Examples of Apprentice Flint Knapping at the Zaraysk B Site

Abstract

The paper presents the evidence of flint knapping by people with different skill levels at the Eastern Gravettian site of Zaraysk B on the Russian Plain. The basic methodological approach used in this study is the analysis of “deviations from the technological norm”. In addition, the results are verified via more traditional methods of spatial and technological analysis of the refit sets. The analysis of the totality of cores and core preforms leads to the conclusion that flint knapping was carried out by both expert craftsmen and novices, as well as intermediate-level knappers. All core preforms and most cores in the collection appear to have been the result of knapping by craftsmen with a low or intermediate level of knapping skills.