Abstract:

The soft-hammer technique refers to the method that removing flakes by direct percussion using indenters made of soft materials, usually involving wood, bones, antlers or soft stones. The use of soft-hammer technique is beneficial for controlling the morphology of flakes more effectively, which is considered to be an important sign of the progress of ancient human cognitive and technological level. Since the early 20th century, the principle of soft-hammer technique and the characteristics of soft-hammer flakes have been described by scholars during the observation of prehistoric lithic assemblages and knapping experiments. It was generally believed that flakes produced by soft-hammer percussion were usually with special attributes such as diffuse bulb of force and lipping, which were usually regarded as direct evidence. Due to the lack of soft hammer discovery in archaeological sites, these attributes usually act as the only evidence for the existence of soft-hammer technique. But with the development of targeted knapping experiments, the above-mentioned attributes have been proved to be the results of multiple factors during the percussion process, such as properties of raw materials, force angle, edge angle and even the style of different knappers and it is controversial to distinguish soft and hard hammer technique based on the characteristics of flakes. This paper reviews the process of recognizing of soft-hammer technique and the history of systematic experiments. It is suggested that the “attributes of soft-hammer flakes” should not be taken as the only evidence for the existence of soft-hammer technique, but need to take into account various factors involved in the whole percussion process. We call for the establishment of a database containing experimental and archaeological data to provide richer comparative materials for the lithic analysis.

Key words: soft-hammer technique, lip, bulb of force, knapping experiments