Tool Typology and Technology

Stone Tool Typology

Typology is the method the

archaeologist uses to arrange the
artifacts in a scheme to show gradual
development or degeneration through
time. Artifact is the object deliberately
made by man exhibiting certain
characters for a purpose, and the most
convincing character of the man made
tool is the presence of alternate flaking
to produce a regular set pattern. Based
on these specific characters an artifact
may be classified as a type.

Prehistoric archaeology is a study mainly of stone and bone tools, though it

has occasionally to deal with other artifacts as well. These tools are being the
remains of the non-living culture, archaeologists have had to coin some names
mostly on the form and technique as well as the likely function of the tools, say
handaxe, chopper, scraper, blade, etc. Here the tools are understood as the artifacts
made by man deliberately for certain purposes and will have a regular set pattern in
both technique and form.

The content of the present programme is confined to the Stone tools only of
the Stone Age. Regularly patterned tools are considered as the archaeological sign
of culture. These early stone tools were apparently made by striking a stone with
another stone, a technique known as percussion flaking. The piece of stone thus
removed and the bigger lump is respectively known as flake and core, and both
these sharp-edged flakes and cores could be used as tools. If the stone has facets
removed from only one surface of the cutting edge, we call it a unifacial tool, and
when facets are present on both the surfaces of the cutting edge, it is called bifacial
tool.

Stone Tool Types

Handaxe:
Handaxe is
considered as all-
purpose tool used
in the naked hand
without handle,
and hence the
name. It is a
bifacial tool, and is
one of the earliest
tools found at
Abbeville in
France by Boucher
de Perthes in 1836.
It is the diagnostic
tool of the Lower Palaeolithic industries, such as Abbevillian and Acheulian, and
of one variety of the Mousterian. The pear-shaped type that has the shape of the
fruit pear, with thick flaked or unflaked pebble butt for suitable handgrip and
bifacially flaked narrow cutting edge, characterizes the hand axe of the Abbevillian
industry. The flake scars are generally large with deep facets resulted probably by
striking with a stone hammer.

In the Acheulian industry handaxes are represented by ovates, lanceolates

and cordiforms, later followed by the micoquian types. A feature of certain axes of
the Acheulian tradition is reverse S-twisted profile. The flake scars present on
these types of handaxes are generally small and slender with flattish facets
resulting from the cylinder hammer technique.

Chopper: It is a unifacial tool, made generally of a suitable pebble by flaking on

one side only. It is the characteristic tool type of the culture of Soan in Punjab and
the like in the Mainland Southeast Asia.

Chopping Tool: It is made on a core or split pebble by flaking alternately from

both the surfaces resulting to a jagged wavy cutting edge.

Cleaver: It is an axe, made on a lump or massive flake, with a broad edge

produced by the intersection of a primary flake surface with one or more flake
scars on the other side. It is also characteristic tool type of the Acheulian industry
of the Lower Palaeolithic culture.

Pick: This is a heavy pointed tool distinguished from the handaxe by its massive
cross-section and elongated pointed edge.

Scraper: An artifact made mostly either on a flake or blade for scrapping the skin
of animals, thin wooden or bamboo shafts, etc. According to the position and
nature of the edge for scrapping, it is named as side scraper, end scraper, round
scraper, convex scraper and concave or hollow scraper.

Borer or graver: It has a thick projected boring edge, which has been produced
by retouching carefully. It is made on either a flake or nodule by making deep
notches on the sides. This type of tool is used in boring holes for providing
fastening attachments of the skin cloth.

Point: It is generally made on a flake having a pointed edge produced by careful

retouches. In form it is triangular, semi-triangular and roughly leaf-shaped; some
have incipient tang and barb. Small, thin leaf-shaped points could have been served
as arrowheads, whereas the larger ones could have been used as spearheads. These
are found during the Middle Palaeolithic and later periods.

Blade: It is a long and thin parallel-

sided flake having one or more mid-
ridges on the dorsal. This type of tool
is very common since the Upper
Palaeolithic times. It is used as knife
when one of the sides is with blunting
retouch down all or part to provide a
comfortable surface for the finger
during use.
Burin or Graver: It is the tool with a narrow chiseled edge made on either a
flake or blade. Such a tool is regarded as the hallmark of the Upper Palaeolithic
culture. These were primarily used for engraving on soft stone or bone and on the
walls of the caves or rock-shelters. It is also a tool for making slots in wood or
bone.

Microlith: It is a very small tool made on a blade or flake, often less than an inch
long. Microliths are known as composite tool, because these could be used
effectively by hafting one or more microliths to a shaft. Microliths have various
forms, of which triangle, trapeze and lunate are very common; and it is the
characteristic tool type of the Mesolithic culture in the Old World; however, it
continued to be used as sickle blade in the Neolithic period too.

Neolithic Celt: It is a tool with smooth surfaces, some polished, and used as axe
or adze after hafting to a handle during the Neolithic culture.

