Prismatic Blade

In archaeology, a prismatic blade is a long, narrow, specialized lithic flake with parallel margins. Prismatic blades are removed from polyhedral blade cores through pressure reduction. This process results in a very standardized finished tool and waste assemblage. While the prismatic blade industry is most often associated with obsidian (especially in Pre-Columbian Mesoamerica), it is not limited to that material; chert, flint, and chalcedony blades are not uncommon.

Read more about Prismatic Blade:  Morphology, Production

Famous quotes containing the words prismatic and/or blade:

    Bribed with a little sunlight and a few prismatic tints, we bless our Maker, and stave off his wrath with hymns.
    Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)

    When he painted a road, the roadmakers were there in his imagination. When he painted the turned earth of a ploughed field, the gesture of the blade turning the earth was included in his own act. Wherever he looked he saw the labour of existence; and this labour, recognized as such, was what constituted reality for him.
    John Berger (b. 1926)