Bifacial points, engraved ochre and bone tools from the c. 75 -80 000 year old M1 & M2 phases at Blombos cave (Image by Henning: Permission Chris Henshilwood)

The Middle Paleolithic (or Middle Palaeolithic) is the second subdivision of the Paleolithic or Old Stone Age as it is understood in Europe, Africa and Asia. Mousterian is a name given by archaeologists to a style of predominantly Flint tools (or industry) associated primarily with Homo neanderthalensis The Aterian industry is a name given by Archaeologists to a type of stone tool manufacturing dating to the Middle Stone Age (or Middle Palaeolithic) in the The Upper Paleolithic (or Upper Palaeolithic) is the third and last subdivision of the Paleolithic or Old Stone Age as it is understood in Europe Africa Behavioral modernity is a term used in Anthropology, Archeology and Sociology to refer to a list of traits that distinguish present day humans and their The origin of language ( glottogony) is a topic that has attracted considerable speculation throughout human history Baradostian culture is an Upper Palaeolithic flint industry culture in ıraq. Châtelperronian was the earliest industry of the Upper Palaeolithic in central and south western France, extending also into Northern Spain. Aurignacian is the name of a culture of the Upper Palaeolithic located in Europe and southwest Asia. The Gravettian was an industry of the European Upper Palaeolithic. The Solutrean industry is a relatively advanced flint tool-making style of the Upper Palaeolithic. The Magdalenian, also spelled Magdalénien refers to one of the later cultures of the Upper Palaeolithic in Western Europe. The Hamburg culture ( 12400 BC - 12100 BC, C14-years was a late Upper Paleolithic culture of Reindeer hunters during the last part of the The Ahrensburg culture (11th to 10th millennia BC was a late Upper Paleolithic culture during the Younger Dryas, the last spell of cold at the end of the Swiderian culture, also published in English literature as Sviderian and Swederian, is the name of Final Palaeolithic cultural complexes in Poland and the The Mesolithic or Middle Stone Age was a period in the development of human technology in between the Paleolithic or Old Stone Age and the Neolithic or New Stone Age The term Paleolithic (or Palaeolithic) (from Greek παλαιός palaios, " Old " and λίθος Lithos, "stone" The Stone Age is a broad prehistoric time period during which Humans widely used stone for toolmaking The term Middle Stone Age is used as an equivalent or a synonym for the Middle Paleolithic in African archeology. The Middle Stone Age (or MSA was a period of African Prehistory between Early Stone Age and Late Stone Age. ^[1] The Middle Paleolithic and the Middle Stone Age broadly spanned from 300,000 to 30,000 years ago. There are considerable dating differences between regions. The Middle Paleolithic/Middle Stone Age was succeeded by the Upper Paleolithic subdivision which first began around 50,000, 45,000 or 40,000 years ago. The Upper Paleolithic (or Upper Palaeolithic) is the third and last subdivision of the Paleolithic or Old Stone Age as it is understood in Europe Africa ^[1]

During this time period Homo neanderthalensis thrived in Europe between 300,000 and 30,000 years ago, and the earliest anatomically modern humans appeared around 195,000 years ago. The Neanderthal (neɪˈændərtɑːl also with /niː-/ and /-θɔːl/ or Neandertal, is an extinct member of the Homo genus that is known from Phylogenetic separation of modern humans dates to this period, mitochondrial Eve to roughly 150,000 years ago, Y-chromosomal Adam to roughly 90,000 years ago; see single-origin hypothesis. The term Archaic Homo sapiens refers generally to the earliest members of the species Homo sapiens. Mitochondrial Eve ( mt-mrca) is the name given by researchers to the woman who is defined as the Matrilineal most recent common ancestor (MRCA for all currently In human Genetics, Y-chromosomal Adam ( Y- MRCA) is the patrilineal Human Most recent common ancestor (MRCA from whom all In Paleoanthropology, the recent African origin of modern humans is one of two hypotheses of the origin of anatomically modern humans Homo sapiens sapiens ^[1] Additionally, according to the Out of Africa Hypothesis, modern humans began migrating out of Africa during the Middle Stone Age/Middle Paleolithic around 100,000 or 70,000 years ago and began to replace earlier preexistent Homo species such as the Neanderthals and Homo erectus. In Paleoanthropology, the recent African origin of modern humans is one of two hypotheses of the origin of anatomically modern humans Homo sapiens sapiens Human beings, humans or man (Origin 1590–1600 L homō man OL hemō the earthly one (see Humus Homo erectus ( Latin: "upright man" is an extinct species of the genus Homo, believed to have been the first hominin ^[2]

