Stone Age

The Stone Age or also Lithic Stage It is the period of prehistory from the time humans began making stone tools to the discovery and use of metals. Wood, bones and other materials were also used (antlers, baskets, ropes, leather, or others), but stone (and, in particular, various rocks with conchoidal breakage, such as flint, quartz, quartzite, obsidian) was used to make cutting or percussion tools and weapons. However, this is a necessary circumstance, but not sufficient, for the definition of this period, since fundamental phenomena took place in it for what would be our future: human evolution, great technological acquisitions (fire, tools, clothing), social evolution, climatic changes,

The time range covered by this period is ambiguous, discussed and variable according to the particular region. Although it is possible to speak of this specific period, for the whole of humanity: it must not be forgotten that some human groups never developed the technology of metal smelting, and therefore remained submerged in a stone age until they encountered more technologically developed cultures. However, this period is generally considered to have begun in Africa 2.8 million years ago, with the appearance of the first human (or pre-human) tool.This period was followed by the Chalcolithic or Copper Age and, above all, the Bronze Age, during which tools of this alloy became common; this transition occurred between 6000 a. C. and 2500 a. c.

Traditionally, this Age is divided into the Paleolithic, with a hunting-gathering economic system, and the Neolithic, in which the revolution towards the productive agricultural economic system (agriculture and [[livestock]) takes place.

Africa

Unlike Eurasia and even America, the climatic changes that occurred during prehistory on the African continent are not glaciations but periods of greater humidity (pluvial) alternated with others of more aridity (interpluvial), although their determination and chronology is quite difficult to delimit (for some the pluvial episodes correspond with the glaciations, for others, with the interglacials) :

• Kagueriense : it would be the oldest known pluvial, identified in the Kaguera river valley (Uganda) and coeval with the Central European Günz glaciation.
• Kamasiense : it is the second pluvial episode, contemporary with the European Mindel glaciation. Its duration and its phases are the subject of strong controversy.
  • Kanjeriense : the third pluvial is named after the small Kenyan town of Kanjera on the shores of Lake Victoria, where some Oldowan settlements have also been located. Although the Kanjeriense would be contemporary with the Central European Riss, there are those who consider it a subsidiary stage of the Kamasiense.
• Gambliense : There is a logical doubt about whether to consider it the third or the fourth pluvial African (depending on the category given to the Kanjeriense). In any case, it is usually associated with the last glaciation, the Central European Würm. It was identified for the first time in the sediments of the cave of Gamble (Gamble's Cave), in the locality of Elmenteita (Kenya), where Louis Leakey associated it with the Stillbayense.
  • Makalian : this episode is not a pluvial one, but a wet phase attested in the sediments of the Makalia River (Kenya). It follows an arid period known as the Post-Gambian and both seem to be contemporary with the European postglacial. Apparently, the Makalian is closely associated with the development of the Wilton culture in the south of the continent.

North of Africa

Mediterranean Africa has during the Stone Age, a periodization essentially parallel to the European one, at least until the Neolithic, but later, the influence of the Egyptian civilization and the arrival of Phoenician colonizers accelerated the evolutionary rhythm with respect to Europe.

The Paleolithic

The oldest cultures can be inscribed in the Olduvayense, located in sites such as Sidi Abderramán in Casablanca (Morocco), studied by Professor Pierre Biberson and dated at nearly a million years, which has been able to establish a gradual transition from a culture in which where carved edges predominate, to another in which the biface is the leading fossil. Sidi Abderramán's industries could be linked to the human type found by Camille Arambourg in Ternifine (Algeria), the so-called Atlanthropus mauritanicus (actually a variety of Homo heidelbergensis ).

• Significant Olduvaian and Acheulian finds from North Africa
• Ternifine jaw ( Atlanthropus mauritanicus )

The Acheulean is very old and very abundant in this area, including, among others, sites such as Sidi Zin (Tunisia), Ain Fritissa (Morocco), Arka, Erg Tihodaine, Tachengit and Tabelbalá (all in Algeria); Abbassieh, Kharga and Gurnah (in Egypt). Only in Algeria has it been possible to establish a complete sequence of the North African Acheulean (between 800,000 and 100,000 years old), especially rich in cleavers, as well as bifaces.Middle and Lower Paleolithic timeline in North Africa

The North African Middle Paleolithic was born by the arrival of the Neanderthals, probably from Europe carrying their Mousterian culture. Currently, the controversy over the route followed by the Neanderthals between Africa and Europe has been revived, since, although consensus had been reached that it was through the Near East, recent discoveries seem to show that at least there was communication through the Strait of Gibraltar, probably both ways. However, the North African Middle Paleolithic, so similar to Europe until just over 50,000 years ago, begins a period occupied by an unparalleled industry, called the Aterian culture., which receives the name of the Bir el-Ater deposit (Algeria). The AtherianIt is very similar to the Mousterian and, in fact, some maintain that it derives from it, but it differs from it because most of the tools are stemmed (scrapers, points, scrapers, etc.) and foliaceous pieces with covering retouch. It is associated with the human type of Jebel Irhoud (Morocco). The Aterian is very abundant for about 20,000 years (Bir el-Ater, Taforalt, Temara, Dar-es-Soltan...), but its decline begins 30,000 years ago, although it lasts marginally until the Holocene, 12,000 years ago.. The Aterian is associated with dry climatic conditions, so its maximum expansion coincides with periods of aridity. In fact, its roots are suspected to go back as far as 70,000 BC. C. Instead, its decline is the product of a more benign climate in the Sahara, which caused the arrival of more advanced peoples,Iberomaurisiense and others cited below. In any case, for several tens of thousands of years, the atherian industries coexisted with the lamellar industries, occupying different ecological niches.

• Some significant examples of the Aterian Culture (Sahara)
• Jebel Irhoud skull (Morocco)
• Leafy tip typical of the Aterian
• Typical stalked tip of the Aterian
• Characteristic stalked scraper of the Aterian

The Upper Paleolithic is not the same as the European either, since the set of cultures that occur in North Africa is different. The best known is the Iberomaurisiense or Oraniense, a cultural facies typical of the Maghreb that was born shortly before 30,000 BC. C. and maintains an extensive longevity, as it is still present at the beginning of the Mesolithic, disappearing about 8000 years ago. Its origin and characteristics are still the subject of debate, in fact it has been the subject of all kinds of speculation about its atherian root, for some, brought by immigrants from the Iberian Peninsula, according to those who gave it its name, and of Eastern origin (arrival of modern primitives ) according to most. It's a cultureleptolitic, that is, laminar: in which the lithic sheets are already essential as supports for all kinds of utensils, obtained through abrupt retouching, and which over time tends to microlithization, documenting, even the microburin technique, It associates human remains with a European Cro-Magnoid appearance, such as those of Mecha el-Arbi and Afalou Bou Rummel ; but it also has many similarities with industries from areas located further east, without it being possible to ascertain which of them is the oldest. These are cultures such as the Dabbaniense (Libya), Mochambiense, Qadenseand other Nile Valley cultures; with a minimum age of 40,000 years, with numerous scrapers, scrapers, burins and blades with depressed edges. Microlithism appears very early, around 14,000 years old; these varied and, at the same time, similar cultures, link with the Epipaleolithic Capsian.

