WHAT IS THE FLAKE ?

A thin broad piece of stone detached from a larger mass for use as a tool; a piece of stone removed from a larger piece (core or nucleus) during knapping (percussion or pressure) and used in prehistoric times as a cutting instrument. Also, any casual cutting implement typically consisting of large pieces of debitage detached from a core, not “formed” tools. Flakes often served as blanks from which more complex artifacts – burins, scrapers, gravers, arrowheads, etc. – could be made. Waste flakes (debitage) are those discarded during the manufacture of a tool. Flakes may be retouched to make a flake tool or used unmodified. The process leaves characteristic marks on both the core and flake which makes it comparatively easy to distinguish human workmanship from natural accident.