Flake Typologies and alternative approaches: an experimental assessment

Abstract

Flake debris produced from a series of lithic reduction experiments 1s used to investigate the utility of dorsal cortex as employed in some typological frameworks. Typologies that employ dorsal cortex as a major criterion for classifica tion are found to be unreliable. Several alterna tive methods of flake debris analysis are also examined. Both size distribution and Individual flake analysis methods which are grounded in experiment hold promise. Used in conjunction, these methods provide a more reliable means of analyzing flake debris than other methods. The use of a limited number of attributes aimed at providing the maximum amount of information makes such analyses time efficient and worthy of the effort.