• Significant finds from the Olduvayense and Acheulean of the Maghreb
• Mechta el-Arbi type skull, with incisors avulsed

Paleolithic to Neolithic timeline in the Maghreb

The Epipaleolithic

The most important culture of this phase is, without a doubt, the Capsian, a fairly late culture, even for the Mesolithic, and, in fact, this culture survives the Neolithic under the name of Neolithic of the Capsian tradition. In any case, the Capsian was defined by J. de Morgan at the El-Mekta site, near Gafsa (قفصة, Tunisia), but its influence went beyond the Maghreb region, reaching Cyrenaica, and even the banks of the Nile valley. Capsian deposits usually have a large number of shells of bromatological origin ( "concheros") and a laminar and microlithic stone industry (with trapezoids and triangles) to which ostrich eggs are added, used as containers, often decorated. The Capsian could be associated with the human remains of Ain Dakkara, in Libya, with the impressive cave manifestations of Tassili and other Saharan rocky areas.Main deposits of the Iberomaurisian and the Capsian in the Maghreb

North African Neolithic

western zoneThe oldest Neolithic recorded on the northern coast of Africa belongs to the Cardial horizon, from the beginning of the seventh millennium (the main habitat was the caves in which, together with remains of printed pottery and evidence of the survival of hunting, there are others that show that agriculture, livestock and shellfishing were already practiced). In the West, the culture of local origin also joined the innovations, giving rise to the so-called Neolithic of the Capsian tradition., which predominates in the Maghreb area, from before 5000 a. C. until after 2000 a. This Neolithic is characterized by a flourishing of flint carving techniques (geometric microliths predominate at first, but are replaced by foliaceous arrowheads). Livestock and hunting are the main activities, with agriculture being somewhat secondary; The pottery is crude and undecorated and rivals vessels made from ostrich eggs, some richly decorated.

• Significant findings of the Capsian culture
• Capsian burial in fetal position
• Ostrich egg prepared as a bottle
• Microburin blow technique
• Herding scene recorded in Ksar Amar, Morocco

Central zoneIn a process similar to the previous one and in a contemporary chronology, the Sáharo-Sudanés Neolithic appears : this, although it resembles the Capsiense (both are semi-nomadic peoples of shepherds and hunters), and it is possible that it has a lot to do with it, it stands out for its greater level of development, careful ceramics, profusely decorated with incisions and impressions, burials in a contracted position, with ocher and a trousseau with ornaments of carnelian, amazonite, chalcedony or ivory. Cave art is attributed to it in shelters and caves scattered throughout the desert.Nile areaTwo apparently autochthonous neolithic zones can be distinguished: to the south, the area of ​​Upper Egypt, with its most important culture, the Badarian, and to the north, in Lower Egypt, where, along with the delta, the culture of Merimdé stands out, and in the lake Moeris, in the deepest strata of the Fayum that are inscribed in the Neolithic phases. In all cases the Neolithic was born in the V millennium BC. C., lasting throughout the IV millennium a. C. The communication between both zones must have existed along the river, since at the beginning of the III millennium a. C. share so many features in common that one could speak of the same culture, not Neolithic, but Chalcolithic, the Geerzense, richer to the south (Nagada II) than to the north (Maadian).Neolithic timeline on the Nile

The Merimdé Neolithic is known for a large site in the middle of the delta (Merimdé Beni-Salamé) with serious conservation problems due to the marshy environment that surrounds it. the villagesacquaintances had oval-plan dwellings built with cane mats, with fireplaces and silos; the pottery, although it is varied in forms, is coarse, made without a wheel and lacks decoration, except in the last phases, when it receives a layer of red slip. They also modeled rudimentary statuettes, featuring a crude human face. There are remains of fusayolas and some spindles, indicating the existence of looms. A high technical degree is evidenced in the lithic industry, with arrowheads with a concave base and bifacial pieces, sometimes combining touch-up by pressure with the polishing of pieces, such as spearheads of amazing workmanship; there are also knives, sickle teeth, and other everyday tools such as polished axes. In Merimdé rudimentary palettes appearedwhose supposed function is the mixture of pigments (perhaps for fabrics), in diverse materials and without defined forms. Hundreds of burials in oval pits are known.

• Significant finds from the Nilotic Neolithic
• Gerze burial with natural mummification
• Painted pottery from the Early Predynastic period
• Fish shaped shale paddle
• Amratian ivory female statuette

The Badariense also has evidence of burials in pits that, generally, are on the same bank of the river, which has favored the fact that the sediments preserve them in quite good condition: many of them are propped up with boards; the skeletons and natural mummies have a fetal position, with trousseau made up of a faience belt, ceramics, arrowheads and various ornaments; later the corpse was covered with a skin. The material culture is better known than in Lower Egypt, at least it seems richer or, simply, the environmental conditions have favored its conservation: with splendid pieces of flint (leaves, bifacial pieces, arrowheads...), shale palletsto mix dyes, without decorations, but with different shapes (especially quadrangular and fish-shaped); pieces of bone and ivory, fabrics and even (in the end) some copper objects. There is a relatively developed furniture art, with male and female statuettes and animal figures. The pottery is delicate, varied and, at first, it is usually burnished with relief decoration forming undulations; Later, ceramics painted with geometric, plant and animal motifs appeared, including the human figure. Agriculture and livestock are very well documented and the towns have quadrangular houses built with branches and adobe. The Badariense seems to link, without solution of continuity, with the predynastic period of Egypt (therefore it would already enter History). In fact,"Early Predynastic Period".The first metals appear in ancient Egypt at the end of the primitive predynastic period, and immediately afterwards writing is invented and Egyptian writing emerges as a great culture of Antiquity, whose influence will not only affect the Mediterranean, but also a large part of the African continent (from the fourth millennium BC). The Maghreb, on the other hand, stagnates, inhabited by little-known Libyan peoples, and it is not easy to speak of a Bronze Age in the style of the rest of the Mediterranean; in fact it is the Phoenicians who, around the year 1000 a. C. onwards, they introduce such changes that they take this region out of the Stone Age definitively.

Sub-saharan africa

The geography of central and southern Africa is quite homogeneous compared to that of other continents, because it is one of the oldest geological areas on the planet and erosion has eliminated the great natural barriers. It is only worth highlighting the plateaus and depressions formed by various tectonic movements: the Congo basin and the Kalahari basin, surrounded by plateaus (geologically: archaic shields and massifs) in Angola, Namibia and Zambia, among others. Existing mountain ranges and rugged areas are grouped to the east (Drakensberg, Muchinga Mountains, Mitumba Mountains, Ruwenzori Mountains, where the Kilimanjaro and Kenya peaks are located and, further north, the Ethiopian massif) in association with the great fault known as the Great Rift Valley, a huge area full of shears, volcanoes, elevated blocks, gigantic lakes and, above all, ravines. It is shaped like a "Y" and almost 5,000 km long, since it starts in the south of Mozambique and reaches the Red Sea, from where it continues, in Asia, to the Jordan Valley. Precisely the Rift Valley is the area where the history of the human being could begin.

