COMSATS Institute of Information Technology, Sahiwal

“Discuss the Process of Stone Age ?”

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Miss Fizza JavaidLecturer

CIIT, Sahiwal

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Saad Ur RehamnFa11-BME-B3-065

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Department of Mechanical Engineering

Stone Age

The Stone Age is a broad prehistoric period during which stone was widely used to make implements with a sharp edge, a point, or a percussion surface. The period lasted roughly 3.4 million years, and ended between 6000 BCE and 2000 BCE with the advent of metalworking

Or

Stone Age, prehistoric cultural stage, or level of human development, characterized by the creation and use of stone tools. The Stone Age is usually divided into three separate periods—Paleolithic Period, Mesolithic Period, and Neolithic Period—based on the degree of sophistication in the fashioning and use of tools.

Historical significance[

The Stone Age is nearly contemporaneous with the evolution of the genus Homo, the only exception possibly being at the very beginning, when species prior to Homo may have manufactured tools. According to the age and location of the current evidence, the cradle of the genus is the East African Rift System, especially toward the north in Ethiopia, where it is bordered by grasslands. The closest relative among the other living

Three Stages of Stone Age

Introduction

The Paleolithic or Palaeolithic (from Greek: παλαιός, palaios, "old"; and λίθος, lithos, "stone" lit. "old

stone," coined by archaeologist John Lubbock and published in 1865) is the earliest division of the Stone Age. It covers the greatest portion of humanity's time (roughly 99% of "human technological history,"[18]

where "human" and "humanity" are interpreted to mean the genus Homo), extending from 2.5 or 2.6

million years ago, with the first documented use of stone tools by hominans such as Homo habilis, to

the end of the Pleistocene around 10,000 BCE.[18] The Paleolithic era ended with the Mesolithic, or in

areas with an early neolithisation, the Epipaleolithic.

Palaeolithic Age

Oldest of Stone Age Periods, before 10,000 BC. Hunting and Gathering was the way of life in this age. Palaeolithic man used fire for cooking and to scare away the animals while living in

caves. To ensure protection early man covered himself with coarse animal skin and large leaves. Palaeolithic man moved in groups to scare away wild animals. They painted rocks and caves.

2. Mesolithic Age

In this age people started making semi-permanent houses. They probably had light wooden frameworks covered with thatch or sods. They could

have been erected and dismantled quickly and easily. People started using boats for transport and fishing They started making flint tools with handles. Stone tools were made from microliths (tiny chips of stone made from blades or bladelets and

set into toothed slots in bone or antler shafts) were used to create a variety of harpoons, arrows, and fish hooks.

A very high percentage of skeletons recovered from late Mesolithic burials around 5000 BC show evidence of violence.

3. Neolithic Age

People started making clay and metal potteries to store grain, food, etc. People started living in groups and led a community life. They domesticated goats, ships, donkeys, and similar animals for their benefit. They invented wheels, which they used to fatch water from the well, to make pottery etc. They used to creat family tomb. In the neolithic age people started making earrings, necklaces, ring idol figurine -

pendants of silver and gold.

Paleolithic Age

The Paleolithic Age or Period is a prehistoric period of human history Oldest of Stone Age Periods, before 10,000 BC distinguished by the development of the most primitive stone tools discovered and covers roughly 99% of human technological prehistory. It extends from the earliest known use of stone tools, probably by hominins such as australopithecines, 2.6 million years ago, to the end of the Pleistocene around 10,000 BP. The Paleolithic era is followed by the Mesolithic. The date of the Paleolithic Mesolithic boundary may vary by locality as much as several thousand years. During the Paleolithic, humans grouped together in small societies such as bands, and subsisted by gathering plants and fishing, hunting or scavenging wild animals

Tools The Paleolithic is characterized by the use

of knapped stone tools, although at the time humans also used wood and bone tools. Other organic commodities were adapted for use as tools, including leather and vegetable fibers. Surviving artifacts of the Paleolithic era are known as paleoliths. 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) during the Paleolithic era. 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. 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. Paleolithic humans made tools of stone, bone, and wood. Lower Paleolithic humans used a variety of stone tools, including hand axes and choppers

