Concise Oxford Dictionary of Archaeology (256 page)

A vessel with a narrow neck, globular body, one or more handles and often a footring, used for holding liquids. Its production was usually confined to specialist manufacturers.

 
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A piece of flint struck from a core which characteristically shows traces of the processes of removal: concentric fracture ripples and a bulb of percussion. Flakes with a length:breadth ratio of 2:1 or more are usually referred to as blades. In some cases flakes are the result of shaping a block of flint into a tool of some kind. When removed from a prepared core, however, they were usually used as blanks for making tools.
Primary flakes
(also called decortication flakes) are large, thick flakes struck off a nodule when removing the cortex and preparing it for working.
Secondary flakes
(also called reduction flakes) are large flakes struck off a piece to reduce its size or thickness.
Tertiary flakes
are small flakes struck off when shaping the detail of a piece to make a specific tool.
Retouching flakes
are tiny, extremely thin flakes pinched or pushed off a piece to finish it, to fine-shape part of the surface, sharpen it, or resharpen it.
Notching flakes
are produced when putting hafting notches in stone tools. See also
PRESSURE FLAKING
,
PERCUSSION FLAKING
.

 
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A depression left on a core, flake, or tool where another flake was driven off.

 
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A stone or flint tool made from a flake deliberately removed from a prepared core of some kind.

 
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A group of deposits representing a geostratigraphic stage within the
HOLOCENE
series of the British
QUATERNARY
system covering the period 10000 years ago down to the present day. The Flandrian represents the period following the
DEVENSIAN
stage at the end of the
PLEISTOCENE
, and as such could be seen simply as the latest in a succession of interglacial warm periods. The Flandrian embraces
POLLEN ZONES IV
through to IX as set out by Harry Godwin in 1940, and the climatic phases from the
PRE-BOREAL
through to the
SUB-ATLANTIC
.

 
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In pottery, a prominent continuous projection or ledge extending out from the body, neck, or rim of a vessel, intended to facilitate handling.

 
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