Palaeolithic
Palaeolithic (US Paleolithic)The earlier part of the Stone Age , when primitive stone implements were used; a period, which extends from the first appearance of artefacts, some 2.5 million years ago, to the end of the last ice age c.10,000 bc. It has been divided into the Lower Palaeolithic, with the earliest forms of mankind and the presence of hand-axe industries, ending c.80,000 bc, the Middle Palaeolithic (or Mousterian), the era of Neanderthal man, ending c.33,000 bc, and the Upper Palaeolithic, which saw the development of Homo sapiens from c.50,000 years ago. Palaeolithic cultures include Acheulian, a culture characterized by handaxes, named after St Acheul near Amiens, France, but widely distributed across Africa, Europe, the Middle East, and parts of Asia. The handaxes were general-purpose stone tools produced from a cobble or large...
[The entire page is 668 words long]
Join eNotes
Over 3,500 study guides, question and answer forums, literature criticism, reference content, and much more!
Oxford University Press Titles