Chisel: It is a small, narrow, cylindrical or rectangular tool with two of its sides
tapering half way down the cutting edge. The butt end is generally thick for
hammering.

Ring-Stone: It is generally circular or spherical stone tool with a hole at the

middle to hold the shaft of the digging stick or mace.

Stone Tool Technology

We can broadly group the Palaeolithic stone tools as core tool, flake tool and
blade tool. The tool made out of the core of a lump of stone by struking flakes to
form the desired shape, butt and cutting edge is called core tool. The choppers,
chopping tool, handaxe, pick and cleaver best represent core tools. However, a few
hand axes and cleavers are also made on massive flakes. Tools made from the
flakes detached from the core are called flake tools. Scrapers and points are
categorized as flake tools, while tools made on parallel-sided long flakes detached
from fluted core are better known as blade tools. Let us know discuss on the
technology used in making these stone tools by our prehistoric ancestors.

Lower Palaeolithic Stone Tool Technology

Before the tool is made the maker first conceptualized the would be shape,
size and utility. Then he will start searching for the raw material. To make a core
tool, say chopper or handaxe, it requires picking up a big lump of stone and
another stone to use as hammer. The lump of stone could be held in the hand, or
against the knee, or laid on another support and the hammer strikes at the edge of a
flattened area on the core at an oblique angle. Each blow with the hammer, if the
force delivered correctly, will detach a flake from the undersurface of the core. The
type of flake detached depends upon the exact position of the blow and its angle to
the striking platform. Generally, a thick flake with more protuberant cone or bulb
of percussion, on the main flake surface near the striking point, is resulted from
such flaking method. If a series of similar blows are delivered at the margin or
periphery of the core in alternate directions, a number of flake scars converging
towards the centre of the core are resulted. All these flakings to produce a desired
shape of the tool are called primary flakings. The blow of the hammer for the
primary flaking is freely delivered without control onto the edge of the lump
(core), and is also known as free flaking. The next step is to sharpen the cutting
edge and prepare a suitable handholding place by striking off smaller flakes. This
process of sharpening the edge and blunting of the butt or back is called secondary
flaking.

Another method of primary flaking, probably one of the most primitive

methods of producing flakes is to dash or swing the lump or core against the edge
of a larger stone or anvil. The block-on-block or anvil technique produces thick
flakes as in the case of the course direct stone hammer technique.

A method less commonly used was the bipolar technique. In this, the core
was placed upon the edge of another rock and struck with the hammer on the other
end and that resulted to the removal of flakes from both the ends. On the core,
there are flake scars with negative bulb of percussion at the opposite ends.

The advanced tool technology developed in the early Palaeolithic times is

the soft hammer technique or cylinder hammer technique. In this case, the hammer
is of a cylindrical bone or antler or hard wood; soft stone might also be used. When
the force is delivered along the rounded surface of the hammer, it spreads from a
larger area of contact resulting to the removal of thin flat flakes with diffused bulb.
The intersection of a series of these flat flakes produces a nearly straight cutting
edge. It is most likely that initial shaping was done with the stone hammer
technique and the cylinder hammer
technique was used for the finishing
process. This technique was first noticed in
making the handaxes at the type-site of
St.Acheul, France and is the characteristic
Acheulian industry.

Step flaking or resolved flaking is a

further advanced secondary flaking
technology developed during the early
Palaeolithic culture. In this case, the blow
of the hammer is controlled and delivered
directing towards the center of the core to
snap off a flake abruptly leaving an
angular junction with the core.

Middle Palaeolithic Stone Tool Technology

Palaeolithic man also made flake tools, and was the characteristic feature
particularly of the Middle Palaeolithic culture. Flakes detached during the process
of making core tools and those could not be used further are called waste flakes,
while some of these primary flakes detached by using anvil or direct stone hammer
might be used for making flake tools. However, a Clactonian technique coined
after the type-site at Clacton-on-sea, England was a technique used by the Lower
Palaeolithic people for obtaining a flake. In the clactonian technique a nodule with
fairly regular surfaces to serve as striking platform is selected. Having selected
such a nodule, a blow is given with another stone near the edge of the naturally
flatten surface (striking platform). If the blow is well directed and of suitable
strength, a good flake will be detached. Such flakes will have a prominent bulb of
percussion on the main flake surface, the surface of the flake that is originally in
contact with the core, near the striking platform. And the angle between the main
flake surface and the striking platform is always greater than 90 degree, or roughly
120 degree.
 Further advanced flake obtaining technique is the Levallois technique, an
artistic and skill full method of preparing flakes and cores that was first noticed
from Levallois Perret, Paris. In this method the core is carefully prepared initially
by roughly trimming the sides and then from the upper surface the cortex is
removed in such a manner that the flake scars usually meet in the centre. The next
step is to prepare a flattish place called striking platform by removing very small
flakes on the core preferably at the end point perpendicular to the axis. Such
prepared striking platform is called facetted platform. After that, a sharp blow is
given on the striking platform. A thin flake roughly oval or triangular with a clean
undersurface and a part of the striking platform is detached. The angle between the
striking platform and the main flake surface is almost equal to 90 degree. The
Levalloisian flake could be used as a tool without further retouching, as the
margins and the end are already sharp due to the truncating of the flake scars on
the upper surface with the clean undersurface. The core after the removal of an
oval flake is called a ‘tortoise core’, implying that the rounded undersurface
resembles the upper shell of a tortoise, while the fine conchoidal flake scar would
look like belly or ventral surface.

