An Encyclopaedia of Indian Archaeology v1.c9.s3.7

v1.c9.s3.7

As in raw material, a wholesale transformation took place in the realm of technology inasmuch as flakes replaced nodules and pebbles as the chief category of blanks for the manufacture of tools. It is for this reason that the Middle Palaeolithic industries are often called flake-tool industries. These blanks were obtained from nodules or pebbles by means of the stone hammer, soft hammer and prepared core (Levallois) techniques [16.15.1]. They might be oval, round, square, elongate or irregular in shape. In some industries thick blade-like flakes, known as flake-blades, and even true blades were used for the making of tools. All these blanks were transformed into finished tools by means of various forms of secondary working. In the case of scrapers the edges were either retouched or chipped. Points were also obtained by means of edge-chipping and retouch; the tanged butt was obtained by way of shouldering the margins for a certain length at the distal end. The bifacial points occurring at some of the sites were fashioned by means of surface working involving the removal of small and shallow flakes from both the surfaces. In the borer group of artefacts the edge was notched to a concave shape on one or both sides of the working end.