The Emergence of Pressure Blade Making: From Origin to Modern Experimentation

by Pierre M. Desrosiers (Editor)

Overview

Human development is a long and steady process that began with stone tool making. Because of this skill, humans were able to adapt to climate changes, discover new territories, and invent new technologies. "Pressure knapping" is the common term for one method of creating stone tools, where a larger device or blade specifically made for this purpose is use to press out the stone tool. Pressure knapping was invented in different locations and at different points in time, representing the adoption of the Neolithic way of life in the Old world.

Recent research on pressure knapping has led for the first time to a global thesis on this technique. The contributors to this seminal work combine research findings on pressure knapping from different cultures around the globe to develope a cohesive theory. This contributions to this volume represents a significant development to research on pressure knapping, as well as the field of lithic studies in general.

This work will be an important reference for anyone studying the Paleolithic, Mesolithic, and Neolithic periods, lithic studies, technologies, and more generally, cultural transmission.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781489991102
Publisher:	Springer New York
Publication date:	04/13/2014
Edition description:	2012
Pages:	536
Product dimensions:	6.10(w) x 9.25(h) x 0.04(d)

Table of Contents

Chapter 1. Introduction: Breaking Stones Without Striking Them

Pierre M. Desrosiers

Chapter 2. Pressure Débitage in the Old World. Forerunners, Researchers, Geopolitics:

Handing On the Baton

Marie-Louise Inizan

Chapter 3. Stoneworkers’ Approaches to Replicating Prismatic Blades

John E. Clark

Chapter 4. Early Holocene Climate Change and the Adoption of Pressure Technique in the Maghreb: the Capsian Sequence at Kef Zoura D (Eastern Algeria)

Noura Rahmani and David Lubell

Chapter 5. Pressure Blade Production with a Lever in the Early and Late Neolithic

of the Near East

Ciler Altınbilek-Algül, Laurence Astruc, Didier Binder and Jacques Pelegrin

Chapter 6. Two examples of Pressure Blade Production with a Lever: Recent Research from the Southern Caucasus (Armenia) and Northern Mesopotamia (Syria, Iraq)

Jacques Chabot and Jacques Pelegrin

Chapter 7. Pressure Knapping Blade Production in the North-Western Mediterranean Region during the 7^th millennium cal B.C.

Didier Binder, Carmine Collina, Raphaëlle Guilbert, Thomas Perrin and with the collaboration of Oreto Garcia-Puchol

Chapter 8. Origin And Development Of Pressure Blade Production In The Southern Iberian Peninsula (6th-3rd Millennium B.C.)

Antonio Morgado and Jacques Pelegrin

Chapter 9. The Arrival and Development of Pressure Blade Technology in Southern Scandinavia

Mikkel Sørensen

Chapter 10. Surface Pressure Flaking in Eurasia: Mapping the innovation, diffusion and evolution of a technological element in the production of projectile points

Kim Darmark

Chapter 11. Emergence and Development of the Pressure Microblade Production: A View from the Upper Paleolithic of Northern Japan

Jun Takakura

Chapter 12. The Technique of Pressure Knapping in Central Asia: Innovation or Diffusion?

Frédérique Brunet

Chapter 13. Blades and Microblades, Percussion and Pressure: Towards the Evolution

of Lithic Technologies of the Stone Age Period, Russian Far East

Andrei V. Tabarev

Chapter 14. Pressure Microblade Industries in Pleisene-Holocene Interior Alaska:

Current Data and Discussions

Yan Axel Gómez Coutouly

Chapter 15. Eastern Arctic under Pressure: from Paleoeskimo to Inuit Culture (Canada and Greenland)

Pierre M. Desrosiers and Mikkel Sørensen

Chapter 16. The Organizational Structures of Mesoamerican Obsidian Prismatic Blade Technology

Kenneth G. Hirth

Chapter 17. Development of Pressure Blade Technology in North-Central and West Mexico

Véronique Darras

Chapter 18. New Experimental Observations for the Characterization of Pressure Blade Production Techniques

Jacques Pelegrin

Chapter 19. Measurable Flintknapping for Long Pressure Blades

P. Kelterborn

Editorial Reviews

This volume should be commended for its successful and holistic effort in highlighting phenomena associated with pressure blade production through experimental, archaeological and historical investigations. This almost Herculean effort is clear, concise and marks a milestone in studies of blade technology. It is quintessential for anyone interested in studies of pressure blade production.” (Christian Steven Hoggard, Journal of Lithic Studies, Vol. 2, 2015)

"The Desrosiers volume leans more strongly towards the Continental tradition, and in typical chaîne opératoire fashion relies on empirical data to inform on lithic connaissances (knowledge) and savoir-faires (knowhow) to trace the culture historical progress of pressure blade flaking...Desrosiers provides an ideal opportunity to widen the investigative lens by considering technological approaches holistically." (Sarah Wurz, South African Archaeological Bulletin, Vol 199, 2014)

From the Publisher