World Civilisation; The Evolution Of Human In The Stone Age

The Evolution Of Human In The Stone Age

 During the Stone Age, people used stone to make tools with sharp edges or points. This period lasted for millions of years and ended around 4,000 BC to 2,000 BC with the introduction of metalworking. While some basic metalworking with gold and copper for decoration was known, it was the melting and smelting of copper that marked the end of the Stone Age. In Western Asia, this transition happened around 3,000 BC with the widespread use of bronze. The Bronze Age followed the Stone Age and involved working copper alloys like bronze into tools, replacing stone in many applications.

In the Stone Age, archaeologists have found tools used by modern humans and earlier human species like Homo, Australopithecus, and Paranthropus. Some bone tools have also been discovered, although they are not often preserved. The Stone Age is divided into different periods based on the types of stone tools used. 

The Stone Age is the first period in the three-age system used in archaeology to divide human prehistory. It's divided into the Paleolithic, Mesolithic, and Neolithic eras. Neolithic people transitioned to settled life and agriculture, overlapping with the Chalcolithic era before the Bronze Age.

The Stone Age is a fascinating period in human history. It coincided with the oldest indirect evidence of stone tool use, dating back 3.4 million years, was found in the Lower Awash Valley in Ethiopia. Fossilised animal bones with tool marks were discovered. In 2015, archaeological findings in Kenya suggested that Kenyanthropus platyops, a 3.2 to 3.5-million-year-old hominini fossil, may have been one of the earliest known tool-users. It's amazing to uncover these ancient traces of human ingenuity.

The oldest stone tools, dating back 3.3 million years, were found at the Lomekwi 3 site in northwestern Kenya. Before these discoveries, the oldest known stone tools were found in Gona, Ethiopia, dating to around 2.6-2.55 million years ago. These findings challenge the previous belief that tools only evolved in the Pleistocene. It's fascinating to see how early humans were already using tools during the Late Pliocene period. The evolution of the Homo genus, possibly excluding earlier species. The East African Rift System, particularly in Ethiopia, is considered the birthplace of the genus. The closest primate relative, the Pan genus, evolved in dense forests. The rift allowed migration to southern Africa, North Africa via the Nile, and Asia's vast grasslands. It's incredible to think about the journeys our ancestors made during this time.

Around 4 million years ago, a single biome called "transcontinental 'savannah stan'" emerged from South Africa through the rift, North Africa, and across Asia to China. Homo erectus, our ancestor, thrived in this grassland environment and became skilled tool-makers, relying on tools for survival as "tool-equipped savanna dwellers." It's fascinating to see how our early ancestors adapted to their surroundings.

“The first people who made stone tools were skilled at shaping flint. The reasons for the sudden appearance of stone tools may include gaps in the geological record. It's interesting how this transition happened.”

We're still uncertain about the exact species that made the Pliocene tools, but fragments of Australopithecus garhi, Australopithecus aethiopicus, and possibly Homo habilis have been found near the age of the Gona tools. Excitingly, in July 2018, scientists discovered the oldest known stone tools outside Africa, estimated to be 2.12 million years old, in China.

The technique of smelting ore marked the end of the Stone Age and the start of the Bronze Age. Bronze, an alloy of copper and tin or arsenic, was the first significant metal manufactured. Before the Bronze Age, there was a Copper Age when people could smelt copper but didn't make bronze yet. The transition from the Stone Age to the Bronze Age happened between 6000 and 2500 BC for many people in North Africa and Eurasia. 

The first evidence of human metallurgy dates back to the 6th and 5th millennia BC in sites like Majdanpek and Pločnik in Serbia. Ötzi the Iceman, a mummy from around 3300 BC, had a copper axe and a flint knife. Different regions transitioned out of the Stone Age at different times, with Sub-Saharan Africa going directly to the Iron Age. Europe and Asia became post-Stone Age societies by about 4000 BC. The proto-Inca cultures in South America remained at a Stone Age level until around 2000 BC when gold, copper, and silver came into use. The Americas didn't widely adopt bronze or iron smelting during the Stone Age, even though the technology existed. Stone tool production continued during this time.

The terms "Stone Age," "Bronze Age," and "Iron Age" don't just refer to the type of tools used, but also to social organisation, food sources, and more. Stone tools help us understand the evolution of humanity and society. Lithic analysis is a specialised form of archaeology that studies stone tools and their technologies. Flintknappers are craftsmen who make flint tools. Archaeologists use various techniques to study the Stone Age, including geology, palaeontology, and more. The focus is on understanding the society and the people who lived during that time.

