History of Technology in India, Vol. I: From Antiquity to c. 1200 A.D. v1.c10.s1.t5: B. Techniques for obtaining flakes & blades
History of Technology in India, Vol. I: From Antiquity to c. 1200 A.D. v1.c10.s1.t5
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B. Techniques for obtaining flakes & blades
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All the lithic implements discussed above belong to the category of core tools, as these were chipped from a lump of rock or stone. There are, however, majority of tools, in all the three phases of the Palaeolithic period, which are made on flakes (*Fig.6*). A specialized form of flake e.g. long (length more than double or more the breadth), parallel sided and thin is referred to as blade, which evidence culmination of flake detaching technique. For, the attainments of this technique were the input of minimum labour, wastage of very little raw material, but output of large working edges.
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It may not be just a coincidence that the blade technology was perfected by the *Homo Sapiens* the proto-type of the modern man. Implements made on flakes though were common during many of the Lower Palaeolithic industries, it was the Middle Palaeolithic period in which flake element predominated and the technology of obtaining various forms of flakes were perfected. It is interesting to note that the prehistoric man, contemporary to this period, the Neanderthal man, had cranial capacity at times more than even some of the present day men.
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Fig.7. Flake & Blade Types
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The basic factor which controls the size and shape of flake is known as mass manipulation or the manner in which the delivered force on a core travels. It has been explained by the prehistorians that the force which is applied on the surface of a stone, traverses through the weaker zones and avoids the regions with accumulated mass. In other words the depressions on the core forms the weaker areas through which force spreads easily and is effective, while the raised or thicker parts of the lump are the obstructions which is avoided by the force. In this mechanism by chipping the surface of lump of stone various kinds of weaker- zones and masses could be artificially created on the core, which could predetermine the form and size of the flake. Prehistoric man had understood this by experience, and could utilize this process to its advantage. Experiments conducted by prehistorians (Bordes, 1961; Bordes & Crabtree, 1969) has helped in replicating and, thus, understanding various flake/blade detaching mechanism of the prehistoric times.
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Flakes (Fig.6) which are important clues for the Palaeolithic technology can be classified in many ways. For instance, on account of the objective of their detachment these form two broad groups viz., the by-products and the intentionally detached flakes meant for making implements. The by-products or the dressing flakes may be the result of the tool working or core dressing process and are the flaking debris.
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But, the flakes which were obtained for making tools were also acquired by various methods, such as the Clactonian, the Levallois and the Mousterian etc., which we shall discuss later. But, separation of flakes into a few broad groups and their sub- groups is not easy and beyond debate. Due to this reason, the present author adopted a descriptive criterion for classification of flakes denoting various flaking techniques of the Palaeolithic period of India (Jayaswal, 1978, pp. 15-17). The classification was based on the nature of the dorsal surface and the striking platform. These categories were fifteen (Fig.7). Though descriptive terminologies were used for these categories, a few well defined terms as Levallois flake, Levallois point and blade etc., were retained. A brief description of the proposed classification and important features of the Palaeolithic technology which had emerged from our study has been mentioned below.