Identifying microliths
Tiny geometric flints that armed Mesolithic arrows.
Microliths are small — often under 3 cm — segments of blades retouched into geometric shapes: crescents, triangles, rods, trapezes. Mounted in rows on wooden shafts with resin, they formed the cutting edges of Mesolithic arrows and knives.
They are easy to miss and easy to doubt: look for deliberate blunting retouch along one edge (the backing that seated the piece in resin) and the snapped ends where the parent blade was sectioned (sometimes via the microburin notch-and-snap technique, whose waste pieces are themselves diagnostic).
Sieving spoil is how microliths are actually found — they rarely announce themselves. Record shape category, dimensions, and material, and map finds individually: a cluster of microliths and microburins pins a Mesolithic camp with beautiful precision.