پارینه سنگی
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paleolithic
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پارینه سنگی
معنی:
پاره زمانی سنگی . عصر حجر . این پاره زمانی برابربا پیشدادیان در فرهنگ پارسی میباشد.
پارینه‌سنگی یا پالئولیتیک، ریشهٔ یونانی دارد و از (Paleo) به معنی پارینه یا قدیمی و (Litoth) به معنی سنگ گرفته شده‌است. این دوره، ابتدایی‌ترین و طولانی‌ترین مرحله زندگی انسان است (در واقع ۹۹% آن را پوشش می‌دهد)واز حدود دو میلیون و هشتصدوپنجاه هزار سال پیش تا ده هزار سال قبل توسعه یافته‌است. در این دوره روندفرگشت فکری، جسمی، فرهنگی و تکنولوژیکی انسان شکل می‌گیرد. اولین ابزارها به دست گونه‌های نخستین انسانی به وسیله سنگ در این دوره ساخته می‌شود. مکان آن نیز شرق آفریقا در اتیوپی، کنیا، تانزانیا به ویژه ناحیه الدوایی(Olduvai) و در آسیا اندونزی است.
این دوران خود به سه زیر دوره تقسیم می‌گردد:
دوره پارینه‌سنگی زیرین یا قدیم (Lower or Old Paleolithic) که ازحدود دو میلیون و پانصد هزار سال پیش شروع و تا یکصد هزار سال قبل ادامه پیدا می‌کند. در این دوره ابتدا گونهٔ انسانی آسترالوپیته‌کوس (Australopithecus) در دو زیر گونه روبوستوس (Robustus) و آفریکانوس (Africanus) پدیدار می‌شود. گونه آفریکانوس با توجه به توانایی در ساخت ابزار انسان ماهر (Homo habilis) نیز نامیده می‌شود که در چاد، جنوب آفریقا و تانزانیا (گاروزی و اولدوای Olduvai) می‌زیسته‌است. ابزار که گونه آفریکانوس ساخته‌است الدوان (Oldowan) نامیده می‌شود؛ چون نخستین بار از ناحیه اولدوای تانزانیا به دست آمده‌است و فقط تبرهای دستی بوده. دومین گونه انسانی که در این دوره پدیدار می‌شود؛ انسان راست‌قامت (Homo erectus) نام دارد. این گونه از یک و نیم میلیون تا پانصد هزار سال پیش می‌زیسته‌است، از آتش استفاده می‌کرده‌است و ابزارساز بوده و ابزارهایی که به کار برده‌است آشولین (Acheulean)؛ و لوالوازین (Levalloasien) نام دارد. انسان جاوه و انسان پکن از مشهورترین گونه‌های هومو اراکتوس هستند.
دوره پارینه‌سنگی میانی (Middle Paleolithic) از حدود یکصد هزار سال قبل شروع و تا چهل هزار سال پیش ادامه داشته‌است. انسان نئاندرتال (Neandertal) در این دوره ظهور می‌کند؛ هر چند که در گذشته گونه مستقلی به شمار می‌آمد، امروزه از زیر گونه‌های انسان هوشمند (Homo sapiens) به شمار می‌آید و هومو ساپینس نئاندرتالنزیس (Homo sapiens neandertalenisis) نامیده می‌شود. در این دوره سنت ابزارسازی موسترین (Mousterien) پدیدار می‌شود که از ابزارهای پیشین پیشرفته‌تر است و شامل تراشه‌های سنگی، رنده‌ها، قلم‌ها، مته‌ها، چاقوهای دسته دار و انواع تبر بوده‌است. در این دوره آیین تدفین وجود داشته‌است. انسان نئاندرتال به همراه متوفی ابزار، گُل و گِل اخرا دفن می‌کرده‌است.
دوره پارینه‌سنگی نوین (Upper Paleolithic) از حدود چهل هزار سال پیش شروع و در هژده هزار سال پیش پایان می‌گیرد. در این دوره انسان نئاندرتال از بین می‌رود و انسان هوشمند هوشمند (Homo sapiens sapiens) که به انسان کرومانیون نیز مشهور است پدیدار می‌گردد. ابزارها شکل تکامل یافته تری پیدا می‌کنند و تخصصی تر می‌شود و سنت ابزار سازی تیغه‌ای یا میکرولیت (Microlith) آغاز می‌شود. سنت ابزار سازی سلوترین (Sloutrean) و بورین(Burin) در اروپا و سنت ابزار سازی برادوستی (Baradousti) در زاگرس و خاور میانه از این جمله‌است.
بعد از دوره پارینه سنگی، دوره میان‌سنگی (Mesolithic) شروع می‌گیرد که دوره فرا پارینه سنگی (Epipaleolithic) نیز نامیده می‌شود. از هژده هزار سال پیش اغاز و تا دوازده هزار سال پیش ادامه داشته‌است..
تقسیم بندی ارائه شده برای هر کدام از این دوره‌ها بر اساس پیشرفت‌هایی است که در نوع ساخت ابزارعای سنگی به وجود آمده‌است.
منابع
Clark, Grahame. World Prehistory in New Perspective, Cambridge University Press, 1977.
Haviland, William. Anthropology, New York; Rinehard and Winston Press, 1985.
عسکری خانقاه، اصفر و محمد شریف کمالی. انسانشناسی عمومی، تهران؛ انتشارات سمت، ۱۳۷۸.
در ویکی‌انبار پرونده‌هایی دربارهٔ پارینه‌سنگی موجود است.
رده‌ها: پارینه سنگی پلیستوسن زمین‌شناسی
قس عربی
العصر الحجری القدیم أو البالیوثی (Palaeolithic) هو أقدم العصور الحجریة وأطولها، بدأ فی العالم (إفریقیا) منذ حوالی 2,300,000 سنة خلت، وانتهى فی حدود 12,000 ق.م. ینقسم العصر الحجری القدیم إلى ثلاثة أطوار: "حقبة العصر الحجری القدیم المبکر" و"حقبة العصر الحجری القدیم الأوسط" و"حقبة العصر الحجری القدیم المتأخر". وهذه الأطوار قُسّمت حسب بعض المصنوعات الیدویة الحجریة الموجودة والمختفیة حالیاً. فحقبة العصر الحجری القدیم المبکر استمرت منذ 2,5 ملیون سنة وحتى 200,000 سنة. وهی تشمل تسجیلات لصناعة الأدوات البشریة. وتسجل التاریخ التطوری لإنسان جنس "هومو" حیث نشأ فی شرق أفریقیا بالوادی المتصدع. وانتشر منها فی أوراسیا. وظهرت صناعاته فی منطقة "أولدفای جورج بشمال تانزانیا" ویطلق علیها المرحلة أولدوانیة (Oldowan). وکانت الصناعات الیدویة الحجریة بسیطة وأولیة. عاش الإنسان فی هذا العصر متنقلاً، معتمداً فی غذائه على الصید وجمع النباتات والثمار، واستخدم بعض الأدوات کالفوؤس الحجریة التی صنع بعضها من حجر الصوان، والتی أصبحت المادة الرئیسیة فی دراسة أحوال (القناصون - الجماعون) من البشر فی العصور السحیقة. وقد کان یوجد فی فجر العصر الحجری نوعان من أسلاف البشر، أحدهما جنس "هومو" والثانی جنس "أسترالوبیثیکس". وخلال العصر الحجری، تولد منهما أنواع جدیدة من البشر آخرها الإنسان العاقل (Homo sapiens) ومنه ینحدر الإنسان الحالی.
المراجع
کتاب التاریخ القدیم للدکتور: فتحى عفیفی استاذ التاریخ القدیم و الحضارة جامعة الازهر.
موسوعة حضارة العالم.
هذه بذرة مقالة عن الجیولوجیا تحتاج للنمو والتحسین، فساهم فی إثرائها بالمشارکة فی تحریرها.
تصنیف: العصر الحجری القدیم
قس ترکی آذری
Paleolit dövrü (yun.παλαιός paleo - qədim və λίθος litos — daş) — ən qədim daş dövrü. Bu termini İngilis bioloqu və arxeoloqu John Lubbock (1834-1913) özünün 1865-ci ildə işıq üzü görmüş "Pre-historic Times" ("Tarixöncəsi zamanlar") adlı kitabında daxil (kəşf) edib.
Bəşər tarixi işlətdikləri əsas alətlərə görə üç dövrə ayrılır: Daş dövrü, Tunc dövrü və Dəmir dövrü. Daş dövr özü də qədim, orta və yaxın daş dövrlərdən ibarətdir; bunlar yunancadan götürülmüş terminlərlə uyğun olaraq paleolit, mezolit və neolit dövrləri adını almışlar.
Paleolit dövrü daş alətlərin hominidlər tərəfindən işlənməsindən (təqribən 2,6-2,5 milyon il əvvəl) əkinçiliyin başlamasına qədər (təqribən 12-10 min il əvvəl) olan dövrü əhatə edir. Bu, bəşəriyyətin mövcud olduğu zamanın 99%-i deməkdir.
Paleolit dövründə insanlar daş alət düzəldir, lakin onu cilalamağı bilmirdilər. İlk primitiv əmək alətləri məhz Paleolit dövründə yaradılıb. Bu dövrdə insanlar bütün alətlərini daşdan, ağacdan və sümükdən hazırlamışlar.
Bu dövrdə insanın əsas məşğuliyyəti ovçuluq və yığıcılıq olmuşdur. Odun kəşf edilməsi çiy yeyilə bilməyən qidaları bişirməyə, qızınmağa, yırtıcı heyvanlardan qorunmağa imkan vermişdir.
Paleolit dövründə insanlar gil qablar (keramika) ilə tanış deyildilər. Bu dövrdə əkinçilik və heyvandarlıq yoxdu. Paleolit dövründə həyatın sosial təşkili haqqında elmin əldə etdiyi nəticələr azdır və aydın deyil.
Mağara və qaya sığınacaqlarının divarlarına çəkilən şəkillər bu dövrün nəzərə çarpan xüsusiyyətlərindəndir.
Paleolit dövrü aşağı paleolit (təqribən 300 min il bundan əvvəl və daha qədim zaman), orta paleolit (təqribən 300 min il əvvəl ilə 30 min il əvvəlin arası) və yuxarı paleolit (təqribən 40 min il əvvəl ilə 10-12 min il əvvəlin arası) olaraq üç hissəyə ayrılır.
Mənbə
Kateqoriyalar: Arxeoloji dövrlərDaş dövrü
قس ترکی استانبولی
Yontma Taş Devri veya bilimsel adıyla Paleolitik Çağ olarak tanımlanan Eski Taş Çağı günümüzden yaklaşık 2 milyon yıl önce başlamış ve 10.000 yıl önce son bulmuştur. Ancak verilen bu tarihlerin dünya geneli içinde geçerli olduğunu ve yerel olarak değişmeye açık bulunduğunu da belirtmek gerekir. İnsanlık tarihinin %99u gibi çok büyük bir bölümünü kapsayan bu çağ, aynı zamanda ilk insan atalarının ortaya çıkışı ve ilk aletlerin üretimi yoluyla insanlaşma sürecine girişi temsil etmesiyle de söz konusu tarihin gelişimi içinde çok önemli bir yer tutmaktadır.
Paleolitik devrideki Levallois yöntemiyle mızrak ucu yapımı (canlandırma).
Doğanın sınırlayıcı ve belirleyici baskısı altında yaşayan Paleolitik Çağ insanları ekonomik açıdan, avcı ve toplayıcı toplulukları temsil ederler. Besin üretmeyi bilmeyen bu insanlar, yalnızca yaşadıkları ortamda bulunan yabani sebze, meyve ve kökler ile avlandıkları hayvanları yiyerek beslenmişlerdir. İklim ve çevre koşullarının değişkenliği nedeniyle, yeni besin kaynakları aramak ve av hayvanlarını izleyerek, küçük gruplar halinde konar-göçer tarzda yaşamışlardır. Kaya sığınaklarının bulunduğu yerlerde mağara ve kayaaltı sığınaklarında barınmışlar, kaya sığınaklarının bulunmadığı yerlerde ise açık havada kurdukları sığınaklarda yaşamışlardır.
Yontma Taş Devrine ait Namibyada bir mağarada bulunan taşlar.
Paleolitik Çağ, karakteristik çizgileri ve kültürleriyle Alt, Orta ve Üst olmak üzere 3 evreye ayrılır. Alt Paleolitik devrin insanları, beyin kapasiteleriyle orantılı olarak kendilerini vahşi hayvanlardan korumak, beslenmek, avlanmak için ve zaman zaman da kendi aralarındaki mücadelelerde kullanmak üzere birtakım basit taş aletler yapmaya başlamışlardır. Genellikle doğanın kendilerine sunduğu taşları, ya daha sert olan başka taşlarla yontarak işlemişler, ya da doğal halde çevrelerinde bulunan ve çok az bir rötuşla alet haline gelebilen parçaları kullanmışlardır. Alt Paleolitik süresince oldukça ılımlı geçen iklim Orta Paleolitikde kurumaya, sertleşmeye ve giderek bol kar yağışıyla belirgin yeni bir buzullaşmaya dönmesi, insanın yaşayışı ve teknolojisinde bir dizi değişiklikler meydana getirmiştir. Bu teknolojik değişikliğin en belirgin yanı, yonga endüstrisinde kendini gösterir. Alt Paleolitikin kaba taş alet (2 yüzeyli) ve yongalarının yerini oldukça düzenli bir şekilde yontulmuş ve kenarlarda yapılan düzeltilerle (rötuş) ve uç kazıyıcı haline sokulmuş işlenik yonga aletler alır. Bu dönemin insanları olan Homo Neanderthallerin, eldeki kısıtlı alet teknolojisi ile mamut, gergedan, geyik gibi büyük hayvanları avlayabilmeleri bu insanların avcılıkta ne kadar ustalaştıklarını ve hayvanları avlayabilmek için birtakım av teknik ve yöntemlerini geliştirdiklerinin bir kanıtıdır.
