Stone Age

see Stone Age (disambiguation)

The Stone Age is a broad prehistoric period during which humans widely used stone for toolmaking. Stone tools were made from a variety of different sorts of stone. For example, flint and chert were shaped (or chipped) for use as cutting tools and weapons, while basalt and sandstone were used for ground stone tools, such as quern-stones. Wood, bone, shell, antler (deer) and other materials were widely used, as well. During the most recent part of the period, sediments (like clay) were used to make pottery. A series of metal technology innovations characterize the later Chalcolithic (Copper Age), Bronze Age and Iron Age.

The period from 2.7–2.58 million years ago (Mya) encompasses the first use of stone tools in Gona, Ethiopia and its spread and widespread use elsewhere soon thereafter. It ends with the development of agriculture, the domestication of certain animals, and the smelting of copper ore to produce metal. It is termed prehistoric since humanity had not yet started writing—the traditional start of history (i.e., recorded history).

It is the first age in the three-age system. A division of the Stone Age into older and younger parts was first proposed by Jens Jacob Worsaae in 1859 through his work with Danish kitchen middens that began in 1851. The subdivision into the Palaeolithic, Mesolithic and Neolithic periods that still is in use today, was made by John Lubbock in his now classic 1865 book Pre-historic Times. These three periods are further subdivided. In reality, the succession of phases varies enormously from one region (and culture) to another, indeed, humanity continued to expand into new areas even during the metal ages. Therefore, it is better to speak of a Stone Age, instead of the Stone Age. As a description of people living today, the term stone age is controversial. The Association of Social Anthropologists discourages this use.

The Stone Age in archaeology

Obsidian projectile point

The date range of this period is ambiguous, disputed, and variable according to the region in question. While it is possible to speak of a general 'stone age' period for the whole of humanity, some groups never developed metal-smelting technology, so remained in a 'stone age' until they encountered technologically developed cultures. However, it is believed that this period began somewhere around 2.5 million years ago with the first hominid tool makers in Africa, most likely Australopithecus garhi.

Due to the prevalence of stone artifacts, which are frequently the only remains which still exist, lithic analysis is a major and specialised form of archaeological investigation for the period. This involves the measurement of the stone tools to determine their typology, function and the technology involved. This frequently involves an analysis of the lithic reduction of the raw materials, examining how the artifacts were actually made. This can also be examined through experimental archaeology, by attempting to create replica tools. This is done by flintknappers who reduce flintstone to a flint tool.

Modern use of the term

A variety of stone tools

The term inexactly suggests that human advancement and time periods in prehistory are only measured by the type of tool material, rather than, for example, social organization, food sources exploited, or adaption to climate. This is a product of a time when finds of artifacts were the main goal of an archaeological excavation. Modern archaeological techniques stress a wider collection of information. Neat divisions such as the term Stone Age are increasingly limited. Changes in past societies over the millennia were complex and involved multiple factors such as the adoption of agriculture, settlement and religion.

Another problem connected with the term Stone Age is that it was created to describe the archaeological cultures of Europe, and that it is inconvenient to use it in relation to regions such as some parts of the Americas and Oceania, where farmers or hunter-gatherers used stone for tools until European colonisation began. Metal-working was a much less important part of people's lives there and it is more useful to use other terms when dividing prehistory in those areas. The same incongruence applies to the Iron Age worldwide, because in the Americas iron (but not copper, silver or gold) was unknown until around 1000 CE, in Oceania until the 17th century or the 18th century.

In a given location, a Stone Age was usually followed by a Bronze Age, during which metalworking technology allowed bronze (copper and tin or other metals) tools to become more common. The transition out of the Stone Age occurred between 6000 BCE and 2500 BCE for much of humanity living in North Africa, Asia and Europe. In regions such as Subsaharan Africa, the Stone Age was followed directly by an Iron Age. The Middle East and southeastern Asian regions progressed past Stone Age technology around 6000 BC. Europe, and the rest of Asia became post–Stone Age societies by about 4000 BCE. The proto-Inca cultures of South America continued at a Stone Age level until around 2000 BCE, when gold, copper and silver made their entrance, the rest following later. Australia remained in a Stone Age until the 17th century.

