Uncritical use of flawed literature has allowed a number of misunderstandings to affect gunflint terminology and typology, thereby preventing the establishment of a reliable chronology. With reference to the most recent research into the subject, this article discusses gunflint terminology and, on this basis, a gunflint typo-chronology is suggested. As most British gunflint assemblages known from the archaeological literature tend to be late, and most terminological/typological problems in general appear to relate to 16th/17th-century gunflints, the recently discovered early gunflint assemblage from Dun Eistean, Lewis, Western Isles, has been given special attention.
