This retouched silcrete flake is from southeast Queensland. The retouching created a twisted, propeller-like morphology.  It likely dates to the Holocene period.

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This retouched flake was recovered from the surface of an Aboriginal site in the Brisbane region, and is made from relatively fine-grained silcrete.  The retouching is unusual, with the two retouched edges at either end of the artefact occurring in a ‘twisted’ orientation to each other, much like the blades on a propeller.  One platform is the ventral surface of the flake blank, with unifacial retouching towards the flake’s dorsal surface.  The second platform is the prominent ridge down the flake’s centre, extending around to the edge of the flake blank (with retouch in that area to the flake’s ventral surface).  Another retouched flake with a similar propeller-like morphology is known from the southeast Queensland region, but it is unclear whether these were idiosyncratic and fortuitous examples, or whether they were deliberately manufactured this way according to a shared technological protocol.

The artefact is curated in the Archaeology and Palaeoanthropology teaching collection, University of New England.

See the annotations for technological details about this stone tool.