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Bulletin of Experimental Archaeology

No. 12 (2017)
Articles

Why our ancestors place a rock on another rock and hit it with a third one? an experimental approach to the use of bipolar technique

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  • Pablo Parodi Cárdenas,
  • Ximena Navarro Harris
Pablo Parodi Cárdenas
Universidad Alberto Hurtado, Chile
Ximena Navarro Harris
Universidad Católica de Temuco, Chile
DOI: https://doi.org/10.15366/baexuam2017.12.003
Published February 19, 2018

Keywords:

Experimental Archaeology, Efficiency, Bipolar knapping, Freehand knapping, Basalt
How to Cite
Parodi Cárdenas, P., & Navarro Harris, X. (2018). Why our ancestors place a rock on another rock and hit it with a third one? an experimental approach to the use of bipolar technique. Bulletin of Experimental Archaeology, (12). https://doi.org/10.15366/baexuam2017.12.003

Abstract

Bipolar knapping it´s a lithic reduction technique with a long trajectory in time. Bipolar knapping product´s found in the archaeological record have been explained under a classic interpretative frame, but the reasons for which humans chose this strategy are still not determined until this very day. This study consists of an experiment of efficiency whose objective is to determine the variables which influenced people into choosing bipolar technique. This experiment was executed on small basalt pebbles (n=100) with the participation of three lithic knappers with different levels of experience using both bipolar and freehand knapping. The results suggest that bipolar knapping is not very manageable and that time wouldn´t be very important factor in the choosing of this technique. Nonetheless, it is noted that experience can improve the productive efficiency when applied to small pebbles if both techniques are combined.
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