Stone Age
The Stone Age began about 2.6 million years ago, when researchers found the earliest
evidence of humans using stone tools, and lasted until about 3,300 B.C. when the
Bronze Age began. It is typically broken into three distinct periods:
The Paleolithic Period, Mesolithic Period and Neolithic Period.
Historical significance
The Stone Age is contemporaneous with the evolution of the genus Homo, with the
possible exception of the early Stone Age, when species prior to Homo may have
manufactured tools. According to the age and location of the current evidence, the
cradle of the genus is the East African Rift System, especially toward the north in
Ethiopia, where it is bordered by grasslands. The closest relative among the other living
primates, the genus Pan, represents a branch that continued on in the deep forest,
where the primates evolved. The rift served as a conduit for movement into southern
Africa and also north down the Nile into North Africa and through the continuation of the
rift in the Levant to the vast grasslands of Asia.
Starting from about 4 million years ago (may) a single
biome established itself from South Africa through the
rift, North Africa, and across Asia to modern China.
This has been called "transcontinental 'savannahs tan'"
recently. Starting in the grasslands of the rift, Homo erectus,
the predecessor of modern humans, found an ecological
niche as a tool-maker and developed a dependence on it,
becoming a "tool-equipped savanna dweller"
Beginning of the stone age
The oldest indirect evidence found of stone tool use is fossilized animal bones with tool
marks; these are 3.4 million years old and were found in the Lower Awash Valley in
Ethiopia. Archaeological discoveries in Kenya in 2015, identifying what may be the
oldest evidence of hominin use of tools known to date, have indicated that
Kenyanthropus. platypus (a 3.2 to 3.5-million-year-old Pliocene hominin fossil
discovered in Lake Turkana, Kenya in 1999) may have been the earliest tool-users
known.
The oldest stone tools were excavated from the site of Lomekwin 3 in West Turkana,
northwestern Kenya, and date to 3.3 million years old. Prior to the discovery of these
"Lomekwian" tools, the oldest known stone tools had been found at several sites at
Gona, Ethiopia, on sediments of the Paleo-Awash River, which serve to date them. All
the tools come from the Busidama Formation, which lies above a disconformity, or
missing layer, which would have been from 2.9 to 2.7 may. The oldest sites discovered
to contain tools are dated to 2.6–2.55 may. One of the most striking circumstances
about these sites is that they are from the Late Pliocene, where prior to their discovery
tools were thought to have evolved only in the Pleistocene. Excavators at the locality
point out that
Concept of the stone age
The terms "Stone Age", "Bronze Age", and "Iron Age" are not intended to suggest that
advancements and time periods in prehistory are only measured by the type of tool
material, rather than, for example, social organization, food sources exploited,
adaptation to climate, adoption of agriculture, cooking, settlement, and religion. Like
pottery, the typology of the stone tools combined with the relative sequence of the types
in various regions provide a chronological framework for the evolution of humanity and
society. They serve as diagnostics of date, rather than characterizing the people or the
society.
Rock painting
In paleolithic times, mostly animals were painted, in theory ones that were used as food
or represented strength, such as the rhinoceros or large cats (as in the Chauvet Cave).
Signs such as dots were sometimes drawn. Rare human representations include
handprints and half-human/half-animal figures. The Cave of Chauvet in the Ardèche
department, France, contains the most important cave paintings of the paleolithic era,
dating from about 36,000 BCE. The Altamira cave paintings in Spain were done 14,000
to 12,000 BCE and show, among others, bison’s. The hall of bulls in Lascaux,
Dordogne, France, dates from about 15,000 to 10,000 BCE.
What Were Stone Age Clothes?
The Stone Age, which encompasses the period of human history ranging from 4.5
million years ago to around 8000 BC, was a tremendous period of development for
man, who steadily transformed from a primarily nomadic existence to a settled agrarian
society. During this time, we see the development of the first tools made from stone
(thus the era's name) as well as the first developments of Stone Age clothing. Meant to
be functional rather than fashionable, early clothing was strictly a product of necessity
and protection from the elements. These included weather, depending on the climate,
but also rough surfaces and insects. The earliest clothing was often made from readily
available natural materials including plants, mud, and the hides of animals. While those
in warmer climates focused on lighter-weight materials like leaves and mud, those in
colder climates, and during several ice ages, required Stone Age animal skin clothes to
survive the harsher weather.
Types of Stone Age Clothes
Loincloths
Simple fabric pieces over the groin or around the waist protected the wearer. These
were common in all climates and were either made from plants, linen, or animal hide.
They could be worn alone or under other garments.
Leggings
Often necessary in colder climates, leggings resembled pants as we know them today.
Sheaves of fur or leather were created and attached to loincloths at the waist.
Hats
Offering protection from the sun or from colder climates, hats were often created from
straw or animal hides to protect the head and neck.
Tunics
Tunics offered upper body coverage and were usually worn over loincloths and
leggings. They often employed two pieces of fabric sewn together at the top with an
opening for the head. The rest of the garment was unsewn, but was often tied with a
belt or tie at the waist.
