The Palaeolithic Period, also known as the Old Stone Age, was the earliest period of human development, lasting approximately 8000 BC. The Palaeolithic Period is divided into two eras: the Lower Palaeolithic (from 40,000 BC to 8000 BC) and the Upper Palaeolithic (from 40,000 BC to 8000 BC). This age group used to live in caves and rock shelters near rivers and valleys. This article will explain to you the Palaeolithic Period (Old Stone Age)500,000 BCE – 10,000 BCE which will be helpful in Ancient History preparation for the UPSC Civil service exam.

Palaeolithic Period (Old Stone Age)500,000 BCE – 10,000 BCE

• The term "Palaeolithic" is derived from the Greek words "palaeo" (old) and "lithic" (stone).
• As a result, the term Palaeolithic age refers to the prehistoric stone age.
• The old stone age or palaeolithic culture of India developed during the Pleistocene period, also known as the Ice Age, a geological period when the earth was covered in ice and the weather was so cold that human or plant life could not survive.
• However, the earliest species of man may have existed in the tropical region where ice melted.
• The old stone age or palaeolithic age in India is divided into three phases according to the nature of the stone tools used by the people and also according to the nature of the change of climate.
  • Lower Palaeolithic Age: up to 100,000 BC
  • Middle Palaeolithic Age: 100,000 BC – 40,000 BC
  • Upper Palaeolithic Age: 40,000 BC – 10,000 BC

Palaeolithic Period - Characteristics

• The Indians were thought to be of the 'Negrito' race and lived in the open air, river valleys, caves, and rock shelters.
• They were foragers, eating wild fruits and vegetables and subsisting on hunting.
• There was no understanding of houses, pottery, or agriculture. It wasn't until later that they discovered fire.
• Paintings from the upper palaeolithic period are evidence of art.
• Hand axes, choppers, blades, bruins, and scrapers were made from unpolished, rough stones.
• In India, palaeolithic men are also known as 'Quartzite' men because their stone tools were made of quartzite, a hard rock.
• People were unaware of agriculture or home construction, so life was not properly settled.
• It has been discovered that people survived by eating tree and fruit roots and living in caves and hills.
• The Palaeolithic, also known as the Old Stone Age, was a period in human evolution.
• Humans learned to make arms out of animal bones during this time period.
• As a result, the Palaeolithic period is the foundation of modern human civilization.

Palaeolithic Painting

Old Stone Age Indian sites (Palaeolithic Age)

Lower Palaeolithic Age: up to 100,000 BC

• The Lower Palaeolithic Age was primarily found in Western Europe and Africa, and early humans led nomadic lives.
• Although no specific human group was responsible for the Lower Palaeolithic period, many scholars believe that it was contributed by Neanderthal-like Philanthropic men.
• It spans the majority of the Ice Age.
• Hand axes, choppers, and cleavers were used by hunters and food gatherers. The tools were crude and heavy.
• Bori in Maharashtra is one of the earliest lower Palaeolithic sites.
• Limestone was also used in the manufacture of tools.
• Caves and rock shelters are examples of habitation sites.
• Bhimbetka in Madhya Pradesh is a significant location.

Middle Palaeolithic Age: 100,000 BC – 40,000 BC

• The Middle Palaeolithic Age was primarily associated with the early form of man, Neanderthal, whose remains were frequently discovered in caves with evidence of fire use.
• They got the name from the Neander Valley (Germany).
• Neanderthal was a prehistoric hunter.
• The Middle Palaeolithic man was a scavenger, but there is little evidence of hunting and gathering. Before burial, the dead were painted.
• Flakes, blades, pointers, scrapers, and borers were among the tools used.
• The tools were more compact, lighter, and thinner.
• In comparison to other tools, the use of hand axes has decreased.

