Video Glossary: Flake

A flake is a piece of stone that was chipped off of a rock. Flakes are by-products from working a piece of stone into a formal tool, but some flakes were used as quick, informal tools themselves because their sharp edges were good for cutting. Flakes are the most common artifact we find at archaeological sites in the La Crosse region. How do we tell a flake from a natural piece of stone? A flake is usually fairly thin, with a bulb of percussion that bulges out near the striking platform. This was where the flintknapper struck the rock with a hammerstone or other implement, such as an antler, to remove the flake. Flakes help archaeologists understand how Indigenous flintknappers worked different kinds of stone into tools. Lithic analysts can see if a flake was one of the first removed from a stone or if other flakes had been removed before and study other characteristics to figure out when in the process of knapping a tool they were created. The flakes could indicate flintknappers at a site were in the first stages of reducing the stone, making the finishing touches to nearly complete tools, somewhere in between, or performing a range of steps in the tool-making process.
Related MVAC webpages:
-Core: www.uwlax.edu/...
-Cortex: www.uwlax.edu/...
-Debitage: www.uwlax.edu/...
-Flakes: www.uwlax.edu/...
-Flintknapping: www.uwlax.edu/...
-Lab Analysis - Lithic Analysis: www.uwlax.edu/...
-Lithics: www.uwlax.edu/...
-Modified Flake: www.uwlax.edu/...
-Percussion Flaking: www.uwlax.edu/...
-Pressure Flaking: www.uwlax.edu/...
-Technologies - Lithics: www.uwlax.edu/...
Related MVAC videos:
-Cultural vs. Natural: Chipped Stone - Learn more about how to distinguish culturally worked chipped stone from naturally worn stone from MVAC’s Dr. Connie Arzigian, with a section on edge modification in flakes and unifaces (timestamp at 6:45): • Cultural vs Natural: C...
-Characteristics of an Artifact: Chipped Stone - Dr. Connie Arzigian talks about what chipped stone artifacts are and discusses the characteristics of a flake: • Characteristics of an ...
Artifact Identification
Mississippi Valley Archaeology Center at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse works mainly in Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Iowa and can provide information related to that region. If you would like information on artifacts, email a description of the item and where it was found, and attach a picture of the artifact with a scale to show its size. For more information visit MVAC’s website at: www.uwlax.edu/....
For information on other regions, we suggest contacting the appropriate state archaeologist from the following list: sites.google.c....

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