Yontma Taş Devrine ait bir mağara.
Ayrıca bu evrede, inançlarla ilgili birtakım belirtilerin oraya çıktığı görülüyor. Örneğin tek, ya da çift çukurlar şeklindeki mezarlar ve bunların yanındaki - belki de besin depoları olarak yorumlanabilecek - eklentiler, Neanderthallerin ölü gömme eylemleri hakkında bilgi veren izlerdir. İklimin tekrar hissedilir derecede soğuduğu ve kuru hale geldiği Üst Paleolitik Çağda, Homo Neanderthallerin yerini modern insanın atası sayılan Homo Sapiensler alır. Homo Sapiensler becerili ve aktüel insana daha yakın olan insanlardır. Üst Paleolitikde yontma teknolojisindeki gelişme dikkat çekecek bir düzeyde olup, taş işçiliği en büyük gelişmesine ulaşmıştır. Alt Paleolitikte kısmen de olsa Orta Paleolitikde görülen klasik 2 yüzeylilerin (el baltası) yerini çakmak taşı yonga ve dilgilerin üzerine yapılmış, çeşitli tipteki aletler almıştır. Ön kazıyıcılar taş delgiler, taş kalemler, yaprak biçimli uçlar, mekik aletler bunlardan bazılarıdır. Üst Paleolitikin son evrelerinde ise sırtı devrik dilgiciklerin ortaya çıktığı görülüyor. Taş aletlerin yanısıra kemik ve boynuzdan yapılmış aletlerde ede büyük bir artış gözlenmektedir. Esasen bu evrede taş aletler, büyük bir çoğunlukla kemik aletleri şekillendirmek için yapılmışlardır. Bu ise Üst Paleolitikte artık alet yapan aletlerin üretildiğini göstermektedir.
Yontma Taş Devrine ait bir boynuz.
Üst Paleolitik Çağın önemli gelişmelerinden bri de insanların entellektüel hayatlarıyla ilgili birtakım sanat eserlerini yapmaya başlamalarıdır. Mağara duvarlarına ve çeşitli objeler üzerine yapılan boyalı resim,gravür, alçak kabartmalar ile heykelcikler, Paleolitik sanatın, Sanat Tarihi içinde oynadığı rolü ortaya koyar. Üst Paleolitikte süslenme merakı da açıkça görülür. Balık kemiği, kavkı, çeşitli hayvan kemiği, diş ve kabuklarından yapılan süs eşyalarının Üst Paleolitikte insanlar tarafından kullanıldığı bilinmektedir. Ayrıca bu devirde artık insanlar ölülerini sistemli bir biçimde gömmeye başlamışlardır. Anadolu Paleolitikine günümüze değin yapılan kazı ve yüzey araştırmalarının ışığında bakıldığında, yeterince araştırılmamış olmasına karşın, Alt, Orta, Üst Paleolitik dönemlere ait taş ve kemik endüstri, fauna, flora ve insan kalıntıları ile sanat yapıtlarının ele geçmiş olması, Anadolunun ne denli yoğun bir biçimde iskan edildiğini açık bir şekilde ortaya koymaktadır. Bugünkü bilgilerin ışığında,Anadolu Paleolitik Çağın tüm evrelerini, stratigrafik süreklilik içinde veren tek mağara Karaindir. Antalyanın 30 km. kuzeybatısında yer alan bu merkez; Alt, Orta ve Üst Paleolitik evrelere ilişkin çeşitli "oturma tabanları" vermektedir. Sözü edilen evrelere ait çok sayıda yontma taş ve kemik aletin yanısıra, taşınabilir sanat eserleri, Homo Neanderthal ve Homo Sapienslere ait diş ve kemik kalıntıları, yine çok sayıda yanmış ve yanmamış kemik kalıntıları da vermiştir.
Karain Mağarası, buluntularıyla, yalnız Anadoluda değil, aynı zamanda Yakın Doğu Paleolitiği için de büyük önem taşımaktadır. Anadolu Paleolitikindeki en büyük boşluk, salt yaşlandırmanın henüz yapılamamış olmasından kaynaklanmaktadır. Bununla birlikte, son yıllarda Aşağı Fırat Havzasında yapılmış olan kazı ve sistemli yüzey araştırmaları ile Karain ve Yarımburgaz mağaralarında yeniden başlatılan kazılarda elde edilen buluntular üzerinde sürdürülmekte olan incelemeler, Anadolu Paleolitikinin henüz çözümlenmemiş olan stratigrafik ve kronolojik sorunlarına çözüm aramaya yöneltilmiş bulunmaktadır. Yontma Taş Çağı eserlerinin en güzel örnekleri Güney Anadolu sahillerinde, Antalya civarında yer alan Karain Mağarası buluntularıdır. Burada yaklaşık 10,5 metre kalınlığındaki dolgu malzemesi içinde Yontma Taş Çağının bütün evrelerine ait kültür tabakaları ortaya çıkarılmıştır. Bu tabakalar içerisinde çeşitli taşlardan yapılmış aletler arasında el baltaları, kazıyıcılar, uçlar ele geçirilmiştir. Kemikten yapılmış aletlerden bızlar, iğneler, süs eşyası gibi kalıntılar da bulunan eserler arasındadır.
Dış bağlantılar
Dönemler
Türkiyede Paleolitik Çağ Arkeolojisi
Arkeo Atlas, 2007
Ekrem Akurgal (2002). Ancient Civilisations and Ruins of Turkey Londra:Kegan Paul. ISBN 978-0-7103-0776-7. (İngilizce)
Kategori: Eski Taş Çağı
قس اردو
پالیولِتھِک (انگریزی: Paleolithic) یا قدیم سنگی یا قدیم زمانہ پتھر، زمانہ قدیم جب تاریخ لکھنے کا رواج (prehistoric) نہ تھا کے اس دور کو کہتے ہیں جب انسان نے پتھر سے اوزار بنانے سیکھ لیے تھے۔ یہ دور زمین پر بنی نوع انسان کے ادوار میں سے لمبا ترین دور تصور کیا جاتا ہے، جو شاید پچیس لاکھ سال پہلے سے (جب انسان نے پتھر سے اوزار بنا کر انکو اپنی ضرورت کے لیے استعمال کرنا سیکھا) سے لے کر دس ہزار قبل مسیح (جب انسان نے زراعت کے ذریعے اپنی ضروریات پوری کرنا سیکھا) تک پھیلا ہوا ہے۔
پالیولیتھک یا قدیم پتھر کا زمانہ کے لیے یہ اصطلاح جوہن لوبک نے 1865ء میں استعمال کی جو دو یونانی الفاظ پالیوس ("παλαιός", "paleos") یعنی قدیم یا بوڑھا اور لتھوس ("λίθος", "lithos") یعنی پتھر کے مجموعہ سے بنا ہے۔ پالیولیتھک عہد میزولتھک عہد کے آغاز سے ختم ہوتا ہے۔
گرچہ اس عہد کو پتھر کے اوزاروں کی تیاری اور استعمال سے تعبیر کیا جاتا ہے تاہم اس وقت انسان سے ہڈیوں، چمڑے اور لکڑی کے اوزاروں کا استعمال بھی سیکھ لیا تھا، لیکن انکی نامیاتی خصوصیات کے پیش نظر آج انکے آثار نہیں ملتے، لیکن پتھر کے اوزاروں کے آثار آج بھی موجود ہیں۔
زمرہ جات: انگریزی اصطلاحاتیونانی اصطلاحاتغیر اردو لسانی اصطلاحاتقدیم تاریخی ادوارقدیم زمانہ پتھر
قس انگلیسی
The Paleolithic (also spelt Palaeolithic or Palæolithic) Age, Era or Period, is a prehistoric period of human history distinguished by the development of the most primitive stone tools discovered (Modes I and II), 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 hunting or scavenging wild animals. 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; however, due to their nature, these have not been preserved to any great degree. 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 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.
The term "Paleolithic" was coined by archaeologist John Lubbock in 1865. It derives from Greek: παλαιός, palaios, "old"; and λίθος, lithos, "stone", literally meaning "old age of the stone" or "Old Stone Age."
One rich source of Paleothic artifacts has been the Euphrates river valley. Excavations started in the 1960s, when the Turkish government built the Keban dam on the river. The Keban historical salvage project was organized by Kemal Kurdas, then rector of Middle East Technical University, and a team of Turkish, American and Dutch archeologists led by Maurits van Loon excavated. Later more dams were built and salvage operations took place, unearthing settlements going back to the Paleolithic.
Contents
Human evolution
This cranium, of Homo heidelbergensis, a Lower Paleolithic predecessor to Homo neanderthalensis and possibly Homo sapiens, dates to sometime between 500,000 to 400,000 BP.
Main article: Human evolution
Human evolution is the part of biological evolution concerning the emergence of humans as a distinct species.
Paleogeography and climate
Main articles: Pleistocene#Paleogeography and climate, Pliocene_climate, and Pliocene#Paleogeography
The Paleolithic climate consisted of a set of glacial and interglacial periods.
The climate of the Paleolithic Period spanned two geologic epochs known as the Pliocene and the Pleistocene. Both of these epochs experienced important geographic and climatic changes that affected human societies.
During the Pliocene, continents continued to drift from possibly as far as 250 km from their present locations to positions only 70 km from their current location. South America became linked to North America through the Isthmus of Panama, bringing a nearly complete end to South Americas distinctive marsupial fauna. The formation of the Isthmus had major consequences on global temperatures, because warm equatorial ocean currents were cut off, and the cold Arctic and Antarctic waters lowered temperatures in the now-isolated Atlantic Ocean. Central America formed completely during the Pliocene, allowing fauna from North and South America to leave their native habitats and colonize new areas. Africas collision with Asia created the Mediterranean Sea, cutting off the remnants of the Tethys Ocean. During the Pleistocene, the modern continents were essentially at their present positions; the tectonic plates on which they sit have probably moved at most 100 km from each other since the beginning of the period.
Climates during the Pliocene became cooler and drier, and seasonal, similar to modern climates. Ice sheets grew on Antarctica. The formation of an Arctic ice cap around 3 Ma is signaled by an abrupt shift in oxygen isotope ratios and ice-rafted cobbles in the North Atlantic and North Pacific ocean beds. Mid-latitude glaciation probably began before the end of the epoch. The global cooling that occurred during the Pliocene may have spurred on the disappearance of forests and the spread of grasslands and savannas.
The Pleistocene climate was characterized by repeated glacial cycles during which continental glaciers pushed to the 40th parallel in some places. Four major glacial events have been identified, as well as many minor intervening events. A major event is a general glacial excursion, termed a "glacial". Glacials are separated by "interglacials". During a glacial, the glacier experiences minor advances and retreats. The minor excursion is a "stadial"; times between stadials are "interstadials". Each glacial advance tied up huge volumes of water in continental ice sheets 1500–3000 m deep, resulting in temporary sea level drops of 100 m or more over the entire surface of the Earth. During interglacial times, such as at present, drowned coastlines were common, mitigated by isostatic or other emergent motion of some regions.
Many great mammals such as wooly mammoths, wooly rhinoceros, and cave lions inhabited places like Siberia during the Pleistocene.
Paleoindians hunting a glyptodont. Glyptodonts were hunted to extinction within 2 millennia after humans arrival to South America.
The effects of glaciation were global. Antarctica was ice-bound throughout the Pleistocene and the preceding Pliocene. The Andes were covered in the south by the Patagonian ice cap. There were glaciers in New Zealand and Tasmania. The now decaying glaciers of Mount Kenya, Mount Kilimanjaro, and the Ruwenzori Range in east and central Africa were larger. Glaciers existed in the mountains of Ethiopia and to the west in the Atlas mountains. In the northern hemisphere, many glaciers fused into one. The Cordilleran ice sheet covered the North American northwest; the Laurentide covered the east. The Fenno-Scandian ice sheet covered northern Europe, including Great Britain; the Alpine ice sheet covered the Alps. Scattered domes stretched across Siberia and the Arctic shelf. The northern seas were frozen. During the late Upper Paleolithic (Latest Pleistocene) c. 18,000 BP, the Beringa land bridge between Asia and North America was blocked by ice, which may have prevented early Paleo-Indians such as the Clovis culture from directly crossing Beringa to reach the Americas.
According to Mark Lynas (through collected data), the Pleistocenes overall climate could be characterized as a continuous El Niño with trade winds in the south Pacific weakening or heading east, warm air rising near Peru, warm water spreading from the west Pacific and the Indian Ocean to the east Pacific, and other El Niño markers.