The transition from a Stone Age to a Bronze Age was a gradual process involving the working of gold and copper at Neolithic sites. This "transition" period is known as the Copper age or Chalcolithic. It was a short and more a regional development, because alloying tin with copper began quite soon, except in regions lacking tin. Between the 5th and 6th millennium BCE First evidence of Human Metallurgy was found in Archaeological sites of Majdanpek, Yarmovac and Plocnik (Copper Axe from 5500BCE belonging to the Vincha culture) and Rudna Glava Mine in Serbia. Ötzi the Iceman for instance, a mummy from about 3300 BCE carried with him a copper axe and a flint knife. Stone tool manufacture continued long into the succeeding metal-using ages, possibly even until the Early Middle Ages. In Europe and North America, millstones were in use until well into the 20th century, and still are in many parts of the world.

Chronology

The three-age system divides human technological prehistory into three periods:

• The Stone Age
• The Bronze Age
• The Iron Age

New ages and subages were added as new archaeological discoveries were made, and different schemes were developed to describe conditions in different places. A more modern periodization of the Stone Age stretches from the Paleolithic to the Neolithic in the following scheme (crossing an epoch boundary on the geologic time scale):

• Pleistocene epoch (highly glaciated climate)
  • Paleolithic age
• Holocene epoch (modern climate)
  • Mesolithic or Epipaleolithic age
  • Neolithic age
  • Copper Age
  • Bronze Age
  • Iron Age
• Historical period (written record begins)

Paleolithic

Main article: Paleolithic

See also: Human evolution

The Paleolithic (or Palaeolithic) (from Greek: παλαιός, palaios, "old"; and λίθος, lithos, "stone" lit. "old age of the stone"; was coined by archaeologist John Lubbock in 1865.) is a prehistoric era distinguished by the development of stone tools. It covers the greatest portion of humanity's time (roughly 99% of human history) on Earth, extending from 2.5 or 2.6 million years ago, with the introduction of stone tools by hominids such as Homo habilis, to the introduction of agriculture and the end of the Pleistocene around 10,000 BCE. The Paleolithic era ended with the Mesolithic, or in areas with an early neolithisation, the Epipaleolithic.

During the Paleolithic age, humans were grouped together in small scale societies such as bands and gained their subsistence from gathering plants and hunting wild animals. The Paleolithic is characterized by the use of knapped stone tools, although at the time, humans also used wood and bone tools. Other organic commodities were adapted for use as tools, including leather and vegetable fibers; however, given their nature, these have not been preserved to any great degree. Humankind gradually evolved from early members of the genus Homo such as Homo habilis, who used simple stone tools into fully behaviorally and anatomically modern humans (Homo sapiens sapiens) during the Paleolithic era. DNA and fossil evidence indicates that modern humans originated in east Africa about 200,000 years ago. During the end of the Paleolithic specifically the Middle and or Upper Paleolithic humans began to produce the earliest works of art and engage in religious and spiritual behavior such as burial and ritual. The climate during the Paleolithic consisted of a set of glacial and interglacial periods in which the climate periodically fluctuated between warm and cool temperatures.

Lower Palaeolithic

Main article: Lower Palaeolithic

Near the end of the Pliocene epoch in Africa, an early ancestor of modern humans, called Homo habilis, developed the earliest stone tools. These were relatively simple tools known as choppers. Homo habilis is presumed to have mastered the Oldowan era tool case which utilized stone flakes and cores. This industry of stone tools is named after the site of Olduvai Gorge in Tanzania. These humans likely subsisted on scavenged meat and wild plants, rather than by hunting prey. Around 1.5 million years ago, a more evolved human species, Homo erectus, appeared. H. erectus learned to control fire and created more complex chopper tools, as well as expanding out of Africa to reach Asia, as shown by sites such as Zhoukoudian in China. By 1 million years ago, the earliest evidence of humans in Europe is known, as well use of the more advanced handaxe tool .

