Stone Age Technology

The Stone Age is a broad prehistoric time period during which humans widely used stone for toolmaking.

Stone tools were made from a variety of different kinds 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 and other materials were widely used, too. 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 encompasses the first widespread use of technology in human evolution and the spread of humanity from the savannas of East Africa to the rest of the world. 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.

Paleolithic

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 BC. The Paleolithic era ended with the Mesolithic, or in areas with an early neolithisation, the Epipaleolithic.

During the Paleolithic 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. 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 behaviour 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

Near the end of the Pliocene epoch in Africa, an early ancestor of modern humans, called Homo habilis, developed the earliest known 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 Oldupai Gorge in Tanzania. These humans likely subsisted on scavenged meat and wild plants, rather than hunted 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

This period began about 200,000 years ago and is most well-known as being the era during which the Neanderthals lived (c. 120,000–35,000 years ago). The stone artefact technology of the Neanderthals is generally known as the Mousterian. The Neanderthals eventually disappeared from the archaeological record, replaced by modern humans who first appeared in Ethiopia around 100,000 years ago. Although often identified in the public's mind as primitive, there is evidence that Neanderthals nursed their elderly and practised ritual burial indicating an organised society. The earliest evidence 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

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. After the arrival of the first modern humans ( Cro-Magnons) in Europe a relatively rapid succession of often complex stone ar

tefact technologies took place during this period, including the Châtelperronian, Aurignacian, Solutrean, Gravettian and Magdalenian.

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 In

dians, 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 different environments.

Epipalaeolithic/Mesolithic

The period between 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 around 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

The Neolithic, New Stone Age, was characterized by the adoption of agriculture, the so-called Neolithic Revolution, the development of pottery a

nd 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, eg: Jericho and ceremonial sites, eg: 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. 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.

Food and drink

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. They also ate leaves and roots. They hunted

animals. 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.

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 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, inclu

ding:

• A tent-like structure inside a cave near the Grotte du Lazaret, Nice, France.
• A structure with roof supported with timber, discovered in Dolni Vestonice, Czechoslovakia, dates to around 23,0 00 BC. 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 a round 15000 to 10000 BC, in the Magda lenian, was discovered at Plateau Parain, France.
• Megalithic tombs, multi-chambered and dolmens, single-chambered, were graves with a huge stone slab stacked over other simila rly large stone slabs. They have been disco vered all across Europe and Asia and were built in the Neolithic. Several tombs with copper and bronze tools have also been discover ed, illustrating the problems of attempting to define p eriods based on technology.