This is a secondary entry about the topographic imaging capabilities of electron microprobe.  Scanning electron microscopes (SEMs) and electron microprobes are both capable of secondary-electron imaging, which can generate high-magnification images of specimen surfaces.  As shown above, the electron images also have greater depths of field than visible-light microscope images, meaning that more of the specimen is in-focus.

        Shown here is an Egyptian hollow-based point, typical of the Neolithic through Middle Predynastic periods, from about 5500 to 3500 BCE.  These points, usually made of chert, occur throughout the Nile Valley and Western Desert, but they are most abundant in the fertile agricultural area near Fayum Lake.  The points are among the only bifacially worked lithics in this time and region, where sickle blades are quite common.  Some researchers (e.g., Holmes 1989, Schmidt 1996) have concluded that there are regionally differences in Middle and Upper Egyptian lithic assemblages, although others are not convinced of these findings.  Such points are frequently recovered with broken barbs, leading some to hypothesize that the long bards were designed to break on impact for some reason.  They can have invasive bifacial retouch as well, exhibiting fine pressure-flaked retouch scars on both faces.