Archive for the ‘The Stone Age’ Category
The stone age ended in the Middle East, Southeast Asia around 6000
BCE, in Europe around 4000BCE, and in the Americas, around 2500
BCE.
The stone age is divided into three periods:
The Paleolithic age:
The Old Stone age. This age was the longest running age. It began
around 2 million years ago, when the first homminid used the first
stone tool, and lasted until the last Ice Age, around 13,000 BCE.
This is the earliest known period of human development and the
longest phase of mankind’s history. It is has the same duration as
the Pleistocene geologic epoch, beginning about 2 million years ago
and ending in various places between 40,000 and 10,000 years ago,
when the Mesolithic period rolled in. By far the most outstanding
feature of the Paleolithic period was the evolution of the human
species from an apelike creature, or near human, to true Homo
sapiens . This development was very slow and continued through the
three successive divisions of the period, the Lower, Middle, and
Upper Paleolithic. The most abundant remains of Paleolithic
cultures are a variety of stone tools whose distinct
characteristics provide the basis for a system of classification
containing several toolmaking traditions or industries.
The Lower Paleolithic Period:
The oldest recognizable tools made by members of the family of man
are simple stone choppers, such as those discovered at Olduvai
Gorge in Tanzania. These tools may have been made over 1 million
years ago by Australopithecus , ancestor of modern humans.
Fractured stones called eoliths have been considered the earliest
tools, but it is impossible to distinguish man-made from naturally
produced modifications in such stones. Lower Paleolithic stone
industries of the early species of humans called Homo erectus
include the Choukoutienian of China and the Clactonian,
Chellean-Abbevillian, Acheulian and Levalloisian represented at
various sites in Europe, Africa, and Asia, from 100,000 to 500,000
years ago. Stone tools of this period are of the core type, made by
chipping the stone to form a cutting edge, or of the flake type,
fashioned from fragments struck off a stone. Hand axes were the
typical tool of these early hunters and food-gatherers.
The Middle Paleolithic Period:
The Middle Paleolithic period includes the Mousterian culture,
often associated with Neanderthal man , an early form of humans,
living between 100,000 and 40,000 years ago. Neanderthal remains
are often found in caves with evidence of the use of fire.
Neanderthals were hunters of prehistoric mammals, and their
cultural remains, though unearthed chiefly in Europe, have been
found also in N Africa, Palestine, and Siberia. Stone tools of this
period are of the flake tradition, and bone implements, such as
needles, indicate that crudely sewn furs and skins were used as
body coverings. Since the dead were painted before burial, a kind
of primitive religion may have been practiced.
The Upper Paleolithic Period :
In the Upper Paleolithic period Neanderthal man disappears and is
replaced by a variety of Homo sapiens such as Cro-Magnon man and
Grimaldi man. This, the flowering of the Paleolithic period, saw an
astonishing number of human cultures, such as the Aurignacian,
Gravettian, Perigordian, Solutrean, and Magdalenian, rise and
develop in the Old World. The beginnings of communal hunting and
extensive fishing are found here, as is the first conclusive
evidence of belief systems centering on magic and the supernatural.
Pit houses, the first man-made shelters, were built, sewn clothing
was worn, and sculpture and painting originated. Tools were of
great variety, including flint and obsidian blades and projectile
points. It is probable that the people of the Aurignacian culture
migrated to Europe after developing their distinctive culture
elsewhere, perhaps in Asia. Their stone tools are finely worked,
and they made a typical figure eight-shaped blade. They also used
bone, horn, and ivory and made necklaces and other personal
ornaments. They carved the so-called Venus figures, ritual
statuettes of bone, and made outline drawings on cave walls.
The hunters of the Solutrean phase of the Upper Paleolithic entered
Europe from the east and ousted many of their Aurignacian
predecessors. The Solutrean wrought extremely fine spearheads,
shaped like a laurel leaf. The wild horse was their chief quarry.
The Solutrean as well as remnants of the Aurignacian were replaced
by the Magdalenian, the final, and perhaps most impressive, phase
of the Paleolithic period. Here artifacts reflect a society made up
of communities of fishermen and reindeer hunters. Surviving
Magdalenian tools, which range from tiny microliths to implements
of great length and fineness, indicate an advanced technique.
Weapons were highly refined and varied, the atlatl first came into
use, and along the southern edge of the ice sheet boats and
harpoons were developed. However, the crowning achievement of the
Magdalenian was its cave paintings, the culmination of Paleolithic
art .
The Mesolithic age:
This is the middle ages of the stone age. The period in human
development between the end of the Paleolithic period and the
beginning of the Neolithic period . It began with the end of the
last glacial period over 10,000 years ago and evolved into the
Neolithic period; this change involved the gradual domestication of
plants and animals and the formation of settled communities at
various times and places. While Mesolithic cultures lasted in
Europe until almost 3000 BCE, Neolithic communities developed in
the Middle East between 9000 and 6000 BCE Mesolithic cultures
represent a wide variety of hunting, fishing, and food gathering
techniques. This variety may be the result of adaptations to
changed ecological conditions associated with the retreat of
glaciers, the growth of forests in Europe and deserts in N Africa,
and the disappearance of the large game of the Ice Age.
