By combining forces judiciously, the knapper can select from a range of options to make the fracture travel where he wants. For the archaeologist, the results can reveal what the knapper did. Using a hammer to pound flakes off is aptly called percussion. Methods of percussion proven effective by ancient masters and modern knappers are described for quarrying, getting flakes from cores, and making bifaces. This book provides directions on how to handle tools, and just where and how to hit for maximum advantage.
Many helpful hints gleaned from years of experience make ideal flakes easy and dependable.
No matter how well percussion is done, subtle refinements by pressure can improve the stone tool. Over the course of time, archaeological evidence shows that few people have ever been highly skilled at pressure flaking, but it is still what most knappers strive to excel in. Detailed illustrated discussions cover many ways of making pressure flakes, including special effects like patterned flaking and notches. They make an edge, shape a tool, improve surface contour, thin a tool, serve as a tool, or are simply a result of damage. It is easier to control a flake if you also know its formation happens in separate episodes of initiation, propagation and termination.