WHAT IS THE BLADE ?

BLADE: A long, narrow, sharp-edged, thin flake of stone, used especially as a tool in prehistoric times. This flake was detached by striking from a prepared core, often with a hammer. Its length is usually at least twice the width. The blade may be a tool in itself, or may be the blank from which a two-edged knife, burin, or spokeshave was manufactured. This term, then, is used by archaeologists in several ways. (1) It can refer to a fragment of stone removed from a parent core. The blade is used to manufacture artifacts in what is known as the blade and core industry. (2) That portion of an artifact, usually a projectile point or a knife, beyond the base or tang. (3) In certain cultures, small artifacts are called microblades. It was a great technological advance when it was discovered that a knapper could make more than one tool from a chunk of stone. The Châtelperronian and Aurignacian were the earliest of the known blade cultures – associated with the arrival of modern humans. Industries in which many of the tools are made from blades became prominent at the start of the Upper Paleolithic period. A typical blade has parallel sides and regular scars running down its back parallel with the sides. A “backed blade” is a blade with one edge blunted by the removal of tiny flakes. Blades led to another invention – the handle. A handle made it easier and much safer to manipulate a sharp, two-edged blade. [blade tool]

Aurignacian blade

WHAT IS THE AURIGNACIAN ?

AURIGNACIAN: A series of Upper Paleolithic cultures in Europe that existed from about 35,000 to 20,000 years ago (dates also given as 38,000–22,000 years ago). They were characterized by their use of stone (flint) and bone tools, the refinement of those tools, and the development of sculpture and cave painting. The culture is named for the type site Aurignac, in southern France, where such artifacts were discovered. In France it is stratified between the Châtelperronian and the Gravettian (and before the Solutrean and the Magdalenian), but industries of Aurignacian type are also found eastwards to the Balkans, Palestine, Iran, and Afghanistan. At Abri Pataud there is a radiocarbon date of before 31,000 bc for the Aurignacian, but there are possibly earlier occurrences in central and southeast Europe (Istállóskö in Hungary, Bacho Kiro in Bulgaria). There is still considerable dispute about the extent to which the Aurignacian is contemporary with the cultures of the Perigordian group in southwest France. The sites are often in deep, sheltered valleys. Split-based bone points, carinates (steepend scrapers), and Aurignac blades (with heavy marginal retouch) are typical of the Aurignacian. Aurignacian is also important as the most distinctive and abundantly represented of the early Upper Paleolithic groups.