Paleolithic

The Paleolithic or Palaeolithic (Greek παλαιός paleos=old and λίθος lithos=stone or the 'Old Stone Age') was the first period in the development of human technology of the Stone Age. It began with the introduction of the first stone tools by hominids such as Homo habilis (around 2,000,000 years ago) and lasted until the introduction of agriculture. It ended with the Mesolithic, or in areas with an early neolithisation, the Epipaleolithic.

In general, late Paleolithic people were nomadic hunters and food gatherers. They lived in caves or temporary shelters.

Their technological skills are demonstrated by artifacts made from chipped stone and flint, and the use of wood, clay, and animal parts. Their tool kit was extensive: knives, axes, scrapers, hammers, awls, needles, spears, harpoons, clubs, blowguns, and bows and arrows.

Depending upon the climate and/or region, Paleolithic people probably made kayaks, snow-houses and outrigger canoes and knew poisons such as hydrocyanic acid, curare, snake venom, hemlock, and alkaloids. They also used all the means which we use to preserve food: freezing, drying, sealing (in clay or bees wax).

Religion was apotropaic; specifically, it involved sympathetic magic. In Europe, the first art seems to have appeared toward the end of the Paleolithic period (35,000 B.C.E). Paleolithic peoples painted and sculpted. The level of skill in painting and sculpting animals was remarkably high. It is theorised that one of the functions of art within their societies was to ensure success in hunting.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Subdivisions

The Paleolithic is usually divided into three subdivisions:

Lower Paleolithic (2,500,000 years ago - 120,000 years ago, approx.): This was the time of the hand axe-industries. Prevalent hominid species of the Lower Paleolithic were H. habilis, Homo erectus, and archaic Homo sapiens. (Note: some contemporary scholars of the relevant fossils consider what is here referred to as archaic H. sapiens as a plethora of distinct species, but the matter is still controversial.)

Middle Paleolithic (300,000 years ago - 30,000 years ago, approx.): Flake tools were made by the prepared-core technique. This is when the Neanderthals lived. Modern H. sapiens originated during this period.

Upper Paleolithic (40,000 years ago - 11,000 years ago, approx.): The technological changes of the transition from Middle to Upper Paleolithic have led some to speculate that human language first fully developed at this time. This culture seems to be primarily associated with the Cro-Magnon, or modern man.