The ice age ended with the end of the Paleolithic era (the end of the Pleistocene epoch), and Earths climate became warmer. This may have caused or contributed to the extinction of the Pleistocene megafauna, although it is also possible that the late Pleistocene extinctions were (at least in part) caused by other factors such as disease and over hunting by humans. New research suggests that the extinction of the woolly mammoth may have been caused by the combined effect of climatic change and human hunting. Scientists suggest that climate change during the end of the Pleistocene caused the mammoths habitat to shrink in size, resulting in a drop in population. The small populations were then hunted out by Paleolithic humans. The global warming that occurred during the end of the Pleistocene and the beginning of the Holocene may have made it easier for humans to reach mammoth habitats that were previously frozen and inaccessible. Small populations of wooly mammoths survived on isolated Arctic islands, Saint Paul Island and Wrangel Island, till circa 3700 and 1700 BCE respectively. The Wrangel Island population went extinct around the same time the island was settled by prehistoric humans. Theres no evidence of prehistoric human presence on Saint Paul island (though early human settlements dating as far back as 6500 BCE were found on nearby Aleutian Islands).
Currently agreed upon classifications as Paleolithic geoclimatic episodes
Age
(before) America Atlantic Europe Maghreb Mediterranean Europe Central Europe
10,000 years Flandrian interglacial Flandriense Mellahiense Versiliense Flandrian interglacial
80,000 years Wisconsin Devensiense Regresión Regresión Wisconsin Stage
140,000 years Sangamoniense Ipswichiense Ouljiense Tirreniense II y III Eemian Stage
200,000 years Illinois Wolstoniense Regresión Regresión Wolstonian Stage
450,000 years Yarmouthiense Hoxniense Anfatiense Tirreniense I Hoxnian Stage
580,000 years Kansas Angliense Regresión Regresión Kansan Stage
750,000 years Aftoniense Cromeriense Maarifiense Siciliense Cromerian Complex
1,100,000 years Nebraska Beestoniense Regresión Regresión Beestonian stage
1,400,000 years interglaciar Ludhamiense Messaudiense Calabriense Donau-Günz
Human way of life
An artists rendering of a temporary wood house, based on evidence found at Terra Amata (in Nice, France) and dated to the Lower Paleolithic (c. 400,000 BP)
Due to a lack of written records from this time period, nearly all of our knowledge of Paleolithic human culture and way of life comes from archaeology and ethnographic comparisons to modern hunter-gatherer cultures such as the Kung San who live similarly to their Paleolithic predecessors. The economy of a typical Paleolithic society was a hunter-gatherer economy. Humans hunted wild animals for meat and gathered food, firewood, and materials for their tools, clothes, or shelters. Human population density was very low, around only one person per square mile. This was most likely due to low body fat, infanticide, women regularly engaging in intense endurance exercise, late weaning of infants and a nomadic lifestyle. Like contemporary hunter-gatherers, Paleolithic humans enjoyed an abundance of leisure time unparalleled in both Neolithic farming societies and modern industrial societies. At the end of the Paleolithic, specifically the Middle and or Upper Paleolithic, humans began to produce works of art such as cave paintings, rock art and jewellery and began to engage in religious behavior such as burial and ritual.
Technology
Two Lower Paleolithic bifaces
Stone ball from a set of Paleolithic bolas
Paleolithic humans made tools of stone, bone, and wood. The earliest Paleolithic stone tool industry, the Olduwan, was developed by the earliest members of the genus Homo such as Homo habilis, around 2.6 million years ago. It contained tools such as choppers, burins and awls. It was completely replaced around 250,000 years ago by the more complex Acheulean industry, which was first conceived by Homo ergaster around 1.8 or 1.65 million years ago. The most recent Lower Paleolithic (Acheulean) implements completely vanished from the archeological record around 100,000 years ago and were replaced by more complex Middle Paleolithic/Middle Stone Age tool kits such as the Mousterian and the Aterian industries.
Lower Paleolithic humans used a variety of stone tools, including hand axes and choppers. Although they appear to have used hand axes often, there is disagreement about their use. Interpretations range from cutting and chopping tools, to digging implements, flake cores, the use in traps and a purely ritual significance, maybe in courting behavior. William H. Calvin has suggested that some hand axes could have served as "killer Frisbees" meant to be thrown at a herd of animals at a water hole so as to stun one of them. There are no indications of hafting, and some artifacts are far too large for that. Thus, a thrown hand axe would not usually have penetrated deeply enough to cause very serious injuries. Nevertheless, it could have been an effective weapon for defense against predators. Choppers and scrapers were likely used for skinning and butchering scavenged animals and sharp ended sticks were often obtained for digging up edible roots. Presumably, early humans used wooden spears as early as 5 million years ago to hunt small animals, much as their relatives, chimpanzees, have been observed to do in Senegal, Africa. Lower Paleolithic humans constructed shelters such as the possible wood hut at Terra Amata.
Fire was used by the Lower Paleolithic hominid Homo erectus/Homo ergaster as early as 300,000 or 1.5 million years ago and possibly even earlier by the early Lower Paleolithic (Oldowan) hominid Homo habilis and/or by robust australopithecines such as Paranthropus. However, the use of fire only became common in the societies of the following Middle Stone Age/Middle Paleolithic Period. Use of fire reduced mortality rates and provided protection against predators. Early hominids may have begun to cook their food as early as the Lower Paleolithic (c. 1.9 million years ago) or at the latest in the early Middle Paleolithic (c. 250,000 years ago). Some scientists have hypothesized that Hominids began cooking food to defrost frozen meat, which would help ensure their survival in cold regions.
The Lower Paleolithic hominid Homo erectus possibly invented rafts (c. 800,000 or 840,000 BP) to travel over large bodies of water, which may have allowed a group of Homo erectus to reach the island of Flores and evolve into the small hominid Homo floresiensis. However, this hypothesis is disputed within the anthropological community. The possible use of rafts during the Lower Paleolithic may indicate that Lower Paleolithic Hominids such as Homo erectus were more advanced than previously believed, and may have even spoken an early form of modern language. Supplementary evidence from Neanderthal and Modern human sites located around the Mediterranean Sea such as Coa de sa Multa (c. 300,000 BP) has also indicated that both Middle and Upper Paleolithic humans used rafts to travel over large bodies of water (i.e. the Mediterranean Sea) for the purpose of colonizing other bodies of land.
Around 200,000 BP, Middle Paleolithic Stone tool manufacturing spawned a tool making technique known as the prepared-core technique, that was more elaborate than previous Acheulean techniques. This technique increased efficiency by allowing the creation of more controlled and consistent flakes. It allowed Middle Paleolithic humans to create stone tipped spears, which were the earliest composite tools, by hafting sharp, pointy stone fl
An artists rendering of a temporary wood house, based on evidence found at Terra Amata (in Nice, France) and dated to the Lower Paleolithic (c. 400,000 BP)
Due to a lack of written records from this time period, nearly all of our knowledge of Paleolithic human culture and way of life comes from archaeology and ethnographic comparisons to modern hunter-gatherer cultures such as the Kung San who live similarly to their Paleolithic predecessors. The economy of a typical Paleolithic society was a hunter-gatherer economy. Humans hunted wild animals for meat and gathered food, firewood, and materials for their tools, clothes, or shelters. Human population density was very low, around only one person per square mile. This was most likely due to low body fat, infanticide, women regularly engaging in intense endurance exercise, late weaning of infants and a nomadic lifestyle. Like contemporary hunter-gatherers, Paleolithic humans enjoyed an abundance of leisure time unparalleled in both Neolithic farming societies and modern industrial societies. At the end of the Paleolithic, specifically the Middle and or Upper Paleolithic, humans began to produce works of art such as cave paintings, rock art and jewellery and began to engage in religious behavior such as burial and ritual.
Technology
Two Lower Paleolithic bifaces
Stone ball from a set of Paleolithic bolas
Paleolithic humans made tools of stone, bone, and wood. The earliest Paleolithic stone tool industry, the Olduwan, was developed by the earliest members of the genus Homo such as Homo habilis, around 2.6 million years ago. It contained tools such as choppers, burins and awls. It was completely replaced around 250,000 years ago by the more complex Acheulean industry, which was first conceived by Homo ergaster around 1.8 or 1.65 million years ago. The most recent Lower Paleolithic (Acheulean) implements completely vanished from the archeological record around 100,000 years ago and were replaced by more complex Middle Paleolithic/Middle Stone Age tool kits such as the Mousterian and the Aterian industries.
Lower Paleolithic humans used a variety of stone tools, including hand axes and choppers. Although they appear to have used hand axes often, there is disagreement about their use. Interpretations range from cutting and chopping tools, to digging implements, flake cores, the use in traps and a purely ritual significance, maybe in courting behavior. William H. Calvin has suggested that some hand axes could have served as akes onto wooden shafts. In addition to improving tool making methods, the Middle Paleolithic also saw an improvement of the tools themselves that allowed access to a wider variety and amount of food sources. For example microliths or small stone tools or points were invented around 70,000 or 65,000 BP and were essential to the invention of bows and spear throwers in the following Upper Paleolithic period. Harpoons were invented and used for the first time during the late Middle Paleolithic (c.90,000 years ago); the invention of these devices brought fish into the human diets, which provided a hedge against starvation and a more abundant food supply. Thanks to their technology and their advanced social structures, Paleolithic groups such as the Neanderthals who had a Middle Paleolithic level of technology, appear to have hunted large game just as well as Upper Paleolithic modern humans and the Neanderthals in particular may have likewise hunted with projectile weapons. Nonetheless, Neanderthal use of projectile weapons in hunting occurred very rarely (or perhaps never) and the Neanderthals hunted large game animals mostly by ambushing them and attacking them with mêlée weapons such as thrusting spears rather than attacking them from a distance with projectile weapons.
During the Upper Paleolithic, further inventions were made, such as the net (c. 22,000 or 29,000 BP) bolas, the spear thrower (c.30,000 BP), the bow and arrow (c. 25,000 or 30,000 BP) and the oldest example of ceramic art, the Venus of Dolní Věstonice (c. 29,000–25,000 BCE). Early dogs were domesticated, sometime between 30,000 BP and 14,000 BP, presumably to aid in hunting. However, the earliest instances of successful domestication of dogs may be much more ancient than this. Evidence from canine DNA collected by Robert K. Wayne suggests that dogs may have been first domesticated in the late Middle Paleolithic around 100,000 BP or perhaps even earlier. Archeological evidence from the Dordogne region of France demonstrates that members of the European early Upper Paleolithic culture known as the Aurignacian used calendars (c. 30,000 BP). This was a lunar calendar that was used to document the phases of the moon. Genuine solar calendars did not appear until the following Neolithic period. Upper Paleolithic cultures were probably able to time the migration of game animals such as wild horses and deer. This ability allowed humans to become efficient hunters and to exploit a wide variety of game animals. Recent research indicates that the Neanderthals timed their hunts and the migrations of game animals long before the beginning of the Upper Paleolithic.
Social organization
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Humans may have taken part in long-distance trade between bands for rare commodities and raw materials (such as stone needed for making tools) as early as 120,000 years ago in Middle Paleolithic.
The social organization of the earliest Paleolithic (Lower Paleolithic) societies remains largely unknown to scientists, though Lower Paleolithic hominids such as Homo habilis and Homo erectus are likely to have had more complex social structures than chimpanzee societies. Late Oldowan/Early Acheulean humans such as Homo ergaster/Homo erectus may have been the first people to invent central campsites or home bases and incorporate them into their foraging and hunting strategies like contemporary hunter-gatherers, possibly as early as 1.7 million years ago; however, the earliest solid evidence for the existence of home bases or central campsites (hearths and shelters) among humans only dates back to 500,000 years ago.
Similarly, scientists disagree whether Lower Paleolithic humans were largely monogamous or polygamous. In particular, the Provisional model suggests that bipedalism arose in Pre Paleolithic australopithecine societies as an adaptation to monogamous lifestyles; however, other researchers note that sexual dimorphism is more pronounced in Lower Paleolithic humans such as Homo erectus than in Modern humans, who are less polygamous than other primates, which suggests that Lower Paleolithic humans had a largely polygamous lifestyle, because species that have the most pronounced sexual dimorphism tend more likely to be polygamous.
Human 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.
Middle Paleolithic societies, unlike Lower Paleolithic and early Neolithic ones, consisted of bands that ranged from 20 to 30 or 25 to 100 members and were usually nomadic. These bands were formed by several families. Bands sometimes joined together into larger "macrobands" for activities such as acquiring mates and celebrations or where resources were abundant. By the end of the Paleolithic era, about 10,000 BP people began to settle down into permanent locations, and began to rely on agriculture for sustenance in many locations. Much evidence exists that humans took part in long-distance trade between bands for rare commodities (such as ochre, which was often used for religious purposes such as ritual) and raw materials, as early as 120,000 years ago in Middle Paleolithic. Inter-band trade may have appeared during the Middle Paleolithic because trade between bands would have helped ensure their survival by allowing them to exchange resources and commodities such as raw materials during times of relative scarcity (i.e. famine, drought). Like in modern hunter-gatherer societies, individuals in Paleolithic societies may have been subordinate to the band as a whole. Both Neanderthals and modern humans took care of the elderly members of their societies during the Middle and Upper Paleolithic.
