In
lithic analysis
In archaeology, lithic analysis is the analysis of stone tools and other chipped stone artifacts using basic scientific techniques. At its most basic level, lithic analyses involve an analysis of the artifact’s morphology, the measurement of ...
in
archaeology
Archaeology or archeology is the scientific study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of artifacts, architecture, biofacts or ecofacts, sites, and cultural landscap ...
the cortex is the outer layer of
rock
Rock most often refers to:
* Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids
* Rock music, a genre of popular music
Rock or Rocks may also refer to:
Places United Kingdom
* Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wales ...
formed on the exterior of raw materials by chemical and mechanical weathering processes.
[Andrefsky, William 2005 ''Lithics: Macroscopic Approaches to Analysis''. 2nd edition. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.] It is often recorded on the
dorsal
Dorsal (from Latin ''dorsum'' ‘back’) may refer to:
* Dorsal (anatomy), an anatomical term of location referring to the back or upper side of an organism or parts of an organism
* Dorsal, positioned on top of an aircraft's fuselage
* Dorsal c ...
surface of
flakes using a three class system: primary, secondary, and tertiary.
[ The amount of cortex present on artifacts in an archaeological assemblage may indicate the extent of ]lithic reduction
In archaeology, in particular of the Stone Age, lithic reduction is the process of fashioning stones or rocks from their natural state into tools or weapons by removing some parts. It has been intensely studied and many archaeological industries ...
that has occurred. Primary, secondary, and tertiary designations for flakes are generally determined by relative amounts of cortex presented on the dorsal surface. Some archaeologists classify flakes with no cortex as tertiary, flakes with some cortex as secondary, and flakes with all cortex as primary, whereas others make distinctions at every third or half of the dorsal surface covered.[ Differences in how archaeologists classify the amount of cortex and the results of experimental archaeological tests demonstrating moderate correlation between amount of cortex and stage of reduction, have limited the validity of assumptions based on amount of cortex solely.][
]
References
{{Reflist
Lithics