Upper Palaeolithic Age: 40,000 BC – 10,000 BC

• The appearance of new flint industries and Homo Sapiens (modern type men) in the world context characterised the Upper Palaeolithic Age.
• This was the final period of the Palaeolithic Age, and it gave rise to Upper Palaeolithic culture.
• This period accounted for roughly one-tenth of the total Palaeolithic Period, but the primitive man made the most cultural progress in a short period of time.
• The culture has been dubbed the Osteodontokeratic culture, referring to tools made of bone, teeth, and horns.
• The upper palaeolithic period corresponded to the end of the ice age, when the climate became comparatively warmer and less humid.
• Homo sapiens appears. The period is distinguished by technological and tool innovation.
• There are numerous bone tools, such as needles, harpoons, parallel-sided blades, fishing tools, and burintools.

Palaeolithic Period - Tools

• Tools dating back nearly 100,000 years have been discovered in the Chhota Nagpur Plateau, Kurnool, and Andhra Pradesh.
• Lower Palaeolithic people preferred to live near water sources because stone tools were plentiful in river valleys.
• The first stone tool fabrication began during this time period (including the earliest stone tools found today) and was known as the Oldowan tradition, which refers to a pattern of stone-tool manufacturing by Hominids (Homo habilis).
• The earliest tools were thought to be splintered stones called eoliths.
• Large and small scrapers, hammer stones, choppers, awls, and other tools were used to make these tools.
• Hand axes and cleavers were common tools among these early hunters and gatherers.
• Cleavers, choppers, and hand axes were the most common tools used during the Lower Palaeolithic era.
• These tools were primarily used to cut, dig, and skin prey.
• These tools were discovered in the Belan Valley of Mirzapur (Uttar Pradesh), Didwana in Rajasthan, the Narmada Valley, and Bhimbetka (near Bhopal, M.P.).
• The Middle Palaeolithic Period tools were heavily reliant on flakes, which were used to make bores, points, and scrapers, among other things. During this time, there is also a crude pebble industry.
• The stones discovered were called microliths because they were so small. This period's stone tools are of the flake tradition.
• For example, needles were used to sew furs and skins used as body coverings.
• Large flake blades, scrapers, and burins dominated Upper Palaeolithic Age tools.
• This man's lifestyle was similar to that of Neanderthals and Homo erectus, and the tools he used were crude and unsophisticated at the time.
• There is evidence of the first appearance of bone artefacts and the first form of art in Africa.
• The first evidence of fishing can also be found in places like South Africa's Blombos Cave through artefacts.
• The use of polished fine cutting edge tools, as well as mortars and pestles for grinding grain, emerged.

Palaeolithic Period - Tools

Palaeolithic Period - Social organisation

• Scientists know very little about the social organisation of the earliest Palaeolithic (Lower Palaeolithic) societies.
• Unlike Lower Palaeolithic and early Neolithic societies, Middle Palaeolithic societies were nomadic and comprised bands.
• According to some sources, most Middle and Upper Palaeolithic societies were possibly fundamentally egalitarian and engaged in organised violence between groups only rarely or never.
• Some Upper Palaeolithic societies may have had more complex and hierarchical organisation (such as tribes with a pronounced hierarchy and a somewhat formal division of labour) and may have engaged in endemic warfare.
• Women were responsible for gathering wild plants and firewood in Palaeolithic societies, while men were responsible for hunting and scavenging dead animals.
• Palaeolithic and Mesolithic groups, like most contemporary hunter-gatherer societies, most likely followed matrilineal and ambilineal descent patterns; patrilineal descent patterns were probably rarer than in the Neolithic.
• Palaeolithic hunters and gatherers ate a variety of vegetables (including tubers and roots), fruits, seeds (including nuts and wild grass seeds), and insects, as well as meat, fish, and shellfish.
• There is, however, little direct evidence of the proportions of plant and animal foods.

Conclusion

The Palaeolithic Period, also known as the Old Stone Age, was the period of human development that began around 8000 BC. The Palaeolithic period, also known as the Old Stone Age, was a stage in the evolution of humans. During this time, humans learned to make arms out of animal bones. As a result, the Palaeolithic period is regarded as the birthplace of modern human civilization.