Stone Age

The Stone Age is an almost three-million-year period in the development of human culture during which stone was the primary material used to make tools. The term was coined in the nineteenth century to describe one of the three "ages" of prehistory—the Stone Age, Bronze Age, and Iron Age. The Stone Age is the longest of the three and is divided into the Paleolithic, Mesolithic, and Neolithic eras. Its boundaries are often debated by archaeologists, but the Stone Age is considered to have begun with the development of crude stone tools at least 2.6 million years ago. It ended when humans discovered metalworking, a milestone generally believed to have been reached between 3300 and 2000 BCE, depending on the region.

Background

The ancestors of modern humans took gradual evolutionary leaps over the course of millions of years. Sometime between 7 and 13 million years ago, the species that became human split from a common genetic source it shared with the apes. Human ancestors developed the ability to walk upright about 6 to 7 million years ago, gaining an evolutionary advantage that allowed them to see more of their environment. About 2.6 million years ago, they evolved hands capable of grasping objects in their environment. This led to the creation of the first stone tools, crude chipped rocks and stones used for pounding. Some archaeologists believe they have discovered stone tools dating back 3.3 million years, though debate exists as to whether those tools were made by human ancestors or another species.

Because the ability to make tools was considered a defining characteristic of the human species, archaeologists used the accomplishment as a demarcation point in humanity's development. In 1819, Danish archaeologist Christian J. Thomsen created the term "Stone Age" as a way to classify the artifacts in the National Museum of Denmark. It was part of his "three-age system" that defined a chronology of human prehistory by the type of material used to make tools. The beginning of the Stone Age corresponds to the development of stone tools about 2.6 million years ago. It is considered to have lasted until metal became the primary material for toolmaking. This development ushered in the Bronze Age about 3500 BCE in China and Greece and about 2000 BCE in Britain. The Iron Age corresponds to the shift to iron to make tools, a process that began about 1200 BCE in the Middle East and spread to Britain and China by 600 BCE.

Some later researchers have challenged the three-age system, both in terms of boundaries and general terminology or accuracy. For example, in 2024 a study published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences suggested that wooden tools were likely just as common as stone ones during the so-called Stone Age. Nevertheless, the three ages remain widely used by both scholars and general-interest media.

Overview

Thomsen originally divided the Stone Age into two segments, the Paleolithic, or "Old Stone Age," and the Neolithic, or "New Stone Age." The Mesolithic, or "Middle Stone Age," was added to the timeline later. The Paleolithic marked the earliest and longest era of the Stone Age. It lasted from about 2.6 million years ago to the end of the last ice age and the development of agriculture about 10,000 BCE. The human species took great evolutionary strides during the Paleolithic era. The era saw the beginning of many significant human milestones, such as the first tools, first art, and first religious beliefs.

At the beginning of the Paleolithic era, early human ancestors lived on the grasslands of East Africa, where they foraged and scavenged for food. They began to fashion simple tools from chipped stones, using the sharpened stone cores and stone flakes as cutting implements. Over time, ancient humans refined their toolmaking, chipping and polishing more of the stone to create sharp hand axes and stone points that were attached to wooden poles to act as spears. Near the end of the Paleolithic, tools were shaped into more blade-like instruments and were also made from materials such as bone, antler, and ivory.

Evidence suggests that human ancestors began burying their dead about 300,000 years ago, and by 130,000 years ago, they had attached ritualistic aspects to the burial procedures. In time, they developed a system of religious beliefs that saw the objects and animals of the natural world as being inhabited by spirits. The hunter-gatherer lifestyle of the early humans was reflected in their art; colorful paintings of animals and hunting imagery have been discovered in caves across Europe and the Middle East dating back to almost 40,000 years ago.

For most of the Paleolithic, humans lived in a period of global cooling as great glaciers ebbed and flowed across the planet. About 12,000 years ago, the last of these glaciers receded, allowing humans to migrate farther throughout the now warming world. They began to domesticate plants and animals and settle in groups, eventually developing farming communities. The transitional time between nomadic hunter-gatherer societies and settled communities is called the Mesolithic era. The shift occurred at different times in different regions. The earliest evidence of farming was found in the Middle East and dates back to about 10,000 BCE. By 7000 BCE, agriculture had reached Europe and was found in Asia a thousand years later.

Mesolithic era chipped-stone tools became more polished and advanced, allowing not only for better hunting but also for adaptation to new uses as farming implements. Humans began using stone to create religious monuments and large stone tombs and vaults to house their dead. Mesolithic architecture was the first to use large stone slabs called megaliths in the construction of tombs and monuments. Wood carving, pottery, and sculpture were also common during the Mesolithic era.

The final era of the Stone Age was the Neolithic, which is considered to have begun with humans fully transitioned into settled farming communities. No longer were humans migrating with the herds and competing for food. They were growing their own crops, raising their own livestock, and building the first villages and towns. Instead of chipping stone to make tools, humans began to grind and polish harder stone into more durable instruments. The tools became more adaptive to farming and herding tasks and were made into instruments such as plows. Pottery and sculpture became more advanced during the Neolithic era, as did the use of megaliths in architecture. One of the most recognizable examples of Neolithic art, the great stone blocks of England's Stonehenge, was laid out in several phases over a two-thousand-year period beginning about 3000 BCE.

Bibliography

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