The Age when men and women, principally hunters and farmers, crafted weapons and tools for surviving using simple stones, not knowing how to work with metallic minerals. This period is divided into the Palaeolithic, Mesolithic and Neolithic.
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Periods of the Stone Age
The Stone Age represent the period in which human being begins to build and use tools made with natural materials, especially stone, or from parts derived from animals. This period is in turn divided into three periods:
- Paleolithic or Old Stone Age: begins 2.5 million years ago and ends 10.000 million years ago, this period is considered the longest of the Stone Age. What are the first stone tools are introduced, initiating the development of human technology.
- Mesolithic or Middle Stone Age: this period starts at the end of Ice Age, from 10.000 to 8000 BC. Stone working techniques are refined and hunting tools are built.
- Neolithic or New Stone Age: this period is characterized by the birth of agriculture, and goes from 10000 BC to 3500 BC about.
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When and what the first stone weapons were invented?
Archaeological findings suggest that the first weapons used by man date back to about 70,000 years ago: it was assagais, harpoons and cusps.
The axe seems to have been the first and thus the oldest weapon manufactured by man. It was followed by the mace, the spear, and bow.
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What about the transition between Paleolithic and Neolithic?
At the end of the Ice Age, following the emigration of some animals, the hunters pushed northward, while other clans adapted to the new features of the environment. Because of that, around 10,000 years ago came the Neolithic revolution. The man, thanks to agriculture and breeding became a producer of food.
However in Europe, in the same period, the disappearance of large size animals determined the increase of fishing and gathering.
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Which were the greatest inventions during the Stone Age?
- Stone or Wooden Club
- Cave Painting / Art
- Pigment For Body Decoration
- Sewing
- Flute / Music
- Bow & Arrow
- Long Hunting Spear
- Stone Axe
- Shelter
- The Controlled Use of Fire
- Construction of towers and walls
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