DYNAMICS OF KNAPPING WITH BIPOLAR TECHNIQUES: MODELING TRANSITIONS AND THE IMPLICATIONS OF VARIABILITY

Abstract

Bipolar techniques enable knappers to (i) fracture very small lithic cores, (ii) reduce cores to a smaller size than is convenient and efficient with freehand knapping techniques, and (iii) to remove relatively large flakes from those small cores. In this paper the capacity of bipolar percussion knapping to extend reduction is explored with a model relating the level of engineering difficulty to the rate of core abandonment. This model allows us to examine the process by which small cores worked in the hand begin to be flaked with a bipolar technique. The value of this model is illustrated with case studies from northern and southern Australia.

Les techniques de taille sur enclume permettent aux archéologues i) de fracturer les noyaux lithiques de très petites tailles, ii) de réduire les noyaux à une taille plus petite que possible par les techniques de taille sur enclume, et iii) d’enlever des écailles assez grandes de ces petits noyaux. Dans cet article on explore la capacité de la taille sur enclume pour prolonger la réduction par la présentation d’un modèle qui relie le niveau de difficulté de technique au taux d’abandonnement du noyau. Ce modèle permet l’examen du processus par lequel les petits noyaux travaillés à la main commencent à être écaillés par les techniques de taille sur l’enclume. La valeur de ce modèle est illustrée par des études de cas du nord et du sud de l’Australie.

Keywords:

• Bipolar
• Reduction
• Recycling
• Australia

Acknowledgments

I thank the Aboriginal owners of Kakadu, in particular the late Mick Alderson, for providing me access to Kun-Kundurnku. I thank the Australian Museum and Val Attenbrow for access to the Henry Lawson Drive Rockshelter assemblage. This research was supported by the Tom Austen Brown Endowment at the University of Sydney.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Peter Hiscock

Peter Hiscock holds the Tom Austen Brown Chair in Australian Archaeology at the University of Sydney. He has a PhD from Queensland University and a DSc from the Australian National University. He is a Fellow of the Australian Academy of the Humanities and a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries. He has projects in desert, temperate and tropical Australia. Previous projects included analyses of lithic technology in North Africa and in Western Europe. Peter Hiscock spent two years analysing the Neanderthal assemblages from Combe Grenal in France. His books cover topics such as desert occupation, quarrying activities and lithic assemblage variation in Australia. His book Archaeology of Ancient Australia, published by Routledge, won the Mulvaney Book Award.