Neanderthal hunter (American Museum of Natural History)

The Paleolithic (or Palaeolithic) (from Greek: παλαιός, palaios, "old"; and λίθος, lithos, "stone" lit. 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 Lithos is a glyphic Sans-serif Typeface designed by Carol Twombly in 1989 for Adobe Systems. "old age of the stone"; was coined by archaeologist John Lubbock in 1865. Sir John Lubbock 4th Baronet and 1st Baron Avebury, PC FRS ( 30 April 1834 &ndash 28 May 1913) English banker ) is a prehistoric era distinguished by the development of the first stone tools. Stone Age Paleolithic See also Paleolithic, Recent African Origin, Early Homo sapiens, Early human migrations "Paleolithic" A stone tool is in the most general sense any Tool made of stone. It covers the greatest portion of humanity's time (roughly 99% of human history^[1]) on Earth, extending from 2. EARTH was a short-lived Japanese vocal trio which released 6 singles and 1 album between 2000 and 2001 5^[2] or 2. 6^[3][1] million years ago, with the introduction of stone tools by hominids such as Homo habilis, to the introduction of agriculture and the end of the Pleistocene around 10,000 BC. A hominid is any member of the biological family Hominidae (the "great apes" including the extinct and extant Humans Chimpanzees Homo habilis (ˈhoʊmoʊ ˈhæbəlɪs ("handy man" "skillful person" is a Species of the genus Homo, which lived Agriculture refers to the production of goods through the growing of plants and fungi and the raising of domesticated Animals The study of agriculture The Pleistocene ('plaɪstəsin is the epoch from 18 million to 10000 years BP covering the world's recent period ^[1][4][5] The Paleolithic era ended with the Mesolithic, in Western Europe, and in areas not affected by the Ice Age with the Epipaleolithic (such as Africa). 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 Epipaleolithic is a term used for the "final Upper Palaeolithic industries occurring at the end of the final glaciation which appear to merge technologically into the ^[6]

During the Paleolithic humans were grouped together in small scale societies such as bands and gained their subsistence from gathering plants and hunting or scavenging wild animals. 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. ^[7] The Paleolithic is characterized by the use of knapped stone tools, although at the time humans also used wood and bone tools. Lithic reduction involves the use of a hard hammer percussor such as a Hammerstone, a soft hammer fabricator (made of Wood, Bone or Antler) A broader definition of a tool is an entity used to interface between two or more domains that facilitates more effective action of one domain upon the other Other organic commodities were adapted for use as tools, including leather and vegetable fibers; however, given their nature, these have not been preserved to any great degree. Surviving artifacts of the Paleolithic era are known as Paleoliths. A paleolith is a relic of the Paleolithic era Humankind gradually evolved from early members of the genus Homo such as Homo habilis—who used simple stone tools—into fully behaviorally and anatomically modern humans (Homo sapiens sapiens) during the Paleolithic era. Homo is the Genus that includes modern humans and their close relatives Homo habilis (ˈhoʊmoʊ ˈhæbəlɪs ("handy man" "skillful person" is a Species of the genus Homo, which lived Human beings, humans or man (Origin 1590–1600 L homō man OL hemō the earthly one (see Humus ^[8] During the end of the Paleolithic, specifically the Middle and or Upper Paleolithic, humans began to produce the earliest works of art and engage in religious and spiritual behavior such as burial and ritual. ^{[9][10][11][7]} The climate during the Paleolithic consisted of a set of glacial and interglacial periods in which the climate periodically fluctuated between warm and cool temperatures.

Chronology

The three-age system divides human technological prehistory into three periods: the Stone Age, the Bronze Age and the Iron Age. The three-age system refers to the Periodization of Human Prehistory into three consecutive Time periods named for their respective Stone Age Paleolithic See also Paleolithic, Recent African Origin, Early Homo sapiens, Early human migrations "Paleolithic" The Stone Age is a broad prehistoric time period during which Humans widely used stone for toolmaking The term Bronze Age refers to a period in human cultural development when the most advanced Metalworking (at least in systematic and widespread use included techniques for This article is about the archaeological period known as the Iron Age for the mythological Iron Age see Ages of Man. The modern periodization of the Stone Age stretches from the Paleolithic to the Neolithic in the following scheme (crossing an epoch boundary on the geologic time scale):

• Pleistocene epoch (highly glaciated climate)
  • Paleolithic age
• Holocene epoch (modern climate)
  • Mesolithic or Epipaleolithic age, Neolithic age, Copper Age, Bronze Age, Iron Age
• Historical period (written record begins)

Traditionally, the Paleolithic is divided into three (somewhat overlapping) periods: the Lower Paleolithic, Middle Paleolithic, and the Upper Paleolithic. Periodization is the attempt to categorize or divide Time into discrete named blocks The geologic time scale is a chronologic schema (or idealized Model) relating Stratigraphy to time that is used by Geologists and other The Pleistocene ('plaɪstəsin is the epoch from 18 million to 10000 years BP covering the world's recent period The geologic time scale is a chronologic schema (or idealized Model) relating Stratigraphy to time that is used by Geologists and other The Holocene is a Geological epoch which began approximately 10000 years ago (about 8000 BC The geologic time scale is a chronologic schema (or idealized Model) relating Stratigraphy to time that is used by Geologists and other 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 Epipaleolithic is a term used for the "final Upper Palaeolithic industries occurring at the end of the final glaciation which appear to merge technologically into the The Neolithic (from Greek νεολιθικός — neolithikos from νέος neos, "new" + λίθος lithos The Chalcolithic (Greek khalkos + lithos ' Copper stone' period or Copper Age period known as the '''Eneolithic''' ('''Æneolithic''' is a The term Bronze Age refers to a period in human cultural development when the most advanced Metalworking (at least in systematic and widespread use included techniques for This article is about the archaeological period known as the Iron Age for the mythological Iron Age see Ages of Man. Prehistory See also Prehistory Paleolithic See also Paleolithic, Recent African Origin, Early Homo sapiens The Lower Paleolithic (or Lower Palaeolithic) is the earliest subdivision of the Paleolithic or Old Stone Age. The Middle Paleolithic (or Middle Palaeolithic) is the second subdivision of the Paleolithic or Old Stone Age as it is understood in Europe, 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 three ages mark technological and cultural advances in different human communities.

• Paleolithic
  • Lower Paleolithic (c. 2. The Lower Paleolithic (or Lower Palaeolithic) is the earliest subdivision of the Paleolithic or Old Stone Age. Circa (often abbreviated c, ca, ca or cca and sometimes Italicized to show it is Latin) means "about" 6 or 2. 5 million years ago–100,000 years ago)^[12][1]
    • Olduwan culture
    • Acheulean culture
    • Clactonian culture
  • Middle Paleolithic (c. Oldowan (earlier spelled Olduwan or sometimes Oldawan) is an anthropological designation for an industrial complex of Stone tools used by Acheulean (also spelled Acheulian,) is the name given to an Archaeological industry of Stone tool manufacture associated with prehistoric Hominins The Clactonian is the name given by Archaeologists to an industry of European flint tool manufacture that dates to the early part of the Interglacial period The Middle Paleolithic (or Middle Palaeolithic) is the second subdivision of the Paleolithic or Old Stone Age as it is understood in Europe, 300,000–30,000 years ago)^[13]
    • Mousterian culture
    • Aterian culture
  • Upper Paleolithic (c. 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 45,000 or 40,000–10,000 years ago). ^[13]
    • Châtelperronian culture
    • Aurignacian culture
    • Gravettian culture
    • Solutrean culture
    • Magdalenian culture

Human evolution

This cranium, of Homo heidelbergensis, a Lower Paleolithic predecessor to Homo neanderthalensis and possibly Homo sapiens, dates to sometime between 500,000 to 400,000 BC. The term Bronze Age refers to a period in human cultural development when the most advanced Metalworking (at least in systematic and widespread use included techniques for Copper (ˈkɒpɚ is a Chemical element with the symbol Cu (cuprum and Atomic number 29 Bronze is any of a broad range of Copper alloys, usually with Tin as the main additive but sometimes with other elements such as Phosphorus In Pottery, a potter's wheel is a machine used in the shaping of round ceramic wares Agriculture refers to the production of goods through the growing of plants and fungi and the raising of domesticated Animals The study of agriculture Cattle, colloquially referred to as cows, are domesticated Ungulates a member of the Subfamily Bovinae of the family Agriculture refers to the production of goods through the growing of plants and fungi and the raising of domesticated Animals The study of agriculture A craft is a Skill, especially involving practical arts. It may refer to a Trade or particular art Trade is the willing exchange of goods, services, or both Trade is also called Commerce. This article is about the archaeological period known as the Iron Age for the mythological Iron Age see Ages of Man. Iron (ˈаɪɚn is a Chemical element with the symbol Fe (ferrum and Atomic number 26 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. 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

Main article: Human evolution

Human evolution is the part of biological evolution concerning the emergence of humans as a distinct species. Human evolution, or anthropogenesis, is the part of biological Evolution concerning the emergence of Homo sapiens as a distinct Species eVolution is the third Album by eLDee, it was due to be released in 2008 Human beings, humans or man (Origin 1590–1600 L homō man OL hemō the earthly one (see Humus It is the subject of a broad scientific inquiry that seeks to understand and describe how this change and development occurred. Scientific inquiry has two functions first to provide a descriptive account of how scientific inquiry is carried out in practice second to provide an explanatory account The study of human evolution encompasses many scientific disciplines, most notably physical anthropology, paleoanthropology, paleontology, archeology, linguistics, and genetics. Biological anthropology, or physical anthropology is a branch of Anthropology that studies the mechanisms of biological Evolution, genetic inheritance Paleoanthropology, which combines the disciplines of Paleontology and Physical anthropology, is the study of ancient humans as found in Fossil hominid Palaeontology redirects here For the Scientific journal, see Palaeontology (journal. Archaeology, archeology, or archæology (from Greek grc ἀρχαιολογία archaiologia – grc ἀρχαῖος archaīos Linguistics is the scientific study of Language, encompassing a number of sub-fields Genetics (from Ancient Greek grc-Latn genetikos, “genitive” and that from grc-Latn genesis, “origin” a discipline of Biology, is The term human, in the context of human evolution, refers to the genus Homo, but studies of human evolution usually include other hominids, such as the australopithecines. Homo is the Genus that includes modern humans and their close relatives A hominid is any member of the biological family Hominidae (the "great apes" including the extinct and extant Humans Chimpanzees The term australopithecine refers to two very closely related genera within the Hominina subtribe of the Hominini tribe.

