ANTHROPOLOGIE
International Journal of Human Diversity and Evolution
 
Coverage: 1923-1941 (Vols. I-XIX) & 1962-2023 (Vols. 1-61)
ISSN 0323-1119 (Print)
ISSN 2570-9127 (Online)
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Full text of article
'Kot M, Richter J, 2012: Leafpoints or rather "leafknives"? A technological analysis of bifacially shaped artefacts from Mauern, Germany. Anthropologie (Brno) 50, 3: 361-375'.
 
Abstract
The article shows the results of a scar pattern analysis of 21 bifacially worked artefacts from the site Weinberghohlen (Mauern) in the Altmuhl Valley, Germany. A characteristic feature of the described tools is the significant asymmetry of one edge, which is much more convex than the other one. The results show that none of the analysed tools bear traces of an idea of creating a symmetric tool with two edges convergent at the exposed tip. A lot more effort was put on the retouch of the edge and its course than on exposing the tip and making the tool more symmetrical. The asymmetry appeared at the moment of shaping the edges, the retouch has slightly deepened it. There is no trace of sequences which eliminated the asymmetry and form the shape of the tool. Therefore, we may conclude that none of the analysed tools can be called leafpoints from a technological point of view. The raw material used to produce tools from Mauern certainly conditioned the form of the tools. The small thickness of flat flint slabs meant that in order to obtain a usable edge it was necessary to perform broad flat decorticating removals on both sides. Further knapping had to follow the same pattern, so as not to blunt the edge. At the same time the thickness of the material was too small to create tools in the type of Micoquian Keilmesser, but the raw material allowed for producing tools with long working edges. It was logical, therefore, to change the system of repair of one edge into a tool in which one could use subsequently fragments of edges and then abandon them. Therefore analysed tool should be rather called "leafknives" than leafpoints.
 
Keywords
Middle/Upper Palaeolithic transition - Altmühlian - Leafpoints - Technology - Scar pattern analysis - Raw material
 
 
 
 

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