The history of studying of truncatedfaceted pieces in Palaeolithic research

This article is an overview of the history of studying of such specific types of artifacts as truncated-faceted pieces. These things were first described by L. Leakey in his analysis of Kenian Upper Palaeolithic in 1931 year. The term «truncatedfaceted pieces» has been applied to the tools of specific morphological appearance much later, after their discovery at Near and Middle Eastern Mousterian sites. Nowadays they are recorded in the Middle Palaeolithic, transitional and Upper Palaeolithic assemblages of the Caucasus, the Russian Plain, Europe and Central Asia. The most numerous collections of such pieces have been found during the recent phase of the study of Obi-Rakhmat Grotto, Uzbekistan. End at the moment researchers mean by truncated-faceted pieces different categories of stone artifacts. But, in general, truncated-faceted pieces are flakes that exhibit a truncation on one or several margins, which serves as a platform for the removal of one or more small flakes. There are three main points of view on the functional aim of these tools: a technique used to thin the piece for hafting, method for producing a particular kind of working edge and as small cores on flakes.