Human evolution during the Paleolithic

The evolutionary history of humankind is traced back by paleoanthropologists to 5-7 million or 8-10 million years ago prior to the start of the Paleolithic when our closest hominid ancestors diverged from the shared common ancestor of humans, chimpanzees and bonobos. Chimpanzee (often shortened to chimp) is the common name for the two extant Species of Apes in the Genus Pan. The Bonobo (bə'noʊboʊ Pan paniscus) until recently usually called the Pygmy Chimpanzee (and less often the Dwarf or Gracile Chimpanzee ^[14][15] These early pre-Paleolithic hominids (such as Sahelanthropus tchadensis and Australopithecus) began to develop bipedalism (though bipedalism did not become fully developed until Homo erectus/Homo ergaster first appeared in the human fossil record) and eventually gave rise to the earliest member of the genus homo, Homo habilis, around 2. Sahelanthropus tchadensis is a Fossil Ape that lived approximately 7-6 Million years ago. The Genus Australopithecus ( Latin australis "of the south" Greek πίθηκος pithekos "ape" Bipedalism is a form of Terrestrial locomotion where an organism moves by means of its two rear limbs 6 million years ago. Numerous explanations have been proposed by anthropologists and biologists to explain why bipedalism evolved in humans including the provisioning model, which states that bipedalism was an adaptation to a monogamous society; the postural feeding hypothesis, which proposes that bipedalism was invented to help obtain food; and the thermoregulatory model, which claims that human bipedalism arose to reduce body heat. Bipedalism is a form of Terrestrial locomotion where an organism moves by means of its two rear limbs ^[16]

One current view of the temporal and geographical distribution of hominid populations. Other interpretations differ mainly in the taxonomy and geographical distribution of hominid species.

The earliest member of the genus homo, Homo habilis, appeared around 2. 6 million years ago and was responsible for the beginning of the Paleolithic era and the creation of the Oldowan tool case. Oldowan (earlier spelled Olduwan or sometimes Oldawan) is an anthropological designation for an industrial complex of Stone tools used by Most experts assume the intelligence and social organization of H. habilis were more sophisticated than typical australopithecines or chimpanzees. In the Early Pleistocene, 1. 5–1 mya, in Africa, Asia, and Europe, some populations of Homo habilis evolved larger brains and made more elaborate stone tools; these differences and others are sufficient enough for anthropologists to conclude that they had given rise to a new species, H. erectus. Homo habilis (ˈhoʊmoʊ ˈhæbəlɪs ("handy man" "skillful person" is a Species of the genus Homo, which lived Homo erectus ( Latin: "upright man" is an extinct species of the genus Homo, believed to have been the first hominin Although Homo habilis coexisted with other Homo-like bipedal primates, such as Paranthropus boisei, some of which prospered for many millennia, H. Paranthropus boisei (originally called Zinjanthropus boisei and then Australopithecus boisei until recently was an early habilis, possibly because of its early tool innovation and a less specialized diet, became the precursor of an entire line of new species, whereas Paranthropus boisei and its robust relatives disappeared from the fossil record.

Homo ergaster was the first hominid to stand fully upright and migrate out of Africa (c. 2 million years ago^[17][18]). Homo ergaster may also have been the first hominid to control fire. Fire is the heat and light energy released during a Chemical reaction, in particular a combustion reaction. Homo ergaster is often considered to be the primogenitor of the later species Homo erectus, though H. Homo erectus ( Latin: "upright man" is an extinct species of the genus Homo, believed to have been the first hominin ergaster is sometimes categorized as a subspecies of Homo erectus. Homo erectus (along with Homo ergaster) was probably the first early human species to fit squarely into the category of a hunter-gatherer society. Homo erectus was the first hominid certain to have used controlled fire (c. 300,000 BP). Before Present (BP years are a time scale used in Archaeology, Geology, and other scientific disciplines to specify when events in the past occurred Earlier (disputed) evidence for controlled fire also exists at sites such as the Zhoukoudian Caves in China, which contain possible evidence for controlled fire as early as 1. Zhoukoudian or Choukoutien ( is a cave system near Beijing in China. China ( Wade-Giles ( Mandarin) Chung¹kuo² is a cultural region, an ancient Civilization, and depending on perspective a National 5 million years ago. ^[19] It is unknown who was the ancestor of Homo rhodesiensis, the primitive hominid species that humans are likely to have descended from, though many current paleoanthropologists postulate that Homo rhodesiensis was the same species as Homo heidelbergensis, also the immediate ancestor of the Neanderthals. Homo rhodesiensis is a possible Hominin species described from the fossil Rhodesian Man. Homo heidelbergensis ("Heidelberg Man" is an Extinct Species of the Genus Homo which may be the direct ancestor

Although the first members of the species Homo sapiens, the Archaic Homo sapiens, may have existed as long as 300,000 years ago, Homo sapiens only became completely behaviorally modern during the beginning of the Upper Paleolithic (c. The term Archaic Homo sapiens refers generally to the earliest members of the species Homo sapiens. 50,000 BP). After 50,000 BP, what Jared Diamond, author of The Third Chimpanzee, and other anthropologists characterize as a "Great Leap Forward," human culture apparently started to change at much greater speed: "modern" humans started to bury their dead with more elaborate burials, made clothing out of hides, developed sophisticated hunting techniques (such as pitfall traps, or driving animals to fall off cliffs), and made cave paintings. TemplateInfobox writer --> Jared Mason Diamond (b 10 September, 1937) is an American Evolutionary biologist The Third Chimpanzee The Evolution and Future of the Human Animal (ISBN 978-0060-98403-8 originally published in English in 1991 as The Rise and Fall of the 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 Cave paintings are Paintings on Cave walls and ceilings and the term is used especially for those dating to Prehistoric times ^[20] This speed-up of cultural change seems connected with the arrival of behaviorally modern humans, Homo sapiens. As human culture advanced, different populations of humans began to create novelty in existing technologies. Artifacts such as fish hooks, buttons and bone needles begin to show signs of greater variation among different populations of humans, than prior to 50,000 or 40,000 BP. Typically, neanderthalensis populations are found with technology similar to other contemporary neanderthalensis populations.

Theoretically, modern human behavior is taken to include four ingredient capabilities: abstract thinking (concepts free from specific examples), planning (taking steps to achieve a further goal), innovation (finding new solutions), and symbolic behaviour (such as images, or rituals). --> Abstraction is the process or result of generalization by reducing the information Planning in Organizations and Public policy is both the organizational process of creating and maintaining a Plan; and the psychological process of The term innovation means a new way of doing something It may refer to incremental radical and revolutionary changes in thinking products processes or organisations Among concrete examples of modern human behaviour, anthropologists include specialization of tools, use of jewelry and images (such as cave drawings), organization of living space, rituals (for example, burials with grave gifts), more specialized hunting techniques, exploration of less hospitable geographical areas, and more extensive barter trade networks. Barter is a type of Trade in which goods or services are directly exchanged Debate continues whether there was indeed a "revolution" leading to modern humans ("the big bang of human consciousness"), or a more gradual evolution. ^[21]

The driving force behind human evolution during the Paleolithic is a matter of significant debate amongst anthropologists. The hunting hypothesis suggests that human evolution was primarily shaped by the hunting of other animals, however it is currently known that humans during most of the Paleolithic period gained the majority of their meat from scavenging dead animals, rather than hunting, and were often prey for larger large carnivores such as the saber-toothed cat, Dinofelis, and hyenas which apparently preyed on the hominid Homo habilis. In Paleoanthropology, the hunting hypothesis is the hypothesis that Human evolution was primarily influenced by the activity of Hunting, and that the activity The Lower Paleolithic (or Lower Palaeolithic) is the earliest subdivision of the Paleolithic or Old Stone Age. The terms saber-toothed cat, sabertooth, and saber-toothed tiger describe numerous species mainly in the families Felidae (subfamily Machairodontinae Dinofelis ("terrible cat" is a genus of Saber-toothed cats belonging to the tribe Metailurini. ^[22] It is also currently understood by anthropologists that even Middle Paleolithic populations such as the Neanderthals, who hunted large game just as frequently and successfully as modern Upper Paleolithic humans, intermittently (and sometimes unsuccessfully) competed with carnivores such as hyenas for shelter in caves and food. ^[23]

