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8.2.3 The Assemblage - introduction

Table 39 shows the general typological composition of the Carmelite Friary assemblage. The category 'black&grey flint' covers pieces which are black, or very dark grey, with light grey spots.

Seventeen pieces are burnt (c. 5% of all flints), and 192 pieces (c. 57% of all flints) have some degree of cortex-cover.

The definitions of the main lithic categories are as follows:

• Chips: All flakes and indeterminate pieces the greatest dimension (GD) of which is ≤ 10mm.
• Flakes: All lithic artefacts with one identifiable ventral (positive/convex) surface, GD > 10mm and L < 2W (L = length; W = width).
• Indeterminate pieces: Lithic artefacts which cannot be unequivocally identified as either flakes or cores. Generally the problem of identification is due to irregular breaks, frost-shattering or fire-crazing. Chunks are larger indeterminate pieces, and in, for example, the case of quartz, the problem of identification usually originates from a piece flaking along natural planes of weakness rather than flaking in the usual conchoidal way.
• Blades and microblades: Flakes where L ≥ 2B. In the case of blades W > 8mm, in the case of microblades W ≤ 8mm. In Southern Scandinavia microblades are defined as pieces narrower than 10mm, in Norway as pieces narrower than 8mm; this difference is due to different raw-material situations, and the blades of Norway are generally much smaller than in Southern Scandinavia. As the blades in Scotland have similar sizes to the Norwegian blades, it is recommended to adopt the 8mm definition (cf. Wickham-Jones 1990, 73).
• Cores: Artefacts with only dorsal (negative/concave) surfaces – if three or more flakes have been detached, the piece is a core, if fewer than three flakes have been detached, the piece is a split or flaked pebble.
• Tools: Artefacts with secondary retouch (modification).

For a more detailed presentation of descriptive elements (type of retouch, orientation of retouch, morphology of retouch, etc.), see Ballin (2000).

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