microlithic

[ mahy-kruh-lith-ik ]

adjective

1. pertaining to or characterized by the use of microliths, as a people or culture.
2. of the nature of or resembling a microlith, as a tool.

Word History and Origins

Origin of microlithic¹

First recorded in 1870–75; microlith + -ic

Example Sentences

Prior investigations showed that this microlithic technology appeared briefly between 65,000 and 60,000 years ago and then seemed to vanish.

From New York Times

Later, well after Toba, they give way to much more sophisticated handiwork: small, finely worked 'microlithic' blades that might have served as arrowheads, shaped bone points, beads and pieces of ostrich eggshell adorned, in one case, with cross-hatching.

From Nature

Perhaps they will find tools clearly made by modern humans before Toba, or a coastal encampment left by later colonists, littered with microlithic blades.

From Nature

Although the genetics suggest that the coastal express dispersed people across Asia at least 55,000 years ago, the earliest microlithic tools found so far in South Asia are no more than 40,000 years old.

From Nature

In igneous rocks they are usually felspar, augite, enstatite, and iron oxides, and are found in abundance only where there is much uncrystallized glassy base; in contact-altered sediments, slags, &c., microlithic forms of garnet, spinel, sillimanite, cordierite, various lime silicates, and many other substances have been observed.

From Project Gutenberg