Several contending theories also exist including the somewhat related killer ape theory, which proposes that warfare and violence were the driving forces behind human evolution. The killer ape theory or killer ape hypothesis is the theory that War and interpersonal Aggression was the driving force behind Human evolution The killer ape theory was first described by Raymond Dart in the 1950s and was further developed by the anthropologist Robert Ardrey (who also supported the hunting hypothesis) in his book African Genesis (1961). Raymond Dart ( February 4 1893 &ndash November 22 1988) was an Australian Anatomist and anthropologist Robert Ardrey (b October 16, 1908, Chicago, Illinois —d January 14, 1980, South Africa) was an American The killer ape theory is no longer supported by the majority of the anthropological community. ^[24] Some anthropologists, such as Adrienne L. Zihlman, propose a reverse version of the hunting hypothesis in which gathering was the driving force behind evolution and female primates played a significant part in human evolution. ^[25][26] The aquatic ape hypothesis is another theory that seeks to uncover the driving force behind human evolution. The aquatic ape hypothesis (AAH, sometimes referred to as the aquatic ape theory, asserts that wading swimming and diving for food exerted a strong Evolutionary effect In contrast to the two previously mentioned theories, the hunting hypothesis and the killer ape theory, the aquatic ape theory claims that life in aquatic or semi-aquatic settings was responsible for the development of many of the characteristics of Homo that are not seen in other primates. Homo is the Genus that includes modern humans and their close relatives ^[27] However, like the killer ape theory, it is not widely accepted by the scientific community. ^[27][28][29] Although the modern Aquatic ape hypothesis was only developed during the 20th century the concept of humankind arising from an aquatic or semi-aquatic environment is much more ancient, the theories of the Ancient Greek philosopher Anaximander who is widely considered to be evolution's most ancient proponent bare some similarity with the contemporary Aquatic ape hypothesis as he theorized that humans evolved from fish or fish like animals. Anaximander ( Ancient Greek:) (c 610 BC–c 546 BC was a Pre-Socratic Greek philosopher who lived in Miletus Richard Wrangham of Harvard University argues that cooking of plant foods may have triggered brain expansion by allowing complex carbohydrates in starchy foods to become more digestible and in effect allow humans to absorb more calories. Richard Wrangham is a British primatologist. He is a Professor in Biological Anthropology at Harvard University. Polysaccharides are relatively complex Carbohydrates They are Polymers made up of many Monosaccharides joined together by Glycosidic bonds Starch, CAS # 9005-25-8 Chemical formula (C6H10O5n is a Polysaccharide ^[30][31][32]

Simplified human genealogy

The timeline below shows a simplified genealogy of Paleolithic humanity, although other ideas of human genealogy exist for the same period:^[33] Timeline scale is in thousands of years.

Paleogeography and climate

Main articles: Pleistocene#Paleogeography and climate, Pliocene#Climate, and Pliocene#Paleogeography

The Paleolithic climate consisted of a set of glacial and interglacial periods. The Pleistocene ('plaɪstəsin is the epoch from 18 million to 10000 years BP covering the world's recent period The Pliocene epoch (spelled Pleiocene in some older texts is the period in the Geologic timescale that extends The Pliocene epoch (spelled Pleiocene in some older texts is the period in the Geologic timescale that extends

The climate of the Paleolithic Period spanned two geologic epochs known as the Pliocene and the Pleistocene. The Pliocene epoch (spelled Pleiocene in some older texts is the period in the Geologic timescale that extends The Pleistocene ('plaɪstəsin is the epoch from 18 million to 10000 years BP covering the world's recent period Both of these periods experienced important geographic and climatic changes that affected human Paleolithic societies such as the beginning and the end of the world wide ice age that occurred during the Pleistocene. These changes are described below in greater depth.

During the Pliocene Continents continued to drift toward their present positions, moving from positions possibly as far as 250 km from their present locations to positions only 70 km from their current locations. Plate tectonics (from Greek τέκτων tektōn "builder" or "mason" describes the large scale motions of Earth 's Lithosphere South America became linked to North America through the Isthmus of Panama during the Pliocene, bringing a nearly complete end to South America's distinctive marsupial fauna. South America is a Continent of the Americas, situated entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a The Isthmus of Panama, also historically known as the Isthmus of Darien, is the narrow strip of land that lies between the Caribbean Sea and the Pacific Marsupials are an Infraclass of Mammals characterized by a distinctive pouch (called the marsupium) in which females carry their young through The formation of the Isthmus had major consequences on global temperatures, since warm equatorial ocean currents were cut off and an Atlantic cooling cycle began, with cold Arctic and Antarctic waters dropping temperatures in the now-isolated Atlantic Ocean. Africa's collision with Europe formed the Mediterranean Sea, cutting off the remnants of the Tethys Ocean. The Tethys Ocean was a Mesozoic era Ocean that existed between the continents of Gondwana and Laurasia before the opening of the Indian Also Central America completely formed during the Pliocene, allowing flora from North and South America to leave their native habitats and colonize new areas. ^[34] The modern continents were essentially at their present positions during the Plestocene, the plates upon which they sit probably having moved no more than 100 km relative to each other since the beginning of the period. A continent is one of several large Landmasses on Earth. They are generally identified by Convention rather than any strict criteria with seven regions Plate tectonics (from Greek τέκτων tektōn "builder" or "mason" describes the large scale motions of Earth 's Lithosphere ^[35]

Climates during the Pliocene became cooler and drier, and seasonal, similar to modern climates. Ice sheets grew on Antarctica during the Pliocene. An ice sheet is a mass of Glacier Ice that covers surrounding terrain and is greater than 50000 km² (20000 mile²) The formation of an Arctic ice cap around 3 mya is signaled by an abrupt shift in oxygen isotope ratios and ice-rafted cobbles in the North Atlantic and North Pacific ocean beds (Van Andel 1994 p. Oxygen (from the Greek roots ὀξύς (oxys (acid literally "sharp" from the taste of acids and -γενής (-genēs (producer literally begetteris the Isotopes (Greek isos = "equal" tópos = "site place" are any of the different types of atoms ( Nuclides The Pacific Ocean is the largest of the Earth 's Oceanic divisions 226). Mid-latitude glaciation was probably underway before the end of the epoch. "Glacial" and "Glaciation" redirect here For the geological periods see Glacial period. The global cooling that occurred during the Pliocene may have spurred on the disappearance of forests and the spread of grasslands and savannas. ^[34]

The Pleistocene climate was characterized by repeated glacial cycles during which continental glaciers pushed to the 40th parallel in some places. The Pleistocene ('plaɪstəsin is the epoch from 18 million to 10000 years BP covering the world's recent period "Glacial" and "Glaciation" redirect here For the geological periods see Glacial period. A circle of latitude, on the Earth, is an imaginary East - West circle connecting all locations (not taking into account elevation that share a given Four major glacial events have been identified, as well as many minor intervening events. A major event is a general glacial excursion, termed a "glacial. " Glacials are separated by "interglacials. " During a glacial, the glacier experiences minor advances and retreats. The minor excursion is a "stadial"; times between stadials are "interstadials. " Each glacial advance tied up huge volumes of water in continental ice sheets 1500–3000 m thick, resulting in temporary sea level drops of 100 m or more over the entire surface of the Earth. During interglacial times, such as at present, drowned coastlines were common, mitigated by isostatic or other emergent motion of some regions.

The effects of glaciation were global. Antarctica was ice-bound throughout the Pleistocene as well as the preceding Pliocene. The Andes were covered in the south by the Patagonian ice cap. The Andes form the world's longest exposed Mountain range. They lie as a continuous chain of highland along the western coast of South America. Llao LLaojpg|thumb|250px| Lake Nahuel Huapi, near Bariloche, Argentina There were glaciers in New Zealand and Tasmania. New Zealand is an Island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses (the North Island and the South Island Tasmania is an Australian island and state of the same name It is located south of the eastern side of the Continent, being separated from it by Bass The current decaying glaciers of Mount Kenya, Mount Kilimanjaro, and the Ruwenzori Range in east and central Africa were larger. Mount Kenya is the highest Mountain in Kenya, and the second highest in Africa (after Mount Kilimanjaro) Glaciers existed in the mountains of Ethiopia and to the west in the Atlas mountains. NOTE This intro is the result of careful NPOV work Please do not make potentially controversial edits to it without first discussing on the talk page The Atlas Mountains ( Kabyle: Idurar n leṭles جبال الأطلس) is a Mountain range across a northern stretch of Africa extending about 2400 In the northern hemisphere, many glaciers fused into one. The Cordilleran ice sheet covered the North American northwest; the east was covered by the Laurentide. The Cordilleran ice sheet was a major Ice sheet that covered during glacial periods of the Quaternary, a large area of North America. The Laurentide Ice Sheet was a massive sheet of ice that covered hundreds of thousands of square miles including most of Canada and a large portion of the northern The Fenno-Scandian ice sheet rested on northern Europe, including Great Britain; the Alpine ice sheet on the Alps. See also Kingdom of Great Britain Great Britain (Breatainn Mhòr Prydain Fawr Breten Veur Graet Breetain is the larger of the two main islands Scattered domes stretched across Siberia and the Arctic shelf. Siberia (Сиби́рь Sibir) is the name given to the vast region constituting almost all of Northern Asia and for the most part currently serving The northern seas were frozen. During the late Upper Paleolithic/Latest Pleistocene c. 18,000 BCE the Landbridge between Asia and North America known as Beringa was blocked by ice^[35] and the ice covering Beringa may have prevented early Paleo-Indians such as the Clovis culture from directly crossing Beringa to reach the Americas. Bering Island (о́стров Бе́ринга is located off the Kamchatka Peninsula in the Bering Sea. Bering Island (о́стров Бе́ринга is located off the Kamchatka Peninsula in the Bering Sea. The Clovis culture (sometimes referred to as the Llano culture) is a Prehistoric Paleoindian culture that first appears in the archaeological Paleo-Indians or Paleo-Americans were the ancient peoples of the Americas who were present at the end of the last Ice Age. The Clovis culture (sometimes referred to as the Llano culture) is a Prehistoric Paleoindian culture that first appears in the archaeological

