Retouch (lithics)

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "Retouch" lithics – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (January 2015) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

Retouch is the act of producing scars on a stone flake after the ventral surface has been created.^[1] It can be done to the edge of an implement in order to make it into a functional tool, or to reshape a used tool. Retouch can be a strategy to reuse an existing lithic artifact and enable people to transform one tool into another tool.^[2] Depending on the form of classification that one uses, it may be argued that retouch can also be conducted on a core-tool, if such a category exists, such as a hand-axe.

Retouch may simply consist of roughly trimming an edge by striking with a hammerstone, or on smaller, finer flake or blade tools it is sometimes carried out by pressure flaking. Other forms of retouch may include burination, which is retouch that is conducted in a parallel orientation to the flake margin. Retouch is often taken as one of the most obvious features distinguishing a tool from a waste by-product of lithic manufacture (debitage).

The extent of reduction, also known as the retouch intensity, is denoted by a measure of the reduction index.^[3] There are many quantitative and qualitative methods used to measure this.