Chipped stone tool (打製石器)
Chipped stone tool is a stone tool made with smashed stone without giving a polish. It was mainly used from the Paleolithic era to the Jomon period, but as metal tools came into use in the Yayoi period, the number of the stone tools decreased.
It is used in contrast with ground stone tools.
Materials for chipped stone tools include obsidian, sanukite, and shale.
The art of producing chipped stone tools
Direct striking: striking a stone at an end with a stone hammer (a striking tool) and flaking unnecessary parts.
This technique is used to make the stone in a shape or to make a rough blade,
Indirect striking: Not by directly striking stones with hammers but by indirectly striking stones covered with deer's horns or chisel made of animal bones to peel off a piece of stone (called a flake) and making a stone blade from it.
Pressure-flaking: applying softer striking tools such as deer's horns and bones or wood to the edge of a stone and putting pressure on it to peel off a small piece of stone. This is a close processing technique for making points and microblades.
Changes in chipped stone tools
Chipped stone tools changed from small stone tools made just by crushing stones to flake tools using thin flakes and core tools using the center part of a stone, and finally, microlithes came in use.
Types of chipped stone tool
Chipped stone tools in the Paleolithic era are as follows.
Hand ax
It is also called akufu and nigiritsuchi. It was used as an almighty tool.
Blade
It is also called as sekijin. It was a sharp stone tool used for such purposes as cutting and shaving.
It is also called sento-ki. It was attached to the point of a pike and mainly used for hunting.
Other types included a scraper, a stone tool resembling a knife, and a chiseling tool.
In Jomon period, various kinds of chipped stone tools, including a stone spoon, a flint of arrowhead, a chipped-stone drill, a stone ax, and a stone pike, were made according to the use.
They are all flake tools
In contrast with them, a core tool is a stone left when chipped stone tools are made, and stone tools made with the center part of a stone is called a core tool.