Stone Age

The Stone Age ...

The term Stone Age describes that early epoch in the history of mankind that began about 2.6 million years ago and lasted until the beginning of the Bronze Age in the fourth millennium BC. Thus, the Stone Age is considered the longest section of human history. Science divides this epoch into three phases, namely the Paleolithic or Paleolithic, Mesolithic, Mesolithic, Neolithic and Neolithic periods. The Paleolithic is considered by far the longest period of this epoch and did not go until about 8000 BC. In the Mesolithic over. The exact time limits vary depending on the regions, since the development of humans in the individual countries was different for climatic reasons.

The name of the Stone Age refers to the fact that humans made stone tools for the first time in this era and used them specifically for hunting and preparing food.

The evolution of man in the Stone Age:

Overall, the development of our ancestors to modern humans took about three million years. During this time, the volume of the brain increased significantly. The stone age is characterized by many stages of development, which went through the man, by adapting himself and his way of life more and more to his environment. Stone Age development can be traced not only in the use of various techniques in hunting and the production of objects, but also in the constant changes in social coexistence, the choice of food and shelter, and in creative work. The daily life of Stone Age man was significantly influenced by the flora and fauna of its immediate surroundings.

In the Stone Age, our ancestors evolved from a primitive hunter-gatherer to a sedentary man in structured settlements who at the beginning of the Bronze Age had acquired the ability to use this metal as a raw material for making weapons, tools, and objects for different purposes.

Nutrition of the Stone Age man:

Stone Tool 'Chopper' The relatively small brain size of the early Stone Age man did not allow him to design tools and weapons and use them specifically for food procurement. The people of the Paleolithic were therefore primitive hunters and gatherers, where the term "primitive" refers to the fact that they did not cultivate crops, nor ran livestock. Therefore, the early Stone Age man went hunting for big game like the mammoth and collected fruits and berries. Over time, he increasingly acquired the ability to use stones as tools to break up and cut hard-shelled fruits and nuts or animal bones. The so-called "choppers" are considered the first stone tools that were specifically used for this purpose, although it is still unclear whether rubble has already been specifically processed or simply stones were selected that had sharp edges and certain shapes. The earliest finds of such stones, proven to be used to prepare food, come from Ethiopia.

Another important achievement of the Stone People was the discovery of the fire, which enabled them to cook or roast foods, making them wholesome or digestible. At the same time, the fire made it possible to penetrate into cooler regions from Africa and set up campgrounds there, orient themselves in the dark and gradually harden tools and weapons in the flames, which was of great importance for the hunt for animals. The ability to set fire to himself through the sparkle between rubbed stones and ores and the use of highly flammable materials has been perfected primarily by the Neanderthals and is considered an important foundation for the development of a modern human civilization.

Accommodation and way of life:

Food sources of the Stone Age man While man lived in the Paleolithic in temporary, natural accommodation such as caves, pits and caves in clans, a change in the climate and thus the flora and fauna gradually led to the fact that he increasingly established himself as a localized being. The warming in the Mesolithic brought the emergence of new forests and, consequently, the colonization of new, compared to the dying mammoth much smaller species with it. The humans were now permanently in wooded areas and went with wood and stone-made weapons such as bow and arrow on the hunt for red deer, birds and wild boar or operated with spears targeted fishing.

Due to the locality of the hunting animals, humans gradually became sedentary in this phase of the warm and dry climate and founded larger settlements. In the phase of the Mesolithic period, the first artistic representations in the form of small statuettes and patterned vessels, which show a much more complex creative occupation with different topics than the simple cave paintings of the Paleolithic period. With the settledness also rituals developed for the funeral of the dead, in whose burial mounds or grave buildings the archaeologists could already ensure various grave goods in the form of bones, plants and devices. However, it was not until the Neolithic period that a veritable revolution took place, which was accompanied by strong artistic skills, the construction of houses made of clay, wood or stone, and constantly improved techniques for hunting and fishing.

Cave Painting Also in terms of clothing enormous progress was made during the Stone Age. While the early stone-age humans still wrapped themselves in simple animal skins to protect themselves from the cold, in the Neolithic they had already learned to consciously adapt their clothing to the environment and to make fabrics and thus garments by using woven frames of different fibers. With the cultivation of grain and vegetable crops and field work, as well as the keeping of cattle, sheep and goats, humans were able to provide the necessary food at the end of the stone age through all seasons. This increasingly brought with it a sophisticated bartering, which constantly expanded the cultural consciousness of the people and established a social network between individual tribes.

Summary

The Stone Age describes a section of human history and can be traced back to a period of 2.6 million years to 4000 BC. Date.

Scientists divide the Stone Age into three phases: Paleolithic, Mesolithic and Neolithic.

The Stone Age owes its name to the fact that the ancestors of Homo sapiens first used stone tools.

The life of man as hunter-gatherer is typical for the Stone Age. Only in the course of the Mesolithic did man gradually settle down.