Second Saturday in the lab. I made some more large flakes from an older nodule of different flint. This was harder and chalkier than the new material. Consequently, it took me a while to get it right, hence the small size. However, I like it. I should also say at this point I had about five goes, destroying three flakes before coming away with two handaxes. The others would have worked as tools but they weren’t ‘right’, so I carried on with consequences.
This is the second handaxe, and last go I had. It is of the same flint as the large handaxe last week, and this is slightly larger. It is mainly flake, with thinning going on at the proximal or bulbar end. Karl Lee told me that handaxe edges were worked so that they didn’t break and leave bits of flint in the meat.
Approximately two thirds of the cutting edge is worked, and the final third simply the feathered edge of the original flake. I think this would have worked fine as each edge type would have had different qualities.
Anyway, the inadvertent soundtrack is ‘Senorita’ by James.
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