Some sources claim that most Middle and Upper Paleolithic societies were possibly fundamentally egalitarian and may have rarely or never engaged in organized violence between groups (i.e. war). Some Upper Paleolithic societies in resource-rich environments (such as societies in Sungir, in what is now Russia) may have had more complex and hierarchical organization (such as tribes with a pronounced hierarchy and a somewhat formal division of labor) and may have engaged in endemic warfare. Some argue that there was no formal leadership during the Middle and Upper Paleolithic. Like contemporary egalitarian hunter-gatherers such as the Mbuti pygmies, societies may have made decisions by communal consensus decision making rather than by appointing permanent rulers such as chiefs and monarchs. Nor was there a formal division of labor during the Paleolithic. Each member of the group was skilled at all tasks essential to survival, regardless of individual abilities. Theories to explain the apparent egalitarianism have arisen, notably the Marxist concept of primitive communism. Christopher Boehm (1999) has hypothesized that egalitarianism may have evolved in Paleolithic societies because of a need to distribute resources such as food and meat equally to avoid famine and ensure a stable food supply. Raymond C. Kelly speculates that the relative peacefulness of Middle and Upper Paleolithic societies resulted from a low population density, cooperative relationships between groups such as reciprocal exchange of commodities and collaboration on hunting expeditions, and because the invention of projectile weapons such as throwing spears provided less incentive for war, because they increased the damage done to the attacker and decreased the relative amount of territory attackers could gain. However, other sources claim that most Paleolithic groups may have been larger, more complex, sedentary and warlike than most contemporary hunter-gatherer societies, due to occupying more resource-abundant areas than most modern hunter-gatherers who have been pushed into more marginal habitats by agricultural societies.
Anthropologists 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. However, analogies to existent hunter-gatherer societies such as the Hadza people and the Australian aborigines suggest that the sexual division of labor in the Paleolithic was relatively flexible. Men may have participated in gathering plants, firewood and insects, and women may have procured small game animals for consumption and assisted men in driving herds of large game animals (such as woolly mammoths and deer) off cliffs. Additionally, recent research by anthropologist and archaeologist Steven Kuhn from the University of Arizona is argued to support that this division of labor did not exist prior to the Upper Paleolithic and was invented relatively recently in human pre-history. Sexual division of labor may have been developed to allow humans to acquire food and other resources more efficiently. Possibly there was approximate parity between men and women during the Middle and Upper Paleolithic, and that period may have been the most gender-equal time in human history. Archeological evidence from art and funerary rituals indicates that a number of individual women enjoyed seemingly high status in their communities, and it is likely that both sexes participated in decision making. The earliest known Paleolithic shaman (c. 30,000 BP) was female. Jared Diamond suggests that the status of women declined with the adoption of agriculture because women in farming societies typically have more pregnancies and are expected to do more demanding work than women in hunter-gatherer societies. Like most contemporary hunter-gatherer societies, Paleolithic and the Mesolithic groups probably followed mostly matrilineal and ambilineal descent patterns; patrilineal descent patterns were probably rarer than in the following Neolithic period.
Art and music
The Venus of Willendorf is one of the most famous Venus figurines.
Early examples of artistic expression, such as the Venus of Tan-Tan and the patterns found on elephant bones from Bilzingsleben in Thuringia, may have been produced by Acheulean tool users such as Homo erectus prior to the start of the Middle Paleolithic period. However, the earliest undisputed evidence of art during the Paleolithic period comes from Middle Paleolithic/Middle Stone Age sites such as Blombos Cave in the form of bracelets, beads, rock art, and ochre used as body paint and perhaps in ritual. Undisputed evidence of art only becomes common in the following Upper Paleolithic period.
According to Robert G. Bednarik, Lower Paleolithic Acheulean tool users began to engage in symbolic behavior such as art around 850,000 BP and decorated themselves with beads and collected exotic stones for aesthetic rather than utilitarian qualities. According to Bednarik, traces of the pigment ochre from late Lower Paleolithic Acheulean archeological sites suggests that Acheulean societies, like later Upper Paleolithic societies, collected and used ochre to create rock art. Nevertheless, it is also possible that the ochre traces found at Lower Paleolithic sites is naturally occurring.
Vincent W. Fallio interprets Lower and Middle Paleolithic marking on rocks at sites such as Bilzingsleben (such as zig zagging lines) as accounts or representation of altered states of consciousness though some other scholars interpret them as either simple doodling or as the result of natural processes.
Upper Paleolithic humans produced works of art such as cave paintings, Venus figurines, animal carvings and rock paintings. Upper Paleolithic art can be divided into two broad categories: figurative art such as cave paintings that clearly depicts animals (or more rarely humans); and nonfigurative, which consists of shapes and symbols. Cave paintings have been interpreted in a number of ways by modern archeologists. The earliest explanation, by the prehistorian Abbe Breuil, interpreted the paintings as a form of magic designed to ensure a successful hunt. However, this hypothesis fails to explain the existence of animals such as saber-toothed cats and lions, which were not hunted for food, and the existence of half-human, half-animal beings in cave paintings. The anthropologist David Lewis-Williams has suggested that Paleolithic cave paintings were indications of shamanistic practices, because the paintings of half-human, half-animal paintings and the remoteness of the caves are reminiscent of modern hunter-gatherer shamanistic practices. Symbol-like images are more common in Paleolithic cave paintings than are depictions of animals or humans, and unique symbolic patterns might have been trademarks that represent different Upper Paleolithic ethnic groups. Venus figurines have evoked similar controversy. Archeologists and anthropologists have described the figurines as representations of goddesses, pornographic imagery, apotropaic amulets used for sympathetic magic, and even as self-portraits of women themselves.
R. Dale Guthrie has studied not only the most artistic and publicized paintings, but also a variety of lower-quality art and figurines, and he identifies a wide range of skill and ages among the artists. He also points out that the main themes in the paintings and other artifacts (powerful beasts, risky hunting scenes and the over-sexual representation of women) are to be expected in the fantasies of adolescent males during the Upper Paleolithic.
The Venus figurines have sometimes been interpreted as representing a mother goddess; the abundance of such female imagery has led some to believe that Upper Paleolithic (and later Neolithic) societies had a female-centered religion and a female-dominated society. For example, this was proposed by the archeologist Marija Gimbutas and the feminist scholar Merlin Stone who was the author of the 1978 book When God Was a Woman. Various other explanations for the purpose of the figurines have been proposed, such as Catherine McCoid and LeRoy McDermott’s hypothesis that the figurines were created as self portraits of actual women and R.Dale Gutries hypothesis that the venus figurines represented a kind of "stone age pornography".
The origins of music during the Paleolithic are unknown, since the earliest forms of music probably did not use musical instruments but instead used the human voice and or natural objects such as rocks, which leave no trace in the archaeological record. However, the anthropological and archeological designation suggests that human music first arose when language, art and other modern behaviors developed in the Middle or the Upper Paleolithic period. Music may have developed from rhythmic sounds produced by daily activities such as cracking nuts by hitting them with stones, because maintaining a rhythm while working may have helped people to become more efficient at daily activities. An alternative theory originally proposed by Charles Darwin explains that music may have begun as a hominid mating strategy as many birds and some other animals produce music like calls to attract mates. This hypothesis is generally less accepted than the previous hypothesis, but it nonetheless provides a possible alternative. Another explanation is that humans began to make music simply because of the pleasure it produced.
Upper Paleolithic (and possibly Middle Paleolithic) humans used flute-like bone pipes as musical instruments, and music may have played a large role in the religious lives of Upper Paleolithic hunter-gatherers. Like in modern hunter-gatherer societies, music may have been used in ritual or to help induce trances. In particular, it appears that animal skin drums may have been used in religious events by Upper Paleolithic shamans, as shown by the remains of drum-like instruments from some Upper Paleolithic graves of shamans and the ethnographic record of contemporary hunter-gatherer shamanic and ritual practices.
Religion and beliefs
Main article: Paleolithic Religion
Picture of a half-human, half-animal being in a Paleolithic cave painting in Dordogne. France. Archeologists believe that cave paintings of half-human, half-animal beings may be evidence for early shamanic practices during the Paleolithic.
The established anthropological view is that it is more probable that humankind first developed religious and spiritual beliefs during the Middle Paleolithic or Upper Paleolithic. Controversial scholars of prehistoric religion and anthropology, James Harrod and Vincent W. Fallio, have recently proposed that religion and spirituality (and art) may have first arisen in Pre-Paleolithic chimpanzees or Early Lower Paleolithic (Oldowan) societies. According to Fallio, the common ancestor of chimpanzees and humans experienced altered states of consciousness and partook in ritual, and ritual was used in their societies to strengthen social bonding and group cohesion.
Middle Paleolithic humans use of burials at sites such as Krapina, Croatia (c. 130,000 BP) and Qafzeh, Israel (c. 100,000 BP) have led some anthropologists and archeologists, such as Philip Lieberman, to believe that Middle Paleolithic humans may have possessed a belief in an afterlife and a "concern for the dead that transcends daily life". Cut marks on Neanderthal bones from various sites, such as Combe-Grenal and Abri Moula in France, suggest that the Neanderthals like some contemporary human cultures may have practiced ritual defleshing for (presumably) religious reasons. According to recent archeological findings from H. heidelbergensis sites in Atapuerca, humans may have begun burying their dead much earlier, during the late Lower Paleolithic; but this theory is widely questioned in the scientific community.
Likewise, some scientists have proposed that Middle Paleolithic societies such as Neanderthal societies may also have practiced the earliest form of totemism or animal worship, in addition to their (presumably religious) burial of the dead. In particular, Emil Bächler suggested (based on archeological evidence from Middle Paleolithic caves) that a bear cult was widespread among Middle Paleolithic Neanderthals. A claim that evidence was found for Middle Paleolithic animal worship c 70,000 BCE originates from the Tsodilo Hills in the African Kalahari desert has been denied by the original investigators of the site. Animal cults in the following Upper Paleolithic period, such as the bear cult, may have had their origins in these hypothetical Middle Paleolithic animal cults. Animal worship during the Upper Paleolithic was intertwined with hunting rites. For instance, archeological evidence from art and bear remains reveals that the bear cult apparently involved a type of sacrificial bear ceremonialism, in which a bear was sliced with arrows, finished off by a blast in the lungs, and ritualistically worshipped near a clay bear statue covered by a bear fur with the skull and the body of the bear buried separately. Barbara Ehrenreich controversially theorizes that the sacrificial hunting rites of the Upper Paleolithic (and by extension Paleolithic cooperative big-game hunting) gave rise to war or warlike raiding during the following Epi-Paleolithic/Mesolithic or late Upper Paleolithic period.
The existence of anthropomorphic images and half-human, half-animal images in the Upper Paleolithic period may further indicate that Upper Paleolithic humans were the first people to believe in a pantheon of gods or supernatural beings, though such images may instead indicate shamanistic practices similar to those of contemporary tribal societies. The earliest known undisputed burial of a shaman (and by extension the earliest undisputed evidence of shamans and shamanic practices) dates back to the early Upper Paleolithic era (c. 30,000 BP) in what is now the Czech Republic. However, during the early Upper Paleolithic it was probably more common for all members of the band to participate equally and fully in religious ceremonies, in contrast to the religious traditions of later periods when religious authorities and part-time ritual specialists such as shamans, priests and medicine men were relatively common and integral to religious life. Additionally, it is also possible that Upper Paleolithic religions, like contemporary and historical animistic and polytheistic religions, believed in the existence of a single creator deity in addition to other supernatural beings such as animistic spirits.
Vincent W. Fallio writes that ancesto
paleolithic, paleolith
العصر الحجري القديم
الات سنگی نتراشیده عصر حجر قدیم
پارینه‌سنگی یا پالئولیتیک، ریشهٔ یونانی دارد و از (Paleo) به معنی پارینه یا قدیمی و (Litoth) به معنی سنگ گرفته شده‌است. این دوره، ابتدایی‌ترین و طولانی‌ترین مرحله زندگی انسان است (در واقع ۹۹% آن را پوشش می‌دهد)واز حدود دو میلیون و هشتصدوپنجاه هزار سال پیش تا ده هزار سال قبل توسعه یافته‌است. در این دوره روندفرگشت فکری، جسمی، فرهنگی و تکنولوژیکی انسان شکل می‌گیرد. اولین ابزارها به دست گونه‌های نخستین انسانی به وسیله سنگ در این دوره ساخته می‌شود. مکان آن نیز شرق آفریقا در اتیوپی، کنیا، تانزانیا به ویژه ناحیه الدوایی(Olduvai) و در آسیا اندونزی است.
