Flint Beak
Working hard materials
Upper Palaeolithic
Around 20 000 years
Flake or blade with a fairly thick or large protrusion created by bilateral retouch.
D. de Sonneville-Bordes et J. Perrot, Lexique typologique du Paléolithique supérieur. Outillage lithique. III) Outils composites, perçoirs. B.S.P.F., 1955
Commentary :
During the European Upper Palaeolithic, from Portugal to Siberia, stone tools were adapted to work raw materials, essential to the tool kits and subsistence practices of societies.
The prominent active area of the beak is suitable for working hard materials, such as bone and antler.
Over 20 000 years ago in Mal’ta, Siberia, a flint beak was used to carve multiple, small, identical cupules to decorate exceptional ivory ornaments.