From Chopper to Celt: The Evolution of Resharpening Techniques

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Abstract
Among hunter-gatherers important constraints exist on the procurement of lithic materials. When changes in one sector of the lithic system increase procurement costs beyond acceptable limits, compensatory changes in other aspects of the system become necessary. The two most variable parts of the system in this regard involve (1) the quantity of materials processed and (2) the use-lives of tools as determined by resharpening techniques. Largely because cutting requirements increased over time together with advances in wood, hunting, and shelter technology, the resharpening mode changed from hard-hammer percussion, to soft-hammer percussion, to the secondary resharpening of flakes, to pressure resharpening, and finally to edge-grinding. This model posits that as the conservation of lithic raw material becomes an increasingly important consideration, reduction and resharpening techniques capable of conserving material to greater degrees will be adopted despite high energy costs in obtaining and preparing special raw materials and in the manufacturing of tools.