The earliest evidence of behavioral modernity first appears during the Middle Paleolithic/Middle Stone Age; undisputed evidence of behavioral modernity, however, only becomes common during the following Upper Paleolithic period. Behavioral modernity is a term used in Anthropology, Archeology and Sociology to refer to a list of traits that distinguish present day humans and their ^[1] Middle Paleolithic burials at sites such as Krapina, Croatia (c. See also List of fossil sites (with link directory List of hominina (hominid fossils (with images 130,000 BP) and Qafzeh, Palestine (c. Qafzeh or Kafzeh is a paleoanthropological site at Mount Kafzeh south of Nazareth, Israel. 100,000 BP) have led some anthropologists and archeologists, such as Philip Lieberman, to believe that Middle Paleolithic cultures may have possessed a developing religious ideology which included belief in concepts such as an afterlife; other scholars suggest the bodies were buried for secular reasons. Philip Lieberman is a linguist at Brown University. Originally trained in Phonetics, he wrote a dissertation on Intonation. ^[3][4] According to recent archeological findings from H. heidelbergensis sites in Atapuerca the practice of intentional burial may have begun much earlier during the late Lower Paleolithic but this theory is widely questioned in the scientific community. Homo heidelbergensis ("Heidelberg Man" is an Extinct Species of the Genus Homo which may be the direct ancestor The Lower Paleolithic (or Lower Palaeolithic) is the earliest subdivision of the Paleolithic or Old Stone Age. Cut marks on Neanderthal bones from various sites such as Combe-Grenal and Abri Moula in France may imply that the Neanderthals like some contemporary human cultures may have practiced ritual defleshing for (presumably) religious reasons. This article is about the country For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic France topics. The Neanderthal (neɪˈændərtɑːl also with /niː-/ and /-θɔːl/ or Neandertal, is an extinct member of the Homo genus that is known from In Archaeology and Anthropology the term excarnation refers to the burial practice adopted by some societies of removing the flesh of the dead, leaving In Archaeology and Anthropology the term excarnation refers to the burial practice adopted by some societies of removing the flesh of the dead, leaving Also the earliest undisputed evidence of artistic expression during the Paleolithic period comes from Middle Paleolithic/Middle Stone Age sites such as Blombos Cave in the form of bracelets,^[5] beads,^[6] rock art,^[7] ochre used as body paint and perhaps in ritual,^[7][1] though earlier examples of artistic expression such as the Venus of Tan-Tan and the patterns found on elephant bones from Bilzingsleben in Thuringia may have been produced by Acheulean tool users such as Homo erectus prior to the start of the Middle Paleolithic period. The Middle Stone Age (or MSA was a period of African Prehistory between Early Stone Age and Late Stone Age. Blombos Cave is a Cave in a Limestone cliff on the Southern Cape coast in South Africa. Venus of Tan-Tan was found in Morocco. It is 6 centimeters long gender Indeterminate and faceless and has been dated between 300000 and 500000 BC. Bilzingsleben is a findspot of early Palaeolithic human remains in Thuringia, Germany. The Free State of Thuringia (Freistaat Thüringen is located in central Germany. Homo erectus ( Latin: "upright man" is an extinct species of the genus Homo, believed to have been the first hominin ^[8] Activities such as catching large fish and hunting large game animals with specialized tools connote increased group wide cooperation and more elaborate social organization. ^[1] In addition to developing other advanced cultural traits such as religion and art humans also first began to take part in long distance trade between groups for rare commodities (such as ochre, which was often used for religious purposes such as ritual^[7][9]) and raw materials during the Middle Paleolithic as early as 120,000 years ago. A band society is the simplest form of human Society. A band generally consists of a small kin group no larger than an Extended family or Clan. ^[10][1] Inter group trade may have appeared during the Middle Paleolithic because trade between bands would have helped ensure their survival by allowing them to exchange recourses and commodities such as raw materials during times of relative scarcity (i. e. famine, drought). ^[10]

