Paleolithic 22860 225905557 2008-07-15T23:17:07Z Rjwilmsi 203434 gen fixes + link/fix date fields in cite templates (explanation [[User:Rjwilmsi#My_correction_of_citation_templates|here]]) using [[Project:AutoWikiBrowser|AWB]] [[Image:Neanderthal 2D.jpg|right|thumb|Neanderthal hunter ([[American Museum of Natural History]]) ]] {{Paleolithic}} The '''Paleolithic''' (or '''Palaeolithic''') (from Greek: παλαιός, ''palaios'', "[[old]]"; and λίθος, ''[[lithos]]'', "stone" lit. "old age of the stone"; was coined by archaeologist [[John Lubbock, 1st Baron Avebury|John Lubbock]] in 1865.) is a [[Prehistory|prehistoric]] era distinguished by the development of the first [[stone tool]]s. It covers the greatest portion of humanity's time (roughly 99% of human history<ref name=Thoth&Schick>{{cite book |title=Handbook of Paleoanthropology |url=http://www.springerlink.com/content/u68378621542472j/ |author=Nicholas Toth and Kathy Schick |year=2007 |publisher=Springer Berlin Heidelberg |isbn=978-3-540-32474-4 (Print) 978-3-540-33761-4 (Online) |pages=1963 }}</ref>) on [[Earth]], extending from 2.5<ref>[http://encarta.msn.com/encyclopedia_761555928/Stone_Age.html "Stone Age," Microsoft® Encarta® Online Encyclopedia 2007] © 1997-2007 Microsoft Corporation. All Rights Reserved. Contributed by Kathy Schick, B.A., M.A., Ph.D. and Nicholas Toth, B.A., M.A., Ph.D.</ref> or 2.6<ref>{{cite book |title= The Encyclopedia Americana |author=Grolier Incorporated |Url=http://books.google.com/books?id=eRQaAAAAMAAJ&q=the+paleolithic+began+2.6+million+years+ago.&dq=the+paleolithic+began+2.6+million+years+ago.&pgis=1 |year=1989 |publisher=Grolier Incorporated |location=University of Michigan |isbn=ISBN 0717201201 |page=542 }}</ref><ref name=Thoth&Schick>{{cite book |title=Handbook of Paleoanthropology |url=http://www.springerlink.com/content/u68378621542472j/ |author=Nicholas Toth and Kathy Schick |year=2007 |publisher=Springer Berlin Heidelberg |isbn=978-3-540-32474-4 (Print) 978-3-540-33761-4 (Online) |pages=1963 }}</ref> million years ago, with the introduction of stone tools by [[hominid]]s such as ''[[Homo habilis]]'', to the [[Agriculture#History|introduction of agriculture]] and the end of the [[Pleistocene]] around 10,000&nbsp;BC.<ref name=Thoth&Schick>{{cite book |title=Handbook of Paleoanthropology |url=http://www.springerlink.com/content/u68378621542472j/ |author=Nicholas Toth and Kathy Schick |year=2007 |publisher=Springer Berlin Heidelberg |isbn=978-3-540-32474-4 (Print) 978-3-540-33761-4 (Online) |pages=1963 }}</ref><ref>[http://encarta.msn.com/encyclopedia_761555928_3/Stone_Age.html "Stone Age," Microsoft® Encarta® Online Encyclopedia 2007] © 1997-2007 Microsoft Corporation. All Rights Reserved. Contributed by Kathy Schick, B.A., M.A., Ph.D. and Nicholas Toth, B.A., M.A., Ph.D.</ref><ref>{{cite book |title= The Encyclopedia Americana |author=Grolier Incorporated |url=http://books.google.com/books?id=eRQaAAAAMAAJ&q=the+paleolithic+began+2.6+million+years+ago.&dq=the+paleolithic+began+2.6+million+years+ago.&pgis=1 |year=1989 |publisher=Grolier Incorporated |location=University of Michigan |isbn=ISBN 0717201201 |page=542 }}</ref> The Paleolithic era ended with the [[Mesolithic]], in Western Europe, and in areas not affected by the Ice Age with the [[Epipaleolithic]] (such as Africa).<ref>''[http://search.eb.com/eb/article-9052215 Mesolithic Period]''. (2008). In [[Encyclopædia Britannica]]. Retrieved April 10, 2008, from Encyclopædia Britannica Online.</ref> During the Paleolithic humans were grouped together in small scale societies such as [[Band society|bands]] and gained their subsistence from gathering plants and hunting or scavenging wild animals.<ref name="McClellan">{{cite book | author=McClellan |url=http://books.google.com/books?id=aJgp94zNwNQC&printsec=frontcover#PPA11 | title=Science and Technology in World History: An Introduction| location=Baltimore, Maryland | publisher=JHU Press | year=2006 | id=ISBN 0801883601}} [http://books.google.com/books?id=aJgp94zNwNQC&printsec=frontcover#PPA8 Page 6-12 ]</ref> The Paleolithic is characterized by the use of [[Lithic reduction|knapped]] stone [[tool]]s, 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, given their nature, these have not been preserved to any great degree. Surviving artifacts of the Paleolithic era are known as [[Paleolith]]s. Humankind gradually evolved from early members of the genus ''[[Homo genus|Homo]]'' such as ''[[Homo habilis]]''&mdash;who used simple stone tools&mdash;into fully behaviorally and anatomically modern humans (''[[Homo sapiens sapiens]]'') during the Paleolithic era.<ref>[http://encarta.msn.com/encyclopedia_761566394/Human_Evolution.html "Human Evolution," Microsoft® Encarta® Online Encyclopedia 2007] © 1997-2007 Microsoft Corporation. All Rights Reserved. Contributed by Richard B. Potts, B.A., Ph.D.</ref> 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.<ref>{{cite book |url=http://books.google.com/books?id=3tS2MULo5rYC&pg=PA162&dq=Uniquely+Human+cognitive-linguistic+base&ei=nNUeR9fmBo74pwKwtKnMDg&sig=3UsvgAnE5B-vzb55I6W6OqqhJy4| title=Uniquely Human|author=Phillip Lieberman|isbn=0674921836| year=1991|}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |url=http://books.google.com/books?id=xCa5zfefWVUC&printsec=frontcover&vq=Middle+Paleolithic&rview=1&source=gbs_summary_r#PPA133,M1 |title=African Foragers: Environment, Technology, Interactions |last=Kusimba |first=Sibel |year=2003 |publisher=Rowman Altamira |isbn=ISBN 075910154X |pages=285 }}</ref><ref name=ScienceDaily>World's Oldest Ritual Discovered -- Worshipped The Python 70,000 Years Ago The Research Council of Norway (2006, November 30). World's Oldest Ritual Discovered -- Worshipped The Python 70,000 Years Ago. ScienceDaily. Retrieved March 2, 2008, fromhttp://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2006/11/061130081347.htm</ref><ref name="McClellan">{{cite book | author=McClellan|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=aJgp94zNwNQC&printsec=frontcover#PPA11 | title=Science and Technology in World History: An Introduction| location=Baltimore, Maryland | publisher=JHU Press | year=2006 | id=ISBN 0801883601}} [http://books.google.com/books?id=aJgp94zNwNQC&printsec=frontcover#PPA8 Page 6-12 ]</ref> 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. ==Chronology== The [[three-age system]] divides human technological [[prehistory]] into three periods: the [[Stone Age]], the [[Bronze Age]] and the [[Iron Age]]. The modern [[periodization]] of the Stone Age stretches from the Paleolithic to the Neolithic in the following scheme (crossing an epoch boundary on the [[geologic time scale]]): * [[Pleistocene]] [[epoch (geology)|epoch]] (highly glaciated climate) ** Paleolithic age * [[Holocene]] [[epoch (geology)|epoch]] (modern climate) ** [[Mesolithic]] or [[Epipaleolithic]] age, [[Neolithic]] age, [[Copper Age]], [[Bronze Age]], [[Iron Age]] * [[History of the world|Historical period]] (written record begins) Traditionally, the Paleolithic is divided into three (somewhat overlapping) periods: the [[Lower Paleolithic]], [[Middle Paleolithic]], and the [[Upper Paleolithic]]. The three ages mark technological and cultural advances in different human communities. *Paleolithic **[[Lower Paleolithic]] ([[circa|''c.'']] 2.6 or 2.5 million years ago&ndash;100,000 years ago)<ref>{{cite book |title= The Encyclopedia Americana |author=Grolier Incorporated |Url=http://books.google.com/books?id=eRQaAAAAMAAJ&q=the+paleolithic+began+2.6+million+years+ago.&dq=the+paleolithic+began+2.6+million+years+ago.&pgis=1 |year=1989 |publisher=Grolier Incorporated |location=University of Michigan |isbn=ISBN 0717201201 |page=542 }}</ref><ref name=Thoth&Schick>{{cite book |title=Handbook of Paleoanthropology |url=http://www.springerlink.com/content/u68378621542472j/ |author=Nicholas Toth and Kathy Schick |year=2007 |publisher=Springer Berlin Heidelberg |isbn=978-3-540-32474-4 (Print) 978-3-540-33761-4 (Online) |pages=1963 }}</ref> ***[[Olduwan]] culture ***[[Acheulean]] culture ***[[Clactonian]] culture **[[Middle Paleolithic]] (''c.'' 300,000&ndash;30,000 years ago)<ref name=Miller2006>{{cite book |title=Anthropology |last=Miller |first=Barbra |coauthors=Bernard Wood, Andrew Balansky, Julio Mercader, Melissa Panger |year=2006 |publisher=Allyn and Bacon |location=Boston Massachusetts |isbn= 0205320244 |url=http://www.ablongman.com/html/productinfo/millerwood/MillerWood_c08.pdf | pages= 768|format=PDF}} </ref> ***[[Mousterian]] culture ***[[Aterian]] culture **[[Upper Paleolithic]] (''c.'' 45,000 or 40,000&ndash;10,000 years ago).<ref name=Miller2006>{{cite book |title=Anthropology |last=Miller |first=Barbra |coauthors=Bernard Wood, Andrew Balansky, Julio Mercader, Melissa Panger |year=2006 |publisher=Allyn and Bacon |location=Boston Massachusetts |isbn= 0205320244 |url=http://www.ablongman.com/html/productinfo/millerwood/MillerWood_c08.pdf | pages= 768|format=PDF}} </ref> ***[[Châtelperronian]] culture ***[[Aurignacian]] culture ***[[Gravettian]] culture ***[[Solutrean]] culture ***[[Magdalenian]] culture {| class="wikitable" |- ! Age|| Period|| Tools|| Economy|| Dwelling Sites|| Society|| Religion |- | rowspan="3"| [[Stone age]] | Paleolithic | Handmade tools and objects found in nature – [[cudgel]], [[club (weapon)|club]], sharpened stone, [[chopper (archaeology)|chopper]], [[handaxe]], [[scraper (archaeology)|scraper]], [[spear]], [[Bow and arrow]], [[harpoon]], [[Sewing needle|needle]], [[scratch awl]] | rowspan="2"| [[Hunting and gathering]] | rowspan="2"| Mobile lifestyle – [[cave]]s, [[hut]]s, tooth or skin [[hovel]]s, mostly by [[river]]s and [[lake]]s | A [[Band society|band]] of edible-plant gatherers and hunters (25-100 people) | rowspan="5"| Evidence for belief in the afterlife first appears in the [[Middle Paleolithic]] or [[Upper Paleolithic]], marked by the appearance of [[burial]] rituals and [[ancestor worship]]. [[Priest]]s and [[sanctuary]] [[servant]]s appear in the [[prehistory]]. |- | [[Mesolithic]] (known as the [[Epipalaeolithic]] in areas not effected by the Ice Age (such as Africa)) | Handmade tools and objects found in nature – [[bow (weapon)|bow]] and [[arrow]], [[fish – basket]], [[boat]]s | [[Tribe]]s and Bands |- | [[Neolithic]] | Handmade tools and objects found in nature – [[chisel]], [[Hoe (tool)|hoe]], [[plough]], [[yoke]], [[reaping-hook]], grain pourer, [[barley]], [[loom]], [[earthenware]] ([[pottery]]) and [[weapon]]s | [[agriculture]] [[Gathering]], [[hunting]], [[fishing]] and [[domestication]] | rowspan="2"|[[Farmstead]]s during the Neolithic and the Bronze Age Formation of [[city|cities]] during the Bronze Age | rowspan="2"| Tribes and the formation of [[chiefdoms]] in some Neolithic societies at the end of the Neolithic period' States and chiefdoms during the Bronze Age. |- | colspan="2"|[[Bronze Age]] | [[Copper]] and [[bronze]] tools, [[potter's wheel]] | rowspan="2"| [[Agriculture]] – [[cattle]] – breeding, [[agriculture]], [[craft]], [[trade]] |- | colspan="2"|[[Iron Age]] | [[Iron]] tools |} ==Human evolution== [[Image:Homo heidelbergensis-Cranium -5.jpg|thumb|right|140px|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&nbsp;BC.]] {{main|Human evolution}} Human evolution is the part of biological [[evolution]] concerning the emergence of [[human]]s as a distinct species. It is the subject of a broad [[Models of scientific inquiry|scientific inquiry]] that seeks to understand and describe how this change and development occurred. The study of human evolution encompasses many scientific disciplines, most notably [[physical anthropology]], [[paleoanthropology]], [[paleontology]], [[archeology]], [[linguistics]], and [[genetics]]. The term ''human'', in the context of human evolution, refers to the genus ''[[Homo (genus)|Homo]]'', but studies of human evolution usually include other [[hominid]]s, such as the [[australopithecines]]. === Human evolution during the Paleolithic === The evolutionary history of humankind is traced back by paleoanthropologists to 5-7&nbsp;million or 8-10 million years ago prior to the start of the Paleolithic when our closest hominid ancestors diverged from the shared common ancestor of humans, [[chimpanzee]]s and [[bonobo]]s.<ref name=Dawkins2004>{{cite book |last=Dawkins |first=Richard |authorlink=Richard Dawkins |title=The Ancestor's Tale, A Pilgrimage to the Dawn of Life. |publisher=Garden City Publishing Co., Inc. |year=2004 |location=Boston |pages=p. 673 |url=http://books.google.com/books?id=Tub-X6wydKgC&printsec=frontcover&dq=The+Ancestor%27s+Tale&sig=agehYMXB31si51TbVS7mt2S8g5s}}</ref><ref name=Gowlet>{{ cite journal |author=J. A. J. Gowlet |year=2003 |month=September |title =What actually was the stone age diet? |journal=Journal of environmental medicine | volume=13 |pages=143–147 | url =http://pcwww.liv.ac.uk/~gowlett/GowlettCJNE_13_03_02.pdf | accessdate=2008-05-04 |doi =10.1080/13590840310001619338 |format=PDF}})</ref> These early pre-Paleolithic hominids (such as ''[[Sahelanthropus tchadensis]]'' and ''[[Australopithecus]]'') began to develop [[bipedalism]] (though bipedalism did not become fully developed until Homo erectus/Homo ergaster first appeared in the human fossil record) and eventually gave rise to the earliest member of the genus homo, ''Homo habilis'', around 2.6 million years ago. [[Bipedalism#Humans|Numerous explanations]] have been proposed by anthropologists and biologists to explain why bipedalism evolved in humans including the provisioning model, which states that bipedalism was an adaptation to a monogamous society; the postural feeding hypothesis, which proposes that bipedalism was invented to help obtain food; and the thermoregulatory model, which claims that human bipedalism arose to reduce body heat.<ref>{{cite book |author=James Steele and Stephen Shennan|title=The Archaeology of Human Ancestry: Power, Sex and Tradition |publisher=Routledge|location=United kingdom|year=1996}}; [http://books.google.com/books?id=ktpWM7Tl1EcC&pg=RA1-PA137&dq=thermoregulatory+model+of+bipedalism&sig=obofKY3PsF91bZaHTa_V6Oo_Pqc p 137]</ref> [[Image:Humanevolutionchart.png|One current view of the temporal and geographical distribution of hominid populations. Other interpretations differ mainly in the taxonomy and geographical distribution of hominid species.|thumb|left|230px]] The earliest member of the genus homo, ''Homo habilis'', appeared around 2.6&nbsp;million years ago and was responsible for the beginning of the Paleolithic era and the creation of the [[Oldowan|Oldowan tool case]]. Most experts assume the intelligence and social organization of H. habilis were more sophisticated than typical australopithecines or chimpanzees. In the Early Pleistocene, 1.5&ndash;1 mya, in Africa, [[Asia]], and [[Europe]], some populations of ''[[Homo habilis]]'' evolved larger brains and made more elaborate stone tools; these differences and others are sufficient enough for anthropologists to conclude that they had given rise to a new species, ''[[Homo erectus|H. erectus]]''. Although ''Homo habilis'' coexisted with other Homo-like bipedal primates, such as ''[[Paranthropus boisei]]'', some of which prospered for many millennia, ''H. habilis'', possibly because of its early tool innovation and a less specialized diet, became the precursor of an entire line of new species, whereas ''Paranthropus boisei'' and its robust relatives disappeared from the fossil record. ''Homo ergaster'' was the first hominid to stand fully upright and migrate out of Africa (''c.'' 2&nbsp;million years ago<ref>http://www.actionbioscience.org/evolution/johanson.html Origins of Modern Humans: Multiregional or Out of Africa? By Donald Johanson</ref><ref>http://discovermagazine.com/2002/aug/featafrica Discover: Not Out of Africa, Alan Thorne's challenging ideas about human evolution</ref>). ''Homo ergaster'' may also have been the first hominid to control [[fire]]. ''Homo ergaster'' is often considered to be the [[wikt:primogenitor|primogenitor]] of the later species ''[[Homo erectus]]'', though ''H. ergaster'' is sometimes categorized as a subspecies of ''Homo erectus''. ''Homo erectus'' (along with ''Homo ergaster'') was probably the first early human species to fit squarely into the category of a hunter-gatherer society. ''Homo erectus'' was the first hominid certain to have used controlled fire (''c.'' 300,000&nbsp;[[Before Present|BP]]). Earlier (disputed) evidence for controlled fire also exists at sites such as the [[Zhoukoudian|Zhoukoudian Caves]] in [[China]], which contain possible evidence for controlled fire as early as 1.5 million years ago.