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The Paleolithic or Palaeolithic ( / ˌpeɪlioʊˈlɪθɪk, ˌpæli -/ PAY-lee-oh-LITH-ik, PAL-ee- ), also called the Old Stone Age (from Ancient Greek παλαιός (palaiós) 'old', and λίθος (líthos) 'stone'), is a period in human prehistory that is distinguished by the original development of stone tools, and which represents almost the entire period of huma...
- Lower Paleolithic
The Lower Paleolithic (or Lower Palaeolithic) is the...
- Upper Paleolithic
Expansion of early modern humans from Africa. The Upper...
- Mesolithic Age
The Mesolithic (Greek: μέσος, mesos 'middle' + λίθος, lithos...
- Glyptodon
Glyptodon (lit. 'grooved or carved tooth'; from Ancient...
- Caveman
Le Moustier Neanderthals (Charles R. Knight, 1920). The...
- Nakalipithecus
Nakalipithecus nakayamai, sometimes referred to as the...
- Lower Paleolithic
- Cultures
- Chronology of Palaeolithic and Following Periods
- Diet and Nutrition
- Related Pages
- Other Sources
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Oldowan
Hominids began to make Oldowan tools around 2.6 million years ago. They continued to make these tools until about 1.7 million years ago. After that, hominids began to make more sophisticated tools, which archaeologists call Acheulean. Oldowan tools are named after Olduvai Gorge in Tanzania, where Oldowan tools were first found. The archaeologist Louis Leakey made this discovery in the 1930s. For a long time after that, archaeologists thought that the Oldowan were the earliest tools ever made....
Acheulean
Around 1.7 million years ago, Homo habilis began to make oval- and pear-shaped hand axes. Archaeologists call these tools Acheulean. They were more sophisticated than Oldowan tools, and had more uses. Early humans made these tools in Africa, western Asia, and Europe during the Lower Palaeolithic era. They are usually found with Homo erectusremains. Acheulean tools were the dominant technology for most of human history. More than a million years ago, Acheulean tool users left Africa to coloniz...
Clactonian
In Europe, early humans began to make flint tools during the early part of the interglacial period, around 400,000 years ago. Archaeologists call these Clactonian tools. Homo erectus made Clactonian tools; modern humans did not. Early, crude flint tools from other regions, made using similar methods, are either called Clactonian tools or core & flaketechnology. These tools are named after Clacton-on-Sea in the English county of Essex. There, in 1911, archaeologists found Clactonian artifacts...
The Palaeolithic is sometimes divided into three (somewhat overlapping) periods which mark technological and cultural advances in different human communities: 1. Palaeolithic 1.1. Lower Palaeolithic (c2.6 or 2.5 million years ago–100,000 years ago) 1.2. Middle Palaeolithic (c300,000–30,000 years ago) 1.3. Upper Palaeolithic (c45,000 or 40,000–10,00...
In general
Paleolithic hunter-gatherers ate leafy vegetables, fruit, nuts, insects, meat, shellfish, and other types of fish. Because there is little direct evidence, it is almost impossible to determine how much of their diet was plant food and how much was meat. Even the idea that most humans of a given period shared the same diet is problematic. The Paleolithic was an extended period of time. During that time, there were many technological advances, many of which had impact on human dietary structure...
Developments
Another view is that until the Upper Paleolithic, humans were frugivores (fruit eaters) who supplemented their meals with carrion, eggs, and small prey such as baby birds and mussels. Only on rare occasions did they manage to kill and consume big game such as antelopes. This view is supported by studies of higher apes, particularly chimpanzees. Chimpanzees are the closest to humans genetically. They share more than 96% of their DNA code with humans, and their digestive tract is functionally v...
Christopher Boehm 1999. "Hierarchy in the forest: the evolution of egalitarian behavior" page 198 Harvard University Press.Leften Stavros Stavrianos 1991. A global history from prehistory to the present. New Jersey, USA: Prentice Hall. ISBN 0-13-357005-3Bahn, Paul 1996. The atlas of world archeology. The Brown Reference Group PLC.Early voices: the leap to language, by Nicolas Wade Archived 2009-02-07 at the Wayback MachineHuman Evolution, Microsoft® Encarta® Online Encyclopedia 2007 Archived 2008-02-28 at the Wayback Machine© 1997-2007 Microsoft Corporation. Contributed by Richard B. Potts.Stone Age, Microsoft® Encarta® Online Encyclopedia 2007 Archived 2009-08-20 at the Wayback Machine© 1997-2007 Microsoft Corporation. Contributed by Kathy Schick and Nicholas Toth.Feb 17, 2024 · Paleolithic Period, ancient cultural stage, or level, of human development, characterized by the use of rudimentary chipped stone tools. The popular Paleo diet, or Stone Age diet, is based on foods humans presumably would have consumed during the Paleolithic Period. ( See also Stone Age .)
- The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica
The Middle Paleolithic broadly spanned from 300,000 to 50,000 years ago. There are considerable dating differences between regions. The Middle Paleolithic was succeeded by the Upper Paleolithic subdivision which first began between 50,000 and 40,000 years ago.
Paleolithic Europe, or Old Stone Age Europe, encompasses the Paleolithic or Old Stone Age in Europe from the arrival of the first archaic humans, about 1.4 million years ago until the beginning of the Mesolithic (also Epipaleolithic) around 10,000 years ago.