An Encyclopaedia of Indian Archaeology v1.c21.s15.4

v1.c21.s15.4

The Upper Palaeolithic [4.4] phase witnesses a wholesale transformation in stone technology inasmuch as the majority of tools are made on long and parallel-sided flakes technically known as blades. The blade technique consists of the selection of elongated nodules or pebbles whose surfaces as well as the ends (to serve as platforms) are prepared carefully. Then a series of blades is detached along the long axis either by the punch technique or by applying pressure with the chest. Backing or blunting, edge-retouch and burin faceting are the chief forms of secondary working used for turning these blanks into various finished types like backed blades, retouched blades, points, borers and burins. The incised decoration found on ostrich eggshell pieces from PATNE and the small female figurine of bone from the BELAN valley would appear to have involved the use of burins. Another aspect of the Upper Palaeolithic technology concerns the bone tools (points, spatulae, etc.) reported from the limestone caves in the Kurnool region of Andhra Pradesh (cf. BILLA SURGAM). These are made on splinters detached by the well-known groove-and-splinter technique and then finished off by means of grinding.