6
the hammer touches the flint shows a little bulb, which
is scientifically known as the "bulb of percussion," and the
fracture which severs each flake is clean and sharp, and
what is technically known as conchoidal. The operation
is repeated till the whole lump of flint is flaked up, leaving
only the rough piece in the hand, which is of course waste.
An interesting fact about these flakes is, that they
exactly resemble the flakes made by our old friends the
men of the pre-historic period, and which they used for
knives and similar useful tools; and, indeed, in many parts
of the world, but notably in India and Mexico, have been
found scores of flakes and cores precisely similar, as to
their fractures, to the Brandon examples.
The flakes having been struck off and thrown into a
basket or tub, the worker now starts on a very different
modus operandi. He seats himself before a large block of
wood, from the flat top of which projects a. steel somewhat
like a chisel, with the cutting edge on the slant. This
piece of steel is called a "stake," and it is not simply
driven into the block of wood, as would at first sight appear;
for if it were, the rebounding blow would not be obtained
and the flint could not be readily broken, nor could it be
fractured with precision, nor with the conchoidal fracture
already described. So, in order to obtain the necessary
elasticity, the following simple little contrivance is arranged;
a hole is made in the block, deeper and wider than the
steel "stake" which is to be driven into it; the sides of
this hole are now fitted with thick pieces of old leather
(usually the soles of old boots cut into strips), and the
steel stake is then driven in between these, which hold
it firmly, but prevent it going quite home.
This clever arrangement leaves the stake with a yielding
side-padding, and a hollow beneath it, thus permitting a
blow upon its top to be an elastic or rebounding one, and
is thus, the same principle as we find adhered to in
quartering and flaking the flint. The operator sits in front
of, and facing the block and stake, and holding a flint-flake
in his left hand across the stake, flat side clown and pointing
towards himself, he "knaps" off with a "knapping" hammer