<ref name="beyondveg">{{cite web |url=http://www.beyondveg.com/nicholson-w/hb/hb-interview2c.shtml |title=First Control of Fire by Human Beings--How Early? |accessdate=2007-11-12}}</ref> It is unknown who was the ancestor of ''[[Homo rhodesiensis]]'', the primitive hominid species that humans are likely to have descended from, though many current paleoanthropologists postulate that ''Homo rhodesiensis'' was the same species as ''[[Homo heidelbergensis]]'', also the immediate ancestor of the Neanderthals. Although the first members of the species ''Homo sapiens'', the [[Archaic Homo sapiens|Archaic ''Homo sapiens'']], may have existed as long as 300,000&nbsp;years ago, ''Homo sapiens'' only became completely behaviorally modern during the beginning of the Upper Paleolithic (''c.'' 50,000&nbsp;BP). After 50,000 BP, what [[Jared Diamond]], author of ''[[The Third Chimpanzee]]'', and other anthropologists characterize as a "[[Behavioral modernity|Great Leap Forward]]," human culture apparently started to change at much greater speed: "modern" humans started to bury their dead with more elaborate burials, made clothing out of hides, developed sophisticated hunting techniques (such as pitfall traps, or driving animals to fall off cliffs), and made [[cave painting]]s.<ref>{{cite journal |author=Ambrose SH |title=Paleolithic technology and human evolution |journal=Science |volume=291 |issue=5509 |pages=1748–53 |year=2001 |pmid=11249821| doi = 10.1126/science.1059487 <!--Retrieved from CrossRef by DOI bot-->}}</ref> This speed-up of cultural change seems connected with the arrival of behaviorally modern humans, ''Homo sapiens''. As human culture advanced, different populations of humans began to create novelty in existing technologies. Artifacts such as fish hooks, buttons and bone needles begin to show signs of greater variation among different populations of humans, than prior to 50,000 or 40,000 BP. Typically, ''neanderthalensis'' populations are found with technology similar to other contemporary ''neanderthalensis'' populations. Theoretically, modern human behavior is taken to include four ingredient capabilities: [[abstract thinking]] (concepts free from specific examples), [[planning]] (taking steps to achieve a further goal), [[innovation]] (finding new solutions), and [[symbolic behaviour]] (such as images, or rituals). Among concrete examples of modern human behaviour, anthropologists include specialization of tools, use of jewelry and images (such as cave drawings), organization of living space, rituals (for example, burials with grave gifts), more specialized hunting techniques, exploration of less hospitable geographical areas, and more extensive [[barter]] trade networks. Debate continues whether there was indeed a "revolution" leading to modern humans ("the big bang of human consciousness"), or a more gradual evolution.<ref>{{cite journal |author=Mcbrearty S, Brooks AS |title=The revolution that wasn't: a new interpretation of the origin of modern human behavior |journal=J. Hum. Evol. |volume=39 |issue=5 |pages=453–563 |year=2000 |pmid=11102266 |doi=10.1006/jhev.2000.0435}}</ref> The driving force behind human evolution during the Paleolithic is a matter of significant debate amongst anthropologists. The [[hunting hypothesis]] suggests that human evolution was primarily shaped by the hunting of other animals, however it is currently known that humans during [[Lower Paleolithic|most of the Paleolithic period]] gained the majority of their meat from scavenging dead animals, rather than hunting, and were often prey for larger large carnivores such as the [[saber-toothed cat]], ''[[Dinofelis]]'', and hyenas which apparently preyed on the hominid ''Homo habilis''.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2002/01/0102_020107maneater.html |title=Killer Cats Hunted Human Ancestors |work=National Geographic News |author=Hillary Mayell |accessdate=2008-02-15}}</ref> It is also currently understood by anthropologists that even Middle Paleolithic populations such as the Neanderthals, who hunted large game just as frequently and successfully as modern Upper Paleolithic humans, intermittently (and sometimes unsuccessfully) competed with carnivores such as hyenas for shelter in caves and food.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2005/05/0503_050305_neanderthal.html |title=Neandertals, Hyenas Fought for Caves, Food, Study Says |work=National Geographic News |author=Hillary Mayell |accessdate=2008-02-03}}</ref> Several contending theories also exist including the somewhat related [[killer ape theory]], which proposes that warfare and violence were the driving forces behind human evolution. The killer ape theory was first described by [[Raymond Dart]] in the 1950s and was further developed by the anthropologist [[Robert Ardrey]] (who also supported the hunting hypothesis) in his book ''African Genesis'' (1961). The killer ape theory is no longer supported by the majority of the anthropological community.<ref>[http://www.aliciapatterson.org/APF001973/Rensberger/Rensberger08/Rensberger08.html "The Killer Ape is Dead" by Boyce Rensberger]</ref> Some anthropologists, such as Adrienne L. Zihlman, propose a reverse version of the hunting hypothesis in which gathering was the driving force behind evolution and female primates played a significant part in human evolution.<ref name=White>{{cite web |url=http://www.indiana.edu/~arch/saa/matrix/ia/ia03_mod_10.html |title=Intro to archeology The First People and Culture |accessdate=2008-03-20 |author=Nancy White |work=Introduction to archeology }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |author=Barbara D. Miller|title=Sex and Gender Hierarchies |publisher=Cambridge University Press|location=Cambridge University|year=1993}}; [http://books.google.com/books?id=KfzCWv0oMn4C p 61]</ref> The [[aquatic ape hypothesis]] is another theory that seeks to uncover the driving force behind human evolution. In contrast to the two previously mentioned theories, the hunting hypothesis and the killer ape theory, the aquatic ape theory claims that life in aquatic or semi-aquatic settings was responsible for the development of many of the characteristics of [[Homo (genus)|''Homo'']] that are not seen in other primates.<ref name=MacLarnon1999>{{cite journal | author = MacLarnon, A.M. | coauthors = Hewitt, G.P. | year = 1999 | title = The evolution of human speech: The role of enhanced breathing control | journal = American Journal of Physical Anthropology | volume = 109 | issue = 3 | pages = 341–363 | doi = 10.1002/(SICI)1096-8644(199907)109:3<341::AID-AJPA5>3.3.CO;2-U}}</ref> However, like the killer ape theory, it is not widely accepted by the scientific community.<ref name=MacLarnon1999>{{cite journal |author=MacLarnon, A.M. |coauthors=Hewitt, G.P. |year=1999 |title=The evolution of human speech: The role of enhanced breathing control |journal=American Journal of Physical Anthropology |volume=109 |issue=3 |pages=341–363 |doi=10.1002/(SICI)1096-8644(199907)109:3<341::AID-AJPA5>3.3.CO;2-U}}</ref><ref name=Lowenstein1980>{{cite journal |author=Lowenstein, J.M. |coauthors=Zihlman, A.L. |year=1980 |title=The Wading Ape-A Watered-Down Version of Human Evolution |journal=Oceans |volume=17 |pages=3–6}}</ref><ref name="pmid9361254">{{cite journal |author=Langdon JH |title=Umbrella hypotheses and parsimony in human evolution: a critique of the Aquatic Ape Hypothesis |journal=J. Hum. Evol. |volume=33 |issue=4 |pages=479–94 |year=1997 |pmid=9361254 |doi=10.1006/jhev.1997.0146}}</ref> Although the modern Aquatic ape hypothesis was only developed during the 20th century the concept of humankind arising from an aquatic or semi-aquatic environment is much more ancient, the theories of the Ancient Greek philosopher [[Anaximander]] who is widely considered to be evolution's most ancient proponent bare some similarity with the contemporary Aquatic ape hypothesis as he theorized that humans evolved from fish or fish like animals. [[Richard Wrangham]] of [[Harvard University]] argues that cooking of plant foods may have triggered brain expansion by allowing [[Polysaccharide|complex carbohydrates]] in [[starch]]y foods to become more digestible and in effect allow humans to absorb more calories.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?id=food-for-thought-into-the |title=Food for Thought: Into the Fire |work=Scientific american |author=William R. Leonard |accessdate=2008-02-22}}</ref><ref name=Wrangham>{{cite journal |author=Wrangham R, Conklin-Brittain N. |title=Cooking as a biological trait |journal=Comp Biochem Physiol A Mol Integr Physiol |volume=136 |issue=1 |pages=35–46 |year=2003 Sep |pmid=14527628 |doi=10.1016/S1095-6433(03)00020-5 |url=http://anthropology.tamu.edu/faculty/alvard/anth630/reading/Week%208%20Diet%20tubers/Wrangham%20and%20Conklin-Brittain%202003.pdf}}</ref><ref name=TheWayWeEatNow>{{cite news |last=Lambert |first=Craig |title=The Way We Eat Now |publisher=Harvard Magazine |date=May-June 2004 |url=http://harvardmagazine.com/2004/05/the-way-we-eat-now.html}}</ref> ===Simplified human genealogy=== The timeline below shows a simplified genealogy of Paleolithic humanity, although other ideas of human genealogy exist for the same period:<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.archaeologyinfo.com/species.htm |title=Human evolution |accessdate=2007-04-09 |publisher=Archaelogy.info}}</ref><!-- More refs needed --> <timeline> DateFormat = yyyy ImageSize = width:800 height:auto barincrement:18 PlotArea = left:20 right:20 bottom:20 top:10 Colors = id:white value:rgb(1,1,1) id:black value:black id:canvas value:gray(0.98) id:holocene value:rgb(1,0.984,0.941) id:pleisto value:rgb(1,0.968,0.690) id:pliocene value:rgb(1,1,0.6) id:miocene value:rgb(1,1,0) id:paleo value:rgb(0.651,0.875,0.616) id:gray value:gray(0.80) id:darkblue value:rgb(0.3,0.3,0.7) id:blue value:rgb(0.45,0.45,0.80) id:lightblue value:rgb(0.65,0.65,0.90) id:red value:rgb(0.8,0.30,0.30) id:rougemoy value:rgb(0.88,0.45,0.45) id:lightred value:rgb(0.92,0.64,0.64) id:lightred2 value:rgb(0.95,0.84,0.84) id:orange value:rgb(1,0.7,0.3) id:orangesom value:rgb(0.9,0.45,0.25) id:or value:rgb(1,0.9,0) id:grilleMajor value:gray(0.7) id:grilleMinor value:gray(0.9) Period = from:-3000 till:1 TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal format:yyyy AlignBars = justify ScaleMinor = unit:year increment:100 start:-3000 gridcolor:grilleMinor ScaleMajor = unit:year increment:500 start:-3000 gridcolor:grilleMajor BackgroundColors = canvas:canvas bars:canvas BarData= bar:evenement1 bar:espace1 bar:evenement2 bar:espace2 bar:evenement3 bar:espace3 bar:evenement4 bar:espace4 bar:evenement5 bar:espace5 bar:evenement6 bar:espace6 # barset:evenement bar:ages0 bar:ages Define $center = anchor:from align:center Define $left = anchor:from align:left shift:( 4,-4) Define $right = anchor:till align:right shift:(-4,-4) Define $left2 = anchor:from align:left shift:( 4, 3) Define $right2 = anchor:till align:right shift:(-4, 3) PlotData= bar:evenement1 color:black width:20 $left from:-3000 till:-1950 color:gray at:-2650 textcolor:black text:" [[Australopithecus]]" bar:espace1 width:12 at:-2556 mark:(line, blue) bar:evenement2 color:black width:20 $left from:-2556 till:-1700 color:or at:-2300 textcolor:black text:" [[Homo habilis]]" bar:espace2 width:12 at:-2043 mark:(line, blue) bar:evenement3 color:black width:20 $left from:-2043 till:-1000 color:darkblue at:-1650 textcolor:black text:" [[Homo ergaster]]" from:-700 till:-300 color:blue textcolor:black text:"[[Homo rhodesiensis]]" from:-200 till:0 color:lightblue at:-300 textcolor:black text:" [[Homo sapiens]]" at:-880 textcolor:black text:"?" bar:espace3 width:12 at:-1121 mark:(line, blue) bar:espace3 width:36 at:-1750 mark:(line, blue) bar:evenement4 color:black width:20 $left from:-1121 till:-800 color:lightred at:-1125 textcolor:black text:"[[Homo antecessor]]" from:-700 till:-201 color:rougemoy at:-675 textcolor:black text:"[[Homo heidelbergensis]]" from:-199 till:-35 color:red at:-225 textcolor:black text:"[[Homo neanderthalensis|Neanderthal]]" at:-1750 mark:(line, darkblue) at:-770 textcolor:black text:"?" bar:espace4 width:12 at:-1750 mark:(line, darkblue) bar:evenement5 color:black width:20 bar:evenement5 color:black width:20 $left from:-1750 till:-100 color:orange at:-1000 textcolor:black text:" [[Homo erectus]]" bar:espace5 width:12 at:-100 mark:(line, blue) bar:evenement6 color:black width:20 $left from:-100 till:-27 color:orangesom at:-315 textcolor:black text:" [[Homo soloensis]]" bar:ages0 from:-2600 till:-10 width:10 color:paleo textcolor:white at:-1600 text:"Paleolithic" bar:ages fontsize:9 from:-3000 till:-1806 color:pliocene at:-2400 text:"[[Pliocene]]" from:-1806 till:-11 color:pleisto at:-1000 text:"[[Pleistocene]]" from:-11 till:0 color:holocene at:-100 text:"[[Holocene|H->]]" at:-3000 mark:(line, black) at:-1806 mark:(line, black) at:-11 mark:(line, black) at:0 mark:(line, black) </timeline> Timeline scale is in thousands of years. ==Paleogeography and climate== {{main|Pleistocene#Paleogeography and climate|Pliocene#Climate|Pliocene#Paleogeography}} [[Image:AntarcticaDomeCSnow.jpg|thumb|250px|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 periods experienced important geographic and climatic changes that affected human Paleolithic societies such as the beginning and the end of the world wide ice age that occurred during the Pleistocene. These changes are described below in greater depth. During the Pliocene Continents continued to [[plate tectonics|drift]] toward their present positions, moving from positions possibly as far as 250 km from their present locations to positions only 70 km from their current locations. [[South America]] became linked to North America through the [[Isthmus of Panama]] during the Pliocene, bringing a nearly complete end to South America's distinctive [[Marsupialia|marsupial]] fauna. The formation of the Isthmus had major consequences on global temperatures, since warm equatorial ocean currents were cut off and an Atlantic cooling cycle began, with cold Arctic and Antarctic waters dropping temperatures in the now-isolated Atlantic Ocean. [[Africa]]'s collision with [[Europe]] formed the [[Mediterranean Sea]], cutting off the remnants of the [[Tethys Ocean]]. Also [[Central America]] completely formed during the Pliocene, allowing flora from North and South America to leave their native habitats and colonize new areas.<ref name=UCMPPliocene>[http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/tertiary/pli.html University of California Museum of Paleontology website the Pliocene epoch(accessed March 25)]</ref> The modern [[continent]]s were essentially at their present positions during the Plestocene, the [[tectonic plate|plates]] upon which they sit probably having moved no more than 100&nbsp;km relative to each other since the beginning of the period.<ref name=Scotese>{{cite web |url=http://www.scotese.com/lastice.htm |author=[[Christopher Scotese]] |title=Paleomap project |accessdate=2008-03-23 |work=The Earth has been in an Ice House Climate for the last 30 million years }}</ref> Climates during the Pliocene became cooler and drier, and seasonal, similar to modern climates. [[Ice sheet]]s grew on [[Antarctica]] during the Pliocene. The formation of an Arctic ice cap around 3 mya is signaled by an abrupt shift in [[oxygen]] [[isotope]] ratios and ice-rafted cobbles in the North [[Atlantic]] and North [[Pacific ocean]] beds (Van Andel 1994 p. 226). Mid-latitude [[glacier|glaciation]] was probably underway 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.