Although at present there are considerable climatic, hydrographic and ecological differences, it is not possible to apply these parameters to the Stone Age, since —as has been indicated— there were significant environmental changesthroughout its development. It was precisely some of these changes, combined with geological transformations, the spark that possibly led to the appearance and evolution of hominids. Apparently, more than 20 million years ago, primitive monkeys inhabited the dense forests of East Africa. These primates (perhaps Propliopithecus-Aegyptopithecus) moved through the trees on all fours. A presumed tectonic movement (related in some way to the Rift) caused the forests to remain in the west, but caused a desiccation in the east, giving rise to a territory of savannahs and grasslands to which the new primates had to adapt. In this way, it is assumed that the first bipedal anthropoids were born, which possibly belonged to the Ardipithecus species, which, in turn,

It is not ruled out that some advanced australopithecines made rudimentary tools, but there is a strong controversy about it; As far as this point is concerned, it is considered that the members of the Homo genus are the first to make tools in advance, that is, before needing them, without improvising, but anticipating their possible use in advance. At that moment, Prehistory and the Stone Age begin, which, for sub-Saharan Africa, is usually divided into phases of Anglo-Saxon denomination:

Early "Stone Age"

Literally meaning Early Stone Age, it refers to the period from the appearance of the first human being, more than two and a half million years ago, to about 200,000 years ago. It includes practically all the great steps of human evolution (because the so-called "primitive modern" humans must have emerged at the end of it), as well as important cultural advances, of which we barely know those referring to a few preserved vestiges of stone and bone. To better understand them, they are usually divided into two main stages:

• Olduvayense : So called because it was identified in the Olduvai Gorge site, which is accompanied by many other places, almost all of them aligned with the Rift Valley. The oldest Oldowan tools could be more than 2.6 Ma (at the Ethiopian Afar sites​), there being a sequence of finds throughout Eastern and Southern Africa from that date until 1.5 Ma ago, without gaps or gaps, so it is possible to defend that the Olduvayan survived for more than a million years (it is possible that even more, if the chronology is extended with certain later deposits). The Olduvayense is divided into an initial phase and an advanced phase, identified from beds I and II of the Olduvay gorge, although there are many other equally important deposits. At first, the tools are crudely cut stone, without any apparent standardization in the tactics of use or in the forms. But little by little, certain procedures and specific types crystallize, among which carved edges, polyhedrons, scrapers and denticulates stand out. Presumably there was an industry in wood or bone, but it has not been preserved in the same conditions. The protagonists of this vast cultural complex were several species of the genusHomo ( H. habilis, H. rudolfensis, and early forms of H. erectus, scientifically broken down into the species H. ergaster ). All of them seem to have been hunters only on rare occasions, dedicating themselves, rather, to gathering and scavenging; they knew but did not dominate fire, and some simple construction structures are already attributed to them to protect themselves.
• The Acheulean were born in Africa long before any other part of the world, at a time that appears to coincide with the great human migration into Eurasia and the appearance of early forms of Homo erectus. However, although the oldest handaxes have been dated to the Ethiopian site of Konso-Gardulaat 1.9 Ma, Acheulean technology does not appear to leave Africa until more than a million years later. Thus, the Acheulean was the exclusive heritage of the Africans (probably, of the various human species that lived on this continent at this time, only a few would have had the privilege of this technology), while in the rest of the Old World the Oldowan tradition. Probably, the inventor of this new culture was Homo ergaster, being very representative the discovery of an almost complete skeleton, although infantile, in Nariokotome (KNM-WT 15000), on the shores of Lake Turkana (Kenya).The best-known tool of the Acheulean is the handaxe, but the typological variety is widened, appearing cleavers, trihedrons, polyhedral balls and all kinds of tools on retouched flakes. African Acheulean is also long-lived, lasting until about 200,000 years ago, and is often referred to as Fauresmithian in the east or Stellenbosch in the south. Possibly, the expansion of the Acheulean out of Africa would be the consequence of a second colonizing wave that, this time, however, did not reach the confines of Asia.

Sub-Saharan Africa Lower Paleolithic timeline

The Acheulean is disappearing in dates in which the primitive modern humans appeared, much more intelligent and with a much more sophisticated and diverse technology. Although it does not belong to this region, in Jebel Irhoud, near Marrakech (Morocco), a modern primitive mandible with more than 160,000 years has appeared; The remains of Herto (Ethiopia) have a similar date, which allows marking the end of the Early Stone Age throughout the continent.

Middle Stone Age ( MSA )

Intermediate Stone Age, is the period between the end of the Early Stone Age or ESA (200,000 years ago), until the beginning of the Late Stone Age, or LSA (30,000 years ago); could be placed in parallel with the European Middle Paleolithic, but there are sensitive cultural and anthropological differences between the two. For certain authors, the entire area has some common constants ( levallois or similar extraction techniques, presence of fine bifacial foliaceous pieces, evolution towards techniques for obtaining leaves and little leaves, at the end),and others appreciate two currents whose separation becomes more subtle as discoveries advance and that certain authors attribute to impositions of the raw material or to the specialization of tools for forest and savannah habitats.

• In principle, industries based on tools on flakes and ax or hoe-type macro tools seem to predominate, one of the most representative cultures of this macrolithic style being the Sangoense, followed by the Stillbayense of Eastern and Southern Africa, and which in some deposits clearly succeed the Acheulean (vg. : Cave of Hearts ), appreciating within it a very clear evolution towards leptolithization, that is, an increasing proportion of lithic sheets. The bifaces are small and thick, at first, but they become stylized and well-cared foliaceous pieces, sometimes on flakes, whose workmanship is so fine that it reminds of bay leaves.European; triangular points are also numerous and the levallois substratum is something that seems to persist through time and space in this culture. It appears both in the south and in the area of ​​the African Great Lakes, Zambia and Zimbabwe, for example; however, the best known places are Pietersburg and Bambata, with a set of tools fundamentally based on scrapers, points and lamellar flakes; there is also polarized levallois for elongated flakes.

Middle Stone Age (MSA) timeline of Africa

• For its part, the most evolved line, based on the extraction of leaves and even on the generalization of lamellar microliths, is very well represented in the findings of Howieson's Poort (Gauteng, South Africa). Here there are already small blades with depressed edges and even other microliths with an age of up to 70,000 years, which makes this industry one of the candidates to be the antecedent of the Upper Paleolithic of the Old World. However, there are no proven connections between the two (except perhaps the Navaisha cave in Kenya) and this industry also lacks an association with any hitherto known human remains (perhaps it can be linked to the remains of early modern Border Cave, but there is no such thing as irrefutable security).

It is difficult to attribute human groups to each of these tools; perhaps the most archaic correspond to presapiens and the most evolved to the first ancestral sapiens. Indeed, modern Primitives are born in Africa in this phase, as seen in the previous section for Jebel Ihroud (Morocco) and Herto (Kenya); Their remains are also documented in the South African sites of Border Cave and Klaisies River Mouth.