Characteristic of the period were hunting and fishing settlements
along rivers and on lake shores, where fish and mollusks were
abundant. Microliths, the typical stone implements of the
Mesolithic period, are smaller and more delicate than those of the
late Paleolithic period. Pottery and the use of the bow developed,
although their presence in Mesolithic cultures may only indicate
contact with early Neolithic peoples. The Azilian culture, which
was centered in the Pyrenees region but spread to Switzerland,
Belgium, and Scotland, was one of the earliest representatives of
Mesolithic culture in Europe. The Azilian was followed by the
Tardenoisian culture, which covered much of Europe; most of these
settlements are found on dunes or sandy areas. The Maglemosian,
named for a site in Denmark, is found in the Baltic region and N
England. It occurs in the middle of the Mesolithic period. It is
there that hafted axes, an improvement over the Paleolithic hand
axe, and bone tools are found. The Ertebolle culture, also named
for a site in Denmark, spans most of the late Mesolithic. It is
also known as the kitchen-midden culture for the large deposits of
mollusk shells found around the settlements. Other late Mesolithic
cultures are the Campignian and Asturian, both of which may have
had Neolithic contacts. The Mesolithic period in other areas is
represented by the Natufian in the Middle East, the Badarian and
Gerzean in Egypt, and the Capsian in N Africa. The Natufian culture
provides the earliest evidence of an evolution from a Mesolithic to
a Neolithic way of life.
The Neolithic age:
The New Stone Age. The term neolithic is used, especially in
archaeology and anthropology, to designate a stage of cultural
evolution or technological development characterized by the use of
stone tools, the existence of settled villages largely dependent on
domesticated plants and animals, and the presence of such crafts as
pottery and weaving. The time period and cultural content indicated
by the term varies with the geographic location of the culture
considered and with the particular criteria used by the individual
scientist. The domestication of plants and animals usually
distinguishes Neolithic culture from earlier Paleolithic or
Mesolithic hunting, fishing, and food-gathering cultures.
The Mesolithic period in several areas shows a gradual transition
from a food-collecting to a food-producing culture. The termination
of the Neolithic period is marked by such innovations as the rise
of urban civilization or the introduction of metal tools or
writing. Again, the criteria vary with each case. The earliest
known development of Neolithic culture was in SW Asia between 8000
BCE and 6000 BCE There the domestication of plants and animals was
probably begun by the Mesolithic Natufian peoples, leading to the
establishment of settled villages based on the cultivation of
cereals, including wheat, barley, and millet, and the raising of
cattle, sheep, goats, and pigs. In the Tigris and Euphrates river
valleys, the Neolithic culture of the Middle East developed into
the urban civilizations of the Bronze Age by 3500 BCE Between 6000
BCE and 2000 BCE Neolithic culture spread through Europe, the Nile
valley (Egypt), the Indus valley (India), and the Huang He valley
(N China).
The formation of Neolithic cultures throughout the Old World
resulted from a combination of local cultural developments with
innovations diffused from the Middle East. In SE Asia, a distinct
type of Neolithic culture involving rice cultivation developed,
perhaps independently, before 2000 BCE In the New World, the
domestication of plants and animals occurred independently of Old
World developments. By 1500 BCE, Neolithic cultures based on the
cultivation of corn, beans, squash, and other plants were present
in Mexico and South America, leading to the rise of the Inca and
Aztec civilizations and spreading to other parts of the Americas by
the time of European contact. The term Neolithic has also been used
in anthropology to designate cultures of more contemporary
primitive, independent farming communities.
Using the history for a campaign
Weaps: Weaps and tools made of stone, wood,
antler, horn and bone. Bow and arrows for the Mesolithic age and
later, axes, spears, bone or stone knives and clubs.
Dwellings: Caves, houses covered with hides with
famerwork made of Mamoth bones, Later parts of the age; stone, sun
dried brick or wood dwellings.
Diet: Game, fish, fruits and other naturally
grown produce.
It is believed that by 11,000 BCE that these Ancient peoples began
to domestic animals, cultivate plants and grains.
Clothing: Furs, leather and sinew
Tools and Equipment: Sewing needles, fish hooks
and traps, musical instruments, ropes, saws, knives, axes, hammers,
drills and ingenious fire starters.
Science has shown that these people used coal instead of wood for
burning and had methods to preserve food, both freezing and drying.
They also had kilns which scientest believe were used for both
cooking and making ceramics and pottery.
Health and Healing: Science has discovered that
these Ancient people could: Amputate damaged limbs, set bones and
perform surgery including brain surgery. It is also assumed that
they used plants and other herbs as medicines and remedies.
Bibliography: See V. G. Childe, New Light on the Most Ancient East
(4th ed. 1953, repr. 1968); G. Clark and S. Piggott, Prehistoric
Societies (1965); R. J. Braidwood, Prehistoric Men (7th ed. 1967);
S. M. Cole, The Neolithic Revolution (4th ed. 1967); A. Whittle,
Problems in Neolithic Archaeology (1989). Columbia Encyclopedia,
Sixth Edition, Copyright (c) 2004.
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