ArticlePloS one2020
Introducing platform surface interior angle (PSIA) and its role in flake formation, size and shape.
Article in PloS one, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 6 papers.
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
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Who cites it
6 citing papers in PubMed, 19 citations in OpenAlex.
- Reconstructing hammerstone size flake by flake: an experimental approach.Journal of the Royal Society, Interface · 2025Article
- Analyzing blank cutting edge efficiency associated with the adoption of microblade technology: A case study from Tolbor-17, Mongolia.PloS one · 2024Article
- Stone toolmaking difficulty and the evolution of hominin technological skills.Scientific reports · 2022Article
- Article
- Mechanical properties of lithic raw materials from Kazakhstan: Comparing chert, shale, and porphyry.PloS one · 2022Article
- Artifact3-D: New software for accurate, objective and efficient 3D analysis and documentation of archaeological artifacts.PloS one · 2022Article
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Authors and funding
13 authors at 8 institutions in 5 countries.
Funding
Abstract
Four ways archaeologists have tried to gain insights into how flintknapping creates lithic variability are fracture mechanics, controlled experimentation, replication and attribute studies of lithic assemblages. Fracture mechanics has the advantage of drawing more directly on first principles derived from physics and material sciences, but its relevance to controlled experimentation, replication and lithic studies more generally has been limited. Controlled experiments have the advantage of being able to isolate and quantify the contribution of individual variables to knapping outcomes, and the results of these experiments have provided models of flake formation that when applied to the archaeological record of flintknapping have provided insights into past behavior. Here we develop a linkage between fracture mechanics and the results of previous controlled experiments to increase their combined explanatory and predictive power. We do this by documenting the influence of Herztian cone formation, a constant in fracture mechanics, on flake platforms. We find that the platform width is a function of the Hertzian cone constant angle and the geometry of the platform edge. This finding strengthens the foundation of one of the more influential models emerging from the controlled experiments. With additional work, this should make it possible to merge more of the experimental results into a more comprehensive model of flake formation.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.