In archaeology, a prismatic blade is a long, narrow, specialized lithic flake with parallel margins. Prismatic blades are removed from polyhedral blade cores through pressure reduction. This process results in a very standardized finished tool and waste assemblage. While the prismatic blade industry is most often associated with obsidian (especially in Pre-Columbian Mesoamerica), it is not limited to that material; chert, flint, and chalcedony blades are not uncommon.
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Famous quotes containing the words prismatic and/or blade:
“Then a small rainbow like a trellis gate,
A very small moon-made prismatic bow,
Stood closely over us through which to go.”
—Robert Frost (1874–1963)
“When he painted a road, the roadmakers were there in his imagination. When he painted the turned earth of a ploughed field, the gesture of the blade turning the earth was included in his own act. Wherever he looked he saw the labour of existence; and this labour, recognized as such, was what constituted reality for him.”
—John Berger (b. 1926)