SocietyHuman societies from the Paleolithic to the early Neolithic farming

tribes lived without states and organized governments. For most of the Lower Paleolithic, human societies were possibly more hierarchical than their

Middle and Upper Paleolithic descendants, and probably were not grouped into bands, though during the end of the Lower Paleolithic, the latest populations of the hominid Homo erectus may have begun living in small-scale (possibly egalitarian) bands similar to both Middle and Upper Paleolithic societies and modern hunter-gatherers

WorkingAnthropologists have typically assumed that in Paleolithic societies,

women were responsible for gathering wild plants and firewood, and men were responsible for hunting and scavenging dead animals

FoodPaleolithic hunting and gathering people ate varying proportions of

leafy vegetables, fruit, nuts and insects, meat, fish, and shellfish. However, there is little direct evidence of the relative proportions of plant and animal foods

Characteristics points

Hunting and Gathering was the way of life in this age. Paleolithic man used fire for cooking and to scare away the animals

while living in caves. To ensure protection early man covered himself with coarse animal

skin and large leaves. Paleolithic man moved in groups to scare away wild animals. They painted rocks and caves.

Mesolithic AgeThe Mesolithic is an archaeological concept used to refer to specific

groups of archaeological cultures defined as falling between the Paleolithic and the Neolithic. The term developed as a catch-all to refer to material that did not fit into the other categories of prehistory. The term "Epipaleolithic" is often used for areas outside northern Europe but was also the preferred synonym used by French archaeologists until the 1960s.

FoodMesolithic peoples continued with intensive hunting. Others were

practicing the initial stages of domestication. Some Mesolithic settlements were villages of huts. Others were walled cities.

ToolsThe type of tool remains the diagnostic

factor: The Mesolithic featured composite devices manufactured with Mode V chipped stone tools. The Paleolithic had utilized Modes I-IV and the Neolithic mainly abandoned the chipped microliths in favor of polished, not chipped, stone tools.The first period, known as Mesolithic 1 followed the Aurignacian or Levantine Upper Paleolithic periods throughout the Levant. By the end of the Aurignacian, gradual changes took place in stone industries. Small stone tools called microliths and retouched blade lets can be found for the first time. The microliths of this culture period differ greatly from the Aurignacian artifacts. This period is more properly called Epipaleolithic.

The second period, Mesolithic 2, is also called the Natufian culture. The change from Mesolithic 1 to Natufian culture can be dated more closely. The latest date from a Mesolithic 1 site in the Levant is 12,150 BCE. The earliest date from a Natufian site is 11,140 BCE.

Agriculture This period is characterized by the early rise of agriculture that would

later emerge into the Neolithic period. Radiocarbon dating places the Natufian culture between 12,500 and 9500 BCE, just before the end of the Pleistocene. This period is characterized by the beginning of agriculture. The earliest known battle occurred during the Mesolithic period at a site in Egypt known as Cemetery 117.

Characteristics

In this age people started making semi-permanent houses. They probably had light wooden frameworks covered with thatch or

sods. They could have been erected and dismantled quickly and easily. People started using boats for transport and fishing They started making flint tools with handles. Stone tools were made from microliths (tiny chips of stone made from

blades or bladelets and set into toothed slots in bone or antler shafts) were used to create a variety of harpoons, arrows, and fish hooks.

A very high percentage of skeletons recovered from late Mesolithic burials around 5000 BC show evidence of violence.

Neolithic AgeThe Neolithic Era, or Period or New Stone age, was a period in the

development of human technology, beginning about 10,200 BC, according to the ASPRO chronology, in some parts of the Middle East, and later in other parts of the world and ending between 4,500 and 2,000 BC.Traditionally considered the last part of the Stone Age, the Neolithic followed the terminal Holocene Epipaleolithic period and commenced with the beginning of farming, which produced the "Neolithic Revolution". It ended when metal tools became widespread (in the Copper Age or Bronze Age; or, in some geographical regions, in the Iron Age). The Neolithic is a progression of behavioral and cultural characteristics and changes, including the use of wild and domestic crops and of domesticated animals.

