techniques implemented by prehistoric stone-knappers to produce artifacts corresponding to varied mental templates. The technological analysis of a lithic assemblage aims to reconstruct the ordered series of sequences that have to be carried out to obtain from a block of raw material the particular types of products sought by the knapper. These desired products are called end products, and can be either ‘blanks’ or ‘tools’.

Tool As opposed to blanks, refers to retouched products, that is, products that are modified by the removal of flakes (termed ‘retouch’ flakes) along one, both, or part of their edges. Many formal tool types have been recognized for the Middle and Upper Palaeolithic, for example, scrapers, limaces, burins, ‘bifaces’. When the edges of the tools have become blunt through use, they are renovated by means of resharpening flakes.

Upper Palaeolithic (Europe) Refers to the time period beginning about 40 000-35 000 years ago and ending about 10 000 years ago, during which successive cultures rose and developed: the major ones are the Aurignacian, the Gravettian, the Solutrean, the Magdalenian. Among other traits, these cultures are characterized by industries based on the systematic production of blade and bladelet tools in addition to flake tools. The associated human remains belong to anatomically modern humans (Homo sapiens sapiens). The transition with Middle Palaeolithic industries is represented in eastern central Europe by the Szeletian. Because no human remains were recovered, it is still unclear whether Szeletian industries were made by Neandertals or by modern humans.