Flaking is applied to both edges in cutting tools, and
to one edge only in the case of scrapers, the most abundant
implements you are likely to find, but there are exceptions
to this rule. Borers are made by taking a bold chip off one
side of the flint, and then small ones from the other so as
to produce a point. Remember the rule; one chip off one side
of the point, "steps" off the other. Arrow-heads are rare,
but are easy enough to identify.
To determine whether a flake is old, run your finger
across the surface. Newly-chipped flint is rough and
unpleasant to the touch, it "sets your teeth on edge". Old
surfaces are smooth and silky to feel. Another guide is
patination. Flints of the Neolithic, the newest stone age,
usually show the ordinary surface of the flint, generally
black in colour, but older ones are often patinated. This
means that when flints are left in the soil, certain chemical
changes occur on their surface. First of all a white film
forms, and this may penetrate very deeply. If the flints
get into the gravel, as they often do, this softer surface
is stained a ruddy brown. Patina used to be considered a
valuable guide to age, but now-a-days we are not quite so
sure. Nevertheless, its presence is a sign of antiquity as
a general rule, and usually indicates artifacts of the old
stone age.
Too much attention should not be paid to form. If a
flint is humanly chipped, then the maker must have had a
use for it; after all, how many of us can tell the purpose
of many of the tools we find in a craftsman's workshop? Very
crude implements may be found which nevertheless appear to
be of late date from their surface character. I think the
reason for this is that while most people could knock up
a flint well enough for any job they had to do, the finely-
made examples, such as one sees in museums, were made by
professionals. It is these "do-it-yourself" implements you
are most likely to find.
Natural forms which are likely to mislead are pot-lid
fractures, frost pitting and starch fractures. Pot—lids
are round flakes without any trace of secondary chipping,
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