Upper Palaeolithic Tools: Blades, Knives, Blunted Back Tools, Borers, Burins and Points

The Upper Palaeolithic period represents a major leap in human technological capacity, characterized by the shift from flake-based tools to blade-based industries. This era shows high degrees of standardization, aesthetic refinement, and the use of diverse materials including stone, bone, antler, and ivory. Human populations during this time demonstrated advanced cognitive planning through the production of long, thin, and extremely sharp stone blades.

Primary Tool Categories

Blades and Knives

A blade is defined as a flake that is at least twice as long as it is wide. It is produced through systematic core reduction, where a cylindrical core is struck to detach long, parallel-sided flakes. Knives were created by selecting these blades and occasionally retouching one edge to make it suitable for cutting, slicing, and hide processing. This technology increased the amount of cutting edge obtained from a single nodule of flint or chert by up to tenfold compared to earlier techniques.

Blunted Back Tools

These tools represent an evolution of blade technology where one edge of a blade is deliberately blunted, usually by steep retouching. This feature made the tool safer to handle and allowed it to be hafted into wooden or bone handles. These tools were often used as knives or insets for composite tools.

Borers

Borers are specialized tools made by retouching the tip of a blade or a sturdy flake into a fine, sharp point. They were designed for drilling holes into hard materials such as leather, wood, bone, and shell. The presence of borers suggests the production of fitted clothing, jewelry, and complex wooden implements.

Burins

The burin is one of the most diagnostic tools of the Upper Palaeolithic. It is made by striking a flake to remove a narrow, chisel-like tip. This tool acted as a graver and was essential for carving bone, antler, and ivory into needles, harpoons, and decorative items. The development of the burin directly enabled the rise of Upper Palaeolithic art and personal ornamentation.

Points

Points are triangular or leaf-shaped tools with a sharp tip, meant for hunting or defense. These include willow-leaf, laurel-leaf, and stemmed points. Many were designed to be hafted onto wooden shafts as projectiles or thrusting spears. The evolution of these points allowed early humans to hunt from a distance, reducing the risk of injury during encounters with large game.

Technological Characteristics

Manufacturing Techniques and Strategies

Indirect Percussion

Toolmakers used a punch, made of bone or antler, placed between the hammer and the core. This allowed for precise control over the force applied, resulting in thin, uniform blades.

Pressure Flaking

This technique involved using a pointed antler tool to exert pressure along the edge of a blade or point to remove small flakes. It produced the finest retouching, creating sharp, serrated, or symmetrical edges impossible to achieve with direct hammer blows.

Hafting

Hafting is the attachment of stone tools to handles or shafts. This process combined different materials, such as stone heads, wooden shafts, and animal sinew or plant resin binding. Hafted tools increased the mechanical advantage, speed, and force of human labor.

Regional Industries and Cultural Contexts

Perigordian and Aurignacian

The Aurignacian industry, famous for its early cave art and bone flutes, is characterized by blade tools and bone points. The Perigordian industry followed, known for its distinct backed blades and laurel-leaf points.

Solutrean

The Solutrean industry is famous for its extreme craftsmanship. The stone tools from this period, including laurel-leaf points, were thinned to paper-like proportions using advanced pressure flaking. These tools demonstrate that stone knapping had reached a level of artistic and technical perfection.

Magdalenian

This industry represents the peak of Upper Palaeolithic technology. Toolkits are dominated by microliths, fine bone needles, and specialized harpoons. The abundance of bone and antler tools suggests a complex society with highly specialized hunting and fishing economies.

Facts and Trivia

• The Upper Palaeolithic coincides with the expansion of modern humans across the globe. Bone needles found at various sites prove that humans were making tailored, multi-layered clothing, which was essential for survival during the colder stages of the Pleistocene.
• The use of red ochre and beads made from shells and teeth suggests that humans had developed complex systems of social status, trade, and ritual belief. Most Upper Palaeolithic blades were manufactured from high-quality flint, which was often transported over long distances, indicating that early humans maintained wide-reaching social networks.
• The systematic use of bone as a primary material for tools, such as the spear thrower or atlatl, allowed humans to hunt game with increased power and distance. Burins are often described as the “machine tools” of the Stone Age because they were required to manufacture almost all other tools made from organic materials.

Some of the most delicate tools were made from mammoth ivory, which required extensive soaking to become workable before being carved with burins. The shift to microliths in the final stages of the Upper Palaeolithic marks the transition toward the Mesolithic period, where composite tools became the standard for survival.