According to Mark Lynas (through collected data), the Pleistocene's overall climate could be characterized as a continuous El Niño with trade winds in the south Pacific weakening or heading east, warm air rising near Peru, warm water spreading from the west Pacific and the Indian Ocean to the east Pacific, and other El Niño markers. Mark Lynas (born 1973 is a British Author, Journalist and environmental Activist focussed on Climate change. El Niño-Southern Oscillation ( ENSO; commonly referred to as simply El Niño) is a global coupled ocean-atmosphere phenomenon The trade winds (also called trades) are the prevailing pattern of easterly winds found in the Tropics near the Earth's Equator. The Pacific Ocean is the largest of the Earth 's Oceanic divisions Peru (Perú Piruw Piruw officially the Republic of Peru ( reˈpuβlika del peˈɾu is a country in western South America. The Indian Ocean is the third largest of the world's Oceanic divisions covering about 20% of the water on the Earth 's surface ^[36]

At the end of the Paleolithic era, both the ice age and the Pleistocene epoch ended, and the world's climate became warmer. The climate change at the end of the Pleistocene may have caused or contributed to the extinction of the Pleistocene megafauna though it is also possible that the late Pleistocene extinctions were (at least in part) caused by other factors such as disease and over hunting by humans. Pleistocene megafauna is the set of Species of large animals &mdash Mammals Birds and Reptiles &mdash that lived on Earth during the Pleistocene ^[37][38] New research suggests that the extinction of the Woolly mammoth may have been caused by the combined effect of both climatic change and human hunting. The woolly mammoth ( Mammuthus primigenius) also called the tundra mammoth, is an extinct species of Mammoth. ^[38] Scientists suggest that climate change during the end of the Pleistocene caused the mammoths' habitat to shrink in size, resulting in a drop in population. The Pleistocene ('plaɪstəsin is the epoch from 18 million to 10000 years BP covering the world's recent period Paleolithic humans then delivered the final blow to the Woolly mammoths through hunting. ^[38] The global warming that occurred during the end of the Pleistocene and the beginning of the Holocene melted ice and may have also assisted humans in over hunting the woolly mammoth by allowing them to gain accesses to more mammoth habitats than previously possible. The Holocene is a Geological epoch which began approximately 10000 years ago (about 8000 BC ^[38]

Way of life

An artist's rendering of a temporary wood house, based on evidence found at Terra Amata (in Nice, France) and dated to the Lower Paleolithic (c. England is a Country which is part of the United Kingdom. Its inhabitants account for more than 83% of the total UK population whilst its mainland The Maghreb (المغرب العربي al-Maġrib al-ʿArabī) also rendered Maghrib (or rarely Moghreb) meaning "place of Sunset Italy (Italia officially the Italian Republic, (Repubblica Italiana is located on the Italian Peninsula in Southern Europe, and on the two largest Central Europe is the Region lying between the variously and vaguely defined areas of Eastern and The Flandrian interglacial or stage is the name given by Geologists and Archaeologists in the British Isles to the first and so far only stage of the "Last glacial" redirects here For the period of maximum glacier extent during this time see Last Glacial Maximum The last glacial period The Eemian interglacial era, now known as the Eemian Stage is temporally equivalent to the Sangamon Stage in North America, the Ipswichian Stage in The Kansan Glaciation (known in the UK as the Anglian glaciation, Elster glaciation in northern Europe and the Mindel glaciation in the The Beestonian Stage is the name for an early Pleistocene stage used in the British Isles. -- 216175714 ( talk) 0344 7 October 2008 (UTC Terra Amata is an Archaeological site near the French town of Nice. Nice (nis Niçard Occitan: Niça norm or Nissa, Italian: Nizza or Nizza Marittima, Greek This article is about the country For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic France topics. 400,000 BC).

Due to a lack of written records from this time period, nearly all of our knowledge of Paleolithic humans culture and way of life comes from archaeology and ethnographic comparisons to the cultures of modern hunter gatherers such as the !Kung San who partake in lifestyles similar to those of their Paleolithic predecessors. Archaeology, archeology, or archæology (from Greek grc ἀρχαιολογία archaiologia – grc ἀρχαῖος archaīos Ethnography ( Greek ethnos = people and graphein = writing is a genre of writing that uses Fieldwork to provide a descriptive The Bushmen, San, Sho, Basarwa, ǃKung or Khwe are indigenous people of southern Africa that spans most areas of South Africa ^[40] The economy of a typical Paleolithic society was a hunter-gatherer economy. A hunter-gatherer society is one whose primary subsistence method involves the direct procurement of edible plants and animals from the wild Foraging and Hunting ^[41] Paleolithic humans hunted wild animals for meat and gathered food, firewood, and materials for their tools, clothes, or shelters. ^[42][41] The human population density in the Paleolithic was very small and numbered around only one person per square mile. ^[7] The low population density during the Paleolithic was most likely due to low body fat, Infanticide, women regularly engaging in intense endurance exercise,^[43] late weaning of infants and a nomadic lifestyle. ^[7] Like contemporary hunter-gatherers Paleolithic humans enjoyed an abundance of leisure time unparalleled in both Neolithic farming societies and modern industrial societies. The Neolithic (from Greek νεολιθικός — neolithikos from νέος neos, "new" + λίθος lithos ^[41][44] At the end of the Paleolithic specifically the Middle and or Upper Paleolithic humans began to produce works of art such as cave paintings, rock art and jewelry and began to engage in religious behavior such as burial and ritual. ^[45]

Technology

Picture of two Lower Paleolithic bifaces. The Lower Paleolithic (or Lower Palaeolithic) is the earliest subdivision of the Paleolithic or Old Stone Age. In archaeology a biface is a two-sided Stone tool, manufactured through a process of Lithic reduction, that displays flake scars on both sides

Picture of a stone ball from a set of Paleolithic bolas. Distinguish from Bolus. Bolas (from Spanish Bola, "ball" also known as boleadoras) are a throwing

During this time period people made tools of stone, bone, and wood. ^[41] The most ancient Paleolithic stone tool industry the Oldowan was developed by the earliest members of the genus Homo such as Homo habilis around 2. 6 million years ago. ^[46] and contained tools such as choppers, burins and awls though it completely disappeared around 250,000 years ago and was followed by the more complex Acheulean industry which was first conceived by Homo ergaster around 1. Burin from the French burin meaning "cold Chisel " has two specialised meanings for types of tools in English one meaning a Steel 8 or 1. 65 million years ago. ^[47] The most recent Lower Paleolithic (Acheulean) implements completely vanished from the archeological record around 100,000 years ago and were replaced by more complex Middle Paleolithic/Middle Stone Age tool kits such as the Mousterian and the Aterian industries. 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 ^[48]

Lower Paleolithic humans are known to have used a variety of stone tools, including hand axes and choppers. A handaxe is a bifacial Lower and Middle Paleolithic core Tool. Although Lower Paleolithic Hominids appear to have used handaxes frequently there is no consensus about their use. Interpretations range from cutting and chopping tools to digging implements, flake cores, the use in traps and a purely ritual significance, maybe in courting behaviour. An interpretation from William H. Calvin maintains that some of the rounder examples could have served as "killer frisbees" meant to be thrown at a herd of animals at a water hole so as to stun one of them. William H Calvin PhD (born 30 April 1939 is a Professor at the University of Washington in Seattle. There are no indications of hafting, and indeed some artifacts are far too large for that. Thus a thrown hand axe would not usually have penetrated deeply enough to cause very serious injuries. Nevertheless it could have been an effective weapon for defence against predators. Choppers and scrappers were likely used for the purpose of skinning and butchering scavenged animals and sharp ended sticks were often procured for the purpose of digging up edible roots. Early hominids presumably have been using wooden spears as early as 5 million years ago to hunt small animals, much like our close relatives the common chimpanzee have recently been observed doing in Senegal, Africa. Senegal (le Sénégal officially the Republic of Senegal, is a country south of the Sénégal River in western Africa. ^[49] Lower Paleolithic humans additionally known to have constructed shelters such as the possible wood hut at Terra Amata. -- 216175714 ( talk) 0344 7 October 2008 (UTC Terra Amata is an Archaeological site near the French town of Nice. Fire was used by the Lower Paleolithic hominid Homo erectus/Homo ergaster as early as 300,000 or 1. Homo erectus ( Latin: "upright man" is an extinct species of the genus Homo, believed to have been the first hominin Homo ergaster ("working man" is an extinct Hominid Species (or subspecies according to some authorities which lived throughout eastern 5 million years ago and possibly even earlier by the early Lower Paleolithic (Oldowan) hominid Homo habilis and/or by robust australopithecines such as Paranthropus^[7] however the use of fire only became common in the societies of the following Middle Stone Age/Middle Paleolithic Period. The robust australopithecines, members of the Extinct Hominin genus Paranthropus (Greek para "beside" Greek anthropos "human" The Middle Stone Age (or MSA was a period of African Prehistory between Early Stone Age and Late Stone Age. The Middle Paleolithic (or Middle Palaeolithic) is the second subdivision of the Paleolithic or Old Stone Age as it is understood in Europe, ^[1] The invention of fire reduced mortality rates and provided protection against predators. ^[50] In addition early hominids may have began to cook their food as early as the Lower Paleolithic (c. 1. 9 million years ago) or at the very latest in the early Middle Paleolithic (c. 250,000 years ago). ^[31] Some scientists have hypothesized that Hominids began cooking food to defrost frozen meat which would help ensure their survival in cold regions. ^[31]

