Fitz Jenő (szerk.): Die aktuellen Fragen der Bandkeramik - István Király Múzeum közelményei. A. sorozat 18. A Pannon konferenciák aktái 1. (Székesfehérvár, 1972)
R. Tringham: Bylany (Csehország) pattitott kőeszközeinek formái, technolgóiai és funkcionális vizsgálata
ТНК FUNCTION, TECHNOLOGY, AND TYPOLOGY OF THE ('HIPPED STONE INDUSTRY AT IHLANY, CZECHOSLOVAKIA Models of cultural change and reconstructions of the activities and interrelationships of prehistoric societies are based, in the first instance, on variation in archaeological material. Material culture is classified into various categories including houses, pottery, artefacts of stone, bone and antler. Before any more detailed classification can be made and before the categories can be used in the identification and reconstruction of archaeological cultures, the factors which contributed to the variation in the basic categories must first be understood. Without such an understanding, it is impossible to select meaningfully, examine and analyse the attributes on which more detailed classifications are based. The most important factors leading to variation in archaeological material are: 1. Raw materials and Technology 2. Function 3. Culture 1 1. The raw material used in the manufacture of an artefact imposes broad limitations on the shape of the object. The degree of restriction varies on the available raw materials and the level of technical skill and experience. With chipped stone implements this means that if high quality nodule flint was available large cores could be made from which long blades could be struck. If nodule flint was unavailable, pebble flint could be used but in this case not only would the size, but also the number of flint implements would be limited. Pebble and morainic flint is generally very weathered and frost-fractured so that it is impossible to make a large-sized core, or strike off more than a few flakes off each core. Alternative cryptocrystalline rocks or those with a similar tendency towards conchoidal fracture were used, such as chert, obsidian or quartzite, all of which have their own peculiar properties and restrictions as to size and form. The availability of suitable raw materials also affected the degree to which the cores were used and the waste flakes. In sites such as Bylany where there is no nearby source of nodule flint, the cores were used until they were exhausted and a large proportion of waste flakes were used as implements. The level of technological skill also sets certain restrictions on the production of chipped stone artefacts. Regularity and length of narrow blades depended not only on suitable raw materials but also on a level of technology by which regular polyhedral cores could be manufactures and striking platforms sufficiently well prepared. It also depended very much on the method and skill in striking the blades off the core. With less skill the blades would tend to be less prismatic and amorphous flakes would be produced. Modifications of the shape of the blade after it had been struck off the core more often the result of cultural choice, but the available techniques of deliberate retouch limited the modifications. For example when pressure flaking was not known in a culture it was difficul to produce a flat chipped blade. 2. Function. The most important principle to remember when dealing with the function of prehistoric chipjied stone implements (or bone and polished stone implements for that matter), is that an implement which looks, on the basis of ethnographic parallels of its shape, as though it should have a certain function need not necessarily have had that function. Thus an artefact which looks as though it was a scraper because it has a wide retouched edge need not have been used as a scraper. The retouch may have been to blunt the implement to facilitate handling and the cutting edge may have been on a different side and for a different purpose. The functional needs will impose broad limitations on the shape of an artefact. In other words, for a specific function there will 143
