Editing Microlith (section)

====Microburin technique====
{{multiple image
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| image1 = Arpón con microlitos.png
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| caption1 = The most widely accepted hypothesis is that geometric microliths were used on projectiles such as this harpoon.
| image2 = Tværmose arrow (Denmark).png
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| caption2 = Trapezoid microliths and arrow with a trapeze used to strengthen the tip, found in a peat bog at Tværmose (Denmark)
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All the currently known geometric microliths share the same fundamental characteristics &ndash; only their shapes vary. They were all made from blades or from microblades (nearly always of flint), using the [[microburin]] technique (which implies that it is not possible to conserve the remains of the heel or the conchoidal flakes from the blank). The pieces were then finished by a percussive retouching of the edges (generally leaving one side with the natural edge of the blank), giving the piece its definitive polygonal form. For example, in order to make a triangle, two adjacent notches were retouched, leaving free the third edge or ''base''<ref name="fortea80-103"/> (using the terminology of Fortea). They generally have one long axis and concave or convex edges, and it is possible for them to have a gibbosity (hump) or indentations. Triangular microliths may be [[isosceles]], [[Triangle#Types of triangle|scalene]] or [[equilateral]]. In the case of trapezoid geometric microliths, on the other hand, the notches are not retouched, leaving a portion of the natural edge between them. Trapezoids can be further subdivided into symmetrical, asymmetrical and those with concave edges. [[Lunate]] microliths have the least diversity of all and may be either semicircular or [[Circular segment|segmental]].

Archeological findings and the analysis of wear marks, or [[use-wear analysis]], has shown that, predictably, the tips of [[spear]]s, [[harpoon]]s and other light projectiles of varying size received the most wear. Microliths were also used from the [[Neolithic]] on [[arrow]]s, although a decline in this use coincided with the appearance of bifacial or "leafed" arrowheads that became widespread in the [[Chalcolithic]] period, or Copper Age (that is, stone arrowheads were increasingly made by a different technique during this later period).