The Paleolithic Stone Age a cultural period Lower Paleolithic 2 5 mya 250 000 ya What epoch what is going on climatically Pliocene 5 0 1 7 mya Pleistocene or Ice Age 1 7 mya 10 000 ya What hominids are associated with Lower Paleolithic or Old Stone Age Associated with H habilis and H erectus 2 5 1 6 mya 1 8 mya 250 000 ya Homo habilis Oldest tools probably made of organic materials such as wood bone and antler don t preserve well Stone tools are preserved Stone tools take some level of sophistication to make Feder Park 2001 249 Stone Tools Richard Leakey named H habilis because it made stone tools These first tools are called the Olduwan tool tradition and they signal the beginning of the Lower Paleolithic Made from pebbles take flakes off one or two sides to make Olduwan pebble chopper Three tool types chopper flake hammerstone hammerstone Use the percussion method Making a chopper Analysis of faunal remains indicates H habilis was a scavenger rather than a hunter Find Mostly lower leg bones not entire skeletons little meat Cut marks over teeth marks The cut marks are not near joints so were just cutting meat not disarticulating Homo habilis Made stone tools Scavenged for meat more than hunted Perhaps kept a butchering spot ready storing tools there Probably had language Cultural period of H erectus is called Lower Paleolithic Characteristic Acheulian handaxes Represent new technology bifacial with symmetrical shape Not found east of Movius Line Feder Park 2001 288 H erectus continue to make Olduwan pebble choppers flakes and use hammerstones But overall H erectus have more types of tools For example they make burins which have a sharp tip for etching lines in things like bones Feder Park 2001 289 They selected finer raw material to make their tools Cultural trends over 1 my of H erectus Tool kit stable except hand axes become more symmetrical and edges straighter and there is a greater number of distinct flake tool forms H erectus spread out of Africa and into Asia and Europe during the Ice Age No anatomical changes that adapted them to cold temperatures Must have been cultural changes ice Feder Park 2001 264 Jolly White 1995 268 Homo erectus Cultural Summary Fire yes Clothing yes Language yes Shelters yes Hunting by end yes Mini summary of Lower Paleolithic Lower Paleolithic 2 5 mya 250 000 ya Found during end of Pliocene 5 0 1 7 mya Lower Pleistocene 1 7 mya 780 000 ya and Middle Pleistocene 780 000 200 000 ya Stone tool tradition that includes Olduwan pebble choppers H habilis H erectus Acheulian handaxes H erectus During Lower Paleolithic Make increasing variety of well made stone tools make fire build shelters make clothing use language move toward hunting rather than simply scavenging Middle Paleolithic 250 000 40 000 ya during Middle Upper Pleistocene Associated with archaic Homo Including that population best studied Neandertals Middle Paleolithic New flaking technique called Levallois Make a prepared core and strike oval flakes off it flake core Making more types of tools Increasing regional variation in tools Using better quality rock to make tools Name of tool tradition made by Neandertals is Mousterian make flakes into tools Upper Paleolithic Associated with H sapiens 40 000 10 000 ya in Europe Characterized by blade tools Once the prepared core is made blades can be produced quickly Get much more edge per unit of raw material Turnbaugh et al 2002 331 Blade A type of flake struck off a prepared core A blade is at least 2x long as wide parallel sided Other technological advances Made many burins engraving tool to carve and engrave antler bone ivory Increased use of bone ivory antler for tools Here s the engraving point Pressure flaked not just percussion very well made points Made composite tools tools with several parts For example harpoons Feder Park 2001 369 Barbed bone harpoons from Katanda Zaire 90 000 ya Or an atlatl spear thrower example of composite tool National Geographic Made nonutilitarian objects Musical instruments bone flutes More non utilitarian objects especially ornaments Obtain exotic non local raw materials Perhaps through trade with other groups Subsistence base broader Hunt big game fish catch birds trap small mammals Gather a variety of plant foods Implies greater variety of new technologies for obtaining food For example use of nets trapping Larger more sedentary settlements Elaborate burials include personal items grave goods Whereas Archaic Homo neanderthalensis sometimes buried with utilitarian goods Modern Homo sapiens burials could be much more elaborate Production of art as early as 43 000 ya Carved stone bone antler and ivory Produced bas reliefs Made ceramic figurines Engraved objects Painted cave walls The terminology for the cultural periods differs for different parts of the world In Europe we talk about the Paleolithic Mesolithic and Neolithic In Africa we talk about the Stone Age In eastern North America we have the Paleoindian Archaic and Woodland periods
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