SESSION 9 - Experimental flint knapping
Experimental study on flint hammers use in Acheulean and Mousterian workshop assemblages in the center of the Iberian Peninsula

Recent discoveries on archaeological deposits in the peninsular center have provided new lithic assemblages. The most remarkable of these new sites are Los Ahijones and El Cañaveral (Madrid, Spain), both of them located in the same geomorphological context and belonging to the Acheulean and Mousterian periods respectively.

Research in these two close sites allowed to define different reduction modes related to different types of hammers. These tools were made on flint in absence of other raw material. (inmediato/oportunismo) It is possible to test the use efficiency of flint hammers by means of an experimental analysis of the technical features produced by their use. In addition, the viability of this type of hammers is verified by reproducing Levallois, discoid and bifacial reduction schemes.