Lithic Technology

Stone tool technology

Simple, but not easy

Good example of culture as a “mental template”

Lithic Technology

Core Tool Technology

Flake Tool Technology

Blade Tool Technology

Don Crabtree's Law “the greater the degree of final finishing applied to a stone artifact, whether by flaking, grinding and/or polishing, the harder it is to conclude the lithic reduction process which produced the stone artifact."

Lithic Technology

A typical atlatl is shaped like a large 2 foot long crochet hook with finger loops at the end. The hook is inserted into a carved depression in the end of the spear or dart and the spear is thrown with a motion similar to throwing a baseball. This extension of the arm creates 2 1/2 times the force and results in being able to throw the spear 2 1/2 times the distance allowing for hunting at a distance.

The Atlatl

An atlatl dart is usually made of three major elements: the main shaft, foreshaft, and projectile point.

Microliths

They are very small stone artifacts usually made from sections of small blades. They were too small to be used by themselves and would have been set into wooden or bone handles to make composite tools, some of which have been found

Polished Stone Axe (Celt)Mano and Metate with BowlStone Adze

Ground and Polished Tools

Made with tough, dense material such as basalt, quartzite, mudstone, etc. This material could not be shaped by chipping or flaking. Instead it was shaped by pecking and crushing the surface, then grinding and polishing.

Arrow Points

Lithic Technologies in Order of Appearance

Core Tool Technology

Flake Tool Technology

Blade Tool Technology

Ground and Polished Tools

Atl-Atl Points

Microliths

Arrow Points