Controlled experiments in flake formation

This project, however, uses experimental assemblage produced with the help of a device that simulates knapping. Such setting makes it possible to control several variables relevant for flintknapping and thus evaluate their importance – independently and in interaction with other variables – in the final size and the shape on an artifact. Thus way, it is possible to address the underlying rules of how flakes are formed, which will further help archaeologist better understand how prehistoric people used these rules during flintknapping.

The project is done in collaboration with researchers from the Department of Anthropology, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, where experimental artifacts were produced, and researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig.