History of Technology in India, Vol. I: From Antiquity to c. 1200 A.D. v1.c10.s1.t6: Classification of Flake/Blade Types
History of Technology in India, Vol. I: From Antiquity to c. 1200 A.D. v1.c10.s1.t6
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Classification of Flake/Blade Types
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1. *Unprepared Flake* : The flakes of this group had no preparatory marks. That is to say the dorsal surface and the striking platform in this case are cortexed (pebble surface or natural nodule surface).
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2. *Flakes with unprepared dorsal surface but prepared and unfaceted striking platform* : The dorsal surface of this flake type is similar to the above, but the striking platform, being prepared by single blow, shows an unfaceted plain surface.
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3. *Flake with Unprepared Dorsal Surface and Prepared & Faceted Striking Platform* : Dorsal surface is similar to the types 1 & 2, but the striking platform of the flakes of this group have prepared striking platform having more than one negative scar ridges or facetes.
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4. *Flake with Partially Flaked Dorsal Surface and Unprepared Striking Platform* : The specimens with partially flaked dorsal surface have only one or two and rarely three half negatives or preparatory scars and nearly half of the surface of the dorsal and entire striking platform retaining unworked surface.
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5. *Flake with Partially Flaked Dorsal Surface and Prepared, Unfaceted Striking Platform.*
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6. *Flake with partially flaked dorsal surface and prepared, faceted striking platform.*
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7. *Flake with Prepared Dorsal Surface and Unprepared Striking- platform:* The flake of this group, though having prepared or flaked dorsal surface, do not exhibit any definite pattern of preparation and thus could be classified as Levallois flake.
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8. *Flake with Prepared or Flaked Dorsal Surface and Prepared, Unfaceted Striking Platform.*
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9. *Flake with Prepared or Flaked Dorsal Surface and prepared, faceted striking platform.*
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10. *Levallois Flake with Unfaceted Striking Platform:* The dorsal surface of this type of flake has quite a few centrally directed half negative scars, forming a hump in the centre of the specimen.
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11. *Levallois Flake with Faceted Striking Platform.*
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12. *Levallois Point:* The flake of the group are triangular shaped with a central ridge or a small point/triangular negative scar. The striking platform of these flakes are broad and faceted. These flakes are detached from specially prepared triangular shaped cores with central ridge and/or triangle-scar and ridge, and broad faceted striking platform at the wider end (Bordes, 1961, p.1).
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13. *Blade with Unfaceted Striking Platform.*
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14. *Blade with faceted Striking Platform.*
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15. *Blade with Micro Striking Platform:* This group has very tiny striking platform, which is negligible in comparison to the prominent cone. The evidence of the application of pressure flaking is demonstrated in this category.
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In correspondence with the above mentioned flake/blade types, nine major types of cores were recognized in the Palaeolithic collections of India (Jayaswal, 1978, p. 18).
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1. *Unprepared Core.*
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2. *Core with Unprepared Dorsal Surface and Prepared Striking Platform.*
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3. *Core with Partially Prepared Dorsal Surface and Unprepared Striking Platform.*
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4. *Core with Partially Prepared Dorsal and Prepared Striking Platform.*
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5. *Core with Prepared Dorsal Surface and Unprepared Striking Platform.*
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6. *Core with Prepared Dorsal Surface and Prepared Striking Platform.*
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7. *Levallois Core:* The core of this group are also named ‘Tortoise core’. The centrally directed preparation scars form a hump in the centre which resembles the shape of the turtle back. The striking platform is generally prepared at one of the part of the periphery of the core at nearly 90 angle to the dorsal face (Fig.8).
