Editing Hammerstone (section)

==== Sleeping (passive) hammer ====
[[File:Retoque sobre yunque.jpg|thumb|Retouch by direct percussion on a stone anvil.]]A large stone set in the ground or firmly mounted. The stone being worked is hit against this anvil, resulting in large flakes that are further processed into tools. This technique is not well known, though there is evidence of it being used during the [[Lower Paleolithic]]. The problem with the anvil stone is that the user handles large stones, which can be difficult to control with precision.

Another way of using the sleeping hammer as an anvil is more typical of advanced periods (from the [[Upper Paleolithic]]). Although it is based on the use of an anchored stone, the technical concept is completely different: it is about resting stone chips or sheets on the anvil and carrying out an abrupt [[Retouch (lithics)|retouching]] due to impact on one side (back) or extremity (truncated) thus obtaining retouched orthogonal fractures (this is what is called abrupt retouch).<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Tixier |first1=Jacques |title=Techniques de débitage: ossons ne plus affirmer |journal=Studia Praehistorica |date=1982 |volume=2 |page=21}}</ref> It is also possible to retouch stone tools on the anvil by means of [[pressure flaking]], thus obtaining a regular and monofacial retouched edge.