The Lower Paleolithic hominid Homo erectus possibly invented rafts (c. A hominid is any member of the biological family Hominidae (the "great apes" including the extinct and extant Humans Chimpanzees A raft is any flat floating structure for travel over water It is the most basic of Boat design characterized by the absence of a hull. 800,000 or 840,000 BP) to travel over large bodies of water which may have allowed a group of Homo erectus to reach the island of Flores and evolve into the small hominid Homo floresiensis. Homo floresiensis ("Man of Flores " nicknamed Hobbit) is a possible Species in the Genus Homo However, it must also be noted that this hypothesis is disputed within the anthropological community. ^[51][52][53] The possible use of rafts during the Lower Paleolithic may indicate that Lower Paleolithic Hominids such as Homo erectus were more advanced than previously believed and may have even spoken an early form of modern language. ^[54] Supplementary evidence from Neanderthal and Modern human sites located around the Mediterranean sea such as Coa de sa Multa (c. 300. 000 BCE) has also indicated that both Middle and Upper Paleolithic humans used rafts to travel over large bodies of water (I. e. the Mediterranean sea) for the purpose of colonizing other bodies of land. ^{[55] [13]}

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. The Middle Paleolithic (or Middle Palaeolithic) is the second subdivision of the Paleolithic or Old Stone Age as it is understood in Europe, 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 ^[56] This method increased efficiency by permitting the creation of more controlled and consistent flakes. ^[57] 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. In addition to improving tool making methods the Middle Paleolithic also saw an improvement of the tools themselves which allowed access to a wider variety and amount of food sources, for example microliths or small stone tools or points were invented around 70,000 or 65,000 BP and were essential to the invention of bows and spear throwers in the following Upper Paleolithic period. A microlith is a small stone tool typically knapped of Flint or Chert, usually about three centimetres long or less They are typically one Centimetre ^[50] Harpoons were invented and used for the first time during the late Middle Paleolithic (c. 90,000 years ago), the invention of these devices allowed fish to become part of human diets which provided a hedge against starvation and a more abundant food supply. ^[13][58] As a result of both their technology and their advanced social social structures 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 ^[59] 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 ^[60] 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 ^[61][62]

During the Upper Paleolithic further technological advances were made such as the invention of Nets,(c. 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 22,000 or 29,000 BP)^[50] bolas,^[63] the spear thrower (c. Distinguish from Bolus. Bolas (from Spanish Bola, "ball" also known as boleadoras) are a throwing An atlatl (from Nahuatl ahtlatl; in English pronounced or) or spear-thrower is a Tool that uses Leverage to achieve greater velocity 30,000 BP) the bow and arrow (c. 25,000 or 30,000 BP)^[64][7] and the creation of the world's oldest example of ceramic art, the Venus of Dolní Věstonice (c. The Venus of Dolní Věstonice (Věstonická Venuše is a Venus figurine, a Ceramic Statuette of a nude female figure dated to 29000&ndash25000 29,000–25,000 BP). ^[7] Early dogs were also domesticated during the end of the Paleolithic, sometime between 30,000 BP and 14,000 BP, (presumably) to aid in hunting. ^[65] However, the earliest instances of successful domestication of dogs may be much more ancient than this, evidence from canine Dna collected by Robert k. Deoxyribonucleic acid ( DNA) is a Nucleic acid that contains the genetic instructions used in the development and functioning of all known Wayne suggests that dogs may have been first domesticated in late Middle Paleolithic around 100,000 BP or perhaps even earlier^[66] Archeological evidence from the Dordogne region of France demonstrates that members of the European early Upper Paleolithic culture known as the Aurignacian were the first people to use calendars (c. Dordogne (Dordonha is a department in central France named after the Dordogne River. 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 Aurignacian is the name of a culture of the Upper Palaeolithic located in Europe and southwest Asia. 30,000 BP). This early calendar was a lunar calendar that was used to document the phases of the moon. Genuine solar calendars did not appear until the following Neolithic period. The Neolithic (from Greek νεολιθικός — neolithikos from νέος neos, "new" + λίθος lithos ^[67] It is almost certain that Upper Paleolithic cultures were capable of precisely timing the migration of game animals such as wild horses and deer. ^[68] This ability allowed humans to become efficient hunters and to exploit a wide variety of game animals. ^[69] Moreover recent research indicates that the Neanderthals timed their hunts and the migrations of game animals long before the beginning of the Upper Paleolithic. ^[59]

Social organization

Humans may have partook in long distance trade between bands for rare commodities and raw materials (such as stone needed for making tools) as early as 120,000 years ago in Middle Paleolithic. 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 social organization of the earliest Paleolithic (Lower Paleolithic) societies remains largely unknown to scientists though Lower Paleolithic hominids such as Homo habilis and Homo erectus are likely to have had more complex social structures than chimpanzee societies. ^[25] Late Oldowan/Early Acheulean humans such as Homo ergaster/Homo erectus may have been the first people to invent central campsites, or home bases and incorporate them into their foraging and hunting strategies like contemporary hunter-gatherers possibly as early as 1. 7 million years ago,^[70] however the earliest solid evidence for the existence of home bases/central campsites (hearths and shelters) amongst humans only dates back to 500,000 years ago. ^[71]

Similarity it is disputed amongst scientists whether Lower Paleolithic humans were largely monogamous or polygamous^[25], the Provisional model in particular suggests that bipedalism arose in Pre Paleolithic australopithecine societies as an adaptation to monogamous lifestyles, however other researchers note that Sexual dimorphism is more pronounced in Lower Paleolithic Humans such as Homo erectus than in Modern humans who are less polygamous than other primates which would provide evidence that Lower Paleolithic humans had a largely polygamous lifestyle because species which have the most pronounced Sexual dimorphism tend to be more likely to be polygamous. Sexual dimorphism is the systematic difference in form between individuals of different Sex in the same Species. Human beings, humans or man (Origin 1590–1600 L homō man OL hemō the earthly one (see Humus ^[72]

For most of the Lower Paleolithic human societies were possibly more hierarchical than their Middle and Upper Paleolithic decedents and probably were not grouped into bands,^[73] though during the end of the Lower Paleolithic the latest populations of the Hominid Homo erectus began living in small scale (possibly egalitarian) bands similar to both Middle and Upper Paleolithic societies and modern hunter-gatherers. ^[73]

Middle and Upper Paleolithic humans like Lower Paleolithic humans and early Neolithic farming tribes lived without states and organized governments and instead unlike both Lower Paleolithic humans, early Neolithic farmers and complex agricultural Civilizations were grouped in (usually nomadic) bands that ranged from 20 to 30 or 25 to 100 members. 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. ^[74][73][7] These bands were formed by several families. However bands sometimes joined together into larger "macrobands" for activities such as acquiring mates and celebrations or where resources were abundant. ^[7] By the end of the Paleolithic era—which ended about 10,000 BP—people began to settle down into permanent locations and agriculture began to be relied upon for sustenance in many locations. A large body of scientific evidence exists to suggest that humans took part in long distance trade between bands for rare commodities (such as ochre, which was often used for religious purposes such as ritual^[75][76]) and raw materials as early as 120,000 years ago in Middle Paleolithic. 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. ^[77] Inter band 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). ^[77] Middle and Upper Paleolithic society was communal and collectivistic and individuals were subordinate to the band as a whole. Collectivism is a term used to describe any moral political or social outlook that stresses human Interdependence and the importance of a Collective, rather than ^[41][40] Both Neanderthals and modern humans took care of the elderly members of their societies during the Middle and Upper Paleolithic. ^[78]

Reconstruction of the 60 year-old man buried at the site of Sungir. The discovery of this person’s ornate burial suggests that some Upper Paleolithic groups may have developed complex, hierarchical social structures.