Late Stone Age ( LSA )

The Late Stone Age is the last Paleolithic period of sub-Saharan Africa. From the first moment (the so-called early Late Stone Age ) in South Africa there are already microlithic and lamellar cultures —leptolithic— in which it has been possible to document the exchange (trade?) of obsidian along routes that go from the Rift Valley to South Africa at 32,000 years. Two traditions appear to exist, one microlithic, apparently derived from the Howieson's Poort tradition, with cultures such as Robberg or Wilton. And another based on tools on vulgar flakes ( Tshitoliense, Nachikufiense, Hargeisiense..., in central and eastern Africa) or even macrolithic pieces such as the cultureAlbany or the Magosiense.

• As a representative of the microlithic industries, the Wiltonian stands out, which spread throughout the southern end of the continent from about 8000 years ago until the Bantu expansion, so that in its final stages it already knew ceramics, stone polishing and livestock and, possibly, itinerant agriculture, which can be considered a partially neolithic culture. One of the best preserved settlements of this great hunter-gatherer culture is that of Gwisho.

Timeline of the Late Stone Age (LSA) of Africa

• The macrolithic tradition is exemplified, initially in the Lupembiense (Congo Valley), whose tools are archaic in appearance, with heavy bifacial pieces similar to axes and adzes (however there are also finer bifacial pieces). This tradition seems to have its successor in the Magosian (named after the Magosi site in Uganda), already later, although it mixes regressive elements (nuclei with a strong Mousteroid character) with evolved attributes (fine foliaceous pieces, numerous microliths... ); the MagosianIt occurs from about 12,000 years ago to very recent periods, evolving towards the majority microlithization of its tools). Advanced tools related to those of the Middle Stone Age are found in northern sub-Saharan Africa.

The end of the LSA is marked by the brilliant manifestations of the Nok culture, which is associated with the introduction of iron technology in the middle of the first millennium of our era. Although, in many more isolated regions, the tools hardly evolved until the time of European colonization.

Middle East

The expressions Middle East and Near East are used interchangeably to designate the region of the East closest to Europe. Its boundaries vary according to who uses the term but, in its unrestricted sense, it is synonymous with Southwest Asia, including Turkey, Syria, Lebanon, Israel, the Palestinian Territories, Jordan, Iraq, Iran (also Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, United Arab Emirates, Oman and Yemen, which are not discussed here). Egypt is often included, but it has been preferred to leave the Nile Valley for the Africa heading ; for the same reason Cyprus is reserved for the European chapter. Instead, areas of the Caucasus bordering Europe are occasionally included.

In any case, from the historical and, more specifically, prehistoric point of view, the Middle East is what is called a Nuclear Zone that irradiates continuous innovations and changes that decisively influence the development, not only of neighboring areas, but of the entire Eurasia.

Paleolithic in the Middle East

• Lower Palaeolithic : The Middle East inferopaleolithic sequence seems very early, having confirmed the passage of human beings through the area thanks to the discovery of the remains of Dmanisi (Georgia). It is probably Homo ergaster, specifically, several skulls between 1,850,000 and 1,600,000 years old that are accompanied by a very rough material culture (flakes, carved edges and disorganized extraction cores ). It would therefore be an Archaic Lower Paleolithic, prior to the Acheulean.

• Dmanisi skull
• Carved edge of Dmanisi
• Biface of Um Qatafa
• Tabun Cleaver

Lower Paleolithic remains in the Near EastThe first handaxes, quite crude, appear south of Lake Tiberias, in Ubeidiya (Israel), together with carved edges and crude cores. Very old human remains ( the Man of Galilee ) were also found in this place, not as old as those of Dmanisi, which, although they are more than a million years old, are very scarce.A more typical Acheulean is the one that appears in Banat Yacub (Israel), dated at more than 800,000 years old, or in the Syrian sites of Lantamne ( middle Acheulean with about 500,000 years) and Gharmachi ( late Acheulean ). The final Acheulian is the most abundant, found both in coastal ( Ras Beyruth, Lebanon) and inland sites, i.e. the Jordan Valley, Um Qatafa, and especially in Mugharet et-Tabun, which marks the transition to Middle Paleolithic. This transition seems to be in the lithic industries called Yabrudienses(fewer bifaces, more flake tools, greater importance of the Levallois method...) The Yabrudian has been dated at Mugharet-el-Zuttiyeh to be 150,000 years old.Lower Paleolithic timeline in the Near East

• Middle Paleolithic : It is very similar to that of Europe and the entire Mediterranean basin, occupied at that time by the Neanderthals; its material culture (with numerous variants) is basically made up of musteroid flake utensils: The oldest is the so-called Wadi-Mughara tradition, followed by the one known as Mustero-Levalloisian, which seems to extend at least as far as Tajikistan. In any case, it is rare that it exceeds the Zagros mountains (just as in Africa, musteroid remains never came down from the Sahel). In fact, there is talk of a Peri-Mediterranean Middle Paleolithic. The Middle East has such emblematic caves as Shanidar (Iraq), with its famous tomb of the Man of Flowers ; kabara, Amud and Mugharet et-Tabun (Israel), the latter offers an almost complete sequence of the Middle Palaeolithic, and both are associated with Neanderthal burials; Teshik-Tash (Uzbekistan), where the tomb of a Neanderthal child has been identified, Amrit and Dederiyeh (Syria), Ras Beyruth (Lebanon), etc., the latter without human remains, only with abundant lithic industry.

• Typical levallois nucleus
• Lateral scraper on flake
• lamellar levallois tip
• Burin on flint blade

Example of the lithic transformation from the Mustero-Levalloisian to the Levantine AurignacianAt Mugharet et-Tabun (Mount Carmel, Israel), the oldest lithic industries are those of the Lower Palaeolithic ( Late Acheulean and Yabrudian ); In them, pieces of flakes of Wadi-Mughara tradition appear. The level that overlaps it is that of very modern, laminar, Auriñacoid lithic industries, but of Levalloisian tradition, this type of tool has sometimes been called Amudiense, but its identity is controversial. At the top of the sequence are typical Mousterian industries, virtually identical to European ones and associated with Neanderthal remains.Consequently, an exceptional circumstance exists in the Middle Palaeolithic Levant of the eastern Mediterranean. And it is that musteroid tools are not the only ones or the oldest in the area. Indeed, the Jordan River Valley (actually a hydrologically endorheic rift valley) seems to have received an early visit from modern humans, even before the Neanderthals appeared. The data, in any case, reflect the very early appearance of a type of modern stone tools (similar to those of the European Upper Palaeolithic), from 56,000 BC. C. (at least and, if the existence of the Amudiense is accepted, the date reaches 70,000 years, that is, much earlier than in Europe), related to the Levallois tradition, but clearly Aurignacoid (as mentioned in the Tabun sequence ): at first the number of chisels, flint blades and scrapers, Châtelperron points... (All these artifacts are more Upper Palaeolithic than Middle Palaeolithic ) and, from the levallois type flaking, the lamellar extraction of leaves is developing. As indicated, these lithic industries, halfway between the Levallois and the Aurignacian, have been dated at Boker Tachtit (Négev) between 47,000 and 38,000 years old, but they overlap stratigraphically with Mousteroid remains. The principal fossil is the tip of the Emireh, actually a lamellar variant of the tiplevallois. This is how the Emirian culture appears, which is a very early transition to the Upper Palaeolithic. This can be considered already installed in 40,000 BC. C., that is, from very early dates. Everything seems to suggest that modern human beings passed through the Jordan Valley leaving a footprint with profound consequences.