CultureThe beginning of the Neolithic culture is considered to be in the Levant

about 10,200–8,800 BC. It developed directly from the EpiPaleolithic Natufian culture in the region, whose people pioneered the use of wild cereals, which then evolved into true farming., which included einkorn wheat, millet and spelt, and the keeping of dogs, sheep and goats. By about 6,900–6,400 BC, it included domesticated cattle and pigs, the establishment of permanently or seasonally inhabited settlements, and the use of pottery.

ToolsThe identifying characteristic of Neolithic technology is the use of

polished or ground stone tools, in contrast to the flaked stone tools used during the Paleolithic era. They were also skilled manufacturers of a range of other types of stone tools and ornaments, including projectile points, beads, and statuettes. But what allowed forest clearance on a large scale was the polished stone axe above all other tools.

Farming A significant and far-reaching shift in

human subsistence and lifestyle was to be brought about in areas where crop farming and

cultivation were first developed: the previous reliance on an essentially nomadic hunter-gatherer subsistence technique or pastoral transhumance was at first supplemented, and then increasingly replaced by, a reliance upon the foods produced from cultivated lands. Neolithic people were skilled farmers, manufacturing a range of tools necessary for the tending, harvesting and processing of crops (such as sickle blades and grinding stones) and food production. Together with the ads, fashioning wood for shelter, structures and canoes for example, this enabled them to exploit their newly-won farmland.

ShelterThe shelter of the early people changed dramatically from the

Paleolithic to the Neolithic era. In the Paleolithic, people did not normally live in permanent constructions. In the Neolithic, mud brick houses started appearing that were coated with plaster. The growth of agriculture made permanent houses possible. Doorways were made on the roof, with ladders positioned both on the inside and outside of the houses. The roof was supported by beams from the inside. The rough ground was covered by platforms, mats, and skins on which residents slept. Social organizationDuring most of the Neolithic age, people lived in small tribes composed of multiple bands or lineages. There is little scientific evidence of developed social stratification in most Neolithic societies; social stratification is more associated with the later Bronze Age. Although some late Neolithic societies formed complex stratified chiefdoms similar to Polynesian societies such as the Ancient Hawaiians, most Neolithic societies were relatively simple and egalitarian. However, Neolithic societies were noticeably more hierarchical than the Paleolithic cultures that preceded them and hunter-gatherer cultures in general

End of Stone Age

Innovation of the technique of smelting ore ended the Stone Age and began the Bronze Age. The first most significant metal manufactured was bronze, an alloy of copper and tin, each of which was smelted separately. The transition from the Stone Age to the Bronze Age was a period during which modern people could smelt copper, but did not yet manufacture bronze, a time known as the Copper Age, or more technically the Chalcolithic"copper-stone" age. The Chalcolithic by convention is the initial period of the Bronze Age and is unquestionably part of

the Age of Metals. The Bronze Age was followed by the Iron Age.During this entire time stone remained in use in parallel with the metals for some objects, including those also used in the N

Conclusion

Stone Age, period of human technological development characterized by the use of stone as the principal raw material for tools. In a given geographic region, the Stone Age normally predated the invention or spread of metalworking technology. Human groups in different parts of the world began using stone tools at different times and abandoned stone for metal tools at different times. Broadly speaking, however, the Stone Age began roughly 2.5 million years ago, ended in some parts of the world 5,000 years ago, and ended in other regions much more recently. Today only a few isolated human populations rely largely on stone for their technologies, and that reliance is rapidly

vanishing with the introduction of tools from the modern industrialized world.

Acknowledgement:I am really grateful to Miss Fizzha who gave me this assignment to enhance my

knowledge with latest technology and research. I really feel very happy because I always learn new things and keep my mind up to date with latest knowledge

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