Blank (archaeology)

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In archaeology, a blank is a thick, shaped stone biface of suitable size and configuration for refining into a stone tool. Blanks are the beginning products of lithic reduction, and during prehistoric times were often created for trade or later refinement at another location. Blanks were often formed through the initial reduction of lumps of tool stone at simple quarries, often no more than easily accessible outcroppings of the local tool stone (although this was certainly not the case at Grimes Graves in England). Sometimes the shape of the blank hints at the shape of the final tool it will become, but this is not always the case. A blank may consist of either a large, unmodified flake or a reduced core, often with a rough subtriangular or lanceolate shape. Rough chopping tools, derived by removing a few flakes along one edge of the cobble, can also be considered to fall into this group.