SMALL BLADE TECHNOLOGY IN THE EARLY UPPER PALEOLITHIC INDUSTRIES FROM DENISOVA CAVE: DATA FROM ANALYSIS OF A LITHIC REDUCTION SEQUENCE
The paper discusses the results from an analysis of five cores associated with Layer 11 in the Southern Chamber of Denisova Cave, intended to obtain small elongated blanks such as bladelets and small blades. Analysis of a lithic reduction sequence employed in the research has made it possible to clearly recognize the phases in producing flake scars on lithic artifacts through the preparation of core blanks, and in core reduction, as well as to determine stages at which some of these pieces were used as tools. The analysis provided insights into a general flaking pattern for the cores under study. Such artifacts were predominantly made on large massive flake blanks, had a plain striking platform, and the working edge showing traces of reduction associated with detaching the target flakes. These technological characteristics are fully consistent with the technological repertoire of a hominin group, based on cores from the same assemblage, intended to obtain larger target removals such as flakes and blades. A cross section of the flaking surface shows no evidence for a deliberately created and maintained convex relief, while typologically four of the five artifacts were defined as sub-prismatic. The analysis of a lithic reduction sequence shows that artifacts from the examined collection related to the production of blanks in the form of small flake-blades, without using new techniques and the controlled reduction of a flaking surface.