Editing Flint (section)

===Tools or cutting edges===
[[File:Feuersteinaxt.jpg|thumb|[[Neolithic]] flint axe, about 31 cm long]]
[[File:Folsom point.png|thumb|A 12,000 year old [[Folsom tradition]] spearpoint about {{cvt|3|inch|mm|order=flip}} long]]
Flint was used in the manufacture of tools during the [[Stone Age]] as it splits into thin, sharp splinters called flakes or blades (depending on the shape) when struck by another hard object (such as a [[hammerstone]] made of another material). This process is referred to as [[knapping]].<ref>{{cite book |last= Butler|first= Chris|date= 2005|title= Prehistoric Flintwork|publisher= The History Press|isbn= 9780752433400}}</ref>

Flint mining is attested since the [[Paleolithic]], but became more common since the [[Neolithic]] (Michelsberg culture, [[Funnelbeaker culture]]). In Europe, some of the best toolmaking flint has come from Belgium (Obourg, flint mines of [[Spiennes]]),<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.minesdespiennes.org/en.html |title=Neolithic Flint Mines of Petit-Spiennes ''Official web site'' |access-date=16 December 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071231104655/http://minesdespiennes.org/en.html |archive-date=31 December 2007 |url-status=dead |df=dmy-all }}</ref> the coastal chalks of the [[English Channel]], the [[Paris Basin]], [[Thy (district)|Thy]] in [[Jutland]] (flint mine at Hov), the Sennonian deposits of [[Rügen]], [[Grimes Graves]] in England, the Upper Cretaceous chalk formation of [[Dobruja]] and the lower [[Danube]] (Balkan flint), the Cenomanian chalky marl formation of the [[Moldavian Plateau]] (Miorcani flint) and the [[Jurassic]] deposits of the [[Kraków]] area and [[Krzemionki]] in Poland, as well as of the [[Lägern]] ([[silex]]) in the [[Jura Mountains]] of Switzerland.

In 1938, a project of the [[Ohio Historical Society]], under the leadership of H. Holmes Ellis began to study the knapping methods and techniques of [[Indigenous peoples of the Americas|Native Americans]]. Like past studies, this work involved experimenting with actual knapping techniques by creation of stone tools through the use of techniques like direct freehand percussion, freehand pressure and pressure using a rest. Other scholars who have conducted similar experiments and studies include [[William Henry Holmes]], [[Alonzo W. Pond]], [[Sir Francis Knowles, 5th Baronet|Francis H. S. Knowles]] and [[Don Crabtree]].<ref>Flenniken, J. Jeffrey. "The Past, Present, and Future of Flintknapping: An Anthropological Perspective." Annual Review of Anthropology 13 (1984): 187-203. http://www.jstor.org/stable/2155667 {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200910110255/https://www.jstor.org/stable/2155667 |date=10 September 2020 }}</ref>

To reduce susceptibility to fragmentation, flint/chert may be heat-treated, being slowly brought up to a temperature of {{convert|150|to|260|C|F|sigfig=2}} for 24 hours, then slowly cooled to room temperature. This makes the material more homogeneous and thus more [[wikt:knap|knappable]] and produces tools with a cleaner, sharper cutting edge. Heat treating was known to Stone Age artisans.{{citation needed|date=July 2019}}