Like the societies of our closest existent relative the Bonobo^[79] most Middle and Upper Paleolithic societies were fundamentally egalitarian^{[42][73][73][13][7][41]} and infrequently or never engaged in organized violence between groups (i. The Bonobo (bə'noʊboʊ Pan paniscus) until recently usually called the Pygmy Chimpanzee (and less often the Dwarf or Gracile Chimpanzee Egalitarianism (derived from the French word égal, meaning equal) is a political doctrine that holds that all people should be treated as equals and have e. war),^{[13][80][81][82]} though some Upper Paleolithic societies such as the Paleolithic inhabitants of Sungir (in what is now Russia) that lived in resource rich environments may have demonstrated more complex and hierarchical organization (such as Tribes with a pronounced hierarchy and a somewhat formal division of labor) and may have engaged in Endemic warfare. Sungir is an Upper Paleolithic Archaeological site in Russia, about 200 km east of Moscow. Russia (Россия Rossiya) or the Russian Federation ( Rossiyskaya Federatsiya) is a transcontinental Country extending Endemic warfare is the state of continual low-threshold Warfare in a tribal Warrior society ^{[13] [83]} There was no formal leadership during the Middle and Upper Paleolithic and Middle and Upper Paleolithic societies (like contemporary egalitarian hunter-gatherers such as the Mbuti pygmies) were likely to have made decisions by communal consensus decision making rather than by appointing permanent rulers such as chiefs and monarchs. The Mbuti people or Bambuti as they are collectively called are one of several indigenous Hunter-gatherer groups in the Congo region of WikipediaConsensus here as this is the article namespace and that information is irrelevant to the reader ^[42][84] Nor was there a formal division of labor during the Paleolithic each member of the group was skilled at all tasks essential to survival, regardless of individual abilities. Division of labour or specialization is the specialization of cooperative labour in specific circumscribed tasks and roles intended to increase the Productivity Theories to explain the apparent egalitarianism of Paleolithic societies have arisen, notably the Marxist concept of primitive communism. Marxism is the political philosophy and practice derived from the work of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. Primitive communism is A term usually associated with Karl Marx, but most fully elaborated by Friedrich Engels (in The Origin of the Family 1884 and referring ^[85][86] Christopher Boehm (1999) has hypothesized that egalitarianism may have evolved in Paleolithic societies because of a need to distribute recourses such as food and meat equally to avoid famine and ensure a stable food supply. ^[73] Raymond C. Kelly speculates that the relative peacefulness of Middle and Upper Paleolithic societies resulted from a low population density, cooperative relationships between groups such as reciprocal exchange of commodities and collaboration on hunting expeditions and lastly because the invention of projectile weapons such as throwing spears provided less incentive for war because they increased the amount of damage that is done to the attacker and decreased the relative amount of territory aggressors could gain. ^[82]

It has Typically been assumed by anthropologists that women were responsible for gathering wild plants and firewood and men were responsible for hunting and scavenging dead animals amongst Paleolithic humans. ^[7][42][13] However analogies to the sexual divisions of labor in existent hunter-gatherer societies such as the Hadza people and the Australian aborigines suggest that the sexual division of labor in the Paleolithic was relatively flexible, men may have participated in gathering plants, firewood and insects and women may have procured small game animals for consumption and assisted men in driving herds of large game animals (such as woolly mammoths and deer) off cliffs. The Hadza people, or Hadzabe'e are an ethnic group in central Tanzania, living around Lake Eyasi in the central Rift Valley and in the neighboring This is an article about a class of people as identified and defined within Australian law ^[13][81] Additionally according to recent archeological research carried out by anthropologist and archaeologist Steven Kuhn from the University of Arizona this division of labor did not exist prior to the Upper Paleolithic and was invented relatively recently in human pre-history. 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 ^[87][88] The sexual division of labor may have been developed to allow humans to acquire food and other resources more efficiently. ^[88] There was approximate parity between men and women during both the Middle and the Upper Paleolithic and the end of the Paleolithic (the Middle and Upper Paleolithic) was the most gender-equal time in human history. Gender equality (also known as gender equity, gender egalitarianism, or sexual equality) is the goal of the Equality of the Genders ^{[89][74][80][90][42][91]} Indeed archeological evidence from art and funerary rituals indicates that a number of individual women enjoyed seemingly high status in their communities^[90] and it is likely that both sexes participated in decision making. ^[74] Additional scientific research of Paleolithic society has also revealed that the earliest known Paleolithic shaman (c. 30,000 BP) was female. ^[92] Jared Diamond suggests that the status of women declined with the adoption of agriculture because women in farming societies typically have more pregnancies and are expected to do more demanding work then women in hunter-gatherer societies. TemplateInfobox writer --> Jared Mason Diamond (b 10 September, 1937) is an American Evolutionary biologist ^[93] Like most contemporary hunter-gatherer societies Paleolithic groups probably followed mostly Matrilineal and Ambilineal descent patterns, and Patrilineal decent patterns were likely to have been rarer during the Paleolithic and the Mesolithic than in the following Neolithic period. Matrilineality is a system in which lineage is traced through the mother and maternal ancestors Ambilineality is a system of determining Descent groups in which one belongs to one's father's or mother's Lineage. Patrilineality (aka agnatic kinship) is a system in which one belongs to one's father's lineage it generally involves the Inheritance of property names or titles The Neolithic (from Greek νεολιθικός — neolithikos from νέος neos, "new" + λίθος lithos ^[94][50]

Paleolithic Art and Music

The Venus of Willendorf is one of the most famous Venus figurines. The Venus of Willendorf, also known as the Woman of Willendorf, is an 11

The earliest undisputed evidence of art during the Paleolithic period comes from Middle Paleolithic/Middle Stone Age sites such as Blombos Cave in the form of bracelets,^[95] beads,^[96] rock art,^[75] ochre used as body paint and perhaps in ritual,^[75][13] 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 and undisputed evidence of art only becomes common in the following Upper Paleolithic period. The Middle Paleolithic (or Middle Palaeolithic) is the second subdivision of the Paleolithic or Old Stone Age as it is understood in Europe, 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 The Middle Paleolithic (or Middle Palaeolithic) is the second subdivision of the Paleolithic or Old Stone Age as it is understood in Europe, ^[97]

According to Robert G. Bednarik Lower Paleolithic Acheulean tool users began to engage in symbolic behavior such as art around 850,000 BP and decorated themselves with beads and collected exotic stones for aesthetic rather than utilitarian qualities. Acheulean (also spelled Acheulian,) is the name given to an Archaeological industry of Stone tool manufacture associated with prehistoric Hominins ^[98] According to Robert G. Bednarik traces of the pigment ochre from late Lower Paleolithic Acheulean archeological sites suggests that Acheulean societies like later Upper Paleolithic societies collected and used the pigment ochre to create rock art ^[98] nevertheless, it is also possible that the ochre traces found at Lower Paleolithic sites is naturally occurring. Ochre or Ocher (pronounced /'əʊkə(r/ from the Greek ὠχρός yellow is a Color, usually described as golden - Yellow Acheulean (also spelled Acheulian,) is the name given to an Archaeological industry of Stone tool manufacture associated with prehistoric Hominins Acheulean (also spelled Acheulian,) is the name given to an Archaeological industry of Stone tool manufacture associated with prehistoric Hominins ^[99]

Vincent W. Fallio interprets Lower and Middle Paleolithic marking on rocks at sites such as Bilzingsleben (such as zig zagging lines) as accounts or representation of altered states of consciousness^[100] though some other scholars either interpret them as simple doodling or as the result of natural processes. Bilzingsleben is a findspot of early Palaeolithic human remains in Thuringia, Germany.

Upper Paleolithic humans produced works of art such as cave paintings, Venus figurines, animal carvings and rock paintings. 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 ^[101] Upper Paleolithic art can be divided into two broad categories Figurative art such as cave paintings which clearly depicts Animals (or more rarely humans) and nonfigurative which consists of shapes and symbols. ^[102] Cave paintings have been interpreted in a number of ways by modern archeologists, the earliest explanation of the Paleolithic cave paintings first proposed by the physical anthropologist Abbe Breuil interpreted the paintings as a form of magic designed to ensure a successful hunt,^[103] although this hypothesis falls short of explaining the existence of animals such as saber-toothed cats and lions which were not hunted for food and the existence of half-human, half-animal beings in cave paintings. Biological anthropology, or physical anthropology is a branch of Anthropology that studies the mechanisms of biological Evolution, genetic inheritance Henri Édouard Prosper Breuil ( February 28, 1877, Mortain, Manche, Normandy – August 14, 1961, L'Isle-Adam The terms saber-toothed cat, sabertooth, and saber-toothed tiger describe numerous species mainly in the families Felidae (subfamily Machairodontinae The anthropologist David Lewis-Williams have suggested that Paleolithic cave paintings were indications of shamanistic practices as the paintings of half-human, half-animal paintings and the remoteness of the caves are reminiscent of modern hunter-gatherer shamanistic practices. James David Lewis-Williams (born 1934 is a South African scholar ^[103] Symbol like images are more common in Paleolithic cave paintings than depictions of animals or humans and unique Paleolithic symbolic patterns are thought to have possibly been trademarks that represent different Upper Paleolithic ethnic groups. 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 ^[104] The Venus figurines have evoked similar controversy amongst archeologists and have been described at various times and by various archeologists and anthropologists as representations of goddesses, pornographic imagery, apotropaic amulets used for sympathetic magic, and even as self-portraits of women themselves. Venus figurines is an Umbrella term for a number of prehistoric Statuettes of women sharing common attributes (many depicted as apparently Obese A goddess is a Female Deity. Many Cultures have goddesses Often deities are part of a polytheistic system that includes several deities ^[13][105]

R. Dale Guthrie^[106] has studied not only the most artistic and publicized paintings but also a variety of lower quality art and figurines, and he identifies a wide range of skill and ages among the artists. He also points that the main themes in the paintings and other artifacts (powerful beasts, risky hunting scenes and the over-sexual representation of women in the Venus figurines) are to be expected in the fantasies of adolescent males during the Upper Paleolithic. Venus figurines is an Umbrella term for a number of prehistoric Statuettes of women sharing common attributes (many depicted as apparently Obese