این دوران خود به سه زیر دوره تقسیم می‌گردد:
دوره پارینه‌سنگی زیرین یا قدیم (Lower or Old Paleolithic) که ازحدود دو میلیون و پانصد هزار سال پیش شروع و تا یکصد هزار سال قبل ادامه پیدا می‌کند. در این دوره ابتدا گونهٔ انسانی آسترالوپیته‌کوس (Australopithecus) در دو زیر گونه روبوستوس (Robustus) و آفریکانوس (Africanus) پدیدار می‌شود. گونه آفریکانوس با توجه به توانایی در ساخت ابزار انسان ماهر (Homo habilis) نیز نامیده می‌شود که در چاد، جنوب آفریقا و تانزانیا (گاروزی و اولدوای Olduvai) می‌زیسته‌است. ابزار که گونه آفریکانوس ساخته‌است الدوان (Oldowan) نامیده می‌شود؛ چون نخستین بار از ناحیه اولدوای تانزانیا به دست آمده‌است و فقط تبرهای دستی بوده. دومین گونه انسانی که در این دوره پدیدار می‌شود؛ انسان راست‌قامت (Homo erectus) نام دارد. این گونه از یک و نیم میلیون تا پانصد هزار سال پیش می‌زیسته‌است، از آتش استفاده می‌کرده‌است و ابزارساز بوده و ابزارهایی که به کار برده‌است آشولین (Acheulean)؛ و لوالوازین (Levalloasien) نام دارد. انسان جاوه و انسان پکن از مشهورترین گونه‌های هومو اراکتوس هستند.
دوره پارینه‌سنگی میانی (Middle Paleolithic) از حدود یکصد هزار سال قبل شروع و تا چهل هزار سال پیش ادامه داشته‌است. انسان نئاندرتال (Neandertal) در این دوره ظهور می‌کند؛ هر چند که در گذشته گونه مستقلی به شمار می‌آمد، امروزه از زیر گونه‌های انسان هوشمند (Homo sapiens) به شمار می‌آید و هومو ساپینس نئاندرتالنزیس (Homo sapiens neandertalenisis) نامیده می‌شود. در این دوره سنت ابزارسازی موسترین (Mousterien) پدیدار می‌شود که از ابزارهای پیشین پیشرفته‌تر است و شامل تراشه‌های سنگی، رنده‌ها، قلم‌ها، مته‌ها، چاقوهای دسته دار و انواع تبر بوده‌است. در این دوره آیین تدفین وجود داشته‌است. انسان نئاندرتال به همراه متوفی ابزار، گُل و گِل اخرا دفن می‌کرده‌است.
دوره پارینه‌سنگی نوین (Upper Paleolithic) از حدود چهل هزار سال پیش شروع و در هژده هزار سال پیش پایان می‌گیرد. در این دوره انسان نئاندرتال از بین می‌رود و انسان هوشمند هوشمند (Homo sapiens sapiens) که به انسان کرومانیون نیز مشهور است پدیدار می‌گردد. ابزارها شکل تکامل یافته تری پیدا می‌کنند و تخصصی تر می‌شود و سنت ابزار سازی تیغه‌ای یا میکرولیت (Microlith) آغاز می‌شود. سنت ابزار سازی سلوترین (Sloutrean) و بورین(Burin) در اروپا و سنت ابزار سازی برادوستی (Baradousti) در زاگرس و خاور میانه از این جمله‌است.
بعد از دوره پارینه سنگی، دوره میان‌سنگی (Mesolithic) شروع می‌گیرد که دوره فرا پارینه سنگی (Epipaleolithic) نیز نامیده می‌شود. از هژده هزار سال پیش اغاز و تا دوازده هزار سال پیش ادامه داشته‌است..
تقسیم بندی ارائه شده برای هر کدام از این دوره‌ها بر اساس پیشرفت‌هایی است که در نوع ساخت ابزارعای سنگی به وجود آمده‌است.
منابع
Clark, Grahame. World Prehistory in New Perspective, Cambridge University Press, 1977.
Haviland, William. Anthropology, New York; Rinehard and Winston Press, 1985.
عسکری خانقاه، اصفر و محمد شریف کمالی. انسانشناسی عمومی، تهران؛ انتشارات سمت، ۱۳۷۸.
در ویکی‌انبار پرونده‌هایی دربارهٔ پارینه‌سنگی موجود است.
رده‌ها: پارینه سنگی پلیستوسن زمین‌شناسی
قس عربی
العصر الحجری القدیم أو البالیوثی (Palaeolithic) هو أقدم العصور الحجریة وأطولها، بدأ فی العالم (إفریقیا) منذ حوالی 2,300,000 سنة خلت، وانتهى فی حدود 12,000 ق.م. ینقسم العصر الحجری القدیم إلى ثلاثة أطوار: "حقبة العصر الحجری القدیم المبکر" و"حقبة العصر الحجری القدیم الأوسط" و"حقبة العصر الحجری القدیم المتأخر". وهذه الأطوار قُسّمت حسب بعض المصنوعات الیدویة الحجریة الموجودة والمختفیة حالیاً. فحقبة العصر الحجری القدیم المبکر استمرت منذ 2,5 ملیون سنة وحتى 200,000 سنة. وهی تشمل تسجیلات لصناعة الأدوات البشریة. وتسجل التاریخ التطوری لإنسان جنس "هومو" حیث نشأ فی شرق أفریقیا بالوادی المتصدع. وانتشر منها فی أوراسیا. وظهرت صناعاته فی منطقة "أولدفای جورج بشمال تانزانیا" ویطلق علیها المرحلة أولدوانیة (Oldowan). وکانت الصناعات الیدویة الحجریة بسیطة وأولیة. عاش الإنسان فی هذا العصر متنقلاً، معتمداً فی غذائه على الصید وجمع النباتات والثمار، واستخدم بعض الأدوات کالفوؤس الحجریة التی صنع بعضها من حجر الصوان، والتی أصبحت المادة الرئیسیة فی دراسة أحوال (القناصون - الجماعون) من البشر فی العصور السحیقة. وقد کان یوجد فی فجر العصر الحجری نوعان من أسلاف البشر، أحدهما جنس "هومو" والثانی جنس "أسترالوبیثیکس". وخلال العصر الحجری، تولد منهما أنواع جدیدة من البشر آخرها الإنسان العاقل (Homo sapiens) ومنه ینحدر الإنسان الحالی.
المراجع
کتاب التاریخ القدیم للدکتور: فتحى عفیفی استاذ التاریخ القدیم و الحضارة جامعة الازهر.
موسوعة حضارة العالم.
هذه بذرة مقالة عن الجیولوجیا تحتاج للنمو والتحسین، فساهم فی إثرائها بالمشارکة فی تحریرها.
تصنیف: العصر الحجری القدیم
قس ترکی آذری
Paleolit dövrü (yun.παλαιός paleo - qədim və λίθος litos — daş) — ən qədim daş dövrü. Bu termini İngilis bioloqu və arxeoloqu John Lubbock (1834-1913) özünün 1865-ci ildə işıq üzü görmüş "Pre-historic Times" ("Tarixöncəsi zamanlar") adlı kitabında daxil (kəşf) edib.
Bəşər tarixi işlətdikləri əsas alətlərə görə üç dövrə ayrılır: Daş dövrü, Tunc dövrü və Dəmir dövrü. Daş dövr özü də qədim, orta və yaxın daş dövrlərdən ibarətdir; bunlar yunancadan götürülmüş terminlərlə uyğun olaraq paleolit, mezolit və neolit dövrləri adını almışlar.
Paleolit dövrü daş alətlərin hominidlər tərəfindən işlənməsindən (təqribən 2,6-2,5 milyon il əvvəl) əkinçiliyin başlamasına qədər (təqribən 12-10 min il əvvəl) olan dövrü əhatə edir. Bu, bəşəriyyətin mövcud olduğu zamanın 99%-i deməkdir.
Paleolit dövründə insanlar daş alət düzəldir, lakin onu cilalamağı bilmirdilər. İlk primitiv əmək alətləri məhz Paleolit dövründə yaradılıb. Bu dövrdə insanlar bütün alətlərini daşdan, ağacdan və sümükdən hazırlamışlar.
Bu dövrdə insanın əsas məşğuliyyəti ovçuluq və yığıcılıq olmuşdur. Odun kəşf edilməsi çiy yeyilə bilməyən qidaları bişirməyə, qızınmağa, yırtıcı heyvanlardan qorunmağa imkan vermişdir.
Paleolit dövründə insanlar gil qablar (keramika) ilə tanış deyildilər. Bu dövrdə əkinçilik və heyvandarlıq yoxdu. Paleolit dövründə həyatın sosial təşkili haqqında elmin əldə etdiyi nəticələr azdır və aydın deyil.
Mağara və qaya sığınacaqlarının divarlarına çəkilən şəkillər bu dövrün nəzərə çarpan xüsusiyyətlərindəndir.
Paleolit dövrü aşağı paleolit (təqribən 300 min il bundan əvvəl və daha qədim zaman), orta paleolit (təqribən 300 min il əvvəl ilə 30 min il əvvəlin arası) və yuxarı paleolit (təqribən 40 min il əvvəl ilə 10-12 min il əvvəlin arası) olaraq üç hissəyə ayrılır.
Mənbə
Kateqoriyalar: Arxeoloji dövrlərDaş dövrü
قس ترکی استانبولی
Yontma Taş Devri veya bilimsel adıyla Paleolitik Çağ olarak tanımlanan Eski Taş Çağı günümüzden yaklaşık 2 milyon yıl önce başlamış ve 10.000 yıl önce son bulmuştur. Ancak verilen bu tarihlerin dünya geneli içinde geçerli olduğunu ve yerel olarak değişmeye açık bulunduğunu da belirtmek gerekir. İnsanlık tarihinin %99u gibi çok büyük bir bölümünü kapsayan bu çağ, aynı zamanda ilk insan atalarının ortaya çıkışı ve ilk aletlerin üretimi yoluyla insanlaşma sürecine girişi temsil etmesiyle de söz konusu tarihin gelişimi içinde çok önemli bir yer tutmaktadır.
Paleolitik devrideki Levallois yöntemiyle mızrak ucu yapımı (canlandırma).
Doğanın sınırlayıcı ve belirleyici baskısı altında yaşayan Paleolitik Çağ insanları ekonomik açıdan, avcı ve toplayıcı toplulukları temsil ederler. Besin üretmeyi bilmeyen bu insanlar, yalnızca yaşadıkları ortamda bulunan yabani sebze, meyve ve kökler ile avlandıkları hayvanları yiyerek beslenmişlerdir. İklim ve çevre koşullarının değişkenliği nedeniyle, yeni besin kaynakları aramak ve av hayvanlarını izleyerek, küçük gruplar halinde konar-göçer tarzda yaşamışlardır. Kaya sığınaklarının bulunduğu yerlerde mağara ve kayaaltı sığınaklarında barınmışlar, kaya sığınaklarının bulunmadığı yerlerde ise açık havada kurdukları sığınaklarda yaşamışlardır.
Yontma Taş Devrine ait Namibyada bir mağarada bulunan taşlar.
Paleolitik Çağ, karakteristik çizgileri ve kültürleriyle Alt, Orta ve Üst olmak üzere 3 evreye ayrılır. Alt Paleolitik devrin insanları, beyin kapasiteleriyle orantılı olarak kendilerini vahşi hayvanlardan korumak, beslenmek, avlanmak için ve zaman zaman da kendi aralarındaki mücadelelerde kullanmak üzere birtakım basit taş aletler yapmaya başlamışlardır. Genellikle doğanın kendilerine sunduğu taşları, ya daha sert olan başka taşlarla yontarak işlemişler, ya da doğal halde çevrelerinde bulunan ve çok az bir rötuşla alet haline gelebilen parçaları kullanmışlardır. Alt Paleolitik süresince oldukça ılımlı geçen iklim Orta Paleolitikde kurumaya, sertleşmeye ve giderek bol kar yağışıyla belirgin yeni bir buzullaşmaya dönmesi, insanın yaşayışı ve teknolojisinde bir dizi değişiklikler meydana getirmiştir. Bu teknolojik değişikliğin en belirgin yanı, yonga endüstrisinde kendini gösterir. Alt Paleolitikin kaba taş alet (2 yüzeyli) ve yongalarının yerini oldukça düzenli bir şekilde yontulmuş ve kenarlarda yapılan düzeltilerle (rötuş) ve uç kazıyıcı haline sokulmuş işlenik yonga aletler alır. Bu dönemin insanları olan Homo Neanderthallerin, eldeki kısıtlı alet teknolojisi ile mamut, gergedan, geyik gibi büyük hayvanları avlayabilmeleri bu insanların avcılıkta ne kadar ustalaştıklarını ve hayvanları avlayabilmek için birtakım av teknik ve yöntemlerini geliştirdiklerinin bir kanıtıdır.
Yontma Taş Devrine ait bir mağara.
