The Dimensions of Flint Implements

Extract

The study of flint implements has been confined in the past to a consideration of the characteristic features the implements display in virtue of the special uses for which they were designed, and of the methods employed in making them.

The determination of the position which a given series of implements occupies in the accepted hierarchy of industries has therefore been largely a matter for the expert. In making such a determination, the dimensions of the specimens in question have doubtless to be considered, along with the characteristic features to which reference has already been made. This consideration, however, has been of a general character, and the dimensions of the implements as such have not played a formal or precise part in the determination of an industry. Keen and accurate observation and a retentive memory for ‘form’ enable a competent expert to synthesise in his mind the dimensions and the special features of an assemblage of implements. On these he bases his opinion as to the cultural level to which the implements belong.

The object of the present paper is to place in the hands of the expert and the amateur alike simple statistical methods which, when applied to the dimensions of a sufficiently large group of implements, will enable the implements in question to be differentiated from others. In other words, the statistical treatment of the dimensions of a group of implements from a given industry yields results which are characteristic of that industry. At the same time it should clearly be understood that the use of statistical methods should supplement, but should not supplant, the consideration of the character of the flaking and of the special forms of the implements.