Conservation of Flint
This is the result of a study to see how many usable points and tools that I could make from one flint cobble like the one in the upper right. The debitage pile amounted to a small handful of possibly usable micro chips which are not pictured here. The points at 1 and 2 o’clock were made with a single strike of the baton. The next four points clockwise are either uni-facially or bi-facially knapped. They were made from the flattest of the prismatic blades struck from the core at the center. The core has some usable material left. It is a handy size and shape to carry on a hunting expedition in a pocket.
These points did not take much time to make and while they are more fragile than points made by bi-face reduction, they are somewhat disposable because of the lack of time invested in making them. This project took me about 2 hours to complete. Most of the time was spent retouching the four uni-facially or bi-facially knapped points. The two points in the lower right show the difference between a uni-facially knapped and bi-facially knapped points.
Points and tools of this kind were often produced in Europe 18,000 to 10,000 years ago by cultures of the upper paleolithic in western Europe. Many of the tools were used to carve very intricate tools and weapons of ivory and reindeer antler. High levels of art were evident during this period which lasted until about the end of the last ice age.