The existence of abundant female imagery such as the Venus figurines which have sometimes been interpreted as representations of a Mother goddess has led some such as the archeologist Marija Gimbutas and the Feminist scholar Merlin Stone who was the author of the 1978 book When God Was a Woman to believe Upper Paleolithic (and later Neolithic) societies possessed a female centered religion and a female dominated society. A mother goddess is a Goddess, often portrayed as the Earth Mother who serves as a general Fertility deity the bountiful embodiment of the Earth. Marija Gimbutas ( Marija Gimbutienė) ( Vilnius, January 23, 1921 – Los Angeles, United States February 2 Feminism is a discourse that involves various movements theories, and Philosophies which are concerned with the issue of Gender difference, advocate Merlin Stone is a sculptor and professor of art and art history perhaps best-known for her Feminist book When God Was a Woman. The Neolithic (from Greek νεολιθικός — neolithikos from νέος neos, "new" + λίθος lithos ^[107][108] Various other explanations for the purpose of the figurines have been proposed, such as Catherine McCoid and LeRoy McDermott’s hypothesis that the figurines were created as self portrats of actual women^[105] and R. Dale Gutrie's hypothesis that the venus figurines represented a kind of "stone age pornography". Pornography or porn is the explicit depiction of Sexual subject matter with the sole intention of sexually exciting the viewer

The origins of music during the Paleolithic are unknown, since the earliest forms of music probably did not use musical instruments but instead used the human voice and or natural objects such as rocks which leave no trace in the archaeological record however, the anthropological and archeological designation suggests that music first arose (amongst humans) when language, art and other modern behaviors were developed in the Middle or the Upper Paleolithic period. Anthropology (/ˌænθɹəˈpɒlədʒi/ from Greek grc ἄνθρωπος anthrōpos, "human" -λογία -logia) is the study of Archaeology, archeology, or archæology (from Greek grc ἀρχαιολογία archaiologia – grc ἀρχαῖος archaīos It is possible that music may have developed from rhythmic sounds produced by daily activities such as cracking nuts by hitting them with stones because maintaining a rhythm while working may have helped people to become more efficient at daily activities. ^[109] An alternative theory originally proposed by Charles Darwin explains that music may have began as a hominid mating strategy as many birds and some other animals produce music like calls to attract mates. Charles Robert Darwin (February 12 1809 &ndash April 19 1882 was an English naturalist, who realised and demonstrated that all Species of life ^[110] This hypothesis is generally less accepted than the previous hypothesis, but it nonetheless provides a possible alternative.

Upper Paleolithic (and possibly Middle Paleolithic^[111]) humans used flute-like bone pipes as musical instruments,^[13][112] It is possible that Music may have played a large role in the religious lives of Upper Paleolithic hunter gatherers. 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 Middle Paleolithic (or Middle Palaeolithic) is the second subdivision of the Paleolithic or Old Stone Age as it is understood in Europe, Like in modern hunter gatherer societies music may have been used in ritual or to help induce trances. Trance denotes a variety of processes techniques modalities and states of mind awareness and consciousness It appears that animal skin drums in particular may have been used in religious events by Upper Paleolithic Shamans as shown by the remains of drum like instruments from some Upper Paleolithic graves of shamans and the ethnographic record of contemporary hunter-gatherer shamanic and ritual practices. A drum kit (also drum set or trap set) is a collection of Drums Cymbals and sometimes other Percussion instruments such as cowbells Ethnography ( Greek ethnos = people and graphein = writing is a genre of writing that uses Fieldwork to provide a descriptive ^[113]. ^[92]

Religion and beliefs

Main article: Paleolithic Religion

Picture of a half-human, half-animal being in a Paleolithic cave painting in Dordogne. See also Prehistoric religion The origin and early Development of religion falls into the Paleolithic. Cave paintings are Paintings on Cave walls and ceilings and the term is used especially for those dating to Prehistoric times Dordogne (Dordonha is a department in central France named after the Dordogne River. France. This article is about the country For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic France topics. Archeologists believe that cave paintings of half-human, half-animal beings may be evidence for early shamanic practices during the Paleolithic.

A controversial scholar of prehistoric religion and anthropology James Harrod and Vincent W. Fallio have recently proposed that religion and spirituality (and art) may have first arose in Pre-Paleolithic chimpanzee^[114] and or Early Lower Paleolithic (Oldowan) societies,^[115][100] however the established anthropological view holds that it is more probable that humankind first developed religious and spiritual beliefs during the Middle Paleolithic or Upper Paleolithic. The Lower Paleolithic (or Lower Palaeolithic) is the earliest subdivision of the Paleolithic or Old Stone Age. Oldowan (earlier spelled Olduwan or sometimes Oldawan) is an anthropological designation for an industrial complex of Stone tools used by A religion is a set of Tenets and practices often centered upon specific Supernatural and moral claims about Reality, the Cosmos Spirituality, in a narrow sense concerns itself with matters of the Spirit, a concept closely tied to religious belief and Faith, a transcendent reality The Middle Paleolithic (or Middle Palaeolithic) is the second subdivision of the Paleolithic or Old Stone Age as it is understood in Europe, 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 ^[116] According to Vincent W. Fallio the common ancestor of chimpanzees and humans experienced altered states of consciousness and partook in ritual, and ritual was used in their societies to strengthen social bonding and group cohesion. ^[100]

Middle Paleolithic humans use of 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, Israel (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 humans may have possessed a belief in an afterlife and a "concern for the dead that transcends daily life". Philip Lieberman is a linguist at Brown University. Originally trained in Phonetics, he wrote a dissertation on Intonation. ^[117] 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 According to recent archeological findings from H. heidelbergensis sites in Atapuerca humans may have begun burying their dead 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.

Likewise some scientists have proposed that Middle Paleolithic societies such as Neanderthal societies may also have practiced the earliest form of totemism or animal worship in addition to their (presumably religious) burial of the dead. A totem is any supposed entity that watches over or assists a group of people such as a family Clan or tribe ( Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary and Webster's ' Animal worship' is a term rarely used by modern scholars because it is subject to so many interpretations Emil Bächler in particular suggested (based on archeological evidence from Middle Paleolithic caves) that a widespread Middle Paleolithic Neanderthal bear cult existed. The Middle Paleolithic (or Middle Palaeolithic) is the second subdivision of the Paleolithic or Old Stone Age as it is understood in Europe, The Neanderthal (neɪˈændərtɑːl also with /niː-/ and /-θɔːl/ or Neandertal, is an extinct member of the Homo genus that is known from ^[118] Additional (Possible) evidence in support of Middle Paleolithic animal worship originates from the Tsodilo Hills (c. Tsodilo is a UNESCO World Heritage Site located in northwestern Botswana. 70,000 BCE) in the African Kalahari desert where a giant rock resembling a python that is accompanied by large amounts of colored broken spear points and a secret chamber has been discovered inside a cave. The Broken spear points were most likely sacrificial offerings and the python is also important to and worshipped by contemporary !Kung san hunter-gatherers who are the descendants of the of the people who devised the ritual at the Tsodilo Hills and may have inherited their worship of the python from their distant Middle Paleolithic ancestors. The Bushmen, San, Sho, Basarwa, ǃKung or Khwe are indigenous people of southern Africa that spans most areas of South Africa Tsodilo is a UNESCO World Heritage Site located in northwestern Botswana. ^[11] Animal cults in the following Upper Paleolithic period such as the bear cult may have had their origins in these hypothetical Middle Paleolithic animal cults. ^[119] Animal worship during the Upper Paleolithic was intertwined with hunting rites. ^[119] For instance archeological evidence from art and bear remains reveals that the Bear cult apparently had involved a type of sacrificial bear ceremonialism in which a bear was shot with arrows and then was finished off by a shot in the lungs and ritualistically buried near a clay bear statue covered by a bear fur with the skull and the body of the bear buried separately. An arrow is a pointed Projectile that is shot with a bow. It predates recorded history and is common to most Cultures. ^[119] Barbara Ehrenreich controversially theorizes that the sacrificial hunting rites of the Upper Paleolithic (and by extension Paleolithic cooperative big-game hunting) gave rise to war or warlike raiding during the following Epi-Paleolithic/Mesolithic or late Upper Paleolithic period. The Epipaleolithic is a term used for the "final Upper Palaeolithic industries occurring at the end of the final glaciation which appear to merge technologically into 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 ^[81]

The existence of anthropomorphic images and half-human, half-animal images in the Upper Paleolithic period may further indicate that Upper Paleolithic humans were the first people to believe in a pantheon of gods or supernatural beings,^[120] though the half-human, half-animal images may have also been indicative of shamanistic practices similar to those practiced by contemporary tribal societies. 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 Polytheism is belief in or worship of multiple Gods (usually assembled in a pantheon) together with associated Mythology and Rituals ^[121] The earliest known undisputed burial of a shaman (and by extension the earliest undisputed evidence of shamans and shamanic practices) dates back to the early Upper Paleolithic era (c. 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 30,000 BC) in what is now the Czech Republic. The Czech Republic ( ˈt͡ʃɛskaː ˈrɛpuˌblɪka short form in Česko ˈt͡ʃɛskɔ also called Czechia, ^[92] However, it was probably more common during the early Upper Paleolithic for religious ceremonies to receive equal and full participation from all members of the band, in contrast to the religious traditions of later periods when religious authorities and part-time ritual specialists such as shamans, priests and medicine men were relatively common and integral to religious life. ^[41] Additionally it is also possible that Upper Paleolithic religions like contemporary and historical Animistic and Polytheistic religions believed in the existence of a single creator deity in addition to other supernatural beings such as Animistic spirits. Animism (from Latin anima ( Soul, Life) commonly refers to a religious belief that Souls or Spirits exist in Animals Polytheism is belief in or worship of multiple Gods (usually assembled in a pantheon) together with associated Mythology and Rituals Animism (from Latin anima ( Soul, Life) commonly refers to a religious belief that Souls or Spirits exist in Animals ^[122]

