SESSION 9 - Experimental flint knapping
Experimental approaches to investigating the Chaîne opératoire of a Gravettian pendant from Mitoc - Malu Galben, Romania

The archaeological site from Mitoc – Malu Galben is located on the right banks of the Prut River, in the North-Eastern part of nowadays Romania. An important component of the geological background of the area is represented by Cretaceous flints, suitable for knapping, which were intensively exploited by human communities all along Prehistory, from Middle Paleolithic to Late Bronze Age. The cortex pieces were abraded (both on fine grain and coarse grain rocks) and incised with different experimental tools (flint burins and blades, bone points and wooden sticks). They were also perforated by unipolar and bipolar hand boring and also by using a drilling mechanism. The wear resulting from all these activities was compared with that observed on the pendant from Mitoc – Malu Galben.