The Levallois technique is a name given by archaeologists to a distinctive type of flint knapping developed by humans during the Palaeolithic period. Archaeology or sometimes in American English archeology (from the Greek words αρχαίος = ancient and λόγος = word/speech) is the study of human cultures through the recovery, documentation and analysis of material remains, including architecture, artefacts, biofacts, human remains, and landscapes. ... Lithic reduction involves the use of a hard hammer percussor, such as a hammerstone, a soft hammer fabricator made of wood, bone or antler, or a wood or antler punch to detach lithic flakes from a lump of tool stone called a lithic core. ... The Paleolithic or Palaeolithic – lit. ...

It is named after nineteenth century finds of flint tools in the Levallois-Perret suburb of Paris in France. The technique was more sophisticated than earlier methods of lithic reduction, involving the striking of flakes from a prepared core. A striking platform is formed at one end and then the core's edges are trimmed by flaking off pieces around the outline of the intended flake. This creates a domed shape one the side of the core, known as a tortoise core as the various scars and rounded form are reminiscent of a tortoise's shell. When the striking platform is finally hit, a flake separates from the core with a distinctive plano-convex profile and with all of its edges sharpened by the earlier trimming work. Levallois-Perret is a city in France, in the northwestern suburbs of Paris, on the right bank of the Seine. ... The Eiffel Tower has become a symbol of Paris throughout the world. ... Lithic reduction involves the use of a hard hammer percussor, such as a hammerstone, a soft hammer fabricator made of wood, bone or antler, or a wood or antler punch to detach lithic flakes from a lump of tool stone called a lithic core. ... In archaeology, a lithic flake is a thin, sharp fragment of stone that results from the process of lithic reduction. ... In archaeology, a lithic core is a distinctive artifact that results from the practice of lithic reduction. ... In lithic reduction, the striking platform is the point on the proximal portion of a lithic flake on which the detachment blow fell; this may be natural or prepared. ... Genera Chersina Dipsochelys Furculachelys Geochelone Gopherus Homopus Indotestudo Kinixys Malacochersus Manouria Psammobates Pyxis Testudo Tortoise is the name given to the land-dwelling reptiles most of whose body is shielded by a special shell. ... A plano-convex object is flat or planar on one side and rounded on the other, such that the center is thicker than the edges. ...

This method provides much greater control over the size and shape of the final flake which would then be employed as a scraper or knife although the technique could also be adapted to produce projectile points known as Levallois points. In archeology, scrapers are unifacial tools that were used either for hideworking or woodworking purposes. ... In archaeology, a projectile point is an object that was hafted and used either as knife or projectile tip or both. ...

The technique is first found in the Lower Palaeolithic but is most commonly associated with the Neanderthal Mousterian industries of the Middle Palaeolithic. In the Levant, Levallois methods were also in use in the Upper Palaeolithic and later. The Lower Paleolithic or Palaeolithic refers to the earliest period of human existence, the first of the three Paleolithic (Stone Age) periods. ... Binomial name Homo neanderthalensis King, 1864 The Neanderthal or Neandertal was a species of genus Homo (Homo neanderthalensis) that inhabited Europe and parts of western Asia from about 230,000 to 29,000 years ago (the Middle Palaeolithic and Lower Paleolithic, in the Pleistocene epoch). ... Mousterian is a name given by archaeologists to style of flint tools (or industry) dating to the Palaeolithic or Old Stone Age. ... In Europe and Africa the Middle Paleolithic or Palaeolithic is the period of the middle Paleolithic (early Stone Age) that lasted between around 120,000 and 40,000 years ago. ... The Levant is an approximate historical geographical term referring to a large area in Southwest Asia south of the Taurus Mountains, bounded by the Mediterranean Sea in the west, and the north Arabian Desert and Mesopotamia to the east. ... The Upper Paleolithic or Palaeolithic is the third and last subdivision of the Paleolithic or Old Stone Age as it is understood in Europe, Africa and Asia. ...

The distinctive forms of the flakes were originally though to indicate a wide ranging Levallois culture but the wide geographical and temporal spread of the technique has rendered this interpretation obsolete. In archaeology, culture refers to either of two separate but allied concepts: An archaeological culture is a pattern of similar artefacts and features found within a specific area over a limited period of time. ...

External links

• Illustrated demonstration of the Levallois technique (http://www.hf.uio.no/iakk/roger/lithic/LEV/Lev.html)
• Animated Levallois flint working (http://id-archserve.ucsb.edu/Anth3/Courseware/LithicTech/Movies/Levallois_Point.html)