Lunate

Lunate is a term meaning crescent or moon-shaped. In the specialized terminology of lithic reduction, a lunate flake is a small, crescent-shaped flake removed from a stone tool during the process of pressure flaking.

In the Natufian period, a lunate was a small crescent-shaped stone tool that was sometimes used to harvest grasses.

In archaeology a lunate is a small stone artifact, that has a blunt straight edge and a sharpened crescent shaped back. The word originates from the Latin word lunatus which means to bend like a crescent, and from luna meaning moon in Latin.

A lunate object can be typically used as a decorative piece or as a stone tool.