LITHIC IMPLEMENT

Four Mesolithic utilised waste flakes (8300-3500 BC). Numbers refer to photograph. All the flakes are from a mid brown flint with pale beige mottling. Flakes 1 and four are almost completely covered in mottling. Flake 1. A secondary, core refreshment, flake with retouch. There is a small amount of cortext remaining at the distal end (tip). It was hit off a prepared platform which had become faceted. There are signs of wear and retouch along the right edge of the dorsal (upper) face. Towards the distal end, short, semi-abrupt parallel retouch has been used to create a concave curve leaving a sharp point. The bulb of percussion is visible on the ventral surface (lower face). Weight:11.16 grams, Length: 44.68mm, Width: 28.72mm, Thickness: 10.60mm. Flake 2. A primary flake with retouch. On the dorsal surface (upper face) the flake is almost completely covered in cortext. It was hit off a prepared platform and there is a hinge fracture at the distal end (tip). There are signs of wear and retouch at the distal end of the right and left edges. The middle and lower part of the left edge has been retouched with blunting retouch to create three points with concave curves between, possibly to aid grip. On the ventral surface (lower face) where the large bulb of percussion, created using the hard hammer technique, can be seen, there is a small amount of retouch or use wear in the middle of the right edge . Weight: 22.83 grams, Length: 49.16mm, Width: 43.89mm, Thickness: 13.35mm. Flake 3. A tertiary, core refereshment, flake with use wear. The flake was hit off a prepared platform and has a hinge fracture at the distal end. The left edge (looking at the dorsal face) has snapped off. There are signs of wear on the proximal end of the right edge of the dorsal (upper) face probably from casual use. The bulb of percussion is visible on the ventral surface (lower face). Weight: 4.00 grams, Length: 31.70mm, Width: 17.76mm, Thickness: 5.44mm. Flake 4. Part of a tertiary flake with use wear. This is the distal (tip) of a larger flake from which it has been snapped. the bulb of percussion is missing but percussion waves are visible. The left edge of the dorsal (upper) face has extensive use-wear chipping. Weight: 6.55 grams, Length: 36.48mm, Width: 24.47mm, Thickness: 7.81mm.