• Early Modern Child from Qafzeh (Israel), dated 90,000 BC
• Early modern adult from Skhül (Israel), about 80,000 BC
• Neanderthal tomb of Kebara (Israel), dated to 60,000 BC
• Neanderthal from Amud (Israel), 50,000 BC (see retromolar space)

Human remains of

modern Primitives and

Neanderthals from the Jordan Valley in IsraelRegarding human fossils, the Jordan Valley is particularly known for a series of remains that share common features between classical Neanderthals and Cro-Magnoids or modern humans. These have sometimes been called Progressive Neanderthals, although the term Modern Primitives will be used more in this text. The most interesting, although not the only ones, are the almost complete remains of the caves of Skhül, Qafzeh, Amud and Mugharet-el-Zuttiyeh, with an antiquity dated between 100,000 and 90,000 years, although there are those who go back the date much more (remember that the Kebara Neanderthal burial is at least 60,000 years old). Contrary to classical Neanderthals, theseModern primitives are not extinct, but instead link seamlessly with modern humans, both physically and culturally. Broadly speaking, these modern Primitives differ from classical Neanderthals in that they have a much smaller, less prominent face, no retromolar space in the maxilla, a high forehead, and a chin (although the cranial capacity is similar, the structure of the the head: splanchnocranium/neurocranium, is very different).What remains unresolved is whether these modern Middle Eastern Primitives are an outpost on their way to Europe (as stated, some claim that these modern humans arrived in the Middle East before the Neanderthals). Both species were in open expansion, one came from Western Europe and the other from Africa, and they were found here, where the remains found seem to be a hybrid, the result of physical and/or cultural relationships between both species. The only thing proven is that the Archaeological strata in many caves (particularly Mugharet et-Tabun and Amud) alternate Moustero-Levalloisian lithic flake industries (associated with classical Neanderthals), along with other more advanced aurignacoid lamellar tools, without being able to say which are the oldest. They possibly lived together for thousands of years.Middle Paleolithic timeline in the Near East

• Upper Palaeolithic : Until about twenty years ago, our knowledge of the Upper Palaeolithic of the eastern Mediterranean was mainly based on the work of Neuville and Dorothy Garrod, carried out in caves and rock shelters in Galilee, Mount Carmel and the Judea area. This classification by Neuville (1934) admitted a single evolutionary lineage divided into several phases:

• Neuville Phase I: Emirense (El-Emireh tip)—50,000/38,000 BC C.—
• Neuville Phase II: Ahmarian (El-Wad tip)—38,000/32,000 BC C.—
• Neuville Phases III: Early Levantine Aurignacian or Lower Antelian—32,000/27,000 BC. C.—
• Neuville Phases IV: Middle Levantine or Upper Antelian Aurignacian—27,000/22,000 BC. C.—
• Neuville Phase V: Late Levantine Aurignacian or Atlitian—22,000/14,500 BC. C.—

However, current studies prefer to refer to two parallel cultural currents differentiated, among other reasons, by lithic technology, although both include the production of microliths in their panoply. In addition, the chronology has been revised and corrected:

• As noted above, the Emirian culture is considered to be the transition between the Middle Paleolithic and the Upper Paleolithic. This transition is very well documented at Boker Tachtit, from 44,000 BC. C. (although also Ksar Akil, both in the Negev desert, Israel). Gradually the levallois method evolves towards modern techniques for extracting long sheets of flint, from which the typical points of the Emireh, burins and the so-called lames à chanfrein are made. The Emirian culture seems to disappear around 36,000 BC. c.

• Ahmariense : This culture is dated between 36,000 a. C. and 22,000 a. It apparently derives from the Emirian and it is possible that it, in turn, generated an early Kebarian (or lamellar Kebarian, 22,000 BC-13,000 BC). It is characterized by a strongly laminar technology: blades and small blades, in whose instruments back pieces abound, and knives, but the main fossil is the retouched base point or El-Wad point. On the other hand, burins are scarce, so the bone pieces are made very differently from the Aurignacenses, usually made with these specialized tools.

• blade scraper
• dihedral graver
• El-Wad Point
• lamellar microlith

Typical utensils of the

Ahmariense tradition

• Levantine Aurignacian : It occurs between 32,000 a. C. and 18,000 a. C., and is usually divided into three phases ( Lower Antelian, Upper Antelian, and Atlitian ). It derives, perhaps, from the controversial Amudiense or, more surely, it comes from the Eastern European Aurignacian ( Bacho Kiro, Bulgaria). It is characterized by the wealth of faired products: carinated cores, carinated scrapers and snout burins, with several successive lifts. The cores are used to obtain large flakes and thick blades that will serve as a support for scrapers, chisels and blades with scaly retouch. These utensils are reused and sharpened over and over again, acquiring a blunt, snouted appearance, with stair-like touches, until they are finally discarded due to excessive wear. Among the rarer lamellar stone tools, the flint blades stand out with continuous retouching together with microliths similar to the European Dufour blades, but with curved backs. There is also, of course, a bone industry, especially the bipointed assegais and the bone punches.

• fairing scraper
• snout burin
• Bipointed assegai

Typical utensils of the

Auriñaciense Levantino (

Anteliense and

Atlitiense )Upper Paleolithic timeline in the Near East

During the transition between the Upper Paleolithic and the Epipaleolithic an important conceptual change takes place. The oldest stone tools are obtained with specialized operating processes, in order to obtain lamellar microliths. At the beginning of the Epipalaeolithic, on the other hand, the method was not intended to obtain small leaves, but leaves for geometric microliths, appearing the technique of the microburin and the first arrowheads with covering flat touches (all these features point to the fact that in the Mesolithic the invention of the bow).

Mesolithic in the Middle East

It began about 15,000 years ago in Mesopotamia and Egypt, at the end of the last ice age. Climate change caused a process of desertification in the area that logically affected the customs of its inhabitants, although gradually. It is also possible that climate change was not the only trigger of the process, but only one more element that stimulated human beings in their progress. In any case, at first, hunting and gathering continued to be essential; but, as the ecologically productive areas on the banks of rivers, lakes and oases were reduced, the relationship between animal and/or plant species with human communities became more intimate. Wheat and barley grew spontaneously in this area, and herds of sheep, goats and wild bulls abounded. Nomadism was necessarily transformed in semi-sedentarism, hunting became symbiosis (humans hunted their animals while protecting them from other ecological competitors, as a food reserve) and gathering became organized foraging. This phase is called, in the Middle East, Kebarian. In this period, as has been seen, the bow was invented, with arrows whose tips can be made with a single foliaceous lithic piece (the typical arrowhead), or with several embedded in a shaft (that is, laminar microliths calledKebarah points and geometric microliths).