Middle Palaeolithic

Main article: Middle Palaeolithic

This period is most well-known as being the era during which the Neanderthals lived (c. 120,000–24,000 years ago). The stone artefact technology of the Neanderthals is generally known as the Mousterian or more precisely Neandertal traits was found also in younger Châtelperronian, Aurignacian and Gravettian archeological cultures. The Neanderthals traits eventually disappeared from the archaeological record, replaced by modern humans traits which first appeared in Ethiopia around 120,000 years ago although often identified as Archaic Homo sapiens. Neanderthals nursed their elderly and practised ritual burial indicating an organised society. The earliest evidence (Mungo Man) of settlement in Australia dates to around 40,000 years ago when modern humans likely crossed from Asia by hopping from island to island. Middle Palaeolithic peoples demonstrate the earliest undisputed evidence for art and other expressions of abstract thought such as intentional burial of the dead.

Upper Palaeolithic

Main article: Upper Palaeolithic

From 35,000 to 10,000 years ago (the end of the last ice age) modern humans spread out further across the Earth during the period known as the Upper Palaeolithic. In the time when Cro-Magnon and Neanderthal traits mixed in Europe (35–24.5 ky) a relatively rapid succession of often complex stone artefact technologies took place. During period between 35 and 10 kya evolved: from 35 to 29 kya Châtelperronian, 32–26 Aurignacian, 28–22 Gravettian, 22–17 Solutrean, and 18–10 Magdalenian. The last two occurred after the disappearance of neanderthal traits from paleoantropological specimens.

The Americas were colonised via the Bering land bridge which was exposed during this period by lower sea levels. These people are called the Paleo-Indians, and the earliest accepted dates are those of the Clovis culture sites, some 13,500 years ago. Globally, societies were hunter-gatherers but evidence of regional identities begins to appear in the wide variety of stone tool types being developed to suit very different environments.

Epipalaeolithic/Mesolithic

Main articles: Epipalaeolithic, Mesolithic

The period starting from the end of the last ice age, 10,000 years ago, to around 6,000 years ago was characterised by rising sea levels and a need to adapt to a changing environment and find new food sources. The development of microlith tools began in response to these changes. They were derived from the previous Palaeolithic tools, hence the term Epipalaeolithic. However, in Europe the term Mesolithic (Middle Stone Age) is used, as the tools (and way of life) were imported from the Near East. There, microlith tools permitted more efficient hunting, while more complex settlements, such as Lepenski Vir developed based on fishing. Domestication of the dog as a hunting companion probably dates to this period.

The earliest known battle occurred during the Mesolithic period at a site in Egypt known as Cemetery 117.

Neolithic

Main article: Neolithic

Ġgantija temples, Gozo. Some of the world's oldest free-standing structures.

Skara Brae, Scotland. Europe's most complete Neolithic village

The Neolithic, New Stone Age, was characterized by the adoption of agriculture, the so-called Neolithic Revolution, the development of pottery, polished stone tools and more complex, larger settlements such as Çatal Hüyük and Jericho. The first Neolithic cultures started around 7000 BC in the fertile crescent. Agriculture and the culture it led to spread to the Mediterranean, the Indus valley, China and Southeast Asia.

Due to the increased need to harvest and process plants, ground stone and polished stone artifacts became much more widespread, including tools for grinding, cutting, and chopping. The first large-scale constructions were built, including settlement towers and walls, e.g., Jericho and ceremonial sites, e.g.: Stonehenge. These show that there was sufficient resources and co-operation to enable large groups to work on these projects. To what extent this was a basis for the development of elites and social hierarchies is a matter of on-going debate. Although some late Neolithic societies formed complex stratified chiefdoms similar to Polynesian societies such as the Ancient Hawaiians, most Neolithic societies were relatively simple and egalitarian though Neolithic cultures were noticeably more hierarchical than the Paleolithic cultures that preceded them and Hunter-gatherer cultures in general. The earliest evidence for established trade exists in the Neolithic with newly settled people importing exotic goods over distances of many hundreds of miles. The Ġgantija temples of Gozo in the Maltese archipelago are the oldest surviving free standing structures in the world, erected c. 3600-2500 BCE. Skara Brae located on Orkney island off Scotland is one of Europe's best examples of a Neolithic village. The community contains stone beds, shelves and even an indoor toilet linked to a stream.