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8. *Bifacial Discoidal Core* : It is a bifacially prepared roughly circular or oval core with bi-convex cross-section. The flake- scars on the two surfaces denote that the usually elongated centripetal flakes have been removed from them, alternately, after the usual Levallois type of preparation (*Fig.9*). The flaking agree perfectly with that of the discoidal Mousterian cores, but at the same time it differs from them at least on one point. The specimens of the Indian Palaeolithic industries have been flaked bi-facially, while in the case of the European cores it is limited to the dorsal surface only (Bordes, 1961, pp.72-73).
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Fig.8. Levallois Core
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Fig.9. Mousterian Core
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9. *Blade Core* : Cores for detaching blades are generally elongated specimens with ridge or ridges running throughout the length or a major part of the length. These may have one or two striking platform located on the end/ends, at a low angle to the dorsal face.
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The unprepared flakes and cores have been found in varying proportions in all the three Palaeolithic phases of the Indian sub-continent. As many as four types within this group has been noticed (Jayaswal, 1978, pp.20-21). These are :-
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(1) Massive flakes,
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(2) Massive cleaver-shaped flakes,
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(3) Small flakes, and
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(4) By-products.
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(1) Massive Flakes - Unprepared : This group is also known as Clactonian flakes or flakes detached by Block-on-block technique (Bordes, 1961, p. 13). Named after the type site of Clacton-on- Sea in England, the Clactonian technique is said to be characterized by the use of block-on-block method. Big blocks of stones are hit against the stationary block or anvil to acquire flakes. The resultant flakes are massive having wide angle (about 120) between the striking platform and the ventral surface. Due to the heavy blow and hard hit these flakes retain prominent cone of percussion. In India such flakes have been found associating the Pebble tool industries of the Potwar region (De Terra & Paterson, 1939), and the Lower Palaeolithic industry of the Narmada basin (Khatri A.P. 1963, p. 186). In the tradition of typical Clactonian flakes they are characterized by unprepared dorsal surface and striking platform and high angle between the striking platform and the ventral surface. These are also massive sized specimens.
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(2) Massive Cleaver-shaped Flakes - Unprepared flakes: Though similar in technique and size to the preceding one, this group is characterized by cleaver-shaped flakes. Unique to the Nagarjunakonda valley, the flakes of this category have unprepared dorsal surface and striking platform, but are cleaver shaped (Jayaswal, 1978, p. 20). Technologically they exhibit a very striking feature. Only those boulders which showed projecting natural curvatures of cleaver shape were selected for detaching these flakes (Fig. 10). Thereafter, a single heavy blow at the centre of the curvature was sufficient to produce a broad flake having a cleaver-edge on one side.
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It may, thus, be said that without preparation, the shape of the flake was determined before its separation from the core. These flakes also seem to be detached by block-on-block technique, but one wonders whether these can be logically grouped under Clactonian flakes, as their shapes could be predetermined on the core in accordance with the available natural curvatures.
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(3) Small Flakes - Unprepared : Frequently found in the Lower and Middle Palaeolithic industries, this group of flakes are smaller than the above two, but larger than the by-products. A sizable percentage of these are retouched and converted into finished tools such as side-scrapers, points etc. The technique applied for obtaining this group appears to be the direct percussion stone hammer technique.
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Fig. 10. Cleaver from Nagarjunkonda Valley
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(4) By-products : This group of flakes frequently occurs in the Pebble tool industries. The stone hammer direct percussion technique, whenever applied for manufacturing crude implements like chopper and chopping tools, produces a number of these flakes. But, the separation of by-products from the small intentionally detached flakes of the third group, needs caution. Though it may not always be possible to group them with confidence, this author has suggested a tentative method (Jayaswal 1978, pp. 7, 17). It was observed that the by-products are usually much smaller than those flakes of an industry which have either been converted into finished tools or were seemingly meant to be so. These are comparatively smaller than the biggest scar appearing on the artifact of an industry. Often they are not retouched and do not carry definite marks of preparation. It may be mentioned that some of the flakes with partially flaked dorsal surface and flaked but unfaceted striking platforms also belong to the by-product categories.
