The Stone Age lasted from 2.6 million years ago until about 3500 BC and is divided into three segments: Paleolithic, Mesolithic, and Neolithic. At least nine species of the Homo genus participated in the Stone Age, living in small tribes leading a hunter-gatherer lifestyle until the Neolithic Revolution took place. Common wares included hand axes, arrowheads, and spearheads. Notable changes took place during the Upper Paleolithic, including the appearance of advanced tools and art. The Neolithic continued until the beginning of history.
The Stone Age refers to a period of time in human prehistory, from the earliest tool making for primates (Homo habilis), more than 2.6 million years ago until about 3500 BC, when metallurgy was developed in the form of smelting of copper ore. The Stone Age is divided into three segments, the Paleolithic, Mesolithic and Neolithic.
The Paleolithic spans from 2.6 million BC to about 20,000 or 10,000 years ago (varies by location), when the Mesolithic began. The Mesolithic is the period during the last ice age. Artifacts and fossil evidence from this period are scarce. The Mesolithic gave way to the Neolithic with the development of agriculture around 8,000 BC. The Neolithic continued into the Bronze Age which began around 3500 BC (Again, this varies slightly with location.)
As the name suggests, the Stone Age refers to the time period in which man made his tools from stones, such as flint. “Man” is used here in the broad sense of the genus Homo, it literally means “man”, but not “modern man”, associated with the species Homo sapiens. At least nine species of the Homo genus participated in the Stone Age: Homo habilis, Homo ergaster, Homo rhodesiersis, Homo antecessor, Homo hedelbergensis, Homo erectus, Homo solcersis, Homo neanderthalensis, Homo sapiens. They lived in small tribes leading a hunter-gatherer lifestyle, until the end of the era, when the so-called Neolithic Revolution took place in the Fertile Crescent in present-day Iraq.
Common wares of this time included mortar and pestle, arrowheads, spearheads, racloirs (stone scrapers), and most importantly, hand axes. Ceramics has come to an end. Bone needles and straw fabrics were also made. The oldest culture/”industry” representative is known as the Oldowan, which was further refined into the Acheulean culture. After the basic tools were developed, very few refinements have come for thousands of years.
Things began to change significantly in the Upper Paleolithic, i.e. the most recent part of the Neolithic, which extended from about 40,000 years ago to 10,000 years ago, when notable changes took place in human culture. Advanced darts, harpoons, the fish hook, the oil lamp, the rope, and the eyed needle all appeared during this period. Art was represented by figurines of Venus, rock paintings and petroglyphs.
The New Stone Age, or Neolithic, continues to the beginning of history, i.e. the emergence of useful written records, which began around 3500 BC in Egypt and spread throughout the world during the next two thousand years.
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