The St. Acheul
series has finer flaking, the crust being completely removed: there
is a tendency to ovate or almond shapes, and the edges are often
curved, the reverse S-curve being preferred, They diminish in size
towards the end of the period. The Chelles and St. Acheul series are
core implements, made by detaching flakes; and the succeeding (Le
Moustier) method is to use the flakes, generally for scraping. The
LA, EM the diagram is transitional from St. Acheul to Le Moustier.
The form marked M is the predecessor of the Solutrean form next below
it. The Aurignacian is a smaller flake industry, with many lumps more
or less conical, and often with careful parallel flaking or fluting.
The Solutre culture brought in a new style, particularly thin blades
with delicate surface flaking which seems to have reappeared in the
late Neolithic. The pointed borers, certain arrow-heads and minutely
chipped rods of flint are characteristic of the period, and flints of
this age are found on the Egyptian and Syrian deserts. Longer blades,
sometimes very coarse, with ends worn by scraping, mark the period of
La Madeleine. They are found in prehistoric Egyptian graves, along
with Neolithic knives and lances. As a technical advance on flaking
by blows or pressure, grinding and incidental polishing of flint
implements are regarded as characteristic of the Neolithic period;
and the practice may have started in areas devoid of flint, where it
was necessary to utilize local material that could not be flaked like
flint.
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