<ref name=UCMPPliocene>[http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/tertiary/pli.html University of California Museum of Paleontology website the Pliocene epoch(accessed March 25)]</ref> The [[Pleistocene]] climate was characterized by repeated glacial cycles during which [[continental glacier]]s pushed to the 40th [[parallel (latitude)|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 thick, 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. The effects of glaciation were global. [[Antarctica]] was ice-bound throughout the Pleistocene as well as the preceding Pliocene. The [[Andes]] were covered in the south by the [[Patagonia]]n ice cap. There were glaciers in [[New Zealand]] and [[Tasmania]]. The current 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 east was covered by the [[Laurentide]]. The Fenno-Scandian ice sheet rested on northern [[Europe]], including [[Great Britain]]; the Alpine ice sheet on 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&nbsp;BCE the Landbridge between [[Asia]] and [[North America]] known as [[Beringa]] was blocked by ice<ref name=Scotese>{{cite web |url=http://www.scotese.com/lastice.htm |author=[[Christopher Scotese]] |title=Paleomap project |accessdate=2008-03-23 |work=The Earth has been in an Ice House Climate for the last 30 million years }}</ref> and the ice covering [[Beringa]] [[Clovis_culture#The_.22first_Americans.22_debate|may have prevented]] early [[Paleo-Indian]]s such as the [[Clovis culture]] from directly crossing Beringa to reach the Americas. According to [[Mark Lynas]] (through collected data), the Pleistocene's overall climate could be characterized as a continuous [[El Niño]] with [[trade winds]] in the south [[Pacific ocean|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.<ref>[[National Geographic Channel]], ''Six Degrees Could Change The World,'' Mark Lynas interview. Retrieved February 14, 2008.</ref> At the end of the Paleolithic era, both the ice age and the Pleistocene epoch ended, and the world's climate became warmer. The climate change at the end of the Pleistocene may have caused or contributed to the extinction of the [[Pleistocene megafauna]] though 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.<ref>[http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/quaternary/ple.html University of California Museum of Paleontology website the Pleistocene epoch(accessed March 25)]</ref><ref name=Johnson>{{cite web |url=http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2008/04/080401-mammoth-extinction.html |author=Kimberly Johnson |title=National geographic news |accessdate=2008-04-04 |work=Climate Change, Then Humans, Drove Mammoths Extinct from National geographic }}</ref> New research suggests that the extinction of the [[Woolly mammoth]] may have been caused by the combined effect of both climatic change and human hunting.<ref name=Johnson>{{cite web |url=http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2008/04/080401-mammoth-extinction.html |author=Kimberly Johnson |title=National geographic news |accessdate=2008-04-04 |work=Climate Change, Then Humans, Drove Mammoths Extinct from National geographic }}</ref> 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. Paleolithic humans then delivered the final blow to the Woolly mammoths through hunting.<ref name=Johnson>{{cite web |url=http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2008/04/080401-mammoth-extinction.html |author=Kimberly Johnson |title=National geographic news |accessdate=2008-04-04 |work=Climate Change, Then Humans, Drove Mammoths Extinct from National geographic }}</ref> The global warming that occurred during the end of the Pleistocene and the beginning of the [[Holocene]] melted ice and may have also assisted humans in over hunting the woolly mammoth by allowing them to gain accesses to more mammoth habitats than previously possible.<ref name=Johnson>{{cite web |url=http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2008/04/080401-mammoth-extinction.html |author=Kimberly Johnson |title=National geographic news |accessdate=2008-04-04 |work=Climate Change, Then Humans, Drove Mammoths Extinct from National geographic }}</ref> <center> ;Currently agreed upon classifications as [[Paleolithic]] geoclimatic episodes<ref>Gamble, Clive (1990), El poblamiento Paleolítico de Europa, Barcelona: Editorial Crítica. ISBN 84-7423-445-X.</ref> {|class="wikitable" border=1 style="float:center; margin:0 0 1em 1em; valign:top; " |-valign="top" !Age <br>(before)!![[North America|America]]!![[England|Atlantic Europe]]!![[Maghreb]]!![[Italy|Mediterranean Europe]]!![[Central Europe]] |----------------- |align="center" | 10,000 years ||align="center" |Flandrian interglacial ||align="center" |Flandriense ||align="center" |''Mellahiense'' ||align="center" |''Versiliense'' ||align="center" |[[Flandrian interglacial]] |----------------- |align="center" | 80,000 years ||align="center" |'''Wisconsin''' ||align="center" | '''Devensiense'''||align="center" |Regresión ||align="center" | Regresión||align="center" |'''[[Wisconsin glaciation]]''' |----------------- |align="center" | 140,000 years ||align="center" |Sangamoniense ||align="center" |Ipswichiense ||align="center" |''Ouljiense'' ||align="center" |''Tirreniense II y III'' ||align="center" |[[Eemian interglacial]] |----------------- |align="center" | 200,000 years ||align="center" |'''Illinois''' ||align="center" |'''Wolstoniense''' ||align="center" |Regresión ||align="center" |Regresión ||align="center" |'''[[Wolstonian glaciation]]''' |----------------- |align="center" | 450,000 years ||align="center" |Yarmouthiense ||align="center" |Hoxniense ||align="center" |''Anfatiense'' ||align="center" |''Tirreniense I'' ||align="center" |[[Hoxnian interglacial]] |----------------- |align="center" | 580,000 years ||align="center" |'''Kansas''' ||align="center" |'''Angliense''' ||align="center" |Regresión ||align="center" |Regresión ||align="center" |'''[[Kansan glaciation]]''' |----------------- |align="center" | 750,000 years ||align="center" |Aftoniense ||align="center" |Cromeriense ||align="center" |''Maarifiense'' ||align="center" |''Siciliense'' ||align="center" |[[Cromerian interglacial]] |----------------- |align="center" | 1,100,000 years ||align="center" |'''Nebraska''' ||align="center" |'''Beestoniense''' ||align="center" |Regresión ||align="center" |Regresión ||align="center" |'''[[Beestonian stage]]''' |----------------- |align="center" | 1,400,000 years ||align="center" |interglaciar ||align="center" |Ludhamiense ||align="center" |''Messaudiense'' ||align="center" |''Calabriense'' ||align="center" |Donau-Günz |} </center> ==Way of life== [[Image:Terra-Amata-Hut.gif|thumb|right|An artist's rendering of a temporary wood house, based on evidence found at [[Terra Amata]] (in [[Nice, France|Nice]], [[France]]) and dated to the Lower Paleolithic (''c.'' 400,000&nbsp;BC).]] Due to a lack of written records from this time period, nearly all of our knowledge of Paleolithic humans culture and way of life comes from [[archaeology]] and [[Ethnography|ethnographic]] comparisons to the cultures of modern hunter gatherers such as the [[Bushmen|!Kung San]] who partake in lifestyles similar to those of their Paleolithic predecessors.<ref name="Leften Stavrianos">{{cite book | author=Leften Stavros Stavrianos|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=9H6oqN3Q-GoC&pg=PA55&dq=Paleolithic+egalitarianism&sig=KKhsZp57uhfR9WMQRYvdrSF3rOk#PPA71,M1 |title=Lifelines from Our Past: A New World History| location=New Jersey, USA | publisher=M.E. Sharpe| year=1997 | id=ISBN 0133570053}} [http://books.google.com/books?id=9H6oqN3Q-GoC&pg=PA55&dq=Paleolithic+egalitarianism&sig=KKhsZp57uhfR9WMQRYvdrSF3rOk#PPA71,M1 Page 70]</ref> The economy of a typical Paleolithic society was a [[hunter-gatherer]] economy.<ref name="Stavrianos">{{cite book | author=Leften Stavros Stavrianos|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=MKhe6qNva10C&q=paleolithic+society&dq=paleolithic+society&pgis=1 | title=A Global History from Prehistory to the Present| location=New Jersey, USA | publisher=Prentice Hall| year=1991 | id=ISBN 0133570053}} [http://books.google.com/books?id=MKhe6qNva10C&q=paleolithic+society&dq=paleolithic+society&pgis=1 Pages 9-13]</ref> Paleolithic humans hunted wild animals for meat and gathered food, firewood, and materials for their tools, clothes, or shelters.<ref name=rowland>{{cite web |url=http://members.aol.com/peterow/p2Palppl.htm |title=Pre-History, Pre-Civilization, and Paleolithic People |author=Sue Rowland |accessdate=2008-03-25 |work=Informal Learning - Women's History }}</ref><ref name="Stavrianos">{{cite book | author=Leften Stavros Stavrianos|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=MKhe6qNva10C&q=paleolithic+society&dq=paleolithic+society&pgis=1 | title=A Global History from Prehistory to the Present| location=New Jersey, USA | publisher=Prentice Hall| year=1991 | id=ISBN 0133570053}} [http://books.google.com/books?id=MKhe6qNva10C&q=paleolithic+society&dq=paleolithic+society&pgis=1 Pages 9-13]</ref> The human population density in the Paleolithic was very small and numbered around only one person per square mile.<ref name="McClellan">{{cite book |author=McClellan |url=http://books.google.com/books?id=aJgp94zNwNQC&printsec=frontcover#PPA11 | title=Science and Technology in World History: An Introduction| location=Baltimore, Maryland | publisher=JHU Press| year=2006 | id=ISBN 0801883601}} [http://books.google.com/books?id=aJgp94zNwNQC&printsec=frontcover#PPA12 pg 12 ]</ref> The low population density during the Paleolithic was most likely due to low body fat, Infanticide, women regularly engaging in intense endurance exercise,<ref>[http://www.primitivism.com/sedentism.htm The Consequences of Domestication and Sedentism by Emily Schultz, et al]</ref> late weaning of infants and a nomadic lifestyle.<ref name="McClellan">{{cite book |author=McClellan |url=http://books.google.com/books?id=aJgp94zNwNQC&printsec=frontcover#PPA11 | title=Science and Technology in World History: An Introduction| location=Baltimore, Maryland | publisher=JHU Press| year=2006 | id=ISBN 0801883601}} [http://books.google.com/books?id=aJgp94zNwNQC&printsec=frontcover#PPA12 pg 12 ]</ref> Like contemporary hunter-gatherers Paleolithic humans enjoyed an abundance of leisure time unparalleled in both [[Neolithic]] farming societies and modern industrial societies.<ref name="Stavrianos">{{cite book | author=Leften Stavros Stavrianos|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=MKhe6qNva10C&q=paleolithic+society&dq=paleolithic+society&pgis=1 | title=A Global History from Prehistory to the Present| location=New Jersey, USA | publisher=Prentice Hall| year=1991 | id=ISBN 0133570053}} [http://books.google.com/books?id=MKhe6qNva10C&q=paleolithic+society&dq=paleolithic+society&pgis=1 Pages 9-13]</ref><ref>{{cite book |author=Felipe Fernandez Armesto |title=Ideas that changed the world |publisher=Dorling Kindersley limited|location=Newyork |year=2003 |pages=400 |isbn=978-0-7566-3298-4 |oclc= |doi=}}; [http://books.google.com/books?id=tFIAAAAACAAJ&dq=Ideas+that+changed+the+world+by+Felipe+Fernandez+Armesto Page 10]</ref> 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 jewelry and began to engage in religious behavior such as burial and ritual.<ref>{{cite web |url= http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2003/02/0220_030220_humanorigins2_2.html|title= When Did "Modern" Behavior Emerge in Humans?|work= National Geographic News |author= Hillary Mayell |accessdate=2008-02-05}}</ref> ===Technology=== [[Image:Bifaz de Atapuerca (TG10).jpg|thumb|91px|left|Picture of two [[Lower Paleolithic]] [[biface]]s.]] [[Image:Bola-Sidi-Abderrahman.jpg|thumb|167px|Picture of a stone ball from a set of Paleolithic [[bolas]].]] During this time period people made tools of stone, bone, and wood.<ref name="Stavrianos">{{cite book | author=Leften Stavros Stavrianos|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=MKhe6qNva10C&q=paleolithic+society&dq=paleolithic+society&pgis=1 | title=A Global History from Prehistory to the Present| location=New Jersey, USA | publisher=Prentice Hall| year=1991 | id=ISBN 0133570053}} [http://books.google.com/books?id=MKhe6qNva10C&q=paleolithic+society&dq=paleolithic+society&pgis=1 Pages 9-13]</ref> The most ancient Paleolithic stone tool industry the Oldowan was developed by the earliest members of the genus ''Homo'' such as ''Homo habilis'' around 2.6&nbsp;million years ago.<ref name=Klein>{{cite book |author=Klein, R. |year=1999 |title=The Human Career |publisher=University of Chicago Press}}</ref> and contained tools such as choppers, [[burin]]s and [[awl]]s though it completely disappeared around 250,000&nbsp;years ago and was followed by the more complex Acheulean industry which was first conceived by ''Homo ergaster'' around 1.8 or 1.65&nbsp;million years ago.<ref>Roche H et al., 2002, ''Les sites archaéologiques pio-pléistocènes de la formation de Nachukui, Ouest-Turkana, Kenya: bilan synthétique 1997–2001'', Comptes Rendus Palevol 2, 663–673, qtd in Scarre, 2005</ref> 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.<ref>[[John Desmond Clark|Clark, JD]], ''Variability in primary and secondary technologies of the Later Acheulian in Africa'' in Milliken, S and Cook, J (eds), 2001</ref> Lower Paleolithic humans are known to have used a variety of stone tools, including [[hand axe]]s and choppers. Although Lower Paleolithic Hominids appear to have used handaxes frequently there is no consensus 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 behaviour. An interpretation from [[William H. Calvin]] maintains that some of the rounder examples 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 indeed 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 defence against predators. Choppers and scrappers were likely used for the purpose of skinning and butchering scavenged animals and sharp ended sticks were often procured for the purpose of digging up edible roots. Early hominids presumably have been using wooden spears as early as 5&nbsp;million years ago to hunt small animals, much like our close relatives the common chimpanzee have recently been observed doing in [[Senegal]], Africa.<ref>Rick Weiss, [http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/02/22/AR2007022201007.html "Chimps Observed Making Their Own Weapons"], ''[[The Washington Post]]'', [[February 22]], [[2007]]</ref> Lower Paleolithic humans additionally known to have 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&nbsp;million years ago and possibly even earlier by the early Lower Paleolithic (Oldowan) hominid ''Homo habilis'' and/or by robust australopithecines such as ''[[Paranthropus]]''<ref name="McClellan">{{cite book | author=McClellan|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=aJgp94zNwNQC&printsec=frontcover#PPA11 | title=Science and Technology in World History: An Introduction| location=Baltimore, Maryland | publisher=JHU Press | year=2006 | id=ISBN 0801883601}} [http://books.google.com/books?id=aJgp94zNwNQC&printsec=frontcover#PPA8 Page 8-12 ]</ref> however the use of fire only became common in the societies of the following [[Middle Stone Age]]/[[Middle Paleolithic]] Period.<ref name=Thoth&Schick>{{cite book |title=Handbook of Paleoanthropology |url=http://www.springerlink.com/content/u68378621542472j/ |author=Nicholas Toth and Kathy Schick |year=2007 |publisher=Springer Berlin Heidelberg |isbn=978-3-540-32474-4 (Print) 978-3-540-33761-4 (Online) |pages=1963 }}</ref> The invention of fire reduced mortality rates and provided protection against predators.<ref name=MarloweFW22>{{cite journal |author=Marlowe FW |title=Hunter-gatherers and human evolution |journal=Evolutionary Anthropology |volume=14 |issue=2 | pages = 15294 |year=2005 |format=PDF|url=http://www.anthro.fsu.edu/people/faculty/marlowe_pubs/hunter-gatherers%20and%20human%20evolution.pdf | doi = 10.1002/evan.20046 <!