Ayrıca bu evrede, inançlarla ilgili birtakım belirtilerin oraya çıktığı görülüyor. Örneğin tek, ya da çift çukurlar şeklindeki mezarlar ve bunların yanındaki - belki de besin depoları olarak yorumlanabilecek - eklentiler, Neanderthallerin ölü gömme eylemleri hakkında bilgi veren izlerdir. İklimin tekrar hissedilir derecede soğuduğu ve kuru hale geldiği Üst Paleolitik Çağda, Homo Neanderthallerin yerini modern insanın atası sayılan Homo Sapiensler alır. Homo Sapiensler becerili ve aktüel insana daha yakın olan insanlardır. Üst Paleolitikde yontma teknolojisindeki gelişme dikkat çekecek bir düzeyde olup, taş işçiliği en büyük gelişmesine ulaşmıştır. Alt Paleolitikte kısmen de olsa Orta Paleolitikde görülen klasik 2 yüzeylilerin (el baltası) yerini çakmak taşı yonga ve dilgilerin üzerine yapılmış, çeşitli tipteki aletler almıştır. Ön kazıyıcılar taş delgiler, taş kalemler, yaprak biçimli uçlar, mekik aletler bunlardan bazılarıdır. Üst Paleolitikin son evrelerinde ise sırtı devrik dilgiciklerin ortaya çıktığı görülüyor. Taş aletlerin yanısıra kemik ve boynuzdan yapılmış aletlerde ede büyük bir artış gözlenmektedir. Esasen bu evrede taş aletler, büyük bir çoğunlukla kemik aletleri şekillendirmek için yapılmışlardır. Bu ise Üst Paleolitikte artık alet yapan aletlerin üretildiğini göstermektedir.
Yontma Taş Devrine ait bir boynuz.
Üst Paleolitik Çağın önemli gelişmelerinden bri de insanların entellektüel hayatlarıyla ilgili birtakım sanat eserlerini yapmaya başlamalarıdır. Mağara duvarlarına ve çeşitli objeler üzerine yapılan boyalı resim,gravür, alçak kabartmalar ile heykelcikler, Paleolitik sanatın, Sanat Tarihi içinde oynadığı rolü ortaya koyar. Üst Paleolitikte süslenme merakı da açıkça görülür. Balık kemiği, kavkı, çeşitli hayvan kemiği, diş ve kabuklarından yapılan süs eşyalarının Üst Paleolitikte insanlar tarafından kullanıldığı bilinmektedir. Ayrıca bu devirde artık insanlar ölülerini sistemli bir biçimde gömmeye başlamışlardır. Anadolu Paleolitikine günümüze değin yapılan kazı ve yüzey araştırmalarının ışığında bakıldığında, yeterince araştırılmamış olmasına karşın, Alt, Orta, Üst Paleolitik dönemlere ait taş ve kemik endüstri, fauna, flora ve insan kalıntıları ile sanat yapıtlarının ele geçmiş olması, Anadolunun ne denli yoğun bir biçimde iskan edildiğini açık bir şekilde ortaya koymaktadır. Bugünkü bilgilerin ışığında,Anadolu Paleolitik Çağın tüm evrelerini, stratigrafik süreklilik içinde veren tek mağara Karaindir. Antalyanın 30 km. kuzeybatısında yer alan bu merkez; Alt, Orta ve Üst Paleolitik evrelere ilişkin çeşitli "oturma tabanları" vermektedir. Sözü edilen evrelere ait çok sayıda yontma taş ve kemik aletin yanısıra, taşınabilir sanat eserleri, Homo Neanderthal ve Homo Sapienslere ait diş ve kemik kalıntıları, yine çok sayıda yanmış ve yanmamış kemik kalıntıları da vermiştir.
Karain Mağarası, buluntularıyla, yalnız Anadoluda değil, aynı zamanda Yakın Doğu Paleolitiği için de büyük önem taşımaktadır. Anadolu Paleolitikindeki en büyük boşluk, salt yaşlandırmanın henüz yapılamamış olmasından kaynaklanmaktadır. Bununla birlikte, son yıllarda Aşağı Fırat Havzasında yapılmış olan kazı ve sistemli yüzey araştırmaları ile Karain ve Yarımburgaz mağaralarında yeniden başlatılan kazılarda elde edilen buluntular üzerinde sürdürülmekte olan incelemeler, Anadolu Paleolitikinin henüz çözümlenmemiş olan stratigrafik ve kronolojik sorunlarına çözüm aramaya yöneltilmiş bulunmaktadır. Yontma Taş Çağı eserlerinin en güzel örnekleri Güney Anadolu sahillerinde, Antalya civarında yer alan Karain Mağarası buluntularıdır. Burada yaklaşık 10,5 metre kalınlığındaki dolgu malzemesi içinde Yontma Taş Çağının bütün evrelerine ait kültür tabakaları ortaya çıkarılmıştır. Bu tabakalar içerisinde çeşitli taşlardan yapılmış aletler arasında el baltaları, kazıyıcılar, uçlar ele geçirilmiştir. Kemikten yapılmış aletlerden bızlar, iğneler, süs eşyası gibi kalıntılar da bulunan eserler arasındadır.
Dış bağlantılar
Dönemler
Türkiyede Paleolitik Çağ Arkeolojisi
Arkeo Atlas, 2007
Ekrem Akurgal (2002). Ancient Civilisations and Ruins of Turkey Londra:Kegan Paul. ISBN 978-0-7103-0776-7. (İngilizce)
Kategori: Eski Taş Çağı
قس اردو
پالیولِتھِک (انگریزی: Paleolithic) یا قدیم سنگی یا قدیم زمانہ پتھر، زمانہ قدیم جب تاریخ لکھنے کا رواج (prehistoric) نہ تھا کے اس دور کو کہتے ہیں جب انسان نے پتھر سے اوزار بنانے سیکھ لیے تھے۔ یہ دور زمین پر بنی نوع انسان کے ادوار میں سے لمبا ترین دور تصور کیا جاتا ہے، جو شاید پچیس لاکھ سال پہلے سے (جب انسان نے پتھر سے اوزار بنا کر انکو اپنی ضرورت کے لیے استعمال کرنا سیکھا) سے لے کر دس ہزار قبل مسیح (جب انسان نے زراعت کے ذریعے اپنی ضروریات پوری کرنا سیکھا) تک پھیلا ہوا ہے۔
پالیولیتھک یا قدیم پتھر کا زمانہ کے لیے یہ اصطلاح جوہن لوبک نے 1865ء میں استعمال کی جو دو یونانی الفاظ پالیوس ("παλαιός", "paleos") یعنی قدیم یا بوڑھا اور لتھوس ("λίθος", "lithos") یعنی پتھر کے مجموعہ سے بنا ہے۔ پالیولیتھک عہد میزولتھک عہد کے آغاز سے ختم ہوتا ہے۔
گرچہ اس عہد کو پتھر کے اوزاروں کی تیاری اور استعمال سے تعبیر کیا جاتا ہے تاہم اس وقت انسان سے ہڈیوں، چمڑے اور لکڑی کے اوزاروں کا استعمال بھی سیکھ لیا تھا، لیکن انکی نامیاتی خصوصیات کے پیش نظر آج انکے آثار نہیں ملتے، لیکن پتھر کے اوزاروں کے آثار آج بھی موجود ہیں۔
زمرہ جات: انگریزی اصطلاحاتیونانی اصطلاحاتغیر اردو لسانی اصطلاحاتقدیم تاریخی ادوارقدیم زمانہ پتھر
قس انگلیسی
The Paleolithic (also spelt Palaeolithic or Palæolithic) Age, Era or Period, is a prehistoric period of human history distinguished by the development of the most primitive stone tools discovered (Modes I and II), 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 hunting or scavenging wild animals. 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; however, due to their nature, these have not been preserved to any great degree. 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 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.
The term "Paleolithic" was coined by archaeologist John Lubbock in 1865. It derives from Greek: παλαιός, palaios, "old"; and λίθος, lithos, "stone", literally meaning "old age of the stone" or "Old Stone Age."
One rich source of Paleothic artifacts has been the Euphrates river valley. Excavations started in the 1960s, when the Turkish government built the Keban dam on the river. The Keban historical salvage project was organized by Kemal Kurdas, then rector of Middle East Technical University, and a team of Turkish, American and Dutch archeologists led by Maurits van Loon excavated. Later more dams were built and salvage operations took place, unearthing settlements going back to the Paleolithic.
Contents
Human evolution
This cranium, of Homo heidelbergensis, a Lower Paleolithic predecessor to Homo neanderthalensis and possibly Homo sapiens, dates to sometime between 500,000 to 400,000 BP.
Main article: Human evolution
Human evolution is the part of biological evolution concerning the emergence of humans as a distinct species.
Paleogeography and climate
Main articles: Pleistocene#Paleogeography and climate, Pliocene_climate, and Pliocene#Paleogeography
The Paleolithic climate consisted of a set of glacial and interglacial periods.
The climate of the Paleolithic Period spanned two geologic epochs known as the Pliocene and the Pleistocene. Both of these epochs experienced important geographic and climatic changes that affected human societies.
During the Pliocene, continents continued to drift from possibly as far as 250 km from their present locations to positions only 70 km from their current location. South America became linked to North America through the Isthmus of Panama, bringing a nearly complete end to South Americas distinctive marsupial fauna. The formation of the Isthmus had major consequences on global temperatures, because warm equatorial ocean currents were cut off, and the cold Arctic and Antarctic waters lowered temperatures in the now-isolated Atlantic Ocean. Central America formed completely during the Pliocene, allowing fauna from North and South America to leave their native habitats and colonize new areas. Africas collision with Asia created the Mediterranean Sea, cutting off the remnants of the Tethys Ocean. During the Pleistocene, the modern continents were essentially at their present positions; the tectonic plates on which they sit have probably moved at most 100 km from each other since the beginning of the period.
Climates during the Pliocene became cooler and drier, and seasonal, similar to modern climates. Ice sheets grew on Antarctica. The formation of an Arctic ice cap around 3 Ma is signaled by an abrupt shift in oxygen isotope ratios and ice-rafted cobbles in the North Atlantic and North Pacific ocean beds. Mid-latitude glaciation probably began before the end of the epoch. The global cooling that occurred during the Pliocene may have spurred on the disappearance of forests and the spread of grasslands and savannas.
The Pleistocene climate was characterized by repeated glacial cycles during which continental glaciers pushed to the 40th parallel in some places. Four major glacial events have been identified, as well as many minor intervening events. A major event is a general glacial excursion, termed a "glacial". Glacials are separated by "interglacials". During a glacial, the glacier experiences minor advances and retreats. The minor excursion is a "stadial"; times between stadials are "interstadials". Each glacial advance tied up huge volumes of water in continental ice sheets 1500–3000 m deep, resulting in temporary sea level drops of 100 m or more over the entire surface of the Earth. During interglacial times, such as at present, drowned coastlines were common, mitigated by isostatic or other emergent motion of some regions.
Many great mammals such as wooly mammoths, wooly rhinoceros, and cave lions inhabited places like Siberia during the Pleistocene.
Paleoindians hunting a glyptodont. Glyptodonts were hunted to extinction within 2 millennia after humans arrival to South America.
The effects of glaciation were global. Antarctica was ice-bound throughout the Pleistocene and the preceding Pliocene. The Andes were covered in the south by the Patagonian ice cap. There were glaciers in New Zealand and Tasmania. The now decaying glaciers of Mount Kenya, Mount Kilimanjaro, and the Ruwenzori Range in east and central Africa were larger. Glaciers existed in the mountains of Ethiopia and to the west in the Atlas mountains. In the northern hemisphere, many glaciers fused into one. The Cordilleran ice sheet covered the North American northwest; the Laurentide covered the east. The Fenno-Scandian ice sheet covered northern Europe, including Great Britain; the Alpine ice sheet covered the Alps. Scattered domes stretched across Siberia and the Arctic shelf. The northern seas were frozen. During the late Upper Paleolithic (Latest Pleistocene) c. 18,000 BP, the Beringa land bridge between Asia and North America was blocked by ice, which may have prevented early Paleo-Indians such as the Clovis culture from directly crossing Beringa to reach the Americas.
According to Mark Lynas (through collected data), the Pleistocenes overall climate could be characterized as a continuous El Niño with trade winds in the south Pacific weakening or heading east, warm air rising near Peru, warm water spreading from the west Pacific and the Indian Ocean to the east Pacific, and other El Niño markers.
The ice age ended with the end of the Paleolithic era (the end of the Pleistocene epoch), and Earths climate became warmer. This may have caused or contributed to the extinction of the Pleistocene megafauna, although it is also possible that the late Pleistocene extinctions were (at least in part) caused by other factors such as disease and over hunting by humans. New research suggests that the extinction of the woolly mammoth may have been caused by the combined effect of climatic change and human hunting. Scientists suggest that climate change during the end of the Pleistocene caused the mammoths habitat to shrink in size, resulting in a drop in population. The small populations were then hunted out by Paleolithic humans. The global warming that occurred during the end of the Pleistocene and the beginning of the Holocene may have made it easier for humans to reach mammoth habitats that were previously frozen and inaccessible. Small populations of wooly mammoths survived on isolated Arctic islands, Saint Paul Island and Wrangel Island, till circa 3700 and 1700 BCE respectively. The Wrangel Island population went extinct around the same time the island was settled by prehistoric humans. Theres no evidence of prehistoric human presence on Saint Paul island (though early human settlements dating as far back as 6500 BCE were found on nearby Aleutian Islands).
