Experimental Research Of Stone Flaking Techniques In Benxi Region

.As flaking experiments plays an important role in the research of Paleolithicresearch, the study of flaking techniques as the basics of producing stone artifacts areof vital significance. Flaking techniques applied by early people are mainly direct hardhammer percussion, bipolar percussion, projectile percussion and so on. Differentopinions of the flakes characteristics of different flaking techniques are held so thatdebates on the research of the materials found in Paleolithic sites are difficult to dealwith. In order to figure out the characteristics of flakes produced from differenttechniques, this paper tries to do flaking experiments of hard-hammer percussion,anvil techniques and projectile percussion, and then compares the results to thematerials from the survey of Benxi region conducted by Professor Chen Quanjia fromrecent years so that standards of different kinds of flakes will be processed in termsof analyzing raw materials, strike force, strike angles and their relationship with flakeshape and flaking techniques. According to the standards concluded from the aboveanalysis, the stone artifacts found in the survey of Benxi region will be reclassifying inorder to find out their flaking techniques. Combined with the stone assemblages, theflaking techniques used by local ancient people will be studied.Chapter1mainly introduces the aims of this paper and the significance of stoneflaking experiments.Chapter2first introduces the location, geological features and distribution ofthe Paleolithic sites found in Benxi region. And then it draws the conclusion thatprincipal flaking techniques are direct hard-hammer percussion and anvil technique(struck against an anvil) in Benxi region, while projectile percussion and bipolarpercussion are also used, too. Chapter3first gives a brief introduction to the relative concept, research historyand situation, and then discusses the main debates about flakes characteristics ofdifferent percussion methods so far.Chapter4summarizes the experiments by stretching out its process and plan,raw materials used in the experiments as well as the identification, measurement anddescriptive characters of flakes and so on.Chapter5does a statistical analysis of the data measuring the characters offlakes produced from the experiments, containing the shape and size of flakes, thesize and nature of platforms, the angle of flakes, striking points, bulb of percussionand so on and discusses the characteristic of flakes produced from different kinds ofpercussions, their relationships as well as influencing factors.Chapter6will discuss the possible flaking techniques used in Benxi region by thereclassification and research of the materials from the survey of Benxi region according to thecharacteristic of flakes produced from different kinds of flaking techniques concluded from theabove experiments.