Later, harvesting becomes more important, with the emergence of the most significant culture of the Middle Eastern Mesolithic, the Natufian, located in the vicinity of Wadi-en-Natuf (a stream in Palestinian territory), characterized by a sedentary lifestyle (there are small villages with circular houses of adobe and grain silos), systematic and specialized foraging in cereals, associated with sickle-tooth microliths, together with mortars, grinding stones, etc. In the Natufian almost any small elongated flake is used to obtain tools of various kinds; that is to say, the economy of gestures increases, but, apparently, the lithic technique is degraded. However, this could be interpreted as a relaxation of the economy, since the products obtained are less specialized, they can be used for various purposes, not only as hunting tools, or because they are made in situ, for a specific need.Epipaleolithic/Mesolithic timeline in the Near East

Neolithic in the Middle East

A little over 10,000 years ago, the innovations that occurred became so remarkable that we speak of the Neolithic Revolution in the Middle East, that is: the territories of Mesopotamia (currently Iraq) and Canaan (currently Israel and Palestine). ); incidentally, the Nile Valley (Egypt), Lebanon, northern Syria and Southeastern Anatolia (Turkey) could also be included. Due to the morphology of the original region, it has been called the Fertile Crescent.

The inhabitants of the Near East were the first to domesticate animals ( livestock : especially sheep, goats and cattle (hunting is not entirely abandoned, but now it will be secondary), as well as to cultivate plants: ( agriculture : especially rye ( Secale cereale ), barley ( Hordeum hexastichum ), wheat ( Triticum dicoccum ) and other cereals). The oldest evidence of agricultural work is found in Tell Abu Hureyra (Syria), 11,000 years ago; while the first domestic animals were the ovicaprids in Zawi Chemi Shanidar (Iraq), about 10,500 years ago.

The Fertile Crescent

From the Fertile Crescent, the Neolithic spread through Asia (to India and China), Africa (especially Egypt) and Europe through the Mediterranean; the consequences of the Neolithic affected all inhabited regions:

• New utensils are invented: the bow and arrows, stone sickles, hoes, polished axes, mills, mortars, spoons... But fundamentally, ceramics and weaving originated.

Ceramics appear in an advanced phase of the Neolithic, so that there is a long period called Preceramic Neolithic. The earliest known ceramics are from Kalat Jarmo (Kurdistan), dating from 6750 BC. C., as well as those of Tepe Guram and Tepe Serdam (Iraq), dated at 6500 a. C. Previously, waterproofed baskets with mud or zulaque ("bitumen") would be used.

• By becoming farmers, human groups settle in fixed places to live all year round, that is, the first stable towns are founded: sedentarization. In addition to the protoneolithic village of Jericho (dated by the method: C in 9551 BC), Eynan (Israel), Zawi Chemi Shanidar (Iraq) and Tepe Asia (Iran).
• Agriculture and livestock led to an increase in food production and ceramics made it easy to store and transport food. For the first time, food and other necessary products, called surpluses, were left over.
• The possibility that all members of the community could participate in different productive tasks as well as the existence of surpluses favored the great demographic increase, the population multiplied by ten (the world went from having about ten million inhabitants to one hundred million)
• Sedentarization plus demographic growth mean that the first villages, sometimes, generate the birth of authentic cities: Jericho (West Bank) has the honor of being considered the first city in the world (with about 2,000 inhabitants in 8,000 BC, approximately ), Çatal Hüyük and Haçilar (Anatolia), Kalat Jarmo (Kurdistan), Hassuna and Samarra in Iraq, Ras Shamra and Tell Halaf (Syria), etc. This process will lead to the birth of the first urban civilizations (civitas = city).
• The division of labor began, that is, specialized trades: farmers, ranchers, artisans (bakers, potters, carpenters, masons...) Those who had surpluses began to exchange them with those who had different jobs and different products: Trade was born ( barter). In the area of ​​the Fertile Crescent, it was mainly traded with sulfur, salt and coarse from the Dead Sea, shells from the Red Sea, obsidian from Anatolia, malachite from the Caspian Sea, etc.
• These exchanges will not only be local, there will also be regional ones. Thus germinate the first stable trade routes that communicate the new towns with each other, appearing a new profession, the merchant. The best example is at the site of Al Beidha (Jordan) and Ba'ja, where excavations unearthed an authentic seventh-millennium bazaar.
• All these changes originated social differences (rich and poor); The first characters with authority who organized the life of the town also appear: the rulers and priests (moral authority) appear. The most ambitious end up hoarding the wealth and establishing relationships of local and later regional domination.
• Differences also appear between villages. Some are more prosperous than others, and their rulers will fight, at times, to appropriate neighboring lands, access to water, control of main routes and trade, etc. The conflicts between neighboring towns become authentic wars, with which the first armies and their military leaders emerge, who get rich with each victory, thus giving birth to the nobility and the monarchy.

Neolithic timeline in the Near East

In the Near East, the Metal Age coincides with the appearance of written documents and the birth of the first civilizations, so these should be included, strictly speaking, in History. But, as the initial phases of the Chalcolithic are prior to the first incised tablets and there is no cultural break, this encyclopedia includes processes that occurred in fully historical times.

America

In the American continent, the Stone Age is much later and has its own idiosyncrasy. The most accepted theory about its relationship with Asia is that the human settlement of America took place from Siberia through the Bering Strait. The most discussed question is: when? The Wisconsin (Würm) glaciation caused a drop in sea level which, together with the existence of ice sheets, provided a passable passage over the Bering Strait between the two continents called the Beringia Bridge. It was not always possible to cross it, it has been estimated that humans were able to pass at least twice when there was an ice-free route: the first lasted about 4,000 years and the second about 15,000 years; then the bridge disappearedwith which the migration had no return. According to scientists, this bridge would have been formed 50,000 years ago. Based on these data, two theories have emerged about when America was first populated by humans:

• Early settlement theory: holds that humans arrived about 50,000 years ago.
• Late settlement theory: holds that human beings arrived about 15,000 years ago or a little more; it is the most classic and the one with the most contrasted data, but it does not contradict the previous option.

The Amerindians lived isolated from the rest of humanity for 40,000 years, these human groups had to adapt to eight different types of climate, diversified into more than 300 tribes, with more than 2,000 different languages ​​and developed at least a dozen exceptional civilizations. It is therefore not appropriate to use the same terminology or the same periodization in America as in the Old World. This is not a chauvinistic whim, it is the response to an archaeological reality:Prehistory of America

North America and Mesoamerica

In 1958, archaeologists Gordon Willey and Philip Phillips proposed the following stages for North America and Mesoamerica:

• The Lithic Period (equivalent to the Upper Paleolithic of the Old World), comprises from the arrival of the first Americans until about 10,000 or 12,000 years ago (depending on the theoretical paradigm defended). Within this period there are two phases:
  • An initial phase of undifferentiated hunter-gatherers, with very few remains, characterized by a stone industry similar to that of the Old Continent (carved stones, musteloid flakes, bifaces...) and without spear points; the surest examples of great antiquity are the American sites of Topper, Lewisville and American Falls, on the one hand, and El Cedral and Tlapacoya in Mexico, on the other.
  • The second phase, of advanced hunters, is from about 13,000 years ago; when cultures emerge with scrapers, flint blades, chisels..., and very elaborate spear points: for example, in North America the Clovis, Folsom and El Plano (New Mexico) cultures usually stand out, although, of course, there are many plus. These cultures with foliaceous points are interpreted as eminently hunting peoples, at the beginning of large prey; but, the evolution to smaller and smaller points indicates that this paleofauna is becoming extinct and that the hunting groups are adapting to an increasingly smaller fauna.
• Archaic Period (equivalent, but not exactly the same as the Old World Mesolithic), a complex period in which the transition to maize agriculture from intensive vegetable harvesting would occur. This phase encompasses larger geographical areas, almost all of North America and Mesoamerica (where the term pre-Mexican is sometimes used ), as the essential engine of subsequent evolution. In the north, in circumpolar areas, hunter-gatherer peoples - foragers - survive under the name Arctic tradition ; while the great grasslands of the center are usually included in the denomination Cochise Culture (with its three phases: Sulfur Springs, Chiricahua andSaint Peter : 5000 BC c.-200 a. C). In these towns, hunting is still fundamental and the invention of the bow is documented, around the year 1000 BC. C..

