blank
Blank
Blank is a term used to describe a usable piece of lithic material of adequate size and form for making a lithic artifact, such as unmodified flakes of a size larger than the proposed artifact, bearing little or no waste material, and suitable for assorted lithic artifact styles. The shape or form of the final product is not disclosed in the blank (Crabtree 1982 27). It is possible to have a number of blanks in the early stages in the manufacturing process before.



Preform
A preform is the term used to denote a piece in the initial shaping stages for the formation of a tool. A preform is an unfinished, unused form of the proposed artifact. It is larger than, and without the refinement of, the completed tool. It is thick, with deep bulbar scars, has irregular edges, and no means of hafting. Generally made by direct percussion. Not to be confused with a blank (Crabtree 1982, 49).

Debris
Debris are the waste materials such as are found in quarrying or mining waste, which have little or no definitive characteristics (Crabtree 1982, 32). Debris is also commonly used to describe materials from a site which are considered to be waste materials from a production process. For example, materials found in a dump could be considered to be debris.

Detritus
Detritus is the waste of disintegrated rocks, such as accumulated waste at a natural exposure, having little or no diagnostic value (Crabtree 1982, 32). An accumulation or the remains of broken and natural (i.e. unworked) rock. This is not a term normally used in connection with humanly struck material.