Archaeologists of the late 19th and early 20th centuries CE, who adapted the three-age system to their ideas, hoped to combine cultural anthropology and archaeology in such a way that a specific contemporaneous tribe could be used to illustrate the way of life and beliefs of the people exercising a particular Stone-Age technology. As a description of people living today, the term Stone Age is controversial. The Association of Social Anthropologists discourages this use, asserting.

To describe any living group as 'primitive' or 'Stone Age' inevitably implies that they are living representatives of some earlier stage of human development that the majority of humankind has left behind. In the 1920s, archaeologists in South Africa noticed that the stone tool collections didn't match the Three-Age System. According to J. Desmond Clark

People quickly realised that the classification of cultures into Stone, Bronze, and Iron Ages, which was used in Europe in the 19th century, didn't apply to Africa, except for the Nile valley.

So basically, they came up with a new system called the Three-stage System for Africa. In North Africa, they still used the Three-age System, but in sub-Saharan Africa, the Three-stage System was considered more appropriate. This led to some confusion in the literature because the same artefacts and technologies were referred to differently depending on the region and time period. The Middle Stone Age remained the same, but the Earlier and Later Stone Age were introduced as relative periods with flexible dates. The Neolithic period in Africa was characterised by herding societies rather than large agricultural ones, and there is no separate Copper Age or Bronze Age recognized by archaeologists. The technologies included in these stages were not exactly the same either.

The oldest stone tools, found in eastern Africa at the site of Lomekwi 3 in Kenya, date back 3.3 million years. These tools were made by striking a river pebble with a hammerstone to create sharp-edged flakes. This technique, known as "core-and-flake," is also referred to as the Oldowan industry. 

The Paleolithic, or Old Stone Age, is the earliest part of the Stone Age. It started around 2.5 million years ago and ended around 10,000 BC. It's called "old stone" because that's when early humans like Homo habilis began using stone tools. The Paleolithic era ended with the Mesolithic or Epipaleolithic period. During the Lower Palaeolithic, simple pebble tools were found alongside early human remains. 

The Chopper chopping tool industry, associated with Homo erectus, was more advanced. Hand axes appeared around 700,000 years ago, with the Abbevillian and Acheulian industries being prominent. Another stone-tool industry, the flake tradition, developed alongside the hand-axe tradition. This eventually led to the Middle Paleolithic flake tools associated with Neanderthal man. The oldest stone tools, found in eastern Africa at the site of Lomekwi 3 in Kenya, date back 3.3 million years. These tools were made by striking a river pebble with a hammerstone to create sharp-edged flakes. This technique, known as "core-and-flake," is also referred to as the Oldowan industry.

Stone tools were made from different types of stones, like flint and chert for cutting tools and weapons, and basalt and sandstone for ground stone tools. Other materials like wood, bone, shell, and antler were also used. In the later part of the period, sediments like clay were used to make pottery. Some non-primates, like sea otters, can use stone tools, but primates, especially hominids, have the ability to both use and make stone tools. They have the necessary anatomical features like a larger thumb and various grips. Palaeolithic hunter-gatherers relied on wild plants and animals for food, including organ meats and legumes. Evidence shows that they also processed and consumed wild cereal grains. Towards the end of the Wisconsin glaciation, there was a mass extinction of megafauna like the woolly mammoth.

In the late 19th and 20th centuries, Archaeologists believe that different hominids and cultures replaced each other, but now we know that multiple hominids lived together for long periods. By the time the "earliest" culture reached northern Europe, Africa and Eurasia had already progressed to the Middle and Upper Paleolithic. So, all three cultures coexisted for a while. In each region, there was a progression from Oldowan to Acheulean, Lower to Upper Paleolithic.

The appearance of Acheulean stone tools marked the end of the Oldowan in Africa. Acheulean tools are often associated with H. erectus and are more advanced than Mode 1 tools. They consist of a biface with two concave surfaces forming a cutting edge. Acheulean tools require more planning and work to manufacture, involving striking large flakes off a blank and retouching the edge. While there are similarities between some Oldowan and Acheulean tools, the size of the flakes is a distinguishing factor. Acheulean is characterised by larger flakes compared to the smaller flakes of the Oldowan tradition.