Vincent W. Fallio writes that Ancestor cults first emerged in complex Upper Paleolithic societies. Vincent W. Fallio argues that the elites of complex Upper Paleolithic societies (like the elites of many more contemporary complex hunter-gatherers such as the Tlingit) may have used special rituals and ancestor worship to solidify control over their societies by convincing their subjects that they possess a link to the spirit world that gives them control over both the earthly realm and access to the spiritual realm. Not to be confused with the Turkic Telengit people The Tlingit (ˈklɪŋkɪt in English also /-gɪt/ or Tlinkit /ˈtlɪŋkɪt/ which ^[100] Secret societies may have served a similar function in these complex quasi-theocratic societies by dividing the religious practices of these cultures into the separate spheres of Popular Religion and Elite Religion. Secret society is a term used to describe a variety of organizations Theocracy is a form of government in which a god or deity is recognized as the supreme civil ruler ^[100]

Religion was possibly apotropaic; specifically, it may have involved sympathetic magic. ^[13] The Venus figurines which are abundant in the Upper Paleolithic archeological record provide an example of possible Paleolithic sympathetic magic, as they may have been used for ensuring success in hunting and to bring about fertility of the land and women. Venus figurines is an Umbrella term for a number of prehistoric Statuettes of women sharing common attributes (many depicted as apparently Obese ^[7] The Upper Paleolithic Venus figurines have been sometimes explained as depictions of an earth goddess similar to Gaia or as representations of a goddess who is the ruler or mother of the animals. Chthonic (from Greek χθόνιος khthonios "of the earth" from khthōn "earth" pertaining to the Earth; earthy subterranean ^[119][123] Additionally, they have described by James Harrod as representative of female (and male) shamanistic spiritual transformation processes. ^[124]

Diet and nutrition

People first began fermenting grapes in animal skin pouches to create wine during the Paleolithic. Wine is an Alcoholic beverage made from the fermentation of Grape juice ^[125]

The diet of the Paleolithic hunting and gathering peoples consisted primarily of meat, fish, shellfish, leafy vegetables, fruit, nuts and insects in varying proportions. ^[126][127] However, there is little direct evidence of the relative proportions of plant and animal foods in the diets of Paleolithic humans. ^[128] According to some anthropologists and advocates of the modern Paleolithic diet, Paleolithic hunter-gatherers consumed a significant amount of meat and possibly obtained the majority of their food from hunting. The dietary regimen known as the Paleolithic diet (abbreviated paleo diet or paleodiet) also popularly called the caveman diet, ^[129] Competing hypotheses suggest that Paleolithic humans may have consumed a plant-based diet in general,^[87] or that hunting and gathering possibly contributed equally to their diet. ^[130] However the relative proportions of plant and animal foods in the diets of Paleolithic peoples probably varied between regions (for instance Paleolithic hunter gatherers in tropical regions such as Africa probably consumed a plant based diet while by contrast, Paleolithic populations in colder regions such as Northern Europe most likely obtained the majority of their food from meat). ^[15]

Overall they experienced less famine and malnutrition than the Neolithic farming tribes that followed them. ^[131][40] This was due in part to the fact that Paleolithic hunter-gatherers had access to a wider variety of plants and other foods than Neolithic farmers did, which allowed Paleolithic hunter-gatherers to have a more nutritious diet along with a decreased risk of famine. ^{[93][132][40]} Many of the famines experienced by Neolithic (and some modern) farmers were caused or amplified by their dependence on a small number of crops. ^{[40][133][93]} The greater amount of meat obtained from hunting big game animals in Paleolithic diets than in Mesolithic and Neolithic diets may have also allowed Paleolithic Hunter-gatherers to enjoy a more nutritious diet than both Epipaleolithic/Mesolithic hunter-gatherers and Neolithic agriculturalists. ^[131] Furthermore, it is also unlikely that Paleolithic hunter-gatherers were affected by modern diseases of affluence such as Type 2 diabetes, coronary heart disease and cerebrovascular disease because Paleolithic hunter-gatherers ate mostly lean meats and plants and frequently engaged in intense physical activity. Diseases of affluence are those diseases which are thought to be a result of increasing wealth in a society in contrast to Diseases of poverty which result from impoverishment ^[134][135] The Paleolithic diet (also known as the paleodiet or the caveman diet) is a modern diet that seeks to eliminate these diseases of affluence from contemporary industrial society by replicating the dietary habits of Paleolithic hunter-gatherers. The dietary regimen known as the Paleolithic diet (abbreviated paleo diet or paleodiet) also popularly called the caveman diet, Diseases of affluence are those diseases which are thought to be a result of increasing wealth in a society in contrast to Diseases of poverty which result from impoverishment In Sociology, industrial society refers to a society with a modern societal structure ^[136]

Large seeded legumes were part of the human diet long before the Neolithic agricultural revolution as evident from archaeobotanical finds from the Mousterian layers of Kebara Cave, in Israel. A legume is a Plant in the family Fabaceae (or Leguminosae or a Fruit of these specific plants The Neolithic (from Greek νεολιθικός — neolithikos from νέος neos, "new" + λίθος lithos Mousterian is a name given by archaeologists to a style of predominantly Flint tools (or industry) associated primarily with Homo neanderthalensis Kebara Cave ( Hebrew: מערת כבארה Me'arat Kebbara, Arabic: مغارة الكبارة Mugharat al-Kabara) is an Israeli ^[137] Moreover, recent evidence indicates that humans processed and consumed wild cereal grains as far back as 23,000 years ago in the Upper Paleolithic. 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 ^[138] However, seeds, such as grains and beans, were rarely eaten and never in large quantities on a daily basis. ^[136] Recent archeological evidence also indicates that winemaking had its origins in the Paleolithic when early humans drank the juice of naturally fermented wild grapes from animal-skin pouches. Winemaking, or vinification, is the production of Wine, starting with selection of the Grapes and ending with bottling the finished wine ^[139] Paleolithic humans consumed animal organ meats, including the livers, kidneys and brains. Upper Paleolithic cultures appear to have had significant knowledge about plants and herbs and may have, albeit very rarely, practiced rudimentary forms of horticulture. ^[140] Figs in particular may have been cultivated as early as 11,400 BP during the late Upper Paleolithic in the Near East. Ficus is a Genus of about 850 Species of woody Trees Shrubs Vines Epiphytes and hemi-epiphytes in the family B Syria - Belka Woman from Damascus Arab from Baghdadjpg|thumb|Inhabitants of the Near East late nineteenth century ^[141] Late Upper Paleolithic societies also appear to have occasionally practiced Pastoralism and animal husbandry presumably for dietary reasons, for instance some European late Upper Paleolithic cultures domesticated and raised Raindeer presumably for their meat or milk as early as 14,000 BP. Pastoralism or pastoral farming is the branch of Agriculture concerned with the raising of Livestock. Animal husbandry, also called Animal science, stockbreeding or simple husbandry, is the agricultural practice of breeding ^[142] Humans also probably consumed hallucinogenic plants during the Paleolithic period. ^[7]

Large game animals such as deer were an important source of protein in Middle and Upper Paleolithic diets.

People during the Middle Paleolithic such as the 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 around 164,000 BP. ^[13][143] Although fishing only became common during the Upper Paleolithic^[144][13], fish have been part of human diets long before the dawn of the Upper Paleolithic era and have certainly have been consumed by humans since at least the Middle Stone Age/Middle Paleolithic. 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 Fish are aquatic Vertebrate animals that are typically ectothermic (previously Cold-blooded) covered with scales, and equipped with two ^[145] For example the Middle Stone Age/Middle Paleolithic Homo sapiens in the 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. 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 ^[13][146] The invention of fishing during the Paleolithic affected the social structures of some Upper Paleolithic and post Paleolithic hunter-gatherer societies by allowing these hunter-gatherer communities in the Upper Paleolithic and the following Mesolithic period (for example, Lepenski Vir) as well as some contemporary hunter-gatherers such as the Tlingit to become sedentary or semi-nomadic. A hunter-gatherer society is one whose primary subsistence method involves the direct procurement of edible plants and animals from the wild Foraging and Hunting Lepenski Vir (Лепенски Вир is an important Mesolithic Archaeological site located in Serbia in the central Balkan Peninsula Not to be confused with the Turkic Telengit people The Tlingit (ˈklɪŋkɪt in English also /-gɪt/ or Tlinkit /ˈtlɪŋkɪt/ which ^[147] In some instances (at least in the case of the Tlingit) they were able to develop social stratification, slavery and complex social structures such as chiefdoms. Not to be confused with the Turkic Telengit people The Tlingit (ˈklɪŋkɪt in English also /-gɪt/ or Tlinkit /ˈtlɪŋkɪt/ which In Sociology, social stratification is the hierarchical arrangement of Social classes Castes and strata within a Society. As a social-economic system slavery is a legal institution under which a Person (called "a slave" is compelled to work for another A chiefdom is a type of complex society of varying degrees of centralization that is led by an individual known as a chief. ^[50]

Anthropologists such as Tim White suggest that cannibalism was common in human societies prior to the beginning of the Upper Paleolithic, based on the large amount of “butchered human" bones found in Neanderthal and other Lower/Middle Paleolithic sites. ^[148] Cannibalism in the Lower and Middle Paleolithic may have occurred because of food shortages. ^[149] However it is also possible that Lower and Middle Paleolithic cannabalism occurred for religious reasons which would coincide with the development of religious practices thought to have occurred during the Upper Paleolithic. ^[150][119] Nonetheless it remains possible that 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 ^[119]

See also

Footnotes

References

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