Microliths
Also called: Microlithic tools · Topic: Prehistory: Human Origins and Stone Age Cultures · NCERT: Class 9, Ch 4 "Early Humans and Beginning of Civilisation"
Meaning
Microliths are very small stone tools, usually only a few centimetres long. They were shaped as small blades, points, triangles and crescents. They were hafted, which means fixed into wooden or bone handles, to make arrows, spears and sickles. Microblades first appear in the Upper Palaeolithic, but microliths are most typical of the Mesolithic. In that period, after c. 12,000 years ago, they helped people hunt small game, catch fish and cut wild grains.
Example
Microliths have been found at Bhimbetka (Madhya Pradesh) and at Bagor (Rajasthan), one of India's largest Mesolithic sites. At Bagor, people used microliths while they hunted and also kept sheep and goats.
Don't confuse with
- Megaliths are huge stones placed over or around graves, mostly in much later times. Microliths are tiny tools, not monuments.
Related concepts
- Mesolithic age
- Bagor
- Adamgarh
- Langhnaj
- Sarai Nahar Rai
- Mahadaha and Damdama
- Lakhudiyar
- Konkan petroglyphs