In
archaeology,
scrapers are
unifacial tools that were used either for
hideworking or
woodworking purposes . Whereas this term is often used for any unifacially flaked
stone tool that defies classification, most
lithic analysts maintain that the only true scrapers are defined on the base of use-wear, and usually are those that were worked on the distal ends of
blades—i.e., "end scrapers" or grattoirs. Other scrapers include the so-called "
side scrapers" or
racloirs, which are made on the longest side of a
flake, and notched scrapers, which have a cleft on either side that may have been used to attach them to something else.