Editing Microlith (section)

==Dating==
[[File:Crystal spear tips.jpg|thumb|upright=1.7|Crystal spear tips, ca. 8000&ndash;7000 BCE, on display at Sion History museum]]
Laminar microliths are common artifacts from the Upper Paleolithic and the Epipaleolithic, to such a degree that numerous studies have used them as markers to date different phases of prehistoric cultures.

During the Epipaleolithic and the Mesolithic, the presence of laminar or geometric microliths serves to date the deposits of different cultural traditions. For instance, in the Atlas Mountains of northwest Africa, the end of the Upper Paleolithic period coincides with the end of the [[Aterian]] tradition of producing laminar microliths, and deposits can be dated by the presence or absence of these artifacts. In the Near East, the laminar microliths of the [[Kebarian]] culture were superseded by the geometric microliths of the [[Natufian]] tradition a little more than 11,000 years ago. This pattern is repeated throughout the Mediterranean basin and across Europe in general.<ref name="fortea80-103"/><ref>Professor Fortea has been able to distinguish two traditions in the Epipaleolithic period based in the Spanish Mediterranean , the "Microlaminar Complex" (with three separate phases: that of Sant Grégori de Falset, that based on the Cova de Les Mallaetes in [[Valencia, Spain|Valencia]] and that of the ''Epigravettian'') and the "Geometric Complex" (with two phases: the Filador and the Cocina, which receive their names from caves located on the eastern coast of Spain).</ref>

A similar thing is found in England, where the preponderance of elongated microliths, as opposed to other frequently occurring forms, has permitted the Mesolithic to be separated into two phases: the Earlier Mesolithic of about 8300&ndash;6700 BCE, or the ancient and laminar Mesolithic, and the Later Mesolithic, or the recent and geometric Mesolithic. Deposits can be thus dated based upon the assemblage of artifacts found.<ref>{{Cite book
| author = Myers, Andrew
| chapter = Reliable and mantainable technological strategies in the Mesolithic of mainland Britain
| title = Time, energy and stone tools: New directions in Archaeology |editor= Robin Torrence
| year = 1989
| publisher = Cambridge University Press
| location = [[Cambridge]]
| isbn = 0-521-25350-0
| page = 78
}} The same author has suggested that the geometric microliths may replace one or two rows of teeth in the bone harpoons commonly found in the Upper Paleolithic at the end of the Upper Magdalanian (page 84).</ref>