A piece of flint or other hard rock that has been chipped and shaped by natural geological forces, such as glacial crushing, frost shattering, or high-energy water transport. They often mimic crude stone tools. Geologists and archaeologists distinguish eoliths from true artifacts by analyzing the fracture patterns, which lack the systematic, directional flaking characteristic of human knapping.
Heard on the job
The surveyor thought he found an ancient hand axe in the gravel pit, but the random flake scars proved it was just an eolith formed by glacial action.