The controlled chipping or flaking of stone, especially flint, by percussion or pressure in order to shape an edge, tool, or form.
Knapping is a subtractive stone-working process in which controlled blows or pressure remove flakes from stone, especially flint and other fine-grained lithic materials. The process is fundamental to prehistoric toolmaking and represents one of humanity’s earliest highly controlled methods of shaping stone.
Although usually discussed in archaeological and toolmaking contexts, knapping belongs to the larger history of subtractive form-making. It depends on understanding fracture, striking angle, force, and the internal behavior of the material.
Etymology
From the English verb knap, “to strike or break with a sharp blow.”
Sculptor Notes
Knapping is not carving with a chisel; the sculptor or maker controls fracture itself. The technique is valuable historically because it reveals how deeply stoneworking begins with learning to predict the material’s response to force.
References
https://www.getty.edu/vow/AATFullDisplay?subjectid=300380037