Some Details of Flint Fracture

Extract

It is my purpose in this paper to tabulate and describe some of the details of flint fracture, which, in my opinion, are very necessary for the prehistorian to understand and recognise, and a knowledge of which makes the study of flint implements much easier and more entertaining. The correctness of some of my explanations of these various details may be challenged, but the majority of them are, I think, in accord with the views of most investigators and will be generally accepted.

A part of the ground which will be traversed in this paper has already been gone over, but I am anxious to put all the facts at present ascertained regarding the fracture of flint into a compact form which can easily be referred to and may be of use to serious prehistorians. I hope that this will be considered sufficient excuse for recapitulating some of the facts which have already been brought forward.

Striking Platforms. When an ordinary rounded nodule of flint is selected with a view to produce an implement from it by flaking, it is necessary, owing to the difficulty of removing flakes from a rounded or irregular surface, to break off a portion of the nodule so that a flat surface is produced from which flakes can be struck with precision. The flakes which are removed will exhibit, just above the point where the blows fell which detached them (known as “the point of impact”), a portion of this flat surface, and this is termed the “striking platform.”