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It may be mentioned that in the proposed classification there are three other flake types namely, flakes with unprepared dorsal surface but prepared striking platform, partially prepared flakes, and prepared flakes which deserve a few line of explanation. If compared with some of the flakes of the typical Clactonian industries of England, several specimens of the first two types may be found strikingly similar to them. The partially prepared flakes usually bear one or two half negatives on the dorsal surface. It can hardly be proved that these half negatives are marks of core preparation. But at times it is equally difficult to disapprove it either. Many specimens which have been grouped by us as prepared flakes, similarly may be termed as Levallois, if attempts were made to find parallels in some of the European publications (Bordes F. 1961).
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There are others in this very group which seem to be the result of imperfect Levallois technique and may be termed as ‘Proto- Levallois’ or even ‘Atypical Levallois’ (Bordes, 1961, p. 13).
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Levallois technique : It is one of the most misunderstood techniques of the Palaeolithic period. Not only there has been debate for the use of nomenclatures, which was mentioned earlier in this paper, but even the processes involved in this technique are not always clear. F. Borde’s explanations have been found to be most logical and are based on practical experience (Bordes, 1961, pp. 17-20). His definitions and technological classifications have been mostly followed here.
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The broad definition of Levallois technique includes more than one method of obtaining flake and blade. The principle underlying this technique is that the form of the flake/blade is predetermined on the core before it is detached. This is achieved by the preparation of cores. Preparation of core is confined primarily to the dorsal or the surface from which the flake is to be obtained, and the striking platform on which the final blow is delivered. The dorsal surface is prepared with a view to diverting force in various ways, such as to have circular, oval, cleaver-shaped, triangular or rectangular periphery. The distribution of the applied force in these manners could yield flakes of the desired shapes. On the other hand the nature, extent and position of striking platform (the angle between the dorsal and the platform) also needed preparation. The position and strength of blow was another important factor for the process. Due to various ways of the core preparation at least four distinct categories of flakes could be obtained by application of the Levallois technique. These are - Levallois technique for oval and circular flakes, Levallois point technique, Para-Levallois, and Levallois blade technique.
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(1) Levallois Technique for detaching Oval and Circular Flakes: Made on medium sized oval or circular lump of stone, this technique is also known as ‘Tortoise core techniques’. The dorsal surface of a typical tortoise core is prepared by centrally directed preparatory flakes, which form a hump in the centre. The striking platform is prepared at one of the ends by removing small chips or facetes (Fig.8). The applied blow on the striking platform in this case result in the breakage of circular or oval flake depending on the form of the core and the placement of the hump on the core.
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In our classification the oval and round shaped flakes of types 10 and 11 belong to this category. In the Paleolithic collections of India the use of Levallois technique is quite well represented. For example, in the Lower Palaeolithic industries the proportion of Levallois flakes occupies upto 15%, while in some of the Middle Palaeolithic industries they form 42% of the flake group (Jayaswal, 1978, p. 199). This feature is quite contrary to the general belief that Levallois technique is poorly represented in the Indian sub-continent.
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(2) Technique of Levallois Point : The type 12 of our flake/blade classification includes those triangular flakes which were detached by Levallois technique. Levallois point in general are very rare in all the Indian Palaeolithic phase (Jayaswal, 1978, p. 199).
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In the Lower Palaeolithic phase only though almost fifty percent of the industries had Levallois points, yet their number were found to be very limited (Jayaswal, 1978, Table - 2, pp.138-139). The percentage of Levallois points in the Lower Palaeolithic industries never exceeded 1.9%. In comparison to this, the type is well represented in the Middle Palaeolithic industries of the sub-continent (Jayaswal, 1978, Table - 6, pp 170 - 171). But only three industries viz., Vedullacervu, Tamkur and Mahadeo-piparia evidence the use of this technique.
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This feature is very different from Europe, particularly the western part, where Levallois technique in general and Points in particular were predominating typical Mousterian industries.