--Retrieved from CrossRef by DOI bot-->}}</ref> In addition early hominids may have began to cook their food as early as the Lower Paleolithic (''c.'' 1.9 million years ago) or at the very latest in the early Middle Paleolithic (''c.'' 250,000 years ago).<ref name=Wrangham>{{cite journal |author=Wrangham R, Conklin-Brittain N. |title=Cooking as a biological trait |journal=Comp Biochem Physiol A Mol Integr Physiol |volume=136 |issue=1 |pages=35–46 |year=2003 Sep |pmid=14527628 |doi=10.1016/S1095-6433(03)00020-5 |url=http://anthropology.tamu.edu/faculty/alvard/anth630/reading/Week%208%20Diet%20tubers/Wrangham%20and%20Conklin-Brittain%202003.pdf}}</ref> Some scientists have hypothesized that Hominids began cooking food to defrost frozen meat which would help ensure their survival in cold regions.<ref name=Wrangham>{{cite journal |author=Wrangham R, Conklin-Brittain N. |title=Cooking as a biological trait |journal=Comp Biochem Physiol A Mol Integr Physiol |volume=136 |issue=1 |pages=35–46 |year=2003 Sep |pmid=14527628 |doi=10.1016/S1095-6433(03)00020-5 |url=http://anthropology.tamu.edu/faculty/alvard/anth630/reading/Week%208%20Diet%20tubers/Wrangham%20and%20Conklin-Brittain%202003.pdf}}</ref> The Lower Paleolithic [[hominid]] ''Homo erectus'' possibly invented [[raft]]s (''c.'' 800,000 or 840,000&nbsp;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, it must also be noted that this hypothesis is disputed within the anthropological community.<ref>[http://www.sciencenews.org/articles/20031018/bob8.asp Erectus Ahoy Prehistoric seafaring floats into view]</ref><ref>[http://mc2.vicnet.net.au/home/mariners/web/mariner1.html First Mariners Project Photo Gallery 1<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref><ref>[http://mc2.vicnet.net.au/home/mariners/web/ng2004.html First Mariners - National Geographic project 2004<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref> 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.<ref>[http://mc2.vicnet.net.au/home/mariners/web/mariner1.html First Mariners Project Photo Gallery 1<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref> Supplementary evidence from Neanderthal and Modern human sites located around the Mediterranean sea such as Coa de sa Multa (''c.'' 300.000 BCE) 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.<ref>[http://mc2.vicnet.net.au/home/mariners/web/mariner1.html First Mariners Project Photo Gallery 1<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref><ref name=Miller2006>{{cite book |title= |last=Miller |first=Barbra |coauthors=Bernard Wood, Andrew Balansky, Julio Mercader, Melissa Panger |year=2006 |publisher=Allyn and Bacon |location=Boston Massachusetts |isbn= 0205320244 | pages= 768}} </ref> 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.<ref>[http://encarta.msn.com/encyclopedia_761566394/Human_Evolution.html "Human Evolution," Microsoft® Encarta® Online Encyclopedia 2007] © 1997-2007 Microsoft Corporation. All Rights Reserved. Contributed by Richard B. Potts, B.A., Ph.D.</ref> This method increased efficiency by permitting the creation of more controlled and consistent [[flake]]s.<ref>[http://encarta.msn.com/encyclopedia_761566394/Human_Evolution.html "Human Evolution," Microsoft® Encarta® Online Encyclopedia 2007] © 1997-2007 Microsoft Corporation. All Rights Reserved. Contributed by Richard B. Potts, B.A., Ph.D.</ref> This method allowed Middle Paleolithic humans to correspondingly create stone tipped spears which were the earliest [[composite tool]]s by hafting sharp, pointy stone flakes onto wooden shafts. In addition to improving tool making methods the Middle Paleolithic also saw an improvement of the tools themselves which 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.<ref name=MarloweFW22>{{cite journal |author=Marlowe FW |title=Hunter-gatherers and human evolution |journal=Evolutionary Anthropology |volume=14 |issue=2 | pages = 15294 |year=2005 |format=PDF|url=http://www.anthro.fsu.edu/people/faculty/marlowe_pubs/hunter-gatherers%20and%20human%20evolution.pdf | doi = 10.1002/evan.20046 <!--Retrieved from CrossRef by DOI bot-->}}</ref> Harpoons were invented and used for the first time during the late Middle Paleolithic (c.90,000 years ago), the invention of these devices allowed fish to become part of human diets which provided a hedge against starvation and a more abundant food supply.<ref name=Miller2006>{{cite book |title= |last=Miller |first=Barbra |coauthors=Bernard Wood, Andrew Balansky, Julio Mercader, Melissa Panger |year=2006 |publisher=Allyn and Bacon |location=[[Boston, Massachusetts]] |isbn=0205320244 |pages=768}} </ref><ref>[http://encarta.msn.com/encyclopedia_761566394_12/human_evolution.html "Human Evolution," Microsoft® Encarta® Online Encyclopedia 2007] © 1997-2007 Microsoft Corporation. All Rights Reserved. Contributed by Richard B. Potts, B.A., Ph.D.</ref> As a result of both their technology and their advanced social social structures Paleolithic groups such as the [[Neanderthals]] who possessed a Middle Paleolithic level of technology appear to have hunted large game just as well as Upper Paleolithic [[Homo sapiens|modern humans]]<ref name=Parson2006>{{cite web |url=http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2006/01/0125_060125_neanderthal.html |title=Neanderthals Hunted as Well as Humans, Study Says |work=National Geographic News |author=Ann Parson |accessdate=2008-02-01}}</ref> and the Neanderthals in particular may have likewise hunted with projectile weapons.<ref>Boëda E., Geneste J.M., Griggo C., Mercier N., Muhesen S., Reyss J.L., Taha A. & Valladas H. (1999) A Levallois point embedded in the vertebra of a wild ass (Equus africanus): Hafting, projectiles and Mousterian hunting. ''Antiquity'', 73, 394&ndash;402</ref> Nonetheless Neanderthal usage of projectile weapons in hunting occurred very rarely (or perhaps never) and the Neanderthals hunted large game animals mostly by [[ambush]]ing them and attacking them with mêlée weapons such as thrusting spears rather than attacking them from a distance with projectile weapons.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/4251299.stm |title= The icy truth behind Neanderthals |work=[[BBC News]] |author=Cameron Balbirnie|accessdate=2008-04-01}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url= http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2003/02/0220_030220_humanorigins2_2.html|title= When Did "Modern" Behavior Emerge in Humans?|work= National Geographic News |author= Hillary Mayell |accessdate=2008-02-05}}</ref> During the [[Upper Paleolithic]] further technological advances were made such as the invention of [[Nets]],(''c.'' 22,000 or 29,000 BP)<ref name=MarloweFW22>{{cite journal |author=Marlowe FW |title=Hunter-gatherers and human evolution |journal=Evolutionary Anthropology |volume=14 |issue=2 | pages = 15294 |year=2005 |format=PDF|url=http://www.anthro.fsu.edu/people/faculty/marlowe_pubs/hunter-gatherers%20and%20human%20evolution.pdf | doi = 10.1002/evan.20046 <!--Retrieved from CrossRef by DOI bot-->}}</ref> [[bolas]],<ref>J. Chavaillon, D. Lavallée, « Bola », in ''Dictionnaire de la Préhistoire'', PUF, 1988.</ref> the [[spear thrower]] (c.30,000 BP) the bow and arrow (''c.'' 25,000 or 30,000&nbsp;BP)<ref name=Encarta>[http://encarta.msn.com/encyclopedia_761551756/Archery.html#s2 "Archery," Microsoft Encarta Online Encyclopedia 2007 © 1997&ndash;2007 Microsoft Corporation. All Rights Reserved.]</ref><ref name="McClellan">{{cite book | author=McClellan |url=http://books.google.com/books?id=aJgp94zNwNQC&printsec=frontcover#PPA11 | title=Science and Technology in World History: An Introduction| location=Baltimore, Maryland | publisher=JHU Press | year=2006 | id=ISBN 0801883601}} [http://books.google.com/books?id=aJgp94zNwNQC&printsec=frontcover#PPA8 Page 8-12 ]</ref> and the creation of the world's oldest example of ceramic art, the [[Venus of Dolní Věstonice]] (''c.'' 29,000&ndash;25,000&nbsp;BP).<ref name="McClellan">{{cite book | author=McClellan |url=http://books.google.com/books?id=aJgp94zNwNQC&printsec=frontcover#PPA11 | title=Science and Technology in World History: An Introduction| location=Baltimore, Maryland | publisher=JHU Press | year=2006 | id=ISBN 0801883601}} [http://books.google.com/books?id=aJgp94zNwNQC&printsec=frontcover#PPA8 Page 8-12 ]</ref> Early dogs were also domesticated during the end of the Paleolithic, sometime between 30,000 BP and 14,000 BP, (presumably) to aid in hunting.<ref name=TheBookofGeneralIgnorance>[[John Lloyd (writer)|Lloyd, J]] & [[John Mitchinson|Mitchinson, J]]: "[[The Book of General Ignorance]]". Faber & Faber, 2006.</ref> 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 late Middle Paleolithic around 100,000 BP or perhaps even earlier<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.sciencenews.org/pages/pdfs/data/1997/151-26/15126-11.pdf |title= stalking the ancient dog |work=Science news |author=Christine Mellot |accessdate=2008-01-03|format=PDF}}</ref> Archeological evidence from the [[Dordogne]] region of France demonstrates that members of the European early [[Upper Paleolithic]] culture known as the [[Aurignacian]] were the first people to use calendars (''c.'' 30,000&nbsp;BP). This early calendar 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.<ref>{{cite book |author=Felipe Fernandez Armesto |title=Ideas that changed the world |publisher=Dorling Kindersley limited|location=[[New York City|New York]] |year=2003 |pages=400 |isbn=978-0-7566-3298-4 |oclc= |doi=}}; [http://books.google.com/books?id=tFIAAAAACAAJ&dq=Ideas+that+changed+the+world+by+Felipe+Fernandez+Armesto]</ref> It is almost certain that Upper Paleolithic cultures were capable of precisely timing the migration of game animals such as wild horses and deer.<ref>[http://encarta.msn.com/encyclopedia_761555928_4/Stone_Age.html "Stone Age," Microsoft® Encarta® Online Encyclopedia 2007] © 1997-2007 Microsoft Corporation. All Rights Reserved. Contributed by Kathy Schick, B.A., M.A., Ph.D. and Nicholas Toth, B.A., M.A., Ph.D.</ref> This ability allowed humans to become efficient hunters and to exploit a wide variety of game animals.<ref>[http://encarta.msn.com/encyclopedia_761555928_4/Stone_Age.html "Stone Age," Microsoft® Encarta® Online Encyclopedia 2007] © 1997-2007 Microsoft Corporation. All Rights Reserved. Contributed by Kathy Schick, B.A., M.A., Ph.D. and Nicholas Toth, B.A., M.A., Ph.D.</ref> Moreover recent research indicates that the Neanderthals timed their hunts and the migrations of game animals long before the beginning of the Upper Paleolithic.<ref name=Parson2006>{{cite web |url=http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2006/01/0125_060125_neanderthal.html |title=Neanderthals Hunted as Well as Humans, Study Says |work=National Geographic News |author=Ann Parson |accessdate=2008-02-01}}</ref> ===Social organization=== [[Image:Arrowhead.jpg|thumb|left|150px|Humans may have partook in long distance trade between [[Band society|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.<ref name=White>{{cite web |url=http://www.indiana.edu/~arch/saa/matrix/ia/ia03_mod_10.html |title=Intro to archeology The First People and Culture |accessdate=2008-03-20 |author=Nancy White |work=Introduction to archeology }}</ref> 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,<ref>[http://encarta.msn.com/encyclopedia_761566394/Human_Evolution.html "Human Evolution," Microsoft® Encarta® Online Encyclopedia 2007] © 1997-2007 Microsoft Corporation. All Rights Reserved. Contributed by Richard B. Potts, B.A., Ph.D.</ref> however the earliest solid evidence for the existence of home bases/central campsites (hearths and shelters) amongst humans only dates back to 500,000 years ago.<ref>[http://encarta.msn.com/encyclopedia_761566394/Human_Evolution.html "Human Evolution," Microsoft® Encarta® Online Encyclopedia 2007] © 1997-2007 Microsoft Corporation. All Rights Reserved. Contributed by Richard B. Potts, B.A., Ph.D.</ref> Similarity it is disputed amongst scientists whether Lower Paleolithic humans were largely monogamous or polygamous,<ref name=White>{{cite web |url=http://www.indiana.edu/~arch/saa/matrix/ia/ia03_mod_10.html |title=Intro to archeology The First People and Culture |accessdate=2008-03-20 |author=Nancy White |work=Introduction to archeology }}</ref> the Provisional model in particular 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 [[Homo sapiens|Modern humans]] who are less polygamous than other primates which would provide evidence that Lower Paleolithic humans had a largely polygamous lifestyle because species which have the most pronounced Sexual dimorphism tend to be more likely to be polygamous.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/6937476.stm |title=Finds test human origins theory |work=[[BBC News]] |author=James Urquhart|accessdate=2008-03-20}}</ref> For most of the Lower Paleolithic human societies were possibly more hierarchical than their Middle and Upper Paleolithic decedents and probably were not grouped into bands,<ref name=Bohem>Christopher Boehm (1999) [http://books.google.com/books?id=ljxS8gUlgqgC&pg=PA197&dq=Paleolithic&lr=&sig=V-GOM-s3rCApE_baw2oRoaw24w8#PPA198,M1 "Hierarchy in the Forest: The Evolution of Egalitarian Behavior" page 198-208] Harvard university press </ref> though during the end of the Lower Paleolithic the latest populations of the Hominid Homo erectus began living in small scale (possibly egalitarian) bands similar to both Middle and Upper Paleolithic societies and modern hunter-gatherers.<ref name=Bohem>Christopher Boehm (1999) [http://books.google.com/books?id=ljxS8gUlgqgC&pg=PA197&dq=Paleolithic&lr=&sig=V-GOM-s3rCApE_baw2oRoaw24w8#PPA198,M1 "Hierarchy in the Forest: The Evolution of Egalitarian Behavior" page 198-208] Harvard university press </ref> Middle and Upper Paleolithic humans like Lower Paleolithic humans and early Neolithic farming tribes lived without states and organized governments and instead unlike both Lower Paleolithic humans, early Neolithic farmers and complex agricultural Civilizations were grouped in (usually nomadic) [[Band society|bands]] that ranged from 20 to 30 or 25 to 100 members.<ref name="Spielvogel">{{cite book |url=http://books.google.com/books?id=ni4PSpOxb6MC&printsec=frontcover#PPA2,M1 |title=Western Civilization (combined volumes)| location=Stamford Connecticut |author=[[Jackson J. Spielvogel]] |publisher=[[The Thomson Corporation|Thomson Wadsworth]] | year=2003 | id=ISBN 0534646026 }} [http://books.google.com/books?id=ni4PSpOxb6MC&printsec=frontcover#PPA2,M1 Pages 2-3]</ref><ref name=Bohem>Christopher Boehm (1999) [http://books.google.com/books?id=ljxS8gUlgqgC&pg=PA197&dq=Paleolithic&lr=&sig=V-GOM-s3rCApE_baw2oRoaw24w8#PPA198,M1 "Hierarchy in the Forest: The Evolution of Egalitarian Behavior" page 198-208] Harvard university press </ref><ref name="McClellan">{{cite book | author=McClellan |url=http://books.google.com/books?id=aJgp94zNwNQC&printsec=frontcover#PPA11 | title=Science and Technology in World History: An Introduction| location=Baltimore, Maryland | publisher=JHU Press | year=2006 | id=ISBN 0801883601}} [http://books.google.com/books?id=aJgp94zNwNQC&printsec=frontcover#PPA8 Page 8-12 ]</ref> These bands were formed by several families. However bands sometimes joined together into larger "macrobands" for activities such as acquiring mates and celebrations or where resources were abundant.