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Inarchaeology and the field oflithic reduction, aburin/ˈbjuːrɪn/ (from theFrenchburin, meaning "coldchisel" or modern engravingburin) is a type of stone tool, a handheldlithic flake with achisel-like edge whichprehistoric humans used for carving or finishing wood or bone tools or weapons, and sometimes forengraving images.
In archaeology, burin use is often associated with "burinspalls", which are a form ofdebitage created when toolmakers strike a small flake obliquely from the edge of the burin flake in order to form the graving edge.[1]
Standardized burin usage is typical of theMiddle Paleolithic andUpper Palaeolithiccultures inEurope,[2] butarchaeologists have also identified them inNorth American cultural assemblages, and in his bookEarly Man in China, Jia Lanpo of Beijing University lists dihedral burins and burins for truncation among artifacts uncovered along the banks of the Liyigon river nearXujiayao.
Burins can also be associated with compound microblade projectile technology, found with microblade cores and/or microblades. In these cases, their purpose is interpreted as both a rapid retouch and hafting preparation strategy for blade-based edge tools and bifaces and as a class of dedicated flake or blade-based tools used to insert microblades and other microliths into organic armatures.
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Multiple types of burin exist.
A type of burin diagnostic of the archaeologicalstratum where they are found is the"Noailles" burin, named for its original find-site, theGrotte de Noailles, in the commune ofBrive-la-Gaillarde, Corrèze, in southwestern France.[3] It consists of a small multiple burin characteristic of the Upper Paleolithic cultural stage called theGravettian, ca. 28–23,000 BC; these flake tools have been restruck and refined to give several chisellike edges and a blunt, grippable rear edge.
Another type of burin is called the "ordinary burin", which occurs when a burin facet is backed against another burin facet.[4]
Abec-de-flute burin, or "axial burin" began as a long flake, but one of both ends have been knocked off, giving two working facets meeting at an angle.[5]
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