Material culture

Food and drink

See also: Paleolithic diet

Food sources of the hunter-gatherer humans of the Stone Age included both animals and plants that were part of the environment in which these humans lived. These humans liked animal organ meats, including the livers, kidneys and brains. They consumed little dairy product or carbohydrate-rich plant foods like legumes or cereal grains rather they ate leaves and roots. Large seeded legumes were part of the human diet long before the neolithic agricultural revolution as evident from archaeobotanical finds from the Mousterian layers of Kebara Cave, in Israel. Moreover, recent evidence indicates that humans processed and consumed wild cereal grains as far back as 23,000 years ago in the Upper Paleolithic.

Near the end of the Wisconsin glaciation, 15,000 to 9,000 years ago, mass extinction of Megafauna occurred in Asia, Europe, North America and Australia. This was the first Holocene extinction event. This event possibly forced modification in the dietary habits of the humans of that age and with the emergence of agricultural practices, plant-based foods also became a regular part of the diet. This extinction may have been caused by humans over hunting wild game animals such as the Wooly mammoth although other scientists believe that the megafauna extinction was instead caused by climate change .

The first wine-tasting may have occurred when Paleolithic humans slurped the juice of naturally fermented wild grapes from animal-skin pouches or crude wooden bowls.

— William Cocke, National Geographic News

A Stone Age diet or Paleolithic diet is a modern diet that seeks to replicate the dietary habits of Stone Age hunter-gatherers.

Shelter and habitat

Poulnabrone dolmen in County Clare, Ireland

Around 2 million years ago, Homo habilis is believed to have constructed the first man-made structure in East Africa, consisting of simple arrangements of stones to hold branches of trees in position. A similar stone circular arrangement believed to be around 500 thousand years old was discovered at Terra Amata, near Nice, France. Several human habitats dating back to the Stone Age have been discovered around the globe, including:

• A tent-like structure inside a cave near the Grotte du Lazaret, Nice, France.
• A structure with a roof supported with timber, discovered in Dolni Vestonice, The Czech Republic, dates to around 23,000 BCE. The walls were made of packed clay blocks and stones.
• Many huts made of mammoth bones were found in Eastern Europe and Siberia. The people who made these huts were expert mammoth hunters. Examples have been found along the Dniepr river valley of Ukraine, including near Chernihiv, in Moravia, Czech Republic and in southern Poland.
• An animal hide tent dated to around 15000 to 10000 BCE, in the Magdalenian, was discovered at Plateau Parain, France.
• Megalithic tombs, multichambered, and dolmens, single-chambered, were graves with a huge stone slab stacked over other similarly large stone slabs; they have been discovered all across Europe and Asia and were built in the Neolithic. Several tombs with copper and bronze tools have also been discovered, illustrating the problems of attempting to define periods based on technology.

Art

Pre-historic art can only be traced from surviving artifacts. Prehistoric music is inferred from found instruments, while parietal art can be found on rocks of any kind. The latter are petroglyphs and rock paintings. The art may or may not have had a religious function.

Petroglyphs

Main article: Petroglyph

Petroglyphs appeared in the New Stone Age, commonly known as Neolithic period. A Petroglyph is an abstract or symbolic image recorded on stone, usually by prehistoric peoples, by means of carving, pecking or otherwise incised on natural rock surfaces. They were a dominant form of pre-writing symbols used in communication. Petroglyphs have been discovered in different parts of the world, including Asia (Bhimbetka, India), North America (Death Valley National Park), South America (Cumbe Mayo, Peru), and Europe (Finnmark, Norway).

