Lithic Flake - Other Flake Characteristics

Other Flake Characteristics

The striking platform is the point on the proximal portion of the flake on which the detachment blow fell or pressure was placed; this may be natural or prepared. Termination type is a characteristic indicating the manner in which the distal end of a flake detached from a core. Flake terminations may be feathered, hinged, stepped, or plunging (also known as overshot or outrepassé). Feathered terminations are often very sharp, as the flake gradually reduces to a very fine thickness before the force exits the core and removes the flake. Hinged terminations are the result of the force rolling away from the core, resulting in a rounded distal end. Step terminations result when a flake prematurely breaks or snaps during removal, leaving a distal end that is often squared off. Plunging flakes are the result of the force rolling back towards the core and often taking off its "bottom." Hinge, step, and plunging terminations are often seen as "errors," and certainly they sometimes were, but they also may be deliberately produced. Eraillures, also referred to as "bulbar scars", are tiny flake scars that appear on some bulbs of applied force. The reason they form is not entirely understood. Of those flakes that do exhibit eraillures, very few have more than one.

Secondary and tertiary flakes display dorsal flake scars, which are simply the markings left behind by flakes detached prior to the detachment of the subject flake. These flake scars are one of the lines of evidence used to infer the method of lithic reduction, or the process by which raw material is turned into useful objects.