Glossary · Lithics

Percussion flaking

Detaching flakes by striking with a hammerstone (hard hammer) or an antler billet (soft hammer); the first stage of reducing a cobble to a biface.

Detaching flakes by striking with a hammerstone (hard hammer) or an antler billet (soft hammer); the first stage of reducing a cobble to a biface. Hard-hammer scars have pronounced bulbs; soft-hammer scars are thinner with lipped platforms.

Sources

Cite this article

Stratum Strata. "Percussion flaking" (Glossary). Stratum Strata pack 2026.09, as of 2026-09-16. https://stratum.black/strata/glossary/percussion-flaking. Accessed 2026-09-21.

@misc{stratum-percussion-flaking,
  title        = {Percussion flaking},
  author       = {{Stratum Strata}},
  howpublished = {\url{https://stratum.black/strata/glossary/percussion-flaking}},
  year         = {2026},
  note         = {Glossary article, Stratum Strata pack 2026.09, as of 2026-09-16; sources: stratum. Accessed 2026-09-21.}
}

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