Currently agreed upon classifications as Paleolithic geoclimatic episodes
Age
(before) America Atlantic Europe Maghreb Mediterranean Europe Central Europe
10,000 years Flandrian interglacial Flandriense Mellahiense Versiliense Flandrian interglacial
80,000 years Wisconsin Devensiense Regresión Regresión Wisconsin Stage
140,000 years Sangamoniense Ipswichiense Ouljiense Tirreniense II y III Eemian Stage
200,000 years Illinois Wolstoniense Regresión Regresión Wolstonian Stage
450,000 years Yarmouthiense Hoxniense Anfatiense Tirreniense I Hoxnian Stage
580,000 years Kansas Angliense Regresión Regresión Kansan Stage
750,000 years Aftoniense Cromeriense Maarifiense Siciliense Cromerian Complex
1,100,000 years Nebraska Beestoniense Regresión Regresión Beestonian stage
1,400,000 years interglaciar Ludhamiense Messaudiense Calabriense Donau-Günz
Human way of life
An artists rendering of a temporary wood house, based on evidence found at Terra Amata (in Nice, France) and dated to the Lower Paleolithic (c. 400,000 BP)
Due to a lack of written records from this time period, nearly all of our knowledge of Paleolithic human culture and way of life comes from archaeology and ethnographic comparisons to modern hunter-gatherer cultures such as the Kung San who live similarly to their Paleolithic predecessors. The economy of a typical Paleolithic society was a hunter-gatherer economy. Humans hunted wild animals for meat and gathered food, firewood, and materials for their tools, clothes, or shelters. Human population density was very low, around only one person per square mile. This was most likely due to low body fat, infanticide, women regularly engaging in intense endurance exercise, late weaning of infants and a nomadic lifestyle. Like contemporary hunter-gatherers, Paleolithic humans enjoyed an abundance of leisure time unparalleled in both Neolithic farming societies and modern industrial societies. At the end of the Paleolithic, specifically the Middle and or Upper Paleolithic, humans began to produce works of art such as cave paintings, rock art and jewellery and began to engage in religious behavior such as burial and ritual.
Technology
Two Lower Paleolithic bifaces
Stone ball from a set of Paleolithic bolas
Paleolithic humans made tools of stone, bone, and wood. The earliest Paleolithic stone tool industry, the Olduwan, was developed by the earliest members of the genus Homo such as Homo habilis, around 2.6 million years ago. It contained tools such as choppers, burins and awls. It was completely replaced around 250,000 years ago by the more complex Acheulean industry, which was first conceived by Homo ergaster around 1.8 or 1.65 million years ago. The most recent Lower Paleolithic (Acheulean) implements completely vanished from the archeological record around 100,000 years ago and were replaced by more complex Middle Paleolithic/Middle Stone Age tool kits such as the Mousterian and the Aterian industries.
Lower Paleolithic humans used a variety of stone tools, including hand axes and choppers. Although they appear to have used hand axes often, there is disagreement about their use. Interpretations range from cutting and chopping tools, to digging implements, flake cores, the use in traps and a purely ritual significance, maybe in courting behavior. William H. Calvin has suggested that some hand axes could have served as "killer Frisbees" meant to be thrown at a herd of animals at a water hole so as to stun one of them. There are no indications of hafting, and some artifacts are far too large for that. Thus, a thrown hand axe would not usually have penetrated deeply enough to cause very serious injuries. Nevertheless, it could have been an effective weapon for defense against predators. Choppers and scrapers were likely used for skinning and butchering scavenged animals and sharp ended sticks were often obtained for digging up edible roots. Presumably, early humans used wooden spears as early as 5 million years ago to hunt small animals, much as their relatives, chimpanzees, have been observed to do in Senegal, Africa. Lower Paleolithic humans constructed shelters such as the possible wood hut at Terra Amata.
Fire was used by the Lower Paleolithic hominid Homo erectus/Homo ergaster as early as 300,000 or 1.5 million years ago and possibly even earlier by the early Lower Paleolithic (Oldowan) hominid Homo habilis and/or by robust australopithecines such as Paranthropus. However, the use of fire only became common in the societies of the following Middle Stone Age/Middle Paleolithic Period. Use of fire reduced mortality rates and provided protection against predators. Early hominids may have begun to cook their food as early as the Lower Paleolithic (c. 1.9 million years ago) or at the latest in the early Middle Paleolithic (c. 250,000 years ago). Some scientists have hypothesized that Hominids began cooking food to defrost frozen meat, which would help ensure their survival in cold regions.
The Lower Paleolithic hominid Homo erectus possibly invented rafts (c. 800,000 or 840,000 BP) to travel over large bodies of water, which may have allowed a group of Homo erectus to reach the island of Flores and evolve into the small hominid Homo floresiensis. However, this hypothesis is disputed within the anthropological community. The possible use of rafts during the Lower Paleolithic may indicate that Lower Paleolithic Hominids such as Homo erectus were more advanced than previously believed, and may have even spoken an early form of modern language. Supplementary evidence from Neanderthal and Modern human sites located around the Mediterranean Sea such as Coa de sa Multa (c. 300,000 BP) has also indicated that both Middle and Upper Paleolithic humans used rafts to travel over large bodies of water (i.e. the Mediterranean Sea) for the purpose of colonizing other bodies of land.
Around 200,000 BP, Middle Paleolithic Stone tool manufacturing spawned a tool making technique known as the prepared-core technique, that was more elaborate than previous Acheulean techniques. This technique increased efficiency by allowing the creation of more controlled and consistent flakes. It allowed Middle Paleolithic humans to create stone tipped spears, which were the earliest composite tools, by hafting sharp, pointy stone fl
An artists rendering of a temporary wood house, based on evidence found at Terra Amata (in Nice, France) and dated to the Lower Paleolithic (c. 400,000 BP)
Due to a lack of written records from this time period, nearly all of our knowledge of Paleolithic human culture and way of life comes from archaeology and ethnographic comparisons to modern hunter-gatherer cultures such as the Kung San who live similarly to their Paleolithic predecessors. The economy of a typical Paleolithic society was a hunter-gatherer economy. Humans hunted wild animals for meat and gathered food, firewood, and materials for their tools, clothes, or shelters. Human population density was very low, around only one person per square mile. This was most likely due to low body fat, infanticide, women regularly engaging in intense endurance exercise, late weaning of infants and a nomadic lifestyle. Like contemporary hunter-gatherers, Paleolithic humans enjoyed an abundance of leisure time unparalleled in both Neolithic farming societies and modern industrial societies. At the end of the Paleolithic, specifically the Middle and or Upper Paleolithic, humans began to produce works of art such as cave paintings, rock art and jewellery and began to engage in religious behavior such as burial and ritual.
Technology
Two Lower Paleolithic bifaces
Stone ball from a set of Paleolithic bolas
Paleolithic humans made tools of stone, bone, and wood. The earliest Paleolithic stone tool industry, the Olduwan, was developed by the earliest members of the genus Homo such as Homo habilis, around 2.6 million years ago. It contained tools such as choppers, burins and awls. It was completely replaced around 250,000 years ago by the more complex Acheulean industry, which was first conceived by Homo ergaster around 1.8 or 1.65 million years ago. The most recent Lower Paleolithic (Acheulean) implements completely vanished from the archeological record around 100,000 years ago and were replaced by more complex Middle Paleolithic/Middle Stone Age tool kits such as the Mousterian and the Aterian industries.
Lower Paleolithic humans used a variety of stone tools, including hand axes and choppers. Although they appear to have used hand axes often, there is disagreement about their use. Interpretations range from cutting and chopping tools, to digging implements, flake cores, the use in traps and a purely ritual significance, maybe in courting behavior. William H. Calvin has suggested that some hand axes could have served as akes onto wooden shafts. In addition to improving tool making methods, the Middle Paleolithic also saw an improvement of the tools themselves that allowed access to a wider variety and amount of food sources. For example microliths or small stone tools or points were invented around 70,000 or 65,000 BP and were essential to the invention of bows and spear throwers in the following Upper Paleolithic period. Harpoons were invented and used for the first time during the late Middle Paleolithic (c.90,000 years ago); the invention of these devices brought fish into the human diets, which provided a hedge against starvation and a more abundant food supply. Thanks to their technology and their advanced social structures, Paleolithic groups such as the Neanderthals who had a Middle Paleolithic level of technology, appear to have hunted large game just as well as Upper Paleolithic modern humans and the Neanderthals in particular may have likewise hunted with projectile weapons. Nonetheless, Neanderthal use of projectile weapons in hunting occurred very rarely (or perhaps never) and the Neanderthals hunted large game animals mostly by ambushing them and attacking them with mêlée weapons such as thrusting spears rather than attacking them from a distance with projectile weapons.
During the Upper Paleolithic, further inventions were made, such as the net (c. 22,000 or 29,000 BP) bolas, the spear thrower (c.30,000 BP), the bow and arrow (c. 25,000 or 30,000 BP) and the oldest example of ceramic art, the Venus of Dolní Věstonice (c. 29,000–25,000 BCE). Early dogs were domesticated, sometime between 30,000 BP and 14,000 BP, presumably to aid in hunting. However, the earliest instances of successful domestication of dogs may be much more ancient than this. Evidence from canine DNA collected by Robert K. Wayne suggests that dogs may have been first domesticated in the late Middle Paleolithic around 100,000 BP or perhaps even earlier. Archeological evidence from the Dordogne region of France demonstrates that members of the European early Upper Paleolithic culture known as the Aurignacian used calendars (c. 30,000 BP). This was a lunar calendar that was used to document the phases of the moon. Genuine solar calendars did not appear until the following Neolithic period. Upper Paleolithic cultures were probably able to time the migration of game animals such as wild horses and deer. This ability allowed humans to become efficient hunters and to exploit a wide variety of game animals. Recent research indicates that the Neanderthals timed their hunts and the migrations of game animals long before the beginning of the Upper Paleolithic.
Social organization
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Humans may have taken part in long-distance trade between bands for rare commodities and raw materials (such as stone needed for making tools) as early as 120,000 years ago in Middle Paleolithic.
The social organization of the earliest Paleolithic (Lower Paleolithic) societies remains largely unknown to scientists, though Lower Paleolithic hominids such as Homo habilis and Homo erectus are likely to have had more complex social structures than chimpanzee societies. Late Oldowan/Early Acheulean humans such as Homo ergaster/Homo erectus may have been the first people to invent central campsites or home bases and incorporate them into their foraging and hunting strategies like contemporary hunter-gatherers, possibly as early as 1.7 million years ago; however, the earliest solid evidence for the existence of home bases or central campsites (hearths and shelters) among humans only dates back to 500,000 years ago.
Similarly, scientists disagree whether Lower Paleolithic humans were largely monogamous or polygamous. In particular, the Provisional model suggests that bipedalism arose in Pre Paleolithic australopithecine societies as an adaptation to monogamous lifestyles; however, other researchers note that sexual dimorphism is more pronounced in Lower Paleolithic humans such as Homo erectus than in Modern humans, who are less polygamous than other primates, which suggests that Lower Paleolithic humans had a largely polygamous lifestyle, because species that have the most pronounced sexual dimorphism tend more likely to be polygamous.
Human 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.
Middle Paleolithic societies, unlike Lower Paleolithic and early Neolithic ones, consisted of bands that ranged from 20 to 30 or 25 to 100 members and were usually nomadic. These bands were formed by several families. Bands sometimes joined together into larger "macrobands" for activities such as acquiring mates and celebrations or where resources were abundant. By the end of the Paleolithic era, about 10,000 BP people began to settle down into permanent locations, and began to rely on agriculture for sustenance in many locations. Much evidence exists that humans took part in long-distance trade between bands for rare commodities (such as ochre, which was often used for religious purposes such as ritual) and raw materials, as early as 120,000 years ago in Middle Paleolithic. Inter-band trade may have appeared during the Middle Paleolithic because trade between bands would have helped ensure their survival by allowing them to exchange resources and commodities such as raw materials during times of relative scarcity (i.e. famine, drought). Like in modern hunter-gatherer societies, individuals in Paleolithic societies may have been subordinate to the band as a whole. Both Neanderthals and modern humans took care of the elderly members of their societies during the Middle and Upper Paleolithic.
Some sources claim that most Middle and Upper Paleolithic societies were possibly fundamentally egalitarian and may have rarely or never engaged in organized violence between groups (i.e. war). Some Upper Paleolithic societies in resource-rich environments (such as societies in Sungir, in what is now Russia) may have had more complex and hierarchical organization (such as tribes with a pronounced hierarchy and a somewhat formal division of labor) and may have engaged in endemic warfare. Some argue that there was no formal leadership during the Middle and Upper Paleolithic. Like contemporary egalitarian hunter-gatherers such as the Mbuti pygmies, societies may have made decisions by communal consensus decision making rather than by appointing permanent rulers such as chiefs and monarchs. Nor was there a formal division of labor during the Paleolithic. Each member of the group was skilled at all tasks essential to survival, regardless of individual abilities. Theories to explain the apparent egalitarianism have arisen, notably the Marxist concept of primitive communism. Christopher Boehm (1999) has hypothesized that egalitarianism may have evolved in Paleolithic societies because of a need to distribute resources such as food and meat equally to avoid famine and ensure a stable food supply. Raymond C. Kelly speculates that the relative peacefulness of Middle and Upper Paleolithic societies resulted from a low population density, cooperative relationships between groups such as reciprocal exchange of commodities and collaboration on hunting expeditions, and because the invention of projectile weapons such as throwing spears provided less incentive for war, because they increased the damage done to the attacker and decreased the relative amount of territory attackers could gain. However, other sources claim that most Paleolithic groups may have been larger, more complex, sedentary and warlike than most contemporary hunter-gatherer societies, due to occupying more resource-abundant areas than most modern hunter-gatherers who have been pushed into more marginal habitats by agricultural societies.