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(3) Para-Levallois Technique : This technique is also known in the literature on the Palaeolithic period as Victoria - west and Vaal technique, after the regions in Africa, where Acheulian cleavers made on broad flakes were found in plenty (Bordes, 1968, p. 69). The sides or the periphery of large boulder or block of stone is prepared by removing a few large flakes from top and bottom. Striking platform is prepared on a part of the top face. A heavy blow when delivered at the striking platform, results in a broad cleaver-shaped flakes with sharp and broad cutting edge (Fig.11). A little working on the side or sides of such a flake should make a perfect cleaver. In the Palaeolithic industries of India the presence of this technique is found in most of the advanced Achulian industries e.g., Attirampakkam, Paisra, Belan valley etc. Dominant proportion of such cleavers and cleaver- flakes were noticed by this author in the tool-kit of Lalitpur and Chirki Nevasa (Jayaswal, 1978, p. 22).
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The raw material used for Lalitpur industry is granite while for Chiriki-Nevasa the dolerite was used. The big blocks of stones in both of the cases were obtained from the nearby outcrops of Bundelkhand granite and dyke of dolerite. The angular and irregular surfaces of the blocks were prepared in the manner of Para-Levallois, and cleaver-shaped flakes were detached. The flakes detached were mostly broad and were of such perfection that only a little secondary working was needed to covert them into perfect finished cleavers.
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Fig.11. Para-Levallois Cleaver-flake from Paisra
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(4) *Levallois Blade Technique* : Blades detached by Levallois technique evidence a transition between the flake detaching technique and the blade techniques. In fact it is imperfect or proto-technique of obtaining blade. The broad and rectangular specimens of this category many a times have lesser length in comparison to the ratio of breadth. Thus, they fall short of the definition of true blades. Presence of this technique, to the best of our knowledge is neither reported nor has this author observed in the Indian Stone Age collections. Various scholars have experimented on the different ways of obtaining blades. The result acquired helped understanding and elaborating the processes of blade detaching techniques. Experiments carried out by Bordes and Crabtree (1969), has well demonstrated the process. They write, “ the first step of core preparation is to eliminate the rounded surface and establish at first striking platform for preparation of a ridge which is to guide the first blade.
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Once a striking platform is established by a side blow at one end, one can immediately begin taking off blades, the first of which will have its dorsal side completely covered with cortex” (Bordes & Crabtree 1969, pp. 3-4).
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In many types the striking platform is almost at a right angle to the plane of the core. Various methods like ‘pressure flaking’ (Sankalia, 1964, pp 34-8), and indirect percussion have been suggested for detaching a series of blades by rotating a single core. The cores could be of a various shapes i.e., rectangular, pyramidal and prismatic etc.
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Blades are rare in the Lower and the Middle Palaeolithic industries of India (Jayaswal, 1978, p. 199). The maximum frequency points of the two phases are 6% and 12% respectively. But, the industries of the Upper Palaeolithic period of the Chittoor and Kurnool districts of Andhra Pradesh, Belan valley of Uttar Pradesh and Upper Son valley of Madhya Pradesh indicate that more than fifty percent of flake/blade group belonged to the category of blade. It was also observed that the blades of the Belan and the Son valleys were comparatively longer than those of the Andhra Pradesh group (Jayaswal, 1978, p. 192). But, in comparison to Europe the blade and blade tools of the Upper Palaeolithic phase of India are marked by less perfect techniques and restricted typological forms.
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The detailed technological studies which were carried out by the present author some time back have brought to notice some interesting features. For instance, it was noticed that the technological attainments of the Lower and Middle Palaeolithic periods in India did not differ widely from each other.
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However, there seems to be a general preference for cruder techniques in the Lower Palaeolithic industries.
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The proportion of advanced techniques such as Levallois and blade detaching techniques are slightly better in the Middle Palaeolithic phase. This position is very much different than that of Europe, where the Levallois technique is one of the diagnostic traits of the Middle Palaeolithic phase.
