Abstract: Bladelets (micro-blades) were key artifacts in the technologies of many Upper Paleolithic cultures in the Old World, among them the Magdalenian (~21-14 ka) in Western Europe. Contemporary with claimed late pre-Clovis sites in the Americas, it succeeded the Solutrean technocomplex (~25-21 ka) characterized by large foliate, concave-base, shouldered, and tanged lithic projectile points. Magdalenian bladelets were often inserted as replaceable elements along antler shafts to create lethal, maintainable weapon tips. Using El Mirón Cave's (Cantabria, Spain) long Magdalenian sequence, together with other site excavations employing fine-mesh water-screening, we demonstrate the importance of bladelets and the significance of this kind of often convergent technology in many regions of the inhabited world.
