RAS question
The characteristic tool of the Mesolithic period is:
Correct answer: (A) Microlith.
Microliths are the characteristic tools of the Mesolithic, or Middle Stone Age, because they are the period's technological hallmark.
Explanation
The Mesolithic is literally the Middle Stone Age, and the eGyanKosh unit identifies its technological hallmark as tiny stone tools called microliths. Microliths were small stone tools, used not usually as stand-alone implements but as parts of composite weapons and tools. They were hafted into bone, wood or reed handles and shafts, often set into grooves and fixed with natural adhesive. Their functions included arrowheads and spearheads, and the cutting edges of knives, sickles, daggers and harpoons. That is why 'microlith' is the characteristic Mesolithic tool, even though Mesolithic people also used some non-microlithic flake and blade tools.
Why the other options are wrong
- (B) A handaxe is not the Mesolithic hallmark; the eGyanKosh unit specifically names tiny stone tools, or microliths, as the defining technology of the period.
- (C) A copper chisel does not fit the stated Mesolithic marker, because small stone microliths, not copper tools, are the characteristic type.
- (D) A polished axe is not the tiny hafted microlith identified by eGyanKosh, so it misses the diagnostic Mesolithic tool form asked in the question.
Concept
This tests the prehistory concept of matching cultural periods with diagnostic tool types. It recurs in RAS because Mesolithic questions often turn on recognising microliths as the key archaeological marker.