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By Root 1553 0

The racloir was ordinarily made from an oval flake, produced either naturally or by deliberate flaking, with one of the longitudinal edges blunt and the opposite edge sharp (Figure 4.29). After retouching for a suitable grip, the blunt edge was held in the palm of the hand, and the sharp edge of the implement was moved along the length of the object to be scraped. During this operation, series of small splinters were detached from the cutting edge of the implement, thus dulling it. Rutot (1907, p. 458) stated: “The characteristic feature of the racloir, used as such, is the presence along the working edge of a series of small chip marks, all arranged in the same direction and located on the same side. When the implement became unusable, it was possible to restore its edge with the retoucher stone, allowing it to be further used.”

Figure 4.29. Three views of a side scraper (racloir) found below the Late Oligocene sands at Boncelles, Belgium (Rutot 1907, p. 458).

“The special purpose of the retoucher,” said Rutot (1907, p. 458), “was the striking upon a implement’s working edge of a series of small regular blows in the same direction, detaching flakes from 2 millimeters to 5 millimeters [about 0.1 to 0.2 inch] in diameter. The juxtaposition of the flake scars restored the implement’s sharp edge.” According to Rutot, this type of retouching is, without a doubt, clearly distinguishable from the retouching performed for accommodation of the hand. Rutot (1907, p. 458) stated: “Retouching for accommodation of the hand involved hammering and blunting various sharp edges that were either harmful or not usable. But retouching for sharpening was performed to resharpen, by repeated blows in a single direction, an edge dulled by use. One is therefore able to recognize the two types of retouching.”

Figure 4.30. This tool was designated by Rutot as a notched side scraper (racloir à encoche). Scrapers of this type are commonly found in Late Pleistocene assemblages. This tool was recovered from below the Late Oligocene sands at Boncelles, Belgium (Rutot 1907, p. 458).

Figure 4.31. A double scraper (racloir double) from below the Late Oligocene sands at Boncelles, Belgium. Retouching of the two notches in the middle allowed it to be comfortably gripped. Marks of utilization are visible at the top and bottom (Rutot 1907, p. 459).

Rutot (1907, p. 458) pointed out that a good piece of flint can be resharpened several times. But he added “the accumulation of retouching rapidly broadens the original sharp angle of the edge, and when the angle surpasses 45 degrees, the edge offers such resistance that no retouching can be executed, and the implement, now irreparable, is discarded.”

Rutot (1907, p. 459) then described another type of racloir discovered at the Boncelles sites: “Frequently the working edge is not straight; it is finished by means of retouching into one or more concave notches, probably for the purpose of scraping long round objects. This is the notched racloir [Figure 4.30]. Some are made from natural flakes, others from flakes derived from deliberate percussion.”

At Boncelles, racloirs with two scraping edges, or double racloirs, were also found. About this type of implement Rutot (1907, pp. 459–460) said: “I have provided an illustration of an interesting example [Figure 4.31]. It could be held in the hand, between the thumb and forefinger, at the points nicely indicated by the two lateral notches; the other double racloirs, in the form of pointed flakes with two sharp edges, resemble the true ‘Mousterian points.’ Mostly they look, as is the case with the one shown in . . . [Figure 4.32], as if they were detached by percussion and show a pronounced bulb.”

Figure 4.32. This implement was taken from below the Late Oligocene sands at Boncelles, Belgium (Rutot 1907, p. 460). Rutot said it resembled a Mousterian point from the Late Pleistocene of Europe. The implement’s ventral surface (right) shows a bulb of percussion.

Mousterian implements are found in Late Pleistocene contexts of Europe. It is the resemblance