Title

Scraping tool

Description

A single lithic tool found during the 2017-2018 Pope County Archaeological Survey.

This was part of a uniface tool, probably an end scraper with the working element broken off. 4 cm long. This piece is pointed at the distal end, widens mid-blade, then begins to contract slightly towards the distal end; the outline is roughly symmetrical. A bit of the distal end is missing. Two small flakes were removed from the ventral face at the distal end to flatten the bulb of percussion. The entire margin is carefully retouched, mostly with pressure flakes, resulting in a smooth edge. The angle of the edge is probably not steep enough to use as a scraping element, and there is no obvious sign of use wear.

Judging by the raw material quality and care taken with retouch, this was probably an end scraper. These tools are typically used to clean hides.