Fig. 84. Method of producing the long flake and the central core of flint by sharp blows at the indicated point of percussion. After R. R. Schmidt. In this case a series of flakes have been cut off the entire periphery of the core. The primitive use of the flake begins in the Pre-Chellean.

In the lance-pointed coup de poing of narrow, elongate shape, the flaking is very simple and the edges are continued into the short base, generally very thick, and often showing part of the original crust of the flint nodule, which is well adapted for the grip of the hand. This implement, which serves the original idea of the coup de poing, develops into the round-pointed and lance-pointed forms. There is no question that, whether in industrial use, in war, or in the chase, these implements were held only by the hand.

Industrial.
Coup de poing.
Ovaloid.
Double-edged.
Subtriangular.
Straight cutting blade across the end.
Disc-shaped.
Triangular—very thin and flat.
Hachette, chopper.
Grattoir, planing tool.
Racloir, scraper.
Perçoir, drill, borer.
Couteau, knife.
'Pointe' (Levallois blade).
'Pointe,' point—oval and chisel-shaped.
War and Chase.
Coup de poing.
Of pointed and lance-pointed types.
Pierre de jet, throwing stone.
Couteau, knife.
'Pointe,' dart and spear heads.

The small implements of the early Acheulean included a great variety of designs developing out of the far more primitive tools of Chellean and Pre-Chellean times, namely, the planing tool, the scraper, the borer, and the knife. Each of these types develops its own variety, often fashioned with great care, primitive blades, straight-edged cutting tools, with the back rounded or blunted for the grip of the fingers, scrapers with straight or curved edges, and perçoirs or borers. The scraping and planing tools, doubtless used for the dressing of hides, are now more carefully fashioned. We also observe the racloir and the scraper finished to a point which is the precursor of the graving tool of the Upper Palæolithic.[(38)]

Characteristic of this stage is the systematic use of large 'flakes' or outlying pieces of flint struck off from the core, which were used as scrapers or planes, or developed into small 'haches,' or coups de poing.

The core or centre of the flint nodule still constitutes the material out of which the large typical implements are fashioned; but the flake begins to lend itself to a great variety of forms, as witnessed in the evolution of the Levallois knives of the Upper Acheulean and the highly varied flake implements of the Mousterian and Aurignacian industries.

The 'pointe,' or point, is a special implement chipped out of a short, sharply convex flake, taking the form of a blunt dart or spear head, pointed at one end and oval or flat at the other.

[Larger Image]

Fig. 85. Large, typical Acheulean implements, chiefly described as coups de poing, after de Mortillet. One-quarter actual size. One of these [(41)] shows at one end a part of the crust of the flint nodule left intact to afford a smooth, firm grip to the hand. Another [(43)] shows a part of the crust remaining along the left side, for the same purpose. Two of the coups de poing [(47 and 48)] show, the one a double-curved, the other a straight, lateral edge. Another coup de poing [(49)], from a submarine deposit near the shore at Havre, is partly covered by acorn shells.