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The Stone Age is part of the history of the world that 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, i.e. recorded history.

The Stone Age receives its name from the fact that most human tools preserved from that area are made of stone - although undoubtedly tools of wood and animal parts such as bone and sinews were also in use, these were rarely preserved. The almost complete unavailability of metal, with the exception of gold, is an important mark of the Stone Age.

As a description of peoples living today, the term stone age is controversial. The Association of Social Anthropologists discourages this use.

Main article: Paleolithic

The Old Stone Age or Paleolithic comprises more than a million years, and during this period major climate and other changes occurred which affected the evolution of humans. Humans themselves evolved into their current morphological form during the later period of the Stone Age.

See also: Human evolution

Main articles: 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) was 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.

Main article: Neolithic

Japanese Jomon pottery is the 2nd oldest in the world. Recent pottery finds in Hunterdon county, Musconetcong River area, NW NJ have been dated to be over 12,000 years old

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 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, chopping and adzing. 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. 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 sources of the hunter-gatherer humans of the Stone Age included both animals and plants that were part of the natural 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 looked for vegetables and fruits, and hunted animals.^{[citation needed]}

Near the end of the Wisconsin glaciation, 15,000 to 9,000 years ago, the 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.

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 roof supported with timber, discovered in Dolni Vestonice, Czechoslovakia, dates to around 23,000 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 around 15000 to 10000 BC, in the Magdalenian, was discovered at Plateau Parain, France.
• Megalithic tombs, multi-chambered 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.

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 religion function.

Main article: Cave painting

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

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 Felidae, as in the Chauvet Cave. Signs like dots were sometimes drawn. Rare human representations include handprints and half-human / animal figures. The Chauveyt Cave in the Ardèche Departments of France contains the most important preserved cave paintings of the Paleolithic era, painted around 31,000 BC. The Altamira cave paintings in Spain were done 14,000 to 12,000 BC 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 BC.

If there is meaning to the paintings, it 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.^[1] The most important work of the Mesolithic era were the marching Warriors, a rock painting at Cingle de la Mola, Castellón, Spain dated to about 7,000 to 4,000 BC. 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.^[2]

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. Other rituals included birth, puberty and marriage. Several Stone Age-dated sites in different parts of the world indicate traces of dancing, dancing in files and initiation rites.^[3]

As a slang term, "Stone Age" is sometimes used to describe living tribal peoples, to imply "backwardness". In 2007, the Association of Social Anthropologists called the term "offensive" when applied to any living peoples, saying such language has been used "as a pretext for depriving such peoples of land and other resources".

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 and One Million Years B.C., the notion of primates and 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 Palaeolithic 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 humans searching for their lost fire.

The Curtis LeMay phrase "bomb them back into the Stone Age" implies a fierce attack that utterly destroys its target's infrastructure, forcing its survivors to revert to primitive technology in order to survive.

• Human evolution
• Lithic reduction
• Megalith
• Prehistoric music
• Prehistoric warfare
• Three-age system

• Scarre, Christopher (ed.) (1988). Past Worlds: The Times Atlas of Archaeology. London: Times Books. ISBN 0-7230-0306-8. 
• Schick, Kathy D.; Nicholas Toth (1993). Making Silent Stones Speak: Human Evolution and the Dawn of Technology. New York: Simon & Schuster. ISBN 0-671-69371-9. 

1. ^ M. Hoover, "Art of the Paleolithic and Neolithic Eras," from Art History Survey 1, San Antonio College (July 2001; accessed June 11, 2005).
2. ^ "Paleolithic, Mesolithic and Neolithic Art" (lecture 2, Rice University, Houston, TX, September 2, 1998; accessed June 11, 2005).
3. ^ Burial and mysticism in prehistory (accessed June 11, 2005).

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Stone Age

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