Forbidden Archeology_ The Full Unabridged Edition - Michael A. Cremo [185]
Verworn (1905, p. 33) wrote: “The typical signs of percussion, such as striking platform, bulb of percussion, eraillures, fissures of percussion, and curvature of the plane of fracture, were clearly evident. Only the force ripples on the plane of fracture were not very strongly developed, and the circular percussion marks near the point of impact were not to be seen very clearly, perhaps because of the opaqueness of the material and its strong, dark patination. The backs of the flakes sometimes bear upon them the cortex, but for the most part they display the scars of earlier flakes that always have been removed in the same direction. Sometimes four or five flake scars run over the back, and often the negative bulbs of percussion from these flakes are still well preserved. Next to them one often sees the strong crush marks of blows delivered in the same direction.”
Verworn (1905, p. 33) performed his own experimental flint flaking and reported: “With hammer stones, I have struck from the flat pieces of flint from the Miocene beds a number of flint flakes, and these flakes closely resemble the old ones.” Verworn stated that because of the cortex covering the flint, the blows had to be quite hard, resulting in well-marked bulbs of percussion like those on the Miocene flakes. The cushioning effect of the relatively soft cortex also accounted for the lightness of the rings of percussion on the flakes detached from the flint core.
In addition to flakes, Verworn also found many cores from which flakes had been struck. Verworn (1905, p. 34) analyzed the situation as follows: “In fact one finds a great number of slabs of flint, on the edges of which one finds characteristic flake scars with negative bulbs of percussion. . . . One might have taken a good slab and removed one or more flakes from the edge. One finds a number of flake scars next to each other on the edge, mostly removed by blows in the same direction, though there are some cases where they have been removed at different angles.”
Most of the implements found by Verworn in the Miocene beds of Aurillac were scrapers of various kinds: “Some scrapers show only use marks on the scraping edge, while the other edges on the same piece are quite sharp and unmarked [Figure 4.16]. On other specimens the scraping edge displays a number of chips intentionally removed in the same direction. This chipping displays quite clearly all the usual signs of percussion. Even today the edges of the impact marks of previous blows on the upper part of some implements are perfectly sharp [Figure 4.17]. The goal of the work on the edges is clearly and without doubt recognizable as the removal of cortex or the giving of a definite form. On many pieces there are clearly visible handgrip areas, fashioned by the removal of sharp edges and points from places where they would injure or interfere” (Verworn 1905, pp. 37–38).
Figure 4.16. Four views of a flint scraper found in Late Miocene strata at Aurillac, France (Verworn 1905, p. 37). Top left: Ventral surface with large bulb of percussion. Bottom left: Ventral surface tilted to show the lower edge, with numerous small use marks. Top right: Dorsal surface of the scraper, showing removal of five large parallel flakes. Bottom right: Dorsal surface tilted to show the lower edge, with use marks on the left and remnants of cortex on the right.
Figure 4.17. Left: Ventral surface of Late Miocene flint scraper from Aurillac, France, showing (1) bulb of percussion and (2) striking platform. The cortex of the flint has been removed from the lower edge by percussion, leaving numerous flake scars oriented in approximately the same direction. Right: Dorsal surface, showing five large parallel scars of flakes removed before the scraper itself was struck from the parent flint core. The upper left corner of the implement shows impact damage from one of the previous blows (Verworn 1905,