PERCUSSION
& PRESSURE This picture shows a magnified view of the flaking pattern on the edge of this double notched Aztec biface. It shows five large flakes that were very uniformly removed by percussion flaking. These flakes were probably removed by striking the edge with a tool called a billet. The fine flakes that were removed directly on the edge were done by pressure flaking.
Pressure flakes are pushed off with a tool called a pressure flaker may have been made out of antler. These Aztec flint smiths were making some of the
largest and most skillfully flaked bifaces in the world at |