Evidence from archeology and comparative ethnography indicates that Middle Paleolithic/Middle Stone Age people lived in small egalitarian band societies similar to those of Upper Paleolithic societies and (some) existent Hunter gatherers such as the !Kung san and the Mbuti. A band society is the simplest form of human Society. A band generally consists of a small kin group no larger than an Extended family or Clan. The Bushmen, San, Sho, Basarwa, ǃKung or Khwe are indigenous people of southern Africa that spans most areas of South Africa The Mbuti people or Bambuti as they are collectively called are one of several indigenous Hunter-gatherer groups in the Congo region of ^[1][11] Both Neanderthal and modern human societies took care of the elderly members of their societies during the Middle Paleolithic. ^[12] Christopher Boehm (1999) has hypothesized that egalitarianism may have arose in Middle Paleolithic societies because of a need to distribute recourses such as food and meat equally to avoid famine and ensure a stable food supply. ^[13] Typically it has been assumed that women gathered plants and firewood and men hunted and scavenged dead animals through the Paleolithic,^[14] however recent archaeological research done by the anthropologist and archaeologist Steven Kuhn from the university of Arizona reveals that this sexual division of labor (presumably) did not exist prior to the Upper Paleolithic in Middle Paleolithic societies (Modern humans before 40,000 or 50,000 BCE and Neanderthals) and was invented relatively recently in human prehistory. The Upper Paleolithic (or Upper Palaeolithic) is the third and last subdivision of the Paleolithic or Old Stone Age as it is understood in Europe Africa The sexual division of labor may have been invented to allow humans to acquire food and other resources more efficiently and thus may have allowed Upper Paleolithic Homo sapiens to out compete the Neanderthals in Europe. ^[15]

Although gathering and hunting comprised most of the food supply during the Middle Paleolithic people began to supplement their diet with seafood and began smoking and drying meat to preserve and store it. For instance the Middle Stone Age denizens of he region now occupied by the Democratic Republic of the Congo hunted large 6 foot long catfish with specialized barbed fishing points as early as 90,000 years ago,^[1][16] and Neanderthals and Middle Paleolithic Homo sapiens in Africa began to catch shellfish for food as revealed by shellfish cooking in Neanderthal sites in Italy about 110,000 years ago and Middle Paleolithic Homo sapiens sites at Pinnacle Point, in Africa. The Democratic Republic of the Congo (République démocratique du Congo often referred to as DR Congo, DRC or RDC, and formerly known or referred to ^[1][17] Anthropologists such as Tim White suggest that cannibalism was common in human societies prior to the beginning of the Upper Paleolithic during the Middle Paleolithic, based on the large amount of “butchered human" bones found in Neanderthal and other Middle Paleolithic sites. ^[18] Cannibalism in the Middle Paleolithic may have occurred because of food shortages. ^[19] However it is also possible that Middle Paleolithic cannabalism occurred for religious reasons which would coincide with the development of religious practices thought to have occurred during the Upper Paleolithic. ^[20][21] Nonetheless it remains possible that Middle Paleolithic societies never practiced cannibalism and that the damage to recovered human bones was either the result of ritual post-mortem bone cleaning or predation by carnivores such as Saber tooth cats, Lions and Hyenas. In Archaeology and Anthropology the term excarnation refers to the burial practice adopted by some societies of removing the flesh of the dead, leaving The terms saber-toothed cat, sabertooth, and saber-toothed tiger describe numerous species mainly in the families Felidae (subfamily Machairodontinae The lion ( Panthera leo) is a member of the family Felidae and one of four Big cats in the Genus Panthera. The Hyaenidae is a Mammalian family of order Carnivora. The Hyaenidae family native to both African and Asian continents consists of four ^[21]