• Formative Period (which would be the equivalent to the typical Neolithic) stands out for innovations such as agriculture, livestock, ceramics... Between 5000 a. C. and the 1000 a. C. the stable towns governed by a powerful priestly caste already appear. The oldest pottery on the continent dates back to 3500 BC. C, approx. The Olmecs would be the evolved culture of this period. Since the later phases are included in the so-called Classic Period of pre-Columbian cultures (in which the great Mesoamerican and Andean civilizations already appear), it has often been called pre-Classic.. It is therefore the last period of the Prehistory of this area of ​​America, since from then on written documents already appear, so they could already be called protohistoric cultures.
  • The cultures of Oasisamérica : before 3000 a. C. It seems that several Mesoamerican peoples whose economy was based on the cultivation of corn, beans and squash, emigrated to the center-south of the American West (Oasisamerica), constituting a rich cultural nucleus that, centuries later, would give rise to Culture of the Cesteros that, in turn, gave rise to the cultures of the Anasazi and their similar Hohokam and Mogollón who are currently known as Pueblo Indians.
  • The mound builders of North America : In the wooded eastern lands of North America (Ohio), the first mound builders called the Adena Culture (1000 BC-200 BC), whose best-known monument is the Tumulus, are born around this time. of the Serpent (Cincinnati). After Adena, a dynasty of tumular civilizations begins that marks out a wide area of ​​the center-east of the United States (Mississippi-Missouri-Ohio basins), highlighting the Hopewell culture (200 BC-500 AD), and the Mississippi mound builders (900-1500 AD), who created numerous cities, such as Cahokia, which was protected by a wall, and with public and religious monuments raised on great burial mounds.
  • The olmecasthey are the most advanced civilization of the moment, they arise shortly before 1500 a. C. and disappear shortly before the beginning of our era, although their influence survives in later Olmecoid peoples. The Olmecs practiced agriculture, knew ceramics, were sedentary and had a very advanced organization and clear social differences. Its remains are spread throughout Mesoamerica, probably because its trade was very active. However, with few exceptions, they hardly developed urban life, although they have large religious sanctuaries such as those of San Lorenzo or La Venta, and a very characteristic type of monumental sculpture: giant heads. There is no data on whether they created an empire, there is no evidence of the existence of an Olmec army, or of battles, only that the few known urban centers were protected by walls and located on easily defended hills. The Olmecs bequeathed to their successors the solar calendar, and a set of symbols that can already be considered archaic writing.
  • Pre-Classic Maya Period : There is a very close relationship between the Olmecs and the birth of the Maya civilization. Its initial periods (the last two millennia before our era) can still be considered prehistoric. Large urban centers arise with monuments raised on pyramids and stone platforms, there are important social differences and foreign trade is very intense. Important innovations appear in the work of obsidian and jade, as well as ceramics (painted ceramics appear).

Indeed, all of Mesoamerica can be considered a "cultural area with intense temporal depth": its civilizations share similar ethnic and linguistic traits, cultivated plants, a 260-day ritual calendar, and religious concepts. However, the best way to distinguish them are the artistic manifestations, ceramics, crafts, religion and political organization.

South America

When speaking of the first South American civilizations, two points of view coexist about the origin of the great Andean cultures; On the one hand, those who maintain that the Amazon basin constituted an entity isolated and independent of the Pacific coast and that the Andean cultures evolved autonomously: on the other hand, intense commercial relations and wide-ranging migratory movements have been discovered between the Amazon and the Andes, even, some historians maintain that the founders of the great Andean civilizations were Amazonian peoples who cultivated cassava and sweet potatoes, as well as river fishermen who occupied the Puna and the valleys. In South America, the periodization is more complex, often speaking of a great period called Preceramic(cc. 20,000 BC-2,000 BC) that encompasses the "Lithic period", or "Paleoindian", and the "Archaic period". But the disparity of denominations is very great, so it will be simplified.

• The Paleoindian is usually the preferred term, rather than "Lithic period", but it seems to respond to the same dynamic: a first phase of less well-known and more rudimentary industries, typical of little differentiated cultures; and a second phase, whose main fossil is projectile points, that is, masterfully crafted foliaceous spear points.
  • The first phase ( Protolithic Period ) has sites whose age is highly disputed —such is the case of Pedra Furada (Brazil) which is close to 50,000 years old; and «Monte Verde II» (Chile), with about 33,000 years. However, it is very well documented in somewhat more recent caves, such as those of Taima-Taima in Venezuela, Garzón in Colombia, Pikimachay in Peru... Remains of human occupation of more than 17,000 years have been documented in Pikimachay, lasting until nearly 14,000 years old. The “El Guitarrero” cave (Peru), excavated by the North American Thomas Lynch, from Cornell University, in the 1970s, would complete with its stratigraphy all the stages of occupation of this phase of the Stone Age.
  • The second phase ( advanced hunters ) appears to coincide with a southward human expansion. Foliaceous spearheads specialized for hunting large game in South America are usually of the Fishtail type, although they closely resemble the North American Clovis types. These hunting tools still do not appear in the Ghachi cave, located near San Pedro de Atacama (Chile), from 13,000 BC. C.; but they are already present in the Guitarrero I phase(Peru), 15,000 years old. Further south, also in Chile, remains of dwellings and artifacts were found some 12,500 years old (“Monte Verde I”, in the vicinity of Puerto Montt). "Jobo" in Venezuela and "El Inga" in Ecuador also stand out. From Chile, the area of ​​Santa Cruz (Argentina) seems to have been populated, where lithic remains dating back to 11,000 BC have been found. C., and finally Tierra del Fuego is reached in 7000 a. C. ("Cave Fell", Chile).

