Nucleus (replica)

The nucleus is a stone billet for chipping off plates and using then for making tools. In shape, it is an oval roundish core for splitting off one or more plates. This nucleus has a surface formed by chips, resembling the shell of a turtle – hence its name "tortoiseshell". This replica illustrates a step-by-step technology for obtaining the so-called Levallois chips, widely distributed in the Middle Paleolithic. The Levallois technique (named after the town of Levallois-Perret near Paris) is a set of techniques for splitting the nucleus, aimed at obtaining a high–quality workpiece chips that could immediately be used as a tools, or those could be improved by edge retouching.