Around 200,000 BP Middle Paleolithic Stone tool manufacturing spawned a tool making technique known as the prepared-core technique, that was more elaborate than previous Acheulean techniques. A stone tool is in the most general sense any Tool made of stone. The prepared-core technique is means of producing Stone tools by first preparing common stone cores that can then be shaped into the desired implement Acheulean (also spelled Acheulian,) is the name given to an Archaeological industry of Stone tool manufacture associated with prehistoric Hominins ^[22] This method increased efficiency by permitting the creation of more controlled and consistent flakes. ^[23] This method allowed Middle Paleolithic humans to correspondingly create stone tipped spears which were the earliest composite tools by hafting sharp, pointy stone flakes onto wooden shafts. Paleolithic groups such as the Neanderthals who possessed a Middle Paleolithic level of technology appear to have hunted large game just as well as Upper Paleolithic modern humans ^[24] and the Neanderthals in particular may have likewise hunted with projectile weapons. The Neanderthal (neɪˈændərtɑːl also with /niː-/ and /-θɔːl/ or Neandertal, is an extinct member of the Homo genus that is known from Human beings, humans or man (Origin 1590–1600 L homō man OL hemō the earthly one (see Humus ^[25] Nonetheless Neanderthal usage of projectile weapons in hunting occurred very rarely (or perhaps never) and the Neanderthals hunted large game animals mostly by ambushing them and attacking them with mêlée weapons such as thrusting spears rather than attacking them from a distance with projectile weapons. An ambush is a long-established military tactic, in which the aggressors (the ambushing force use Concealment to attack a passing enemy ^[26][27] Christopher Boehm (1999) has hypothesized that egalitarianism may have arose in Middle Paleolithic societies because of a need to distribute recourses such as food and meat equally to avoid famine and ensure a stable food supply. ^[13] Also the use of fire became widespread for the first time in human prehistory during the Middle Paleolithic and humans began to cook their food during the early Middle Paleolithic (c. 250,000 years ago). ^[28][29] Some scientists have hypothesized that Hominids began cooking food to defrost frozen meat which would help ensure their survival in cold regions. ^[29]Robert k. Wayne a molecular biologist at the Ucla Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology has controversially claimed based on a comparison of canine dna that dogs may have been first domesticated during the Middle Paleolithic around or even before 100,000 BCE. The University of California Los Angeles (generally known as UCLA) is a public research university located in Westwood Los Angeles, California, United ^[30]

Middle Paleolithic cave sites

• Petralona, Greece
• Le Moustier, France — see also Mousterian
• La Quina, France
• Neanderthal, Germany
• Goyet, Belgium
• Grotte de Spy, Spy, Belgium

Middle Paleolithic open-air sites

• Biache-Saint-Vaast, France
• Rheindahlen, Germany
• Maastricht-Belvédère, The Netherlands
• Veldwezelt-Hezerwater, Belgium

See also

• Early human migrations
• Recent African Origin
• 1 E12 s

External links

• Veldwezelt-Hezerwater
• Picture Gallery of the Paleolithic (reconstructional palaeoethnology), Libor Balák at the Czech Academy of Sciences, the Institute of Archaeology in Brno, The Center for Paleolithic and Paleoethnological Research

References