NEOLITHIC FLINT CORE ('LIVRE DE BEURRE') - Touraine, France
« backNEOLITHIC FLINT CORE
About 4,500 years old
Grand Pressigny, Touraine, France
Since the middle of the 19th century Neolithic flint cores and broken blades have been collected in the fields around Grand Pressigny in central France. It was a major site for the production of flint blades which were exported to other parts of Europe. The remaining flint cores made the site famous and the farmers referred to them as 'Livre de Beurre' (pound of butter) because of their colour and shape.
The blades were flaked from the core by the ‘Levallois’ method and this technique allowed very long blades to be produced. Such blades would have been in great demand for the manufacture of spear points etc. and these ‘livres de beurre’ were the blocks, or nuclei, from which they were obtained.
The flint is peculiar and unmistakeable in appearance. It is an attractive brown or honey colour and of a uniform, though coarse texture, occurring naturally as great tabular masses, and perhaps more accurately described a chert.
This core, or nucleus, is an impressive example.
Click on a picture for a larger image.
Size: 20 x 16 x 5 centimetres
Weight: 1.75 kilograms
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