Shoes
The first shoes are merely covered on the bottom of the feet to protect them from rough
walking surfaces. Later, they would become more elaborate and protective for the top of
the foot, made from straw and moss with animal hide bottoms.
Tools
Stone tools were made from a variety of stones. 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 (such as clay) were used to make pottery. Agriculture was developed
and certain animals were domesticated as well.
Some species of non-primates are able to use stone tools, such as the sea otter, which
breaks abalone shells with them. Primates can both use and manufacture stone tools.
This combination of abilities is more marked in apes and men, but only men, or more
generally Hominans, depend on tool use for survival. The key anatomical and
behavioral features required for tool manufacture, which are possessed only by
Hominans, are the larger thumb and the ability to hold by means of an assortment of
grips.
Food and Drink
Food sources of the Palaeolithic hunter-gatherers were wild plants and animals
harvested from the environment. They liked animal organ meats, including the livers,
kidneys and brains. Large seeded legumes were part of the human diet long before the
agricultural revolution, as is 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 such as the woolly mammoth occurred in Asia, Europe, North America and
Australia. This was the first Holocene extinction event. It 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. A number of factors
have been suggested for the extinction: certainly over-hunting, but also deforestation
and climate change. The net effect was to fragment the vast ranges required by the
large animals and extinguish them piecemeal in each fragment.
Shelter and habitat
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
380,000 years old was discovered at Terra Amata, near Nice, France. (Concerns about
the dating have been raised, see Terra Amata). 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 have been 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.
Mesolithic period
Mesolithic also called Middle Stone Age, ancient cultural stage that existed between the
Paleolithic (Old Stone Age), with its chipped stone tools, and the Neolithic (New Stone Age),
with its polished stone tools. Most often used to describe archaeological assemblages from the
Eastern Hemisphere, the Mesolithic is broadly analogous to the Archaic culture of the Western
Hemisphere. Mesolithic material culture is characterized by greater innovation and diversity
than is found in the Paleolithic. Among the new forms of chipped stone tools were microliths,
very small stone tools intended for mounting together on a shaft to produce a serrated edge.
Polished stone was another innovation that occurred in some Mesolithic assemblages.
Although culturally and technologically continuous with Paleolithic peoples, Mesolithic cultures
developed diverse local adaptations to special environments. The Mesolithic hunter achieved a
greater efficiency than did the Paleolithic and was able to exploit a wider range of animal and
vegetable food sources. Immigrant Neolithic farmers probably absorbed many indigenous
Mesolithic hunters and fishers, and some Neolithic communities seem to have been composed
entirely of Mesolithic peoples who adopted Neolithic equipment (these are sometimes called
Secondary Neolithic).
Neolithic Period
Neolithic also called New Stone Age, final stage of cultural evolution or technological
development among prehistoric humans. It was characterized by stone tools shaped by
polishing or grinding, dependence on domesticated plants or animals, settlement in permanent
villages, and the appearance of such crafts as pottery and weaving. The Neolithic followed the
Paleolithic Period, or age of chipped-stone tools, and preceded the Bronze Age, or early period
of metal tools.
A brief treatment of the Neolithic follows. For full treatment, see Stone Age: Neolithic and
technology: The Neolithic Revolution.
The Neolithic stage of development was attained during the Holocene Epoch (the last 11,700
years of Earth history). The starting point of the Neolithic is much debated, with different parts
of the world having achieved the Neolithic stage at different times, but it is generally thought to
have occurred sometime about 10,000 BCE. During that time, humans learned to raise crops
and keep domestic livestock and were thus no longer dependent on hunting, fishing, and
gathering wild plants. Neolithic cultures made more-useful stone tools by grinding and polishing
relatively hard rocks rather than merely chipping softer ones down to the desired shape. The
cultivation of cereal grains enabled Neolithic peoples to build permanent dwellings and
congregate in villages, and the release from nomadism and a hunting-gathering economy gave
them the time to pursue specialized crafts.
End of the Stone Age
Innovation of the technique of smelting ore is regarded as ending the Stone Age and beginning
the Bronze Age. The first highly significant metal manufactured was bronze, an alloy of copper
and tin or arsenic, each of which was smelted separately. The transition from the Stone Age to
the Bronze Age was a period during which modern people could smelt copper, but did not yet
manufacture bronze, a time known as the Copper Age (or more technically the Chalcolithic or
Eneolithic, both meaning 'copper–stone'). The Chalcolithic by convention is the initial period of
the Bronze Age. The Bronze Age was followed by the Iron Age.
The transition out of the Stone Age occurred between 6000 and 2500 BCE for much of
humanity living in North Africa and Eurasia.[citation needed]
The first evidence of human metallurgy dates to between the 6th and 5th millennia BCE in the
archaeological sites of the Vinča culture, including Majdanpek, Jarmovac, Pločnik, Rudna Glava
in modern-day Serbia.[14]
