Prepared-core technique: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 20:23, 30 October 2020

Revision as of 23:38, 22 December 2020

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The '''prepared-core technique''' is means of producing [[stone tool]]s by first preparing common [[lithic core|stone cores]] into shapes that lend themselves to knapping off flakes that closely resemble the desired tool and require only minor touch-ups to be usable.

In contrast to the production of core tools like [[handaxes]], where cores themselves were the end product shaped and trimmed down by removal of flakes, in prepared-core technique large flakes are the product and the core is used to produce them. This shift made it faster and more resource-efficient, as multiple tools could be struck from a single piece of starting material.<ref>{{cite web|title=Middle Paleolithic Tool Technologies|url=http://www.anth.ucsb.edu/faculty/stsmith/classes/anth3/courseware/LithicTech/8_Middle_Paleolithic_Tool.html|publisher=University of California Santa Barbara, Department of Anthropology|accessdateaccess-date=16 September 2017}}</ref>

Prepared core preparation techniques are grouped under the label [[Mode 3]]{{dn|date=October 2020}} technology.<ref>{{cite web|title=Mode 3 Technologies and the Evolution of Modern Humans|url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/cambridge-archaeological-journal/article/mode-3-technologies-and-the-evolution-of-modern-humans/EE5A558A051F3C0F60A43B0955A3464E|publisher=Cambridge Archaeological Journal|accessdateaccess-date=30 October 2020}}</ref> The most well-known prepared core reduction method is the [[Levallois technique|Levallois]] technique<ref>{{cite web|title=Levallois technique|url=https://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/oi/authority.20110803100102137|publisher=Oxford University Press|accessdateaccess-date=30 October 2020}}</ref>

Prepared core technology was likely invented independently multiple times at different locations.<ref>{{cite web|title=Early Levallois technology and the Lower to Middle Paleolithic transition in the Southern Caucasus|url=https://science.sciencemag.org/content/345/6204/1609.abstract|publisher=Science Magazine|accessdateaccess-date=30 October 2020}}</ref> The regular use of Prepared core technology is associated with large-brained hominins such as [[''Homo heidelbergensis'']], [[Neanderthals]] and [[modern humans]]. Its widespread use is the defining characteristic of the [[Middle Stone Age]] period in [[Africa]] and the [[Middle Palaeolithic]] (~300.000 - 40.000 years ago) in [[Europe]].<ref>{{cite web|title=Mode 3 Technologies and the Evolution of Modern Humans|url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/cambridge-archaeological-journal/article/mode-3-technologies-and-the-evolution-of-modern-humans/EE5A558A051F3C0F60A43B0955A3464E|publisher=Cambridge Archaeological Journal|accessdateaccess-date=30 October 2020}}</ref>

==References==