<ref name="McClellan">{{cite book | author=McClellan|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=aJgp94zNwNQC&printsec=frontcover#PPA11 | title=Science and Technology in World History: An Introduction| location=Baltimore, Maryland | publisher=JHU Press | year=2006 | id=ISBN 0801883601}} [http://books.google.com/books?id=aJgp94zNwNQC&printsec=frontcover#PPA8 Page 8-12 ]</ref> By the end of the Paleolithic era—which ended about 10,000 BP—people began to settle down into permanent locations and agriculture began to be relied upon for sustenance in many locations. A large body of scientific evidence exists to suggest that humans took part in long distance trade between [[Band society|bands]] for rare commodities (such as ochre, which was often used for religious purposes such as ritual<ref name=Henahan>{{cite web |url=http://www.accessexcellence.org/WN/SU/caveart.html |title=Blombos Cave art |accessdate=2008-03-12 |author=Sean Henahan |work=Science News }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |author=Felipe Fernandez Armesto |title=Ideas that changed the world |publisher=Dorling Kindersley limited|location=Newyork |year=2003 |pages=400 |isbn=978-0-7566-3298-4 |oclc= |doi=}}; [http://books.google.com/books?id=tFIAAAAACAAJ&dq=Ideas+that+changed+the+world+by+Felipe+Fernandez+Armesto]</ref>) and raw materials as early as 120,000 years ago in Middle Paleolithic.<ref name=Mayell>{{cite web |url=http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2003/02/0220_030220_humanorigins2_2.html |title=When Did "Modern" Behavior Emerge in Humans? |work=National Geographic News |author=Hillary Mayell |accessdate=2008-02-05}}</ref> 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 recourses and commodities such as raw materials during times of relative scarcity (i.e. famine, drought).<ref name=Mayell>{{cite web |url=http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2003/02/0220_030220_humanorigins2_2.html |title=When Did "Modern" Behavior Emerge in Humans? |work=National Geographic News |author=Hillary Mayell |accessdate=2008-02-05}}</ref> Middle and Upper Paleolithic society was communal and [[collectivism|collectivistic]] and individuals were subordinate to the band as a whole.<ref name="Stavrianos">{{cite book | author=Leften Stavros Stavrianos|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=MKhe6qNva10C&q=paleolithic+society&dq=paleolithic+society&pgis=1 | title=A Global History from Prehistory to the Present| location=New Jersey, USA | publisher=Prentice Hall| year=1991 | id=ISBN 0133570053}} [http://books.google.com/books?id=MKhe6qNva10C&q=paleolithic+society&dq=paleolithic+society&pgis=1 Pages 9-13] </ref><ref name="Leften Stavrianos">{{cite book | author=Leften Stavros Stavrianos|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=eamHPkIkE1UC&pg=PA23&dq=paleolithic+society&sig=5hEjSg9y5nowvM7-7lPP9XuSw7I |title=Lifelines from Our Past: A New World History| location=New Jersey, USA | publisher=M.E. Sharpe| year=1997 | id=ISBN 0133570053}} [http://books.google.com/books?id=eamHPkIkE1UC&pg=PA23&dq=paleolithic+society&sig=5hEjSg9y5nowvM7-7lPP9XuSw7I Pages 9-13][http://books.google.com/books?id=9H6oqN3Q-GoC&pg=PA55&dq=Paleolithic+egalitarianism&sig=KKhsZp57uhfR9WMQRYvdrSF3rOk#PPA71,M1 Page 70]</ref> Both Neanderthals and modern humans took care of the elderly members of their societies during the Middle and Upper Paleolithic.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2003/02/0220_030220_humanorigins2_2.html |title=When Did "Modern" Behavior Emerge in Humans? |work=National Geographic News |author=Hillary Mayell |accessdate=2008-02-05}}</ref> [[Image:Sunghir man.gif|thumb|Reconstruction of the 60 year-old man buried at the site of Sungir. The discovery of this person’s ornate burial suggests that some Upper Paleolithic groups may have developed complex, hierarchical social structures.]] Like the societies of our closest existent relative the [[Bonobo]]<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.bio.davidson.edu/people/vecase/Behavior/Spring2004/laird/Social%20Organization.htm |title=Bonobo social spacing |author=Courtney Laird |accessdate=2008-03-10 |work=Davidson College }}</ref> most Middle and Upper Paleolithic societies were fundamentally [[Egalitarianism|egalitarian]]<ref name=rowland>{{cite web |url=http://members.aol.com/peterow/p2Palppl.htm |title=Pre-History, Pre-Civilization, and Paleolithic People |author=Sue Rowland |accessdate=2008-03-25 |work=Informal Learning - Women's History }}</ref><ref name=Bohem>Christopher Boehm (1999) [http://books.google.com/books?id=ljxS8gUlgqgC&pg=PA197&dq=Paleolithic&lr=&sig=V-GOM-s3rCApE_baw2oRoaw24w8#PPA198,M1 "Hierarchy in the Forest: The Evolution of Egalitarian Behavior" page 198] Harvard University Press </ref><ref name=Bohem>Christopher Boehm (1999) [http://books.google.com/books?id=ljxS8gUlgqgC&pg=PA197&dq=Paleolithic&lr=&sig=V-GOM-s3rCApE_baw2oRoaw24w8#PPA208,M1 "Hierarchy in the Forest: The Evolution of Egalitarian Behavior" page 208] Harvard university press</ref><ref name=Miller2006>{{cite book |title= |last=Miller |first=Barbra |coauthors=Bernard Wood, Andrew Balansky, Julio Mercader, Melissa Panger |year=2006 |publisher=Allyn and Bacon |location=Boston Massachusetts |isbn= 0205320244 | pages=768}} </ref><ref name="McClellan">{{cite book |author=McClellan|url=http://books.google.com/books id=aJgp94zNwNQC&printsec=frontcover#PPA11 | title=Science and Technology in World History: An Introduction| location=Baltimore, Maryland | publisher=JHU Press| year=2006 | id=ISBN 0801883601}} [http://books.google.com/books?id=aJgp94zNwNQC&printsec=frontcover#PPA12 pg 12][http://books.google.com/books?id=aJgp94zNwNQC&printsec=frontcover#PPA8 8][http://books.google.com/books?id=aJgp94zNwNQC&printsec=frontcover#PPA10][http://books.google.com/books?id=aJgp94zNwNQC&printsec=frontcover#PPA11]</ref><ref name="Stavrianos">{{cite book | author=Leften Stavros Stavrianos|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=MKhe6qNva10C&q=paleolithic+society&dq=paleolithic+society&pgis=1 | title=A Global History from Prehistory to the Present| location=New Jersey, USA | publisher=Prentice Hall| year=1991 | id=ISBN 0133570053}} [http://books.google.com/books?id=MKhe6qNva10C&q=paleolithic+society&dq=paleolithic+society&pgis=1 Pages 9-13]</ref> and infrequently or never engaged in organized violence between groups (i.e. war),<ref name=Miller2006>{{cite book |title= |last=Miller |first=Barbra |coauthors=Bernard Wood, Andrew Balansky, Julio Mercader, Melissa Panger |year=2006 |publisher=Allyn and Bacon |location=Boston Massachusetts |isbn= 0205320244 | pages= 768}} </ref><ref name="Gutrie">{{cite book | author=R Dale Gutrie|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=3u6JNwMyMCEC&pg=PA428&dq=Paleolithic+religions&lr=&sig=-ByhIeDCnsdtWELAa6H2yxjPLLk#PPA420,M1 | title=The Nature of Paleolithic art| location=Chicago | publisher=University of Chicago Press | year=2005 | id=ISBN 0226311260}} [http://books.google.com/books?id=3u6JNwMyMCEC&pg=PA428&dq=Paleolithic+religions&lr=&sig=-ByhIeDCnsdtWELAa6H2yxjPLLk#PPA422,M1 Pages 420-422]</ref><ref name="Barbara Ehrenreich">{{cite book | author=Barbara Ehrenreich |url=http://books.google.com/books?id=nFuDltu509YC&printsec=frontcover#PPA123,M1 | title=Blood Rites: Origins and History of the Passions of War| location=London, United Kingdom | publisher=Macmillan| year=1997 | id=ISBN 0805057870}} [http://books.google.com/books?id=nFuDltu509YC&printsec=frontcover#PPA123,M1 Page 123]</ref><ref name="Kelly">{{cite journal |last=Kelly |first=Raymond |title=The evolution of lethal intergroup violence |doi= 10.1073/pnas.0505955102 |journal=PNAS|quote=<!-- The selective factors that favored coalitionary killing of neighbors may have remained in play until as late as 1 million years ago. The precise chronology of the persistence of these selective factors during the Lower Paleolithic remains an open question at present. However, the development of the throwing spear, used in conjunction with ambush hunting techniques, ushered in an era in which the enhanced lethality of weaponry amplified the costs of assessment errors, and the necessity of movement also placed intruders at a comparative disadvantage with respect to both detection and assessment. Moreover, asymmetrical detection rather than a numerical imbalance of power determined the outcome of hostile encounters. This reconfiguration of the decisive factors in lethal conflict not only raised the stakes (or potential costs) for would-be aggressors but also rendered the benefit of intercommunity dominance unattainable. Because superior numbers were not invariably decisive in encounters between hunting parties, an initial success would neither materially reduce the stakes for aggressors in subsequent attacks nor make it possible to freely encroach on the territory of a neighboring group that had sustained a casualty. Under these circumstances, aggression resulted in stalemate and a condition analogous to a war of attrition rather than territorial gain. These developments marked a major turning point in the evolution of lethal intergroup violence and in the character of interrelations between neighboring groups. Although fitness continued to be related to territory size (for food-limited populations in occupied environments), selective circumstances no longer favored aggression as a means of achieving territorial gain. Conflict avoidance and the development of intergroup relations of friendship, mutuality, sharing, and cooperation were favored instead. Intragroup cooperation was elaborated in conjunction with the teamwork entailed by large game hunting and was further reinforced by mechanisms for sharing large animals jointly killed by a hunting party. Development of these practices provided a template for establishing positive relations between neighboring social groups that could readily be realized when two bands temporarily camped and hunted together. Conflict avoidance dictated that groups move apart to alleviate resource competition whenever possible. This response to crowding facilitated migration out of Africa into the temperate and subtropical zones of Europe and Asia, vastly expanding the geographic distribution of H. erectus. In other words, the development of the throwing spear altered the means of production as well as the social relations of production, distribution, and consumption within groups in fundamental ways that also transformed intergroup relations and influenced subsequent hominid evolution. This period of Paleolithic warlessness, grounded in low population density, an appreciation of the benefits of positive relations with neighbors, and a healthy respect for their defensive capabilities, lasted until the cultural development of segmental forms of organization engendered the origin of war (7). This organizational transformation facilitated the mobilization of all adult male group members and their participation in preplanned dawn raids on settlements in which the tactical advantages of surprise and numerical superiority could be brought to bear. At this juncture, the unit involved in combat is a raiding party (a military organization) rather than a hunting party (an economic organization), and the location of combat shifts from the border zone to the sleeping quarters at the core of a group's territory. At the same time, the intrinsic military advantage shifts from defenders to attackers. All of the attackers are combatants, whereas less than half of those under attack are armed. Attackers characteristically inflict numerous casualties while suffering few or none. This outcome is a consequence of weaponry amplifying the advantages of surprise and numerical superiority. The earliest conclusive archaeological evidence for attacks on settlements is a Nubian cemetery (site 117) near the present-day town of Jebel Sahaba in the Sudan dated at 12,000-14,000 B.P. (7, 12). War originated independently in other parts of the world at dates as late as 4,000 B.P. (13). Otterbein argues that agriculture was only able to develop initially at locations where ambushes, battles, and raids were absent (14). --> |volume=102 |year=2005 |month=October |pages=15294 |pmid=16129826 }}</ref> though some Upper Paleolithic societies such as the Paleolithic inhabitants of [[Sungir]] (in what is now [[Russia]]) that lived in resource rich environments may have demonstrated more complex and hierarchical organization (such as [[tribe]]s with a pronounced hierarchy and a somewhat formal division of labor) and may have engaged in [[Endemic warfare]].<ref name=Miller2006>{{cite book |title= |last=Miller |first=Barbra |coauthors=Bernard Wood, Andrew Balansky, Julio Mercader, Melissa Panger |year=2006 |publisher=Allyn and Bacon |location=Boston Massachusetts |isbn= 0205320244 | pages= 768}}</ref><ref>Kelly, Raymond C. Warless societies and the origin of war. Ann Arbor : University of Michigan Press, 2000.</ref> There was no formal leadership during the Middle and Upper Paleolithic and Middle and Upper Paleolithic societies (like contemporary egalitarian hunter-gatherers such as the [[Mbuti#Political_structure|Mbuti]] pygmies) were likely to have made decisions by communal [[consensus decision making]] rather than by appointing permanent rulers such as chiefs and [[monarch]]s.<ref name=rowland>{{cite web |url=http://members.aol.com/peterow/p2Palppl.htm |title=Pre-History, Pre-Civilization, and Paleolithic People |author=Sue Rowland |accessdate=2008-03-25 |work=Informal Learning - Women's History }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |url=http://books.google.com/books?id=xCa5zfefWVUC&printsec=frontcover&vq=Middle+Paleolithic&rview=1&source=gbs_summary_r#PPA133,M1 |title=African Foragers: Environment, Technology, Interactions |last=Kusimba |first=Sibel |year=2003 |publisher=Rowman Altamira |isbn=ISBN 075910154X |pages=285 }}</ref> 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 of Paleolithic societies have arisen, notably the [[Marxism|Marxist]] concept of [[primitive communism]].<ref>{{cite book |title=The Communist Manifesto |first=Karl |last=Marx |url= http://books.google.com/books?id=TiKKmyacAiAC&pg=PA71&vq=Primitive+communism&source=gbs_search_r&cad=0_2&sig=0FNLE3CIJWpm2tTPamCSHHn4b80|coauthors=Friedrich Engels |year=1848 |location=London |pages=87 }} Page 71</ref><ref>{{cite book |title=Marxism and History: A Critical Introduction |author=Stephen Henry Rigby |url= http://books.google.com/books?id=6wFHth05xkoC&pg=PA111&dq=primitive+communism&sig=cxtiTZaiF8V6q2QRl4MC7oAaXFU#PPA111,M1 |year=1999 |location=Manchester Connecticut |pages=314 |ibsn=0719056128 |Manchester University Press}} Page 111</ref> Christopher Boehm (1999) has hypothesized that egalitarianism may have evolved in Paleolithic societies because of a need to distribute recourses such as food and meat equally to avoid famine and ensure a stable food supply.<ref name=Bohem>Christopher Boehm (1999) [http://books.google.com/books?id=ljxS8gUlgqgC&pg=PA197&dq=Paleolithic&lr=&sig=V-GOM-s3rCApE_baw2oRoaw24w8#PPA192,M1 "Hierarchy in the Forest: The Evolution of Egalitarian Behavior" page 192] Harvard university press </ref> 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 lastly because the invention of projectile weapons such as throwing spears provided less incentive for war because they increased the amount of damage that is done to the attacker and decreased the relative amount of territory aggressors could gain.<ref name="Kelly">{{cite journal |last=Kelly |first=Raymond |title=The evolution of lethal intergroup violence |doi= 10.1073/pnas.0505955102 |journal=PNAS |volume=102 |year=2005 |month=October |pages=15294 |pmid=16129826 }}</ref> It has Typically been assumed by anthropologists that women were responsible for gathering wild plants and firewood and men were responsible for hunting and scavenging dead animals amongst Paleolithic humans.<ref name="McClellan">{{cite book | author=McClellan|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=aJgp94zNwNQC&printsec=frontcover#PPA11 | title=Science and Technology in World History: An Introduction| location=Baltimore, Maryland | publisher=JHU Press | year=2006 | id=ISBN 0801883601}} [http://books.google.com/books?id=aJgp94zNwNQC&printsec=frontcover#PPA8 Page 8-12 ]</ref><ref name=rowland>{{cite web |url=http://members.aol.com/peterow/p2Palppl.htm |title=Pre-History, Pre-Civilization, and Paleolithic People |author=Sue Rowland |accessdate=2008-03-25 |work=Informal Learning - Women's History }}</ref><ref name=Miller2006>{{cite book |title= |last=Miller |first=Barbra |coauthors=Bernard Wood, Andrew Balansky, Julio Mercader, Melissa Panger |year=2006 |publisher=Allyn and Bacon |location=Boston Massachusetts |isbn= 0205320244 | pages= 768}} </ref> However analogies to the sexual divisions of labor in 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.