Microliths

After the Last Glacial Maximum stone tools became progressively smaller and smaller. It is thought that this microlithisation started in the Gravettian period (20,000 ya) and was reinvented by the Magdalenians (17,000 to 12,000 ya, see post From Rifle to Kalashnikov).

The Magdalenian hunting kit included what are thought to be small spears made of wood, bone or antler, set with tiny sharp-edged blades with steeply trimmed backs (lamelles à bord abattu) and perhaps tipped with fléchettes.

Pointe de Laugerie with two microlithic barbs (lamelles à bord abattu) from Magdalenian site Laugerie Basse (Dordogne, France)

After the invention of the bow, around 11,000 ya, arrows were only made out of wood, when forests had spread across Europe and timber was widely available. At first arrows were made entirely out of wood, like the pinewood projectile points found at the Stellmoor reindeer kill site in the Ahrensburg valley in Germany. Later they were mounted with the reinvented backed bladelets and various other microlithic forms serving as barbs for spears and arrows, which became the projectiles of choice during the Mesolithic (12,000 to 7,000 ya).

Microliths (from the Greek micro, small, and lithos, stone) were crafted from small bladelets punched from a prismatic core. These conical blade cores were very efficient in producing a wide range of tool blanks and extremely suitable for the mobile Mesolithic foragers.

Small mesolithic core with bladelets (North Somerset)

Subsequently, they were notched on opposite sides, or on the same side depending on the intended shape of the microlith (parallelogram or trapezoid, respectively), and then snapped along the notches. The snapped ends, near the platform butt of the blade and the distal fragment, were discarded.

Microburin blow technique: creating a notch on a bladelet with a small hammer stone,. (source: wikipedia).

Creation of trapezoid microliths by notching bladelets on the same side.

The discarded microburins, so called because they were initially thought to have been used as small burins, are the ‘type fossils’ for Mesolithic sites. Carving experiments, along with the reassembly of pieces with perfectly aligned edges have demonstrated that the microburins were a characteristic waste product of the microburin blow technique, showing no traces of intentional use.

Proximal microburins and notched bladelets from North Somerset

Selection of Mesolithic backed bladelets and arrow tips from North Somerset

Delicately retouched tip of a microlithic 'fléchette' from North Somerset

Reconstruction of an Early Mesolithic barbed arrow from Sweden (source: Antiquity Journal)

Mesolithic arrows, with their sharp tips and mounted barbs must have been very effective weapons. They are lighter and sharper than any modern steel-tipped arrows and very effective at close-quarter hunting on small mammals and birds. These sophisticated projectiles were so succesful that they dominated the European hunting toolkit for 5,000 years, until the arrival of agriculture around 6,000 ya.