Anthropologists 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. However, analogies to existent hunter-gatherer societies such as the Hadza people and the Australian aborigines suggest that the sexual division of labor in the Paleolithic was relatively flexible. Men may have participated in gathering plants, firewood and insects, and women may have procured small game animals for consumption and assisted men in driving herds of large game animals (such as woolly mammoths and deer) off cliffs. Additionally, recent research by anthropologist and archaeologist Steven Kuhn from the University of Arizona is argued to support that this division of labor did not exist prior to the Upper Paleolithic and was invented relatively recently in human pre-history. Sexual division of labor may have been developed to allow humans to acquire food and other resources more efficiently. Possibly there was approximate parity between men and women during the Middle and Upper Paleolithic, and that period may have been the most gender-equal time in human history. Archeological evidence from art and funerary rituals indicates that a number of individual women enjoyed seemingly high status in their communities, and it is likely that both sexes participated in decision making. The earliest known Paleolithic shaman (c. 30,000 BP) was female. Jared Diamond suggests that the status of women declined with the adoption of agriculture because women in farming societies typically have more pregnancies and are expected to do more demanding work than women in hunter-gatherer societies. Like most contemporary hunter-gatherer societies, Paleolithic and the Mesolithic groups probably followed mostly matrilineal and ambilineal descent patterns; patrilineal descent patterns were probably rarer than in the following Neolithic period.
Art and music
The Venus of Willendorf is one of the most famous Venus figurines.
Early examples of artistic expression, such as the Venus of Tan-Tan and the patterns found on elephant bones from Bilzingsleben in Thuringia, may have been produced by Acheulean tool users such as Homo erectus prior to the start of the Middle Paleolithic period. However, the earliest undisputed evidence of art during the Paleolithic period comes from Middle Paleolithic/Middle Stone Age sites such as Blombos Cave in the form of bracelets, beads, rock art, and ochre used as body paint and perhaps in ritual. Undisputed evidence of art only becomes common in the following Upper Paleolithic period.
According to Robert G. Bednarik, Lower Paleolithic Acheulean tool users began to engage in symbolic behavior such as art around 850,000 BP and decorated themselves with beads and collected exotic stones for aesthetic rather than utilitarian qualities. According to Bednarik, traces of the pigment ochre from late Lower Paleolithic Acheulean archeological sites suggests that Acheulean societies, like later Upper Paleolithic societies, collected and used ochre to create rock art. Nevertheless, it is also possible that the ochre traces found at Lower Paleolithic sites is naturally occurring.
Vincent W. Fallio interprets Lower and Middle Paleolithic marking on rocks at sites such as Bilzingsleben (such as zig zagging lines) as accounts or representation of altered states of consciousness though some other scholars interpret them as either simple doodling or as the result of natural processes.
Upper Paleolithic humans produced works of art such as cave paintings, Venus figurines, animal carvings and rock paintings. Upper Paleolithic art can be divided into two broad categories: figurative art such as cave paintings that clearly depicts animals (or more rarely humans); and nonfigurative, which consists of shapes and symbols. Cave paintings have been interpreted in a number of ways by modern archeologists. The earliest explanation, by the prehistorian Abbe Breuil, interpreted the paintings as a form of magic designed to ensure a successful hunt. However, this hypothesis fails to explain the existence of animals such as saber-toothed cats and lions, which were not hunted for food, and the existence of half-human, half-animal beings in cave paintings. The anthropologist David Lewis-Williams has suggested that Paleolithic cave paintings were indications of shamanistic practices, because the paintings of half-human, half-animal paintings and the remoteness of the caves are reminiscent of modern hunter-gatherer shamanistic practices. Symbol-like images are more common in Paleolithic cave paintings than are depictions of animals or humans, and unique symbolic patterns might have been trademarks that represent different Upper Paleolithic ethnic groups. Venus figurines have evoked similar controversy. Archeologists and anthropologists have described the figurines as representations of goddesses, pornographic imagery, apotropaic amulets used for sympathetic magic, and even as self-portraits of women themselves.
R. Dale Guthrie has studied not only the most artistic and publicized paintings, but also a variety of lower-quality art and figurines, and he identifies a wide range of skill and ages among the artists. He also points out that the main themes in the paintings and other artifacts (powerful beasts, risky hunting scenes and the over-sexual representation of women) are to be expected in the fantasies of adolescent males during the Upper Paleolithic.
The Venus figurines have sometimes been interpreted as representing a mother goddess; the abundance of such female imagery has led some to believe that Upper Paleolithic (and later Neolithic) societies had a female-centered religion and a female-dominated society. For example, this was proposed by the archeologist Marija Gimbutas and the feminist scholar Merlin Stone who was the author of the 1978 book When God Was a Woman. Various other explanations for the purpose of the figurines have been proposed, such as Catherine McCoid and LeRoy McDermott’s hypothesis that the figurines were created as self portraits of actual women and R.Dale Gutries hypothesis that the venus figurines represented a kind of "stone age pornography".
The origins of music during the Paleolithic are unknown, since the earliest forms of music probably did not use musical instruments but instead used the human voice and or natural objects such as rocks, which leave no trace in the archaeological record. However, the anthropological and archeological designation suggests that human music first arose when language, art and other modern behaviors developed in the Middle or the Upper Paleolithic period. Music may have developed from rhythmic sounds produced by daily activities such as cracking nuts by hitting them with stones, because maintaining a rhythm while working may have helped people to become more efficient at daily activities. An alternative theory originally proposed by Charles Darwin explains that music may have begun as a hominid mating strategy as many birds and some other animals produce music like calls to attract mates. This hypothesis is generally less accepted than the previous hypothesis, but it nonetheless provides a possible alternative. Another explanation is that humans began to make music simply because of the pleasure it produced.
Upper Paleolithic (and possibly Middle Paleolithic) humans used flute-like bone pipes as musical instruments, and music may have played a large role in the religious lives of Upper Paleolithic hunter-gatherers. Like in modern hunter-gatherer societies, music may have been used in ritual or to help induce trances. In particular, it appears that animal skin drums may have been used in religious events by Upper Paleolithic shamans, as shown by the remains of drum-like instruments from some Upper Paleolithic graves of shamans and the ethnographic record of contemporary hunter-gatherer shamanic and ritual practices.
Religion and beliefs
Main article: Paleolithic Religion
Picture of a half-human, half-animal being in a Paleolithic cave painting in Dordogne. France. Archeologists believe that cave paintings of half-human, half-animal beings may be evidence for early shamanic practices during the Paleolithic.
The established anthropological view is that it is more probable that humankind first developed religious and spiritual beliefs during the Middle Paleolithic or Upper Paleolithic. Controversial scholars of prehistoric religion and anthropology, James Harrod and Vincent W. Fallio, have recently proposed that religion and spirituality (and art) may have first arisen in Pre-Paleolithic chimpanzees or Early Lower Paleolithic (Oldowan) societies. According to Fallio, the common ancestor of chimpanzees and humans experienced altered states of consciousness and partook in ritual, and ritual was used in their societies to strengthen social bonding and group cohesion.
Middle Paleolithic humans use of burials at sites such as Krapina, Croatia (c. 130,000 BP) and Qafzeh, Israel (c. 100,000 BP) have led some anthropologists and archeologists, such as Philip Lieberman, to believe that Middle Paleolithic humans may have possessed a belief in an afterlife and a "concern for the dead that transcends daily life". Cut marks on Neanderthal bones from various sites, such as Combe-Grenal and Abri Moula in France, suggest that the Neanderthals like some contemporary human cultures may have practiced ritual defleshing for (presumably) religious reasons. According to recent archeological findings from H. heidelbergensis sites in Atapuerca, humans may have begun burying their dead much earlier, during the late Lower Paleolithic; but this theory is widely questioned in the scientific community.
Likewise, some scientists have proposed that Middle Paleolithic societies such as Neanderthal societies may also have practiced the earliest form of totemism or animal worship, in addition to their (presumably religious) burial of the dead. In particular, Emil Bächler suggested (based on archeological evidence from Middle Paleolithic caves) that a bear cult was widespread among Middle Paleolithic Neanderthals. A claim that evidence was found for Middle Paleolithic animal worship c 70,000 BCE originates from the Tsodilo Hills in the African Kalahari desert has been denied by the original investigators of the site. Animal cults in the following Upper Paleolithic period, such as the bear cult, may have had their origins in these hypothetical Middle Paleolithic animal cults. Animal worship during the Upper Paleolithic was intertwined with hunting rites. For instance, archeological evidence from art and bear remains reveals that the bear cult apparently involved a type of sacrificial bear ceremonialism, in which a bear was sliced with arrows, finished off by a blast in the lungs, and ritualistically worshipped near a clay bear statue covered by a bear fur with the skull and the body of the bear buried separately. Barbara Ehrenreich controversially theorizes that the sacrificial hunting rites of the Upper Paleolithic (and by extension Paleolithic cooperative big-game hunting) gave rise to war or warlike raiding during the following Epi-Paleolithic/Mesolithic or late Upper Paleolithic period.
The existence of anthropomorphic images and half-human, half-animal images in the Upper Paleolithic period may further indicate that Upper Paleolithic humans were the first people to believe in a pantheon of gods or supernatural beings, though such images may instead indicate shamanistic practices similar to those of contemporary tribal societies. The earliest known undisputed burial of a shaman (and by extension the earliest undisputed evidence of shamans and shamanic practices) dates back to the early Upper Paleolithic era (c. 30,000 BP) in what is now the Czech Republic. However, during the early Upper Paleolithic it was probably more common for all members of the band to participate equally and fully in religious ceremonies, in contrast to the religious traditions of later periods when religious authorities and part-time ritual specialists such as shamans, priests and medicine men were relatively common and integral to religious life. Additionally, it is also possible that Upper Paleolithic religions, like contemporary and historical animistic and polytheistic religions, believed in the existence of a single creator deity in addition to other supernatural beings such as animistic spirits.
Vincent W. Fallio writes that ancesto
paleolithic, paleolith
العصر الحجري القديم
الات سنگی نتراشیده عصر حجر قدیم
نمایش تصویر
اطلاعات بیشتر واژه
ترکیب:
مختصات:
( ~. سَ) (اِمر.)
آواشناسی:
منبع:
واژه‌نامه آزاد
معادل ابجد:
408
شمارگان هجا:
دیگر زبان ها
انگلیسی
paleolithic | paleolith
عربی
العصر الحجري القديم
تشریح نگارش (هوش مصنوعی)
کلمه «پارینه سنگی» به مجموعۀ دوره‌ای از تاریخ بشر اشاره دارد که به ابزارهای سنگی اولیه مربوط می‌شود. برای نگارش این کلمه و استفاده از آن در جملات فارسی، توجه به نکات زیر مهم است:
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نادرستی‌ها و نیاز به ویرایش: در زمانی که از «پارینه سنگی» استفاده می‌شود، بهتر است اطمینان حاصل شود که به طور صحیح، دقیق و با ارجاع به زمینه مورد نظر به کار رود.
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کاربرد علمی: این اصطلاح معمولاً در متون علمی، تاریخ و باستان‌شناسی به کار می‌رود. لذا باید متنی با زبانی دقیق و علمی نوشته شود.
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جداسازی: هنگام استفاده از «پارینه سنگی» در جملات، معمولاً کلمات باید به درستی از هم جدا شوند و ترکیب لغوی آن حفظ شود.
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نحوه نگارش: این کلمه به صورت پیوسته یا با فاصله بین دو واژه نوشته نمی‌شود و باید به صورت «پارینه سنگی» نوشته شود.
- تطابق با قواعد نگارشی: در متن‌های علمی و آکادمیک، هرگاه از این واژه استفاده می‌کنید، میتوانید آن را با یک تعریف یا توضیح بیشتر همراه کنید تا خواننده بتواند بهتر مفهوم آن را درک کند.
مثال جملات با این کلمه:
- «دوره پارینه سنگی به عنوان یکی از نخستین دوره‌های تاریخی بشر شناخته می‌شود.»
- «باستان‌شناسان در کاوش‌های خود در منطقه‌ای مشخص، ابزارهایی مربوط به دوره پارینه سنگی را پیدا کردند.»
با رعایت این نکات، می‌توان به درستی از اصطلاح «پارینه سنگی» استفاده کرد.
مثال برای واژه (هوش مصنوعی)
- انسان‌های اولیه در دوران پارینه سنگی از ابزارهای سنگی برای شکار و جمع‌آوری غذا استفاده می‌کردند.
- آثار باستانی کشف‌شده از دوره پارینه سنگی نشان‌دهنده‌ی زندگی اجتماعی و فرهنگی انسان‌ها در آن زمان است.
- پارینه سنگی به عنوان یکی از مراحل مهم تاریخ بشریت، پایه‌گذار ظهور تمدن‌های بعدی محسوب می‌شود.
واژگان مرتبط: الات سنگی نتراشیده عصر حجر قدیم