<ref name=Miller2006>{{cite book |title= |last=Miller |first=Barbra |coauthors=Bernard Wood, Andrew Balansky, Julio Mercader, Melissa Panger |year=2006 |publisher=Allyn and Bacon |location=Boston Massachusetts |isbn= 0205320244 | pages=768}} </ref><ref name="Barbara Ehrenreich">{{cite book | author=Barbara Ehrenreich |url=http://books.google.com/books?id=nFuDltu509YC&printsec=frontcover#PPA123,M1 | title=Blood Rites: Origins and History of the Passions of War| location=London, United Kingdom | publisher=Macmillan| year=1997 | id=ISBN 0805057870}} [http://books.google.com/books?id=nFuDltu509YC&printsec=frontcover#PPA123,M1 Page 123]</ref> Additionally according to recent archeological research carried out by anthropologist and archaeologist Steven Kuhn from the University of Arizona this division of labor did not exist prior to the [[Upper Paleolithic]] and was invented relatively recently in human pre-history.<ref name="Dahlberg">{{cite book |author=Dahlberg, Frances |url=http://books.google.com/books?id=eTPULzP1MZAC&pg=PA120&dq=Gathering+and+Hominid+Adaptation&sig=f2ulfIDfAvoqEcolNjz6MTIrM84#PPA110,M1 |title=Woman the Gatherer |location=London |publisher=Yale university press |year=1975 |id=ISBN 0-30-02989-6}}</ref><ref name=NG2006/12/061207>{{cite web |url=http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2006/12/061207-sex-humans.html |title=Sex-Based Roles Gave Modern Humans an Edge, Study Says |work=National Geographic News |author=Stefan Lovgren |accessdate=2008-02-03}}</ref> The sexual division of labor may have been developed to allow humans to acquire food and other resources more efficiently.<ref name=NG2006/12/061207>{{cite web |url=http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2006/12/061207-sex-humans.html |title=Sex-Based Roles Gave Modern Humans an Edge, Study Says |work=National Geographic News |author=Stefan Lovgren |accessdate=2008-02-03}}</ref> There was approximate parity between men and women during both the Middle and the Upper Paleolithic and the end of the Paleolithic (the Middle and Upper Paleolithic) was the most [[Gender equality|gender-equal]] time in human history.<ref>{{cite book | author=Leften Stavros Stavrianos|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=MKhe6qNva10C&q=paleolithic+society&dq=paleolithic+society&pgis=1 | title=A Global History from Prehistory to the Present| location=New Jersey, USA | publisher=Prentice Hall| year=1991 | id=ISBN 0133570053 |quote="the sexes were more equal during Paleolithic millennia than at any time since." }} [http://books.google.com/books?id=MKhe6qNva10C&q=paleolithic+society&dq=paleolithic+society&pgis=1 Page 9]</ref><ref name="Spielvogel">{{cite book |url=http://books.google.com/books?id=ni4PSpOxb6MC&printsec=frontcover#PPA2,M1 |title=Western Civilization (combined volumes)| location=Stamford Connecticut |author=[[Jackson J. Spielvogel]] |publisher=[[The Thomson Corporation|Thomson Wadsworth]] | year=2003 | id=ISBN 0534646026 }} [http://books.google.com/books?id=ni4PSpOxb6MC&printsec=frontcover#PPA2,M1 Pages 2-3]</ref><ref name="Gutrie">{{cite book | author=R Dale Gutrie|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=3u6JNwMyMCEC&printsec=frontcover#PPA420,M1 | title=The Nature of Paleolithic art| location=Chicago | publisher=University of Chicago Press | year=2005 | id=ISBN 0226311260}} [http://books.google.com/books?id=3u6JNwMyMCEC&printsec=frontcover#PPA420,M1 Page 420-422]</ref><ref name=MuseumofAntiquites>[http://museums.ncl.ac.uk/flint/miscon.html Museum of Antiquites web site] (accessed February 13, 2008).</ref><ref name=rowland>{{cite web |url=http://members.aol.com/peterow/p2Palppl.htm |title=Pre-History, Pre-Civilization, and Paleolithic People |author=Sue Rowland |accessdate=2008-03-25 |work=Informal Learning - Women's History }}</ref><ref name=rowland2>{{cite web |url=http://members.aol.com/peterow/p4Neo2.htm |title=Social Changes in the Neolithic Period |author=[http://members.aol.com/peterow/pindex.html Sue Rowland] |accessdate=2008-03-25 |work=Informal Learning - Women's History |quote= Note:The author of these articles appears to be writing about late Paleolithic (Middle and Upper Paleolithic) societies because this author appears to be focusing on the last 100,000 years of the Paleolithic}}</ref> Indeed archeological evidence from art and funerary rituals indicates that a number of individual women enjoyed seemingly high status in their communities<ref name=MuseumofAntiquites>[http://museums.ncl.ac.uk/flint/miscon.html Museum of Antiquites web site] (accessed February 13, 2008)</ref> and it is likely that both sexes participated in decision making.<ref name="Spielvogel">{{cite book |url=http://books.google.com/books?id=ni4PSpOxb6MC&printsec=frontcover#PPA2,M1 |title=Western Civilization (combined volumes)|location=Stamford Connecticut |author=[[Jackson J. Spielvogel]] |publisher=[[The Thomson Corporation|Thomson Wadsworth]] |year=2003 | id=ISBN 0534646026 }} [http://books.google.com/books?id=ni4PSpOxb6MC&printsec=frontcover#PPA2,M1 Pages 2-3]</ref> Additional scientific research of Paleolithic society has also revealed that the earliest known Paleolithic [[shaman]] (''c.'' 30,000&nbsp;BP) was female.<ref name=Tedlock>Tedlock, Barbara. 2005. The Woman in the Shaman's Body: Reclaiming the Feminine in Religion and Medicine. New York: Bantam.</ref> [[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 then women in hunter-gatherer societies.<ref name=jareddiamond>{{cite web |url=http://www.awok.org/worst-mistake/ |title=The Worst Mistake in the History of the Human Race |work=Discover |author=Jared Diamond |accessdate=2008-01-14}}</ref> Like most contemporary hunter-gatherer societies Paleolithic groups probably followed mostly [[Matrilineal]] and [[Ambilineality|Ambilineal]] descent patterns, and [[Patrilineal]] decent patterns were likely to have been rarer during the Paleolithic and the Mesolithic than in the following [[Neolithic]] period.<ref>{{cite book |author=Felipe Fernandez Armesto |title=Ideas that changed the world |publisher=Dorling Kindersley limited|location=Newyork |year=2003 |pages=400 |isbn=978-0-7566-3298-4 |oclc= |doi=}}; [http://books.google.com/books?id=tFIAAAAACAAJ&dq=Ideas+that+changed+the+world+by+Felipe+Fernandez+Armesto]</ref><ref name=MarloweFW22>{{cite journal |author=Marlowe FW |title=Hunter-gatherers and human evolution |journal=Evolutionary Anthropology |volume=14 |issue=2 | pages = 15294 |year=2005 |format=PDF|url=http://www.anthro.fsu.edu/people/faculty/marlowe_pubs/hunter-gatherers%20and%20human%20evolution.pdf | doi = 10.1002/evan.20046 <!--Retrieved from CrossRef by DOI bot-->}}</ref> === Paleolithic Art and Music === [[Image:Wien NHM Venus von Willendorf.jpg|right|thumb|150px|The [[Venus of Willendorf]] is one of the most famous Venus figurines.]] <!-- Commented out because image was deleted: [[Image:Valtorta cave painting.jpg|thumb|left|150px|[[Cave painting]] from Valtorta, [[Spain]] depicting [[Upper Paleolithic]] humans hunting deer with bows (''c.'' 13,000&nbsp;years ago).]] --> 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,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/3629559.stm |title=Cave yields 'earliest jewellery'|work=[[BBC News]] |author=Jonathan Amos|accessdate=2008-03-12}}</ref> beads,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2004/04/0415_040415_oldestjewelry.html |title=Oldest Jewelry? "Beads" Discovered in African Cave |work=National Geographic News |author=Hillary Mayell |accessdate=2008-03-03}}</ref> rock art,<ref name=Henahan>{{cite web |url=http://www.accessexcellence.org/WN/SU/caveart.html |title=Blombos Cave art |accessdate=2008-03-12 |author=Sean Henahan |work=Science news }}</ref> ochre used as body paint and perhaps in ritual,<ref name=Henahan>{{cite web |url=http://www.accessexcellence.org/WN/SU/caveart.html |title=Blombos Cave art |accessdate=2008-03-12 |author=Sean Henahan |work=Science news }}</ref><ref name=Miller2006>{{cite book |title= |last=Miller |first=Barbra |coauthors=Bernard Wood, Andrew Balansky, Julio Mercader, Melissa Panger |year=2006 |publisher=Allyn and Bacon |location=Boston Massachusetts |isbn= 0205320244 | pages= 768}} </ref> though earlier examples of artistic expression such as the [[Venus of Tan-Tan]] and the patterns found on elephant bones from [[Bilzingsleben (Paleolithic site)|Bilzingsleben]] in [[Thuringia]] may have been produced by Acheulean tool users such as ''[[Homo erectus]]'' prior to the start of the [[Middle Paleolithic]] period and undisputed evidence of art only becomes common in the following Upper Paleolithic period.<ref>[http://encarta.msn.com/encyclopedia_761566394_13/Human_Evolution.html "Human Evolution," Microsoft® Encarta® Online Encyclopedia 2007] © 1997-2007 Microsoft Corporation. All Rights Reserved. Contributed by Richard B. Potts, B.A., Ph.D.</ref> 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.<ref name=Bednarik>{{cite web |url=http://www.semioticon.com/frontline/bednarik.htm |title=Beads and the origins of symbolism |author=Robert G. Bednarik |accessdate=2008-04-05 }}</ref> According to Robert G. 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 the pigment ochre to create rock art<ref name=Bednarik>{{cite web |url=http://www.semioticon.com/frontline/bednarik.htm |title=Beads and the origins of symbolism |author=Robert G. Bednarik |accessdate=2008-04-05 }}</ref> nevertheless, it is also possible that the ochre traces found at Lower Paleolithic sites is naturally occurring.<ref>Richard G. Klein, "The Dawn of Human Culture" ISBN 0471252522</ref> Vincent W. Fallio interprets Lower and Middle Paleolithic marking on rocks at sites such as [[Bilzingsleben (Paleolithic site)|Bilzingsleben]] (such as zig zagging lines) as accounts or representation of altered states of consciousness<ref name="V.Fallio">{{cite book | author=Vincent W. Fallio |url=http://books.google.com/books?id=-kJHI9MdxNwC&pg=PA108&dq=Paleolithic+religions&lr=&sig=X1sptLBNugPV4n72XEUx-tmJ1Js#PPA109,M1 | title=New Developments in Consciousness Research| location=New York, United States | publisher=[[Nova Publishers]]| year=2006 | id=ISBN 1600212476}} [http://books.google.com/books?id=-kJHI9MdxNwC&pg=PA108&dq=Paleolithic+religions&lr=&sig=X1sptLBNugPV4n72XEUx-tmJ1Js#PPA98,M1 Pages 98 to 109]</ref> though some other scholars either interpret them as 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.<ref>"Paleolithic Art," Microsoft® Encarta® Online Encyclopedia 2007 http://encarta.msn.com/encyclopedia_761578676/Paleolithic_Art.html © 1997-2007 Microsoft Corporation. All Rights Reserved.</ref> Upper Paleolithic art can be divided into two broad categories Figurative art such as cave paintings which clearly depicts Animals (or more rarely humans) and nonfigurative which consists of shapes and symbols.<ref>"Paleolithic Art," Microsoft® Encarta® Online Encyclopedia 2007 http://encarta.msn.com/encyclopedia_761578676/Paleolithic_Art.html © 1997-2007 Microsoft Corporation. All Rights Reserved.</ref> Cave paintings have been interpreted in a number of ways by modern archeologists, the earliest explanation of the Paleolithic cave paintings first proposed by the [[physical anthropologist]] [[Abbe Breuil]] interpreted the paintings as a form of magic designed to ensure a successful hunt,<ref name=Clottes>{{cite web |url=http://www.bradshawfoundation.com/clottes/page7.php |title=Shamanism in Prehistory |author=Jean Clottes |accessdate=2008-03-11 |work=Bradshaw foundation }}</ref> although this hypothesis falls short of explaining the existence of animals such as [[saber-toothed cat]]s 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]] have suggested that Paleolithic cave paintings were indications of shamanistic practices as the paintings of half-human, half-animal paintings and the remoteness of the caves are reminiscent of modern hunter-gatherer shamanistic practices.<ref name=Clottes>{{cite web |url=http://www.bradshawfoundation.com/clottes/page7.php |title=Shamanism in Prehistory |author=Jean Clottes |accessdate=2008-03-11 |work=Bradshaw foundation }}</ref> Symbol like images are more common in Paleolithic cave paintings than depictions of animals or humans and unique Paleolithic symbolic patterns are thought to have possibly been trademarks that represent different [[Upper Paleolithic]] ethnic groups.<ref>"Paleolithic Art," Microsoft® Encarta® Online Encyclopedia 2007 http://encarta.msn.com/encyclopedia_761578676/Paleolithic_Art.html © 1997-2007 Microsoft Corporation. All Rights Reserved.</ref> The [[Venus figurines]] have evoked similar controversy amongst archeologists and have been described at various times and by various archeologists and anthropologists as representations of [[goddesses]], pornographic imagery, apotropaic amulets used for sympathetic magic, and even as self-portraits of women themselves.<ref name=Miller2006>{{cite book |title= |last=Miller |first=Barbra |coauthors=Bernard Wood, Andrew Balansky, Julio Mercader, Melissa Panger |year=2006 |publisher=Allyn and Bacon |location=Boston Massachusetts |isbn= 0205320244 |pages= 768}} </ref><ref name=McDeroy>McDermott, LeRoy. "[http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0011-3204%28199604%2937%3A2%3C227%3ASIUPFF%3E2.0.CO%3B2-X&size=LARGE&origin=JSTOR-enlargePage Self-Representation in Upper Paleolithic Female Figurines]". Current Anthropology, Vol. 37, No. 2, April., 1996. pp. 227–275.</ref> R. Dale Guthrie<ref name="Guthrie">R. Dale Guthrie, ''The Nature of Paleolithic Art''. University Of Chicago Press, 2006. ISBN 978-0-226-31126-5. [http://www.press.uchicago.edu/Misc/Chicago/311260.html Preface].</ref> 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 that the main themes in the paintings and other artifacts (powerful beasts, risky hunting scenes and the over-sexual representation of women in the [[Venus figurine]]s) are to be expected in the fantasies of adolescent males during the Upper Paleolithic. The existence of abundant female imagery such as the Venus figurines which have sometimes been interpreted as representations of a [[Mother goddess]] has led some such as the archeologist [[Marija Gimbutas]] and the [[Feminist]] scholar [[Merlin Stone]] who was the author of the 1978 book ''When God Was a Woman'' to believe Upper Paleolithic (and later [[Neolithic]]) societies possessed a female centered religion and a female dominated society.<ref name=Merlinstone>{{cite book |title=When God Was a Woman |author=Merlin Stone. |year=1978 |publisher=Harcourt Brace Jovanovich||isbn=015696158X | pages=265 |url=http://books.google.com/books?id=l44AAAAACAAJ&dq=When+God+Was+a+Woman }} </ref><ref>Marija Gimbutas 1991. The Civilization of the Goddess</ref> 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 portrats of actual women<ref name=McDeroy>McDermott, LeRoy. "[http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0011-3204%28199604%2937%3A2%3C227%3ASIUPFF%3E2.0.CO%3B2-X&size=LARGE&origin=JSTOR-enlargePage Self-Representation in Upper Paleolithic Female Figurines]". Current Anthropology, Vol. 37, No. 2, April., 1996. pp. 227-275.</ref> and R.Dale Gutrie's 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 music first arose (amongst humans) when language, art and other modern behaviors were developed in the Middle or the Upper Paleolithic period. It is possible that 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.<ref> Karl Bücher. '''Trabajo y ritmo'''. Biblioteca Científico-Filosófica, Madrid. </ref> An alternative theory originally proposed by [[Charles Darwin]] explains that music may have began as a hominid mating strategy as many birds and some other animals produce music like calls to attract mates.