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THE STONE AGE
What
was the Stone Age?
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Humans have been toolmakers for at least 2.5 million years. |
Early human beings used stone for their tools and weapons. For this
reason, the early prehistoric time is known as the
Stone Age.
The scientists have divided the Stone Age into two periods; the Old
Stone Age and the New Stone Age.
What was Old Stone
Age?
The earliest and
longest part of Stone Age, which began more than two million years
ago, is called the
Old Stone Age
or the
Palaeolithic Age.
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Stone Age fishing hook, made of bone |
Mastodon Hunt
More than 10,000 years ago early inhabitants of the Americas, known
as Paleo-Indians, hunted large mammals such as bison, mammoth, and
mastodon. |
What was life like during
the Old Stone Age?
Primitive humans found shelter in caves and in forests. During this
period, people lived by hunting animals and gathering wild foods, such
as nuts and berries.
Some of the most dramatic
events in human history—the invention of tools, the taming of fire, the
development of language—took place during the Stone Age. We will never
know the exact dates of these achievements or the persons responsible, yet
we know many other things about this period.
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What was the New Stone Age?
And
what was life like during that age?
About
10,000 years ago, a new way of life began to take shape. People learned
to farm and began to live in permanent settlements. The development of
farming marked the beginning of the New Stone Age or Neolithic Age.
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Skara Brae,
a
Stone Age settlement in the Orkney Islands off the northern coast of
Scotland, lay hidden beneath a sand dune for 5000 years until a
severe storm revealed the ruins in 1850. |
Stonehenge,
a circular
arrangement of large stones located near Salisbury, England was
built between 3000 and 1000 BC. |
Metalworking
Late in the New Stone Age, artisan in the
Middle East
learned to work with metal to make tools and weapons. Copper, a
reddish-brown metal was probably the first metal used to make tools and
weapons as these were sharper than those made of stone, and they could be
reshaped if broken.
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Ice Ages
The Ice Age were times when vast sheets of ice
covered most parts of the Earth. Each period lasted for thousands of
years. In between were warmer periods. The last Ice Age ended about 10,000
years ago.
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Ice Age Giants
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Columbian Mammoth |
Short Faced Bear |
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