Microblades. While the concept has been somewhat co-opted by the beauty industry, lithic (stone) microblades have been around a lot longer than tattooing eyebrows.
A microblade is a type of artifact and tool that is, at its most basic description, a small scalpel-sized stone blade that is at least twice as long as it is wide. These artifacts generally have one or 2 arrases ridges that are perfectly parallel to the side margins. They are also small, most often less than 5 cm in length. Due to their delicate nature, it’s tough to make a single blade-like flake that long and narrow that is also robust enough for use.
Microblades are thought to originate in Asia and Siberia tens of thousands of years ago. They are also often seen in archaeological sites in BC, starting about 9-10,000 years ago. It is considered an ‘old’ technology, as microblades generally disappear from the archaeological record between 2-4,000 years ago, depending on the location.
Microblades were generally hafted lengthwise into a wooden or bone handle and used for cutting or slicing during hunting or fishing activities. They were excellent little multi-tools, easy to swap out when a blade got dull – think of popping out an Xacto-knife blade for a fresh edge. The blade edges are extremely sharp, but fragile, so would need replacing often.
These tools used very little raw material; not only are the blades small, but so are the prepared pieces (called cores) they are removed from, making them highly efficient and excellent for mobile hunter gatherers. They were made from different types of rock, but only from very fine grained ‘crypto-crystalline’ materials. Stone with larger grains wouldn’t have been appropriate for such a delicate tool, so we find these made from silicates such as chert and chalcedony and very fine-grained volcanic rock such as obsidian and basalt/dacite.
Flintknappers made these through a process called ‘pressure flaking’. Most other flintknapped tools are created with hammerstones or lengths of antler and bone called billets, using a strong, quick, striking action, often with an abundance of force. Pressure flaking uses a smaller antler or bone billet to push the flakes off the uppermost, flat portion of the core with the pointed end. The act of removing microblades from the core actually creates new ridges, allowing for more blades to be removed.
It is an ancient technology, but as things often do it has come full circle. Like bell-bottoms and the paleo diet, obsidian microblades have come back into fashion and are being used in the medical community, albeit by a small number of doctors. Dr. Lee Green, a professor and chairman at the Department of Family Medicine at the University of Alberta has been using obsidian blades for surgery, and has a local archaeologist and expert flintknapper create his tools. He explains that that obsidian is so sharp it causes the least amount of trauma to tissue, allowing for faster healing and minimal scarring. At a microscopic level, even surgical scalpels are serrated, while obsidian is completely smooth. However, like their ancient counterparts, modern obsidian blades are also very delicate and prone to lateral breakage, which means we likely won’t see widespread use in modern medical facilities.
But it goes to show, sometimes ancient technologies can have modern applications.