Viola T. Dobosi: Paleolithic Man in the Által-ér Valley (Tata, 1999)

environment as well as willow, aspen and birch. The stone tools were made from eggsize pebbles. These were smooth cortexed silex and quartzite pebbles collected from the drift of long passed rivers. The form and quality regulated the flow of tool production just the same as at the lower palaeolithic site VertesszŐlős. On both sites, people used pebble raw material therefore in spite of the several hundred thousand years distance in age the basic tricks of knapping were similar. The pieces and flakes of pebbles cut into clovessegments or slices are sharp in themselves. The sharp base-form was further elaborated by small blows, i.e., retouch. This is how their sharp tools with one, two or three working edges were formed. The working edge could be straight, convex, concave or denticulated. Traces of these retouching could be observed sometimes on the whole surface, sometimes on one or two planes of the tools. The artefacts produced were small but perfect for their specific purpose, as they were seemingly produced in large series. This fact let us suppose that they were fit for their aims. István Homola, himself with great practical knowledge on (modern) tool production and use examined the function of the Palaeolithic stone tools. His experiences were summarised in the folio wings: „Palaeolithic men needed tools, artefacts for their hunting-gathering way of everyday life. „Tool" is a worked piece, object, product that was made following a pre-meditated ideal by the help of other tools for fulfilling everyday demands. The tools used for the production of other artefacts were made of stone or other materials harder than the one in preparation, suitable for detaching chips, operated by human force, specially fit for the different phases of work (e.g., tool-artefact, Werkzeug-Gerät). By the help of these tools raw materials of their environment - timber, bones of hunted animals, antler and horn as well as hide could be worked more easily. All tools are artefacts but not all of the artefacts are tools. There is a strong interference between the two concepts. We can study however, only the stone tools or the stone part of the tools because the other ones perished. Human culture is based on experience, resulting from technical development and handed over by generations. The same relates to tool production and knapping (slivering) as basic human activities till our days. Several industrial products and household goods are still made by these techniques. Planing, boring, carving, engraving are parts of this process with rules and regularities fixed during the millennia. Today's machinery for slivering make the same operations like handtools did before, only they use more edges, less human power and they are more efficient. The process of detaching flakes by slivering originated from the traditional hand tools. As the human needs for raw mate56