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Similarly, it was observed that, the broad and oval shaped flakes were more common in the Lower Palaeolithic phase of India, while the elongated and round flakes were somewhat more frequent in the Middle Palaeolithic. Besides, no evidence could be retrieved to suggest that particular shapes of flakes were acquired for some typical tool forms. The only exception to this observation was the cleaver-shaped flake of the Acheulian industries. Further, it was noted that the shape of the parent core, its preparation, the angle of stroke given to detach the flake and the amount of force applied for the purpose, were the major factors responsible for determining the shape of flake/blade. During the course of our analysis of the Palaeolithic technology, it was noted that raw material is the other factor which seems to have influenced the techniques and size of flakes and blades (Jayaswal, 1978, pp. 206-211). The form and nature of raw material in a particular region i.e., the size, shape and form of nodules, pebbles and block of stones along with their composition appears to be the guiding factors. For instance, if only small pebbles were available as raw material in a region, then the prehistoric man of the region was not in a position to make very big tools out of them. On the contrary, if big blocks of stones were to be selected for the purpose in another region, the first action of the prehistoric man for manufacturing implements would be to avail manageable flakes from them and then work them out into desired tools. The Lower Palaeolithic industries from the factory sites of the Belan-Seoti valley provide illustrative example of the latter instance. Though the Lower Palaeolithic industries in general are dominated by artifacts made on core, yet the Belan group of industries show the predominance of flakes and flake-tools. For, it was necessary in this region to detach flakes first, from the big quartzite blocks and then convert them into finished tools or some times into cores for detaching flakes and blades.
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It was also attempted to determine the influence of the composition of raw material on technology, during our study of Palaeolithic techniques (Jayaswal, 1972-73, pp. 64-70). For this, twelve Middle Palaeolithic industries were selected and classified within three groups on the basis of the use of raw material. These were - (1) Industries made on quartzite (rough grained rock); (2) Industries made on quartzite and minerals (rough grained and fine grained siliceous stones); and, (3) Industries consisting of tools of minerals only (fine grained siliceous rocks like chert, jasper, chalcedony etc.). The industries of Vedullachervu, Nandipalle, Vadamanu and Ramgarhwa belonged to the first group, while Mahaeo-piparia, Adamgarh, Anagwadi and Kurnool show the use of both the types of stones. The last group is formed by the industries of Tamakur, Nalgonda, Luni and Kovalli.
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The percentages of Levallois element (both flake and point) indicated that this technique was more frequently employed in areas where quartzite was used for manufacturing tools. Conversely, it was least in vogue in those industries which were made on fine grained stones. In case of such industries where both the kinds of stones were used, it is quartzite which seems to be more suitable for manufacturing Levallois flakes and points.
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Technological variation within a typological group of industries of the Lower Palaeolithic phase also depended on the nature of raw material. The industries of Nagarjunakonda-1 and Chirki-Nevasa, for instance, belonged to one typological group viz., cleaver dominated Acheulian group. Though cleavers were found to be dominating both of these industries, great variation was noticed in the techniques of detaching cleaver-flakes. In Nagarjunakonda valley big boulders of quartzite were available to the Acheulian man. He cleverly exploited their natural curvatures for obtaining cleaver-shaped flakes without artificially preparing the surface of the cores (Fig.10). In contrast to this at Chirki-Nevasa, the raw material was obtained from the nearby dykes of dolerite. The angular blocks of stones needed a thorough preparation before detaching desired flakes. The cleaver-flake of Chirki-Nevasa tool-kit evidence use of Para-Levallois (Fig.11). The form of raw material, thus seems to be one of the significant factors responsible for the predominance of unprepared cleaver- shaped flakes in the Nagarjunakonda industry and of the prepared and Levallois flakes in Chirki-Nevasa industry.