• The Preceramic Period: about 7000 years ago it has signs of agriculture, livestock and even the first stable towns (with them the first architecture and art were developed), some of which became religious centers of pilgrimage, highlighting among all the city of El Caral (Peru), with an initial date superior to 2600 a. C. During this period the human colonization of South America was completed, and the resources of the sea began to be consumed more intensely. A particular fact of American agriculture is the immense variety of cultivated agricultural species, in number superior to those of the Old World; In addition, many of these plants are so difficult to cultivate that in some cases it is not known how this could have happened. Apart from corn, cotton, cassava, sweet potato, beans, tomato, coca, cinchona, quinoa, potato, tobacco, cocoa, prickly pear, the list being endless. Only two deficiencies caused the agricultural stagnation of America with respect to the Old World, which did not have plows or wheels. Livestock, unlike agriculture, was applied to very few species: the dog, the turkey, the guinea pig and, as pack animals, the camelids; that is to say, the llama, the alpaca, the vicuña and the guanaco, exclusive animals of South America, whose power is not enough to work with plows. In the Old World, the domestication of animals is much richer and more varied, and the plow allowed advances unthinkable in America. the dog, the turkey, the guinea pig and, as pack animals, the camelids; that is to say, the llama, the alpaca, the vicuña and the guanaco, exclusive animals of South America, whose power is not enough to work with plows. In the Old World, the domestication of animals is much richer and more varied, and the plow allowed advances unthinkable in America. the dog, the turkey, the guinea pig and, as pack animals, the camelids; that is to say, the llama, the alpaca, the vicuña and the guanaco, exclusive animals of South America, whose power is not enough to work with plows. In the Old World, the domestication of animals is much richer and more varied, and the plow allowed advances unthinkable in America.
• The Agro-pottery and metallurgical period : The cultures of South America have rich examples in the period called Ceramic or Agro-pottery:

The Chibchas would be the oldest inhabitants of Panama and Colombia with more than 5000 years of antiquity and a remarkable cultural persistence, since the Spaniards were still able to know them, although already in a phase of decline. They were great builders and farmers, although their fame comes, above all, from their ability to work gold, already in the first millennium BC. Further south is the culture of Norte Chico, in Peru, from 3000 a. C. to 2000 a. C., which would constitute the most direct antecedent of the Chavín Culture, contemporary with the Olmecs in Mesoamerica). Actually, the Chavín CultureIt is the maximum pre-Inca reference in South America, with a development between 900 a. C. and 300 a. C. The center of this culture is the Andean sanctuary of Chavín de Huántar, although this culture dominated the entire Peruvian territory. The magnitude of the Chavín constructions indicates a complex social differentiation, efficient administration, active trade and high agricultural and ceramic technology. The Chavín culture was replaced around the year 300 AD. C. by the Mochica or Moche Culture, noted for its irrigation work and its Huacas, or stepped adobe pyramids. However, the Mochicas did not form a state, although their society was highly hierarchical. Actually, the first Andean state is the Huari Empire, founded around the year 700. The Huarithey dominated the Andes until they were replaced by the Chimú, whose capital was Chanchán, an immense citadel of adobe and rammed earth located in Peru. The Chimú were conquered by the Incas around the year 1470.As the last example of American prehistory, the builders of Cerritos (Uruguay) are cited, who, some 4,800 years old, created a less spectacular but very interesting culture. Their villages were circular, with a central plaza surrounded by wooden huts, built on mounds ("cerritos"), there were also mounds of refuse behind the circle of huts, which were probably protected by a palisade (in the style of circular alceas). Amazonian). Apparently, the villages formed large conglomerates that could constitute authentic cities.

The central and southern Andes are another of the great American nuclear areas :
the most successful cultural and political expressions of their evolution are the city and the state.
The succession of cultures and places is endless in an article of this nature, but all of them show
a very complex development, the product of a long indigenous process of experimentation and discovery.
We recommend reading the specific article on Andean Civilizations for more information

Europe

The European Stone Age is usually divided into three stages, following John Lubbock's proposals in 1865:

• Paleolithic, the first phase, or Ancient Stone Age : It is the oldest and longest period of European history; It would begin about a million years ago with the arrival of the first humans (either Homo ergaster or Homo antecessor ). During the European Palaeolithic, other types followed: Homo heidelbergensis, Homo neanderthalensis and Homo sapiens sapiens.; the latter arrived via another migration, causing the Neanderthals to become extinct 50,000 years ago. Parallel to human evolution, a cultural evolution takes place: during the Lower Paleolithic, the dominant culture in Europe is the Acheulean; in the Middle Paleolithic the Mousterian appears (typical of Neanderthal man), perhaps the Châtelperronian is an epigone of this human type. With the arrival of modern man, a series of cultures such as the Aurignacian, Gravettian, Solutrean and Magdalenian followed one another. Other important elements to understand the Paleolithic are the continuous climatic oscillations, called glaciations, the predominance of the hunter-gatherer economy and the appearance of Paleolithic art at the same time that modern man arrives.
• Epipaleolithic/Mesolithic, the intermediate phase or Middle Stone Age : It covers the period from the retreat of the last glacier, about 12,000 years ago, until the arrival of the Neolithic, about 5,000 years ago. Currently there is discrimination between epipaleolithic cultures (those that maintain the typical Paleolithic way of life, without substantial changes, as occurs with the Azilian, for example), of the so-called Mesolithic cultures (those that show a tendency to evolve towards sedentarization and other characteristics of what will later be the Neolithic, such is the case of the Tardenoisian).

The Neolithic in Europe

• Neolithic, the last phase or Modern Stone Age : the Neolithic reaches Europe from the Near East through the Mediterranean basin in the sixth millennium. Although the existence of a pre-ceramic Neolithic, fundamentally cattle raising, is suspected, the first great fully Neolithic Mediterranean civilization is that of Cardial Printed Ceramics (on the map: intense green colour). Its main fossil is a series of ceramics decorated with impressions of cockle shells ( Cerastoderma echinatum ) that appear both on the African and European shores, from Dalmatia to the Iberian Peninsula. In the fifth millennium this civilization is replaced by another originating in the Danube called Band Ceramics.(light green on the map), whose influence extends down the Rhine to the Atlantic coast (yellow on the map). It is then that a fundamental change occurs in European cultures. About the year 4000 a. C. appears in the south of Portugal the civilization of the builders of Megaliths. This civilization surpasses the limits of the Stone Age, since it lasts during the Chalcolithic (in a phase that has been called Neo-Eneolithic)., due to the difficulty of establishing a clear division). From Portugal and other points on the Atlantic coast, the megalithic phenomenon spread throughout Western Europe, evolving until 2500 BC. C., since, as has been said, it lasts during the age of metals). The megalith builders lived in fortified villages, located in easily defended places (such as hills).

A megalithic monument is a construction made up of coarsely worked stones of gigantic size (several tons), hence its name: megas : giant and lithos : stone. There are several classes of megalithic monuments:

• Menhir : it is a large standing stone that would mark a symbolic place, possibly sacred.
• Alignment : it is a set of menhirs arranged in a row.
• Crómlech : it is a set of menhirs placed in a circle. The alignment and the cromlech are supposed to have been open-air temples, with possible astronomical references.
• Milladoiro : pile of stones and blocks of different sizes that would indicate a sacred place.
• Dolmen : It is the most complex monument. It is a place to bury the dead of the tribe; It consisted of a corridor or entrance hall and a burial chamber, both built with large stone slabs, all covered by a mound of earth and rubble called a tumulus. The dolmen is like a small artificial mountain, with a cave inside, also artificial. All the deceased were deposited in the same funeral chamber, since it was a collective burial place; funerary offerings (weapons, food, jewels...) were deposited next to the deceased.

Old World Prehistory
Stone age	Age of metals
Paleolithic	Epipaleolithic Mesolithic _	Neolithic	Copper Age (except sub-Saharan Africa)	Bronze Age (except sub-Saharan Africa)	iron age
lower paleolithic	middle paleolithic	Superior paleolithic