Scraper (archaeology)

In <a href="/facts/Prehistoric_archaeology/FhCPT3hC">prehistoric archaeology</a>, scrapers are <a href="/facts/Uniface/uvmVHnTb">unifacial</a> tools thought to have been used for hideworking and woodworking. Many <a href="/facts/Lithic_analysis/IM4XW9Up">lithic analysts</a> maintain that the only true scrapers are defined on the base of use-wear, and usually are those that were worked on the distal ends of <a href="/facts/Blade_(archaeology)/ovFDJJLh">blades</a>—i.e., "<a href="/facts/End_scraper/dhGsBYK2">end scrapers</a>" (French: grattoir). Other scrapers include the so-called "<a href="/facts/Side_scraper/J6kxp7Uz">side scrapers</a>" or <a href="/facts/Racloir/n5qyTS0m">racloirs</a>, which are made on the longest side of a <a href="/facts/Lithic_flake/4RLPRpX2">flake</a>, and notched scrapers, which have a cleft on either side that may have been used to attach them to something else.
Scrapers are typically formed by chipping the end of a flake of stone in order to create one sharp side and to keep the rest of the sides dull to facilitate grasping it. Most scrapers are either circle or blade-like in shape. The working edges of scrapers tend to be convex, and many have trimmed and dulled lateral edges to facilitate hafting. One important variety of scraper is the thumbnail scraper, a scraper shaped much like its namesake. This scraper type is common at <a href="/facts/Paleo-Indian/Cy2QSqUH">Paleo-Indian</a> sites in <a href="/facts/North_America/djNjCQIl">North America</a>. Scrapers are one of the most varied <a href="/facts/Stone_tool/JQxItKEm">lithic</a> tools found at archaeological sites. Due to the vast array of scrapers there are many typologies that scrapers can fall under, including tool size, tool shape, tool base, the number of working edges, edge angle, edge shape, and many more.

Scraper (archaeology) open-in-new

Scraper (archaeology)