The Burin Spall Artifact

Résumé

Old World burins, discovered in the northern Bering Sea area in 1948, subsequently have been found widely distributed in earlier sites in interior and eastern arctic America. Those of the Denbigh Flint Complex in Alaska are most varied in form. Burin spalls, thin slivers struck or pressed from burins, appear to have been used as tools themselves (over 200 from Denbigh) probably for engraving. Spalls collected in Greenland show similar characteristics.