0017 - A large first blade

A first blade (lâmina de crista) of flint. Integrating the concentrated assemblage of more than 80 large blades recorded in Tomb 3 of Perdigões, this blade corresponds to a first extraction from a prepared core, and therefore it present in its surface the marks of the preparation of the core for the knapping. It was the first of a sequence of extractions.

(Photo copyright A.C. Valera / Era Arqueologia)

But these extractions occurred elsewhere. They were not produced at Perdigões. These long blades (several have more than 30 cm, like this one) are exogenous objects at the site and document the integration of Perdigões in large scale networks of circulation of exotic and valued materials. Some of these blades are of oolithic flint and have their probable origin in the central Andalusia, in the Betic mountains, some 600 km away from Perdigões.