Rock paintings

A rock painting at Bhimbetka, India, a World heritage site

A bison from the Altamira cave ceiling, one of the most famous paintings from there.

Main article: Cave painting

Rock paintings were painted on rock and were more naturalistic depictions than petroglyphs. In paleolithic times, the representation of humans in cave paintings was rare. Mostly, animals were painted: not only animals that were used as food but also animals that represented strength like the rhinoceros or large cats (as in the Chauvet Cave). Signs like dots were sometimes drawn. Rare human representations include handprints and half-human/half-animal figures. The Cave of Chauvet in the Ardèche département, France, contains the most important preserved cave paintings of the paleolithic era, painted around 31,000 BCE. The Altamira cave paintings in Spain were done 14,000 to 12,000 BCE and show, among others, bisons. The hall of bulls in Lascaux, Dordogne, France, is one of the best known cave paintings from about 15,000 to 10,000 BCE.

The meaning of the paintings remains unknown. The caves were not in an inhabited area, so they may have been used for seasonal rituals. The animals are accompanied by signs which suggest a possible magic use. Arrow-like symbols in Lascaux are sometimes interpreted as calendar or almanac use. But the evidence remains inconclusive. The most important work of the Mesolithic era were the marching Warriors, a rock painting at Cingle de la Mola, Castellón in Spain dated to about 7,000–4,000 BCE. The technique used was probably spitting or blowing the pigments onto the rock. The paintings are quite naturalistic, though stylized. The figures are not three-dimensional, even though they overlap.

Stone Age rituals and beliefs

Modern studies and the in-depth analysis of finds dating from the Stone Age indicate certain rituals and beliefs of the people in those prehistoric times. It is now believed that activities of the Stone Age humans went beyond the immediate requirements of procuring food, body coverings, and shelters. Specific rites relating to death and burial were practiced, though certainly differing in style and execution between cultures.

Popular culture of The Stone Age

The image of the caveman is commonly associated with the Stone Age. For example, the 2003 documentary series showing the evolution of humans through the Stone Age was called Walking with Cavemen, although only the last programme showed humans living in caves. While the idea that human beings and dinosaurs coexisted is sometimes portrayed in popular culture in cartoons, films and computer games, such as The Flintstones, One Million Years B.C. and Chuck Rock, the notion of hominids and non-avian dinosaurs co-existing is not supported by any scientific evidence.

Other depictions of the Stone Age include the best-selling Earth's Children series of books by Jean M. Auel, which are set in the Paleolithic and are loosely based on archaeological and anthropological findings. The 1981 film Quest for Fire by Jean-Jacques Annaud tells the story of a group of neanderthals searching for their lost fire. A twenty first century series, "Chronicles of Ancient Darkness" by Michelle Paver tells of two New Stone Age children fighting to fulfill a prophecy and save their Clans from the evil Soul Eaters.

The phrase "bomb them back into the Stone Age", was made by then Chief of Staff, US Air Force General Curtis E. Lemay, when in 1965, he made the statement towards the North Vietnamese, during the Vietnam War; "They've got to draw in their horns and stop their aggression, or we're going to bomb them back into the stone age." The gist of that statement implied a fierce aerial attack that would have utterly destroyed its target's infrastructure, forcing its survivors to revert to primitive technology in order to survive.

See also

• Megalith
• Prehistoric warfare

References

• Schick, Kathy D. (1993). Making Silent Stones Speak: Human Evolution and the Dawn of Technology. New York: Simon & Schuster. ISBN 0-671-69371-9. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)

Further reading

• Scarre, Christopher (ed.) (1988). Past Worlds: The Times Atlas of Archaeology. London: Times Books. ISBN 0-7230-0306-8. {{cite book}}: |first= has generic name (help)

External links

• The Stone Age
• Stone Age Handaxes
• Stone Age Habitats