Opposed to this elaborate Levalloisian core preparation is the discoid core or

Mousterian technique. For this a lump of stone or large flake with suitably
flattened surfaces is taken, and is flaked around its edge to detach short and broad
flakes. The resultant core assumed a circular or disc shape. These flake scars on the
core could be used as striking platform for detaching a flake with 2 to 4 truncated
flake scars on the dorsal surface. These flakes are generally of 3 inch long and
several such flakes could be obtained from a single discoid core. However, only
one flake about six or more inch long could be detached from the Levalloisian
core. Hence, discoid core is considered more economical.

Upper Palaeolithic Stone Tool Technology

Tools made from the parallel-sided long flakes with at least a midridge on
the dorsal are called blade tools. Blade tools are considered as the characteristic
feature of the Upper Palaeolithic culture. For the production of blades, a core is
prepared by breaking a large nodule in two with a hammer stone. Using either
piece, the maker then knocks long, thin flakes from the outside rim leaving a
tapering fluted core. From this core a series of finish blades could be obtained by
striking off one by one in such as way that each includes a pair of the ridges left by
the previous round of flaking. Blades obtained by using the direct percussion with
a stone hammer are generally broad. But the narrow blades might have been
obtained by using punch technique. In this, the point of a punch of wood or bone
was placed on the striking platform of the core and a force applied by hammer
stone or pressure to the other end of the punch. Micro blades could also be
obtained with the punching technique and made different type of microliths.

Pressure flaking technique is another advanced flaking technique developed

during the Upper Palaeolithic culture to prepare beautiful tools like leaf-shaped
points. A pointed implement of wood, bone or stone is used for pressing against
the edge in a downward or upward movement. This results to the removal of a flat
flake from the lower or upper surface of the tool. The resultant flake scar because
of smallness is also known as fish scale scar.

Burin or graver is generally made on blade and rarely on flake. It is also one
of the characteristic tools of the Upper Palaeolithic industries. After obtaining a
blade from the fluted core, the tool maker first snaps off the pointed end. Next,
using a wood or antler hammer, he chips the broken end to make a striking
platform. The burin facet could be obtained by striking with a cylindrical batton
after resting the blade on an anvil stone at an angle or the blade is pressed sharply
against a stone to remove the tip. If a double bevel is desired, the blade is turned
over and flaked again.

Mesolithic Stone Tool Technology

Mesolithic culture is generally characterized by making tools on

microblades. As stated earlier microblades coud be obtained by using punching
technique. Small fluted cores are first prepared in the same process as done during
the Upper Palaeolithic period, and then another series of tiny flake-blades across
the core are detached with punching technique to truncate with the earlier
longitudinal flake scars. Next, the core is fixed on the ground with one end, then
the edge of the punch is placed on the flat striking platform near the truncated ridge
and suitable force is applied resulting in the removal of a micro-blade.

Neolithic Stone Tool Technology

Neolithic culture is characterized by the making of smoothed surface stone

tools generally known as celts. After the selection of a suitable piece of stone, it
has been shaped by flaking with a stone hammer. Next, the flaking ridges are
removed by striking lightly with a hammer, then ground on a coarse stone slab by
adding sand and water often to smoothen the surfaces. To prepare the cutting edge
it is further ground bifacially or unifacially to get the medial or lateral edge.

Pecking is also another technique adopted by the Neolithic man in making

the celt out of very hard and tough rock that is difficult in flaking. In this the maker
used a very narrow ended hammer (like the prism edge of the quartz) to peck all
over the surfaces of the stone, probably a suitably shaped pebble. Then ground all
over the surfaces.

Rectilinear shouldered celt is another Neolithic stone tool. The tenon of the
celt is supposed to be made by sawing technique. The sawing was believed to have
been done with a sharp edged sliver, might be of bamboo or shell, by adding sand
and water to serve as abrasive action.

Ring stone is another tool type found during the Neolithic culture to use as
weight of the digging stick. Drilling technique was used in making the hole. For
that, a suitably sized flattish pebble was selected and a depression is made on both
the surfaces at the centre by pecking with another stone hammer. Next, drilling on
the depression was done first from the upper surface with a bamboo tube rotating
between the palms, and often-adding sand and water for abrasive action; when it
drills about halfway it upturns and repeat the same process of drilling.

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