<ref> Charles Darwin. '''The origin of man'''. Edimat books, S. A. ISBN 84-8403-034-2. </ref> This hypothesis is generally less accepted than the previous hypothesis, but it nonetheless provides a possible alternative. [[Upper Paleolithic]] (and possibly [[Middle Paleolithic]]<ref name="BoneAge">Nelson, D.E., ''Radiocarbon dating of bone and charcoal from Divje babe I cave'', cited by Morley, p. 47</ref>) humans used flute-like bone pipes as musical instruments,<ref name=Miller2006>{{cite book |title= |last=Miller |first=Barbra |coauthors=Bernard Wood, Andrew Balansky, Julio Mercader, Melissa Panger |year=2006 |publisher=Allyn and Bacon |location=[[Boston, Massachusetts]] |isbn= 0205320244 |pages= 768}} </ref><ref>Bahn, Paul (1996) "The atlas of world archeology" Copyright 2000 The Brown Reference Group PLC</ref> It is possible that 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 [[trance]]s. It appears that animal skin [[drums]] in particular 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 [[Ethnography|ethnographic]] record of contemporary hunter-gatherer shamanic and ritual practices..<ref>[http://encarta.msn.com/encyclopedia_761555928_3/Stone_Age.html "Stone Age," Microsoft® Encarta® Online Encyclopedia 2007] © 1997-2007 Microsoft Corporation. All Rights Reserved. Contributed by Kathy Schick, B.A., M.A., Ph.D. and Nicholas Toth, B.A., M.A., Ph.D.</ref><ref name=Tedlock>Tedlock, Barbara. 2005. The Woman in the Shaman's Body: Reclaiming the Feminine in Religion and Medicine. New York: Bantam.</ref> ===Religion and beliefs=== {{main|Paleolithic Religion}} [[Image:Gabillou Sorcier.png|right|150px|thumb|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.]] A controversial scholar of prehistoric religion and anthropology James Harrod and Vincent W. Fallio have recently proposed that religion and spirituality (and art) may have first arose in Pre-Paleolithic chimpanzee<ref>[http://www.originsnet.org/chimpspiritdatabase.pdf Appendices for chimpanzee spirituality by James Harrod]</ref> and or Early [[Lower Paleolithic]] ([[Oldowan]]) societies,<ref>[http://www.originsnet.org/mindold.html Oldowan Art, Religion, Symbols, Mind by James Harrod]</ref><ref name="V.Fallio">{{cite book | author=Vincent W. Fallio |url=http://books.google.com/books?id=-kJHI9MdxNwC&pg=PA108&dq=Paleolithic+religions&lr=&sig=X1sptLBNugPV4n72XEUx-tmJ1Js#PPA109,M1 | title=New Developments in Consciousness Research| location=New York, United States | publisher=[[Nova Publishers]]| year=2006 | id=ISBN 1600212476}} [http://books.google.com/books?id=-kJHI9MdxNwC&pg=PA108&dq=Paleolithic+religions&lr=&sig=X1sptLBNugPV4n72XEUx-tmJ1Js#PPA98,M1 Pages 98 to 109]</ref> however the established anthropological view holds that it is more probable that humankind first developed [[Religion|religious]] and [[Spirituality|spiritual]] beliefs during the [[Middle Paleolithic]] or [[Upper Paleolithic]].<ref>[http://www.originsnet.org/aboutornet1.html About OriginsNet by James Harrod]</ref> According to Vincent W. 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.<ref name="V.Fallio">{{cite book | author=Vincent W. Fallio |url=http://books.google.com/books?id=-kJHI9MdxNwC&pg=PA108&dq=Paleolithic+religions&lr=&sig=X1sptLBNugPV4n72XEUx-tmJ1Js#PPA109,M1 | title=New Developments in Consciousness Research| location=New York, United States | publisher=[[Nova Publishers]]| year=2006 | id=ISBN 1600212476}} [http://books.google.com/books?id=-kJHI9MdxNwC&pg=PA108&dq=Paleolithic+religions&lr=&sig=X1sptLBNugPV4n72XEUx-tmJ1Js#PPA98,M1 Pages 98 to 109]</ref> 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".<ref>{{cite book |url=http://books.google.com/books?id=3tS2MULo5rYC&pg=PA162&dq=Uniquely+Human+cognitive-linguistic+base&ei=nNUeR9fmBo74pwKwtKnMDg&sig=3UsvgAnE5B-vzb55I6W6OqqhJy4| title=Uniquely Human|Author=phillip lieberman|isbn=0674921836| year=1991}}</ref> Cut marks on Neanderthal bones from various sites such as Combe-Grenal and Abri Moula in [[France]] may imply that the [[Neanderthal#Ritual defleshing|Neanderthals]] like [[Excarnation|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. Emil Bächler in particular suggested (based on archeological evidence from Middle Paleolithic caves) that a widespread [[Middle Paleolithic]] [[Neanderthal]] bear cult existed.<ref>Wunn, Ina (2000). "Beginning of Religion", Numen, '''47'''(4), pp. 434&ndash;435</ref> Additional (Possible) evidence in support of Middle Paleolithic animal worship originates from the [[Tsodilo Hills]] (''c.'' 70,000&nbsp;BCE) in the African Kalahari desert where a giant rock resembling a python that is accompanied by large amounts of colored broken spear points and a secret chamber has been discovered inside a cave. The Broken spear points were most likely sacrificial offerings and the python is also important to and worshipped by contemporary [[Bushmen|!Kung san]] hunter-gatherers who are the descendants of the of the people who devised the ritual at the [[Tsodilo Hills]] and may have inherited their worship of the python from their distant Middle Paleolithic ancestors.<ref name=ScienceDaily>World's Oldest Ritual Discovered -- Worshipped The Python 70,000 Years Ago The Research Council of Norway (2006, November 30). World's Oldest Ritual Discovered -- Worshipped The Python 70,000 Years Ago. ScienceDaily. Retrieved March 2, 2008, fromhttp://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2006/11/061130081347.htm</ref> 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.<ref name=Narr>{{cite web |url=http://concise.britannica.com/oscar/print?articleId=109434&fullArticle=true&tocId=52333 |author=Karl J. Narr |title=Prehistoric religion |accessdate=2008-03-28 |work=Britannica online encyclopedia 2008 }}</ref> Animal worship during the Upper Paleolithic was intertwined with hunting rites.<ref name=Narr>{{cite web |url=http://concise.britannica.com/oscar/print?articleId=109434&fullArticle=true&tocId=52333 |author=Karl J. Narr |title=Prehistoric religion |accessdate=2008-03-28 |work=Britannica online encyclopedia 2008 }}</ref> For instance archeological evidence from art and bear remains reveals that the Bear cult apparently had involved a type of sacrificial bear ceremonialism in which a bear was shot with [[arrow]]s and then was finished off by a shot in the lungs and ritualistically buried near a clay bear statue covered by a bear fur with the skull and the body of the bear buried separately.<ref name=Narr>{{cite web |url=http://concise.britannica.com/oscar/print?articleId=109434&fullArticle=true&tocId=52333 |author=Karl J. Narr |title=Prehistoric religion |accessdate=2008-03-28 |work=Britannica online encyclopedia 2008 }}</ref> 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.<ref name="Barbara Ehrenreich">{{cite book | author=Barbara Ehrenreich |url=http://books.google.com/books?id=nFuDltu509YC&printsec=frontcover#PPA123,M1 | title=Blood Rites: Origins and History of the Passions of War| location=London, United Kingdom | publisher=Macmillan| year=1997 | id=ISBN 0805057870}} [http://books.google.com/books?id=nFuDltu509YC&printsec=frontcover#PPA123,M1 Page 123]</ref> 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 [[Polytheism|pantheon of gods or supernatural beings]],<ref name="mithen">{{cite book| authorlink=Steve Mithen|isbn=0-500-05081-3| title=The Prehistory of the Mind: The Cognitive Origins of Art, Religion and Science| year=1996| publisher=Thames & Hudson}}</ref> though the half-human, half-animal images may have also been indicative of shamanistic practices similar to those practiced by contemporary tribal societies.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.bradshawfoundation.com/clottes/page7.php |title=Shamanism in Prehistory |author=Jean Clottes |accessdate=2008-03-11 |work=Bradshaw foundation }}</ref> 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&nbsp;BC) in what is now the [[Czech Republic]].<ref name=Tedlock>Tedlock, Barbara. 2005. The Woman in the Shaman's Body: Reclaiming the Feminine in Religion and Medicine. New York: Bantam.</ref> However, it was probably more common during the early Upper Paleolithic for religious ceremonies to receive equal and full participation from all members of the band, 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.<ref name="Stavrianos">{{cite book | author=Leften Stavros Stavrianos|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=MKhe6qNva10C&q=paleolithic+society&dq=paleolithic+society&pgis=1 | title=A Global History from Prehistory to the Present| location=New Jersey, USA | publisher=Prentice Hall| year=1991 | id=ISBN 0133570053}} [http://books.google.com/books?id=MKhe6qNva10C&q=paleolithic+society&dq=paleolithic+society&pgis=1 Pages 9-13]</ref> Additionally it is also possible that Upper Paleolithic religions like contemporary and historical [[Animism|Animistic]] and [[Polytheism|Polytheistic]] religions believed in the existence of a single creator deity in addition to other supernatural beings such as [[Animistic]] spirits.<ref>{{cite book |title=From earth spirits to sky gods Socioecological Origins of Monotheism|last= Lerro |first=Bruce |url=http://books.google.com/books?id=qs5RqLdx1HgC&pg=PA17&vq=Paleolithic&source=gbs_search_r&cad=0_2&sig=L5zGzwZukHYfyvJ5VnR0i5kx8Sk#PPA17,M1 |year=2000 |publisher=Lexington Press |location= Lanham MD |isbn=073910098X |pages=327 }} pages 17–20</ref> Vincent W. Fallio writes that [[Ancestor worship|Ancestor cults]] first emerged in complex Upper Paleolithic societies. Vincent W. Fallio argues that the elites of complex Upper Paleolithic societies (like the elites of many more contemporary complex hunter-gatherers such as the [[Tlingit]]) may have used special rituals and ancestor worship to solidify control over their societies by convincing their subjects that they possess a link to the spirit world that gives them control over both the earthly realm and access to the spiritual realm.<ref name="V.Fallio">{{cite book | author=Vincent W. Fallio |url=http://books.google.com/books?id=-kJHI9MdxNwC&pg=PA108&dq=Paleolithic+religions&lr=&sig=X1sptLBNugPV4n72XEUx-tmJ1Js#PPA109,M1 | title=New Developments in Consciousness Research| location=New York, United States | publisher=[[Nova Publishers]]| year=2006 | id=ISBN 1600212476}} [http://books.google.com/books?id=-kJHI9MdxNwC&pg=PA108&dq=Paleolithic+religions&lr=&sig=X1sptLBNugPV4n72XEUx-tmJ1Js#PPA98,M1 Pages 98 to 109]</ref> [[Secret societies]] may have served a similar function in these complex quasi-[[theocratic]] societies by dividing the religious practices of these cultures into the separate spheres of Popular Religion and Elite Religion.<ref name="V.Fallio">{{cite book | author=Vincent W. Fallio |url=http://books.google.com/books?id=-kJHI9MdxNwC&pg=PA108&dq=Paleolithic+religions&lr=&sig=X1sptLBNugPV4n72XEUx-tmJ1Js#PPA109,M1 | title=New Developments in Consciousness Research| location=New York, United States | publisher=[[Nova Publishers]]| year=2006 | id=ISBN 1600212476}} [http://books.google.com/books?id=-kJHI9MdxNwC&pg=PA108&dq=Paleolithic+religions&lr=&sig=X1sptLBNugPV4n72XEUx-tmJ1Js#PPA98,M1 Pages 98 to 109]</ref> Religion was possibly apotropaic; specifically, it may have involved sympathetic magic.<ref name=Miller2006>{{cite book |title= |last=Miller |first=Barbra |coauthors=Bernard Wood, Andrew Balansky, Julio Mercader, Melissa Panger |year=2006 |publisher=Allyn and Bacon |location=Boston Massachusetts |isbn= 0205320244 | pages= 768}} </ref> The [[Venus figurines]] which are abundant in the Upper Paleolithic archeological record provide an example of possible Paleolithic sympathetic magic, as they may have been used for ensuring success in hunting and to bring about fertility of the land and women.<ref name="McClellan">{{cite book | author=McClellan|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=aJgp94zNwNQC&printsec=frontcover#PPA11 | title=Science and Technology in World History: An Introduction| location=Baltimore, Maryland | publisher=JHU Press |year=2006 |isbn=0801883601}} [http://books.google.com/books?id=aJgp94zNwNQC&printsec=frontcover#PPA8 Page 8–12 ]</ref> The Upper Paleolithic Venus figurines have been sometimes explained as depictions of an [[earth goddess]] similar to [[Gaia]] or as representations of a goddess who is the ruler or mother of the animals.<ref name=Narr>{{cite web |url=http://concise.britannica.com/oscar/print?articleId=109434&fullArticle=true&tocId=52333 |author=Karl J. Narr |title=Prehistoric religion |accessdate=2008-03-28 |work=Britannica Online Encyclopedia 2008 }}</ref><ref>Christopher L. C. E. Witcombe, "[http://witcombe.sbc.edu/willendorf/willendorfwomen.html Women in the Stone Age]," in the essay "The Venus of Willendorf" (accessed [[March 13]], [[2008]])</ref> Additionally, they have described by James Harrod as representative of female (and male) shamanistic spiritual transformation processes.<ref>[http://www.originsnet.org/mindup.html Upper Paleolithic Art, Religion, Symbols, Mind By James Harrod]</ref> ===Diet and nutrition=== [[Image:Wine grapes03.jpg|150px|left|thumb|People first began fermenting grapes in animal skin pouches to create [[wine]] during the Paleolithic.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2004/07/0721_040721_ancientwine.html |title=First Wine? Archaeologist Traces Drink to Stone Age |work=National Geographic News |author=William Cocke |accessdate=2008-02-03}}</ref>]] The diet of the Paleolithic hunting and gathering peoples consisted primarily of meat, fish, shellfish, leafy vegetables, fruit, nuts and insects in varying proportions.<ref>{{cite journal |author=Gowlett JAJ |title=What actually was the Stone Age Diet? |journal=J Nutr Environ Med |volume=13 |issue=3 |pages=143–7 |year=2003 |doi=10.1080/13590840310001619338 |url=http://pcwww.liv.ac.uk/~gowlett/GowlettCJNE_13_03_02.pdf}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |author=Weiss E, Wetterstrom W, Nadel D, Bar-Yosef O |title=The broad spectrum revisited: evidence from plant remains |journal=Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A |volume=101 |issue=26 |pages=9551–5 |year=2004 Jun 29 |pmid=15210984 |doi=10.1073/pnas.0402362101}}</ref> However, there is little direct evidence of the relative proportions of plant and animal foods in the diets of Paleolithic humans.<ref>{{cite journal |author=Richards, MP |title=A brief review of the archaeological evidence for Palaeolithic and Neolithic subsistence |journal=Eur J Clin Nutr |volume=56 |issue=12 |pages=1270–1278 |year=2002 Dec |pmid=12494313 |doi=10.1038/sj.ejcn.1601646}}</ref> According to some anthropologists and advocates of the modern [[Paleolithic diet]], Paleolithic hunter-gatherers consumed a significant amount of meat and possibly obtained the majority of their food from hunting.<ref>Cordain L. [http://www.thepaleodiet.com/articles/2006_Oxford.pdf Implications of Plio-Pleistocene Hominin Diets for Modern Humans.] In: Early Hominin Diets: The Known, the Unknown, and the Unknowable. Ungar, P (Ed.), Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2006, pp 363–83.</ref> Competing hypotheses suggest that Paleolithic humans may have consumed a plant-based diet in general,<ref name="Dahlberg">{{cite book | author=Dahlberg, Frances. |url=http://books.google.com/books?id=eTPULzP1MZAC&pg=PA120&dq=Gathering+and+Hominid+Adaptation&sig=f2ulfIDfAvoqEcolNjz6MTIrM84#PPA126,M1 | title=Woman the Gatherer | location=London | publisher=Yale university press | year=1975 | id=ISBN 0-30-02989-6}}</ref> or that hunting and gathering possibly contributed equally to their diet.<ref>Nature's Magic: Synergy in Evolution and the Fate of Humankind By [[Peter Corning]]</ref> However the relative proportions of plant and animal foods in the diets of Paleolithic peoples probably varied between regions (for instance Paleolithic hunter gatherers in tropical regions such as Africa probably consumed a plant based diet while by contrast, Paleolithic populations in colder regions such as Northern Europe most likely obtained the majority of their food from meat).<ref name=Gowlet>{{ cite journal |author=J. A. J. Gowlet |year=2003 |month=September |title =What actually was the stone age diet? |journal=Journal of environmental medicine | volume=13 |pages=143–147 | url =http://pcwww.liv.ac.uk/~gowlett/GowlettCJNE_13_03_02.pdf | accessdate=2008-05-04 |doi =10.1080/13590840310001619338 |format=PDF}})</ref> Overall they experienced less famine and malnutrition than the Neolithic farming tribes that followed them.<ref name="Russel">{{cite book | author=Sharman Apt Russell |url=http://books.google.com/books?id=8CjOdT4LqYC&pg=PA2&dq=paleolithic+history+malnutrition&sig=yNZhXu70IfMI_JXVxbRaHFWTkPI#PPA2,M1| title=Hunger an unnatural history| publisher=Basic books| year=2006 | id=ISBN 0465071651}} [http://books.google.com/books?id=8C-jOdT4LqYC&printsec=frontcover#PPA2,M1 Pages 2]</ref><ref name="Leften Stavrianos">{{cite book | author=Leften Stavros Stavrianos|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=9H6oqN3Q-GoC&pg=PA55&dq=Paleolithic+egalitarianism&sig=KKhsZp57uhfR9WMQRYvdrSF3rOk#PPA71,M1 |title=Lifelines from Our Past: A New World History| location=New Jersey, USA | publisher=M.E. Sharpe| year=1997 | id=ISBN 0133570053}} [http://books.google.com/books?id=9H6oqN3Q-GoC&pg=PA55&dq=Paleolithic+egalitarianism&sig=KKhsZp57uhfR9WMQRYvdrSF3rOk#PPA71,M1 Page 70]</ref> This was due in part to the fact that Paleolithic hunter-gatherers had access to a wider variety of plants and other foods than Neolithic farmers did, which allowed Paleolithic hunter-gatherers to have a more nutritious diet along with a decreased risk of famine.<ref name=jareddiamond>{{cite web |url=http://www.awok.org/worst-mistake/ |title=The Worst Mistake in the History of the Human Race |work=Discover |author=Jared Diamond |accessdate=2008-01-14}}</ref><ref name=Schultz>[http://www.primitivism.com/sedentism.htm The Consequences of Domestication and Sedentism by Emily Schultz, et al]</ref><ref name="Leften Stavrianos">{{cite book | author=Leften Stavros Stavrianos|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=9H6oqN3Q-GoC&pg=PA55&dq=Paleolithic+egalitarianism&sig=KKhsZp57uhfR9WMQRYvdrSF3rOk#PPA71,M1 |title=Lifelines from Our Past: A New World History| location=New Jersey, USA | publisher=M.E. Sharpe| year=1997 | id=ISBN 0133570053}} [http://books.google.com/books?id=9H6oqN3Q-GoC&pg=PA55&dq=Paleolithic+egalitarianism&sig=KKhsZp57uhfR9WMQRYvdrSF3rOk#PPA71,M1 Page 70]</ref> Many of the famines experienced by Neolithic (and some modern) farmers were caused or amplified by their dependence on a small number of crops.<ref name="Leften Stavrianos">{{cite book | author=Leften Stavros Stavrianos|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=9H6oqN3Q-GoC&pg=PA55&dq=Paleolithic+egalitarianism&sig=KKhsZp57uhfR9WMQRYvdrSF3rOk#PPA71,M1 |title=Lifelines from Our Past: A New World History| location=New Jersey, USA | publisher=M.E. Sharpe| year=1997 | id=ISBN 0133570053}} [http://books.google.com/books?id=9H6oqN3Q-GoC&pg=PA55&dq=Paleolithic+egalitarianism&sig=KKhsZp57uhfR9WMQRYvdrSF3rOk#PPA71,M1 Page 70]</ref><ref>[http://www.primitivism.com/sedentism.htm The Consequences of Domestication and Sedentism by Emily Schultz, et al]</ref><ref name=jareddiamond>{{cite web |url=http://www.awok.org/worst-mistake/ |title=The Worst Mistake in the History of the Human Race |work=Discover |author=Jared Diamond |accessdate=2008-01-14}}</ref> The greater amount of meat obtained from hunting big game animals in Paleolithic diets than in Mesolithic and Neolithic diets may have also allowed Paleolithic Hunter-gatherers to enjoy a more nutritious diet than both Epipaleolithic/Mesolithic hunter-gatherers and Neolithic agriculturalists.<ref name="Russel">{{cite book | author=Sharman Apt Russell |url=http://books.google.com/books?id=8CjOdT4LqYC&pg=PA2&dq=paleolithic+history+malnutrition&sig=yNZhXu70IfMI_JXVxbRaHFWTkPI#PPA2,M1| title=Hunger an unnatural history| publisher=Basic books| year=2006 | id=ISBN 0465071651}} [http://books.google.com/books?id=8C-jOdT4LqYC&printsec=frontcover#PPA2,M1 Pages 2]</ref> Furthermore, it is also unlikely that Paleolithic hunter-gatherers were affected by modern [[diseases of affluence]] such as Type 2 diabetes, coronary heart disease and cerebrovascular disease because Paleolithic hunter-gatherers ate mostly lean meats and plants and frequently engaged in [[Hunter-gatherer fitness|intense physical activity]].<ref name="pmid15699220">{{cite journal |author=Cordain L, Eaton SB, Sebastian A, Mann N, Lindeberg S, Watkins BA, O'Keefe JH, Brand-Miller J |title=Origins and evolution of the Western diet: health implications for the 21st century |journal=Am. J. Clin. Nutr. |volume=81 |issue=2 |pages=341–54 |year=2005 |pmid=15699220 |doi= |url=}}</ref><ref name="pmid3541565">{{cite journal |author=Thorburn AW, Brand JC, Truswell AS. |title=Slowly digested and absorbed carbohydrate in traditional bushfoods: a protective factor against diabetes? |journal=Am J Clin Nutr |volume=45 |issue=1 |pages=98&ndash;106 |year=January 1987 |pmid=3541565 |url=http://www.ajcn.org/cgi/content/abstract/45/1/98}}</ref> The [[Paleolithic diet]] (also known as the paleodiet or the caveman diet) is a modern diet that seeks to eliminate these [[diseases of affluence]] from contemporary [[industrial society]] by replicating the dietary habits of Paleolithic hunter-gatherers.<ref name=doi:10.1080/11026480510032043>{{cite journal |author=Lindeberg, Staffan |title=Palaeolithic diet ("stone age" diet) |journal=Scandinavian Journal of Food & Nutrition |volume=49 |issue=2 |pages=75–77 |year=June 2005 |doi=10.1080/11026480510032043 |url=http://journals.sfu.ca/coaction/index.php/fnr/article/viewFile/1526/1394}}</ref> Large seeded [[legume]]s were part of the human diet long before the [[Neolithic]] agricultural revolution as evident from archaeobotanical finds from the [[Mousterian]] layers of [[Kebara Cave]], in Israel.<ref name="doi10.1016/j.jas.2004.11.006">{{cite journal |author=Efraim Lev, Mordechai E. Kislev, Ofer Bar-Yosef |title=Mousterian vegetal food in Kebara Cave, Mt. Carmel |journal=Journal of Archaeological Science |volume=32 |issue=3 |pages=475–484 |year=March 2005 |doi=10.1016/j.jas.2004.11.006}}</ref> Moreover, recent evidence indicates that humans processed and consumed wild cereal grains as far back as 23,000 years ago in the [[Upper Paleolithic]].<ref name="pmid15295598">{{cite journal |author=Piperno DR, Weiss E, Holst I, Nadel D. |title=Processing of wild cereal grains in the Upper Palaeolithic revealed by starch grain analysis. |journal=Nature |volume=430 |issue=7000 |pages=670–3 |year=2004 Aug 5 |pmid=15295598 |doi=10.1038/nature02734 |url=http://anthropology.si.edu/archaeobio/Ohalo%20II%20Nature.pdf}}</ref> However, seeds, such as grains and beans, were rarely eaten and never in large quantities on a daily basis.<ref name=doi:10.1080/11026480510032043>{{cite journal |author=Lindeberg, Staffan |title=Palaeolithic diet ("stone age" diet) |journal=Scandinavian Journal of Food & Nutrition |volume=49 |issue=2 |pages=75–77 |year=June 2005 |doi=10.1080/11026480510032043 |url=http://journals.sfu.ca/coaction/index.php/fnr/article/viewFile/1526/1394}}</ref> Recent archeological evidence also indicates that [[winemaking]] had its origins in the Paleolithic when early humans drank the juice of naturally fermented wild grapes from animal-skin pouches.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2004/07/0721_040721_ancientwine.html |title=First Wine? Archaeologist Traces Drink to Stone Age |work=National Geographic News |author=William Cocke |accessdate=2008-02-03}}</ref> Paleolithic humans consumed animal organ meats, including the livers, kidneys and brains. Upper Paleolithic cultures appear to have had significant knowledge about plants and herbs and may have, albeit very rarely, practiced rudimentary forms of horticulture.<ref>{{cite book |author=Academic American Encyclopedia By Grolier Incorporated |title=Academic American Encyclopedia By Grolier Incorporated |publisher=Grolier Academic Reference|location=University of Michigan |year=1994 }}; [http://books.google.com/books?id=7eKy64bqc2AC&q=paleolithic+horticulture&dq=paleolithic+horticulture&pgis=1 p 61]</ref> [[Figs]] in particular may have been cultivated as early as 11,400 BP during the late Upper Paleolithic in the [[Near East]].<ref name=ScienceDaily.>Harvard University (2006, June 4). Tamed 11,400 Years Ago, Figs Were Likely First Domesticated Crop. ScienceDaily. Retrieved April 11, 2008, from http://www.sciencedaily.com­ /releases/2006/06/060602074522.htm</ref> Late Upper Paleolithic societies also appear to have occasionally practiced [[Pastoralism]] and [[animal husbandry]] presumably for [[wikt:dietary|dietary]] reasons, for instance some European late Upper Paleolithic cultures domesticated and raised [[Raindeer]] presumably for their meat or milk as early as 14,000 BP.<ref>[[John Lloyd (writer)|Lloyd, J]] & [[John Mitchinson|Mitchinson, J]]: "[[The Book of General Ignorance]]". Faber & Faber, 2006.</ref> Humans also probably consumed hallucinogenic plants during the Paleolithic period.<ref name="McClellan">{{cite book | author=McClellan|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=aJgp94zNwNQC&printsec=frontcover#PPA11 | title=Science and Technology in World History: An Introduction| location=Baltimore, Maryland | publisher=JHU Press | year=2006 | id=ISBN 0801883601}} [http://books.google.com/books?id=aJgp94zNwNQC&printsec=frontcover#PPA8 Page 8-12 ]</ref> [[Image:Quivira-Whitetail-Buck.jpg|thumb|200px|Large game animals such as deer were an important source of protein in Middle and Upper Paleolithic diets.]] People during the Middle Paleolithic such as the Neanderthals and Middle Paleolithic Homo sapiens in Africa began to catch shellfish for food as revealed by shellfish cooking in Neanderthal sites in Italy about 110,000 years ago and Middle Paleolithic ''Homo sapiens'' sites at Pinnacle Point, in Africa around 164,000 BP.<ref name=Miller2006>{{cite book |title= |last=Miller |first=Barbra |coauthors=Bernard Wood, Andrew Balansky, Julio Mercader, Melissa Panger |year=2006 |publisher=Allyn and Bacon |location=[[Boston, Massachusetts]] |isbn=0205320244 |pages= 768}} </ref><ref name=NYTIMES/10/08/07>{{cite web |url=http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/18/science/18beach.html?_r=1&ref=science&oref=slogin|title=Key Human Traits Tied to Shellfish Remains |work=New York times|author=John Noble Wilford |accessdate=2008-03-11}}</ref> Although fishing only became common during the [[Upper Paleolithic]],<ref>[http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2001/11/1108_bonetool_2.html African Bone Tools Dispute Key Idea About Human Evolution] National Geographic News article.</ref><ref name=Miller2006>{{cite book |title= |last=Miller |first=Barbra |coauthors=Bernard Wood, Andrew Balansky, Julio Mercader, Melissa Panger |year=2006 |publisher=Allyn and Bacon |location=Boston Massachusetts |isbn= 0205320244 | pages= 768}} </ref> [[fish]] have been part of human diets long before the dawn of the Upper Paleolithic era and have certainly have been consumed by humans since at least the Middle Stone Age/Middle Paleolithic.<ref>[http://encarta.msn.com/encyclopedia_761566394_12/human_evolution.html "Human Evolution," Microsoft® Encarta® Online Encyclopedia 2007] © 1997-2007 Microsoft Corporation. All Rights Reserved. Contributed by Richard B. Potts, B.A., Ph.D.</ref> For example the Middle Stone Age/Middle Paleolithic ''Homo sapiens'' in the region now occupied by the [[Democratic Republic of the Congo]] hunted large 6 foot long catfish with specialized barbed fishing points as early as 90,000&nbsp;years ago.<ref name=Miller2006>{{cite book |title= |last=Miller |first=Barbra |coauthors=Bernard Wood, Andrew Balansky, Julio Mercader, Melissa Panger |year=2006 |publisher=Allyn and Bacon |location=[[Boston, Massachusetts]] |isbn=0205320244 |pages=768}} </ref><ref>[http://encarta.msn.com/encyclopedia_761566394_12/human_evolution.html "Human Evolution," Microsoft® Encarta® Online Encyclopedia 2007] © 1997-2007 Microsoft Corporation. All Rights Reserved. Contributed by Richard B. Potts, B.A., Ph.D.</ref> The invention of fishing during the Paleolithic affected the social structures of some Upper Paleolithic and post Paleolithic hunter-gatherer societies by allowing these [[hunter-gatherer]] communities in the Upper Paleolithic and the following Mesolithic period (for example, [[Lepenski Vir]]) as well as some contemporary hunter-gatherers such as the [[Tlingit]] to become sedentary or semi-nomadic.<ref>Bahn, Paul (1996) "The atlas of world archeology" Copyright 2000 The Brown Reference Group PLC</ref> In some instances (at least in the case of the [[Tlingit]]) they were able to develop [[social stratification]], [[slavery]] and complex social structures such as [[chiefdoms]].<ref name=MarloweFW22>{{cite journal |author=Marlowe FW |title=Hunter-gatherers and human evolution |journal=Evolutionary Anthropology |volume=14 |issue=2 | pages = 15294 |year=2005 |format=PDF|url=http://www.anthro.fsu.edu/people/faculty/marlowe_pubs/hunter-gatherers%20and%20human%20evolution.pdf | doi = 10.1002/evan.20046 <!--Retrieved from CrossRef by DOI bot-->}}</ref> Anthropologists such as Tim White suggest that cannibalism was common in human societies prior to the beginning of the Upper Paleolithic, based on the large amount of “butchered human" bones found in Neanderthal and other Lower/Middle Paleolithic sites.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://books.google.com/books?id=-TVHr_XtDJcC&pg=PA338&lpg=PA338&dq=paleolithic+cannibalism&source=web&ots=Aso6yWbVfw&sig=y8t9jwbtzGyQcSpPlintukgjN6A#PPA338,M1|title= Once were Cannibals |work=Evolution: A Scientific American Reader|author=Tim D. White |accessdate=2008-02-14}}</ref> Cannibalism in the Lower and Middle Paleolithic may have occurred because of food shortages.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2006/12/061205-cannibals.html|title=Neandertals Turned to Cannibalism, Bone Cave Suggests |work=National Geographic News |author=James Owen |accessdate=2008-02-03}}</ref> However it is also possible that Lower and Middle Paleolithic cannabalism occurred for religious reasons which would coincide with the development of religious practices thought to have occurred during the Upper Paleolithic.<ref>{{cite journal | author = Pathou-Mathis M | year = 2000 | title = Neanderthal subsistence behaviours in Europe | journal = International Journal of Osteoarchaeology | volume = 10 | pages = 379–395 | doi = 10.1002/1099-1212(200009/10)10:5<379::AID-OA558>3.0.CO;2-4}}</ref><ref name=Narr>{{cite web |url=http://concise.britannica.com/oscar/print?articleId=109434&fullArticle=true&tocId=52333 |author=Karl J. Narr |title=Prehistoric religion |accessdate=2008-03-28 |work=Britannica online encyclopedia 2008 }}</ref> Nonetheless it remains possible that Paleolithic societies never practiced cannibalism and that the damage to recovered human bones was either the result of [[Ritual defleshing|ritual post-mortem bone cleaning]] or predation by carnivores such as [[Saber tooth cat]]s, [[Lions]] and [[Hyenas]].<ref name=Narr>{{cite web |url=http://concise.britannica.com/oscar/print?articleId=109434&fullArticle=true&tocId=52333 |author=Karl J. Narr |title=Prehistoric religion |accessdate=2008-03-28 |work=Britannica online encyclopedia 2008 }}</ref> == See also == <div style="-moz-column-count:3; column-count:3;"> * [[Abbassia Pluvial]] * [[Caveman]] * [[Cave painting]] * [[Clovis culture]] * [[Geologic time scale]] * [[Hunter gatherer]] * [[Neolithic]] * [[Ice age]] * [[Japanese Paleolithic]] * [[Lascaux]] * [[List of archaeological sites sorted by continent and age#Palaeolithic|List of archaeological sites sorted by continent and age (includes Paleolithic)]] * [[Luzia Woman]] * [[Models of migration to the New World]] * [[Mousterian Pluvial]] * [[Pre-Siberian American Aborigines]] * [[Stone Age]] * [[Turkana Boy]] </div> == Footnotes == {{reflist|2}} == References == {{Sisterlinks|Paleolithic|Paleolithic}} *Wunn, Ina (2000). "Beginning of Religion", Numen, '''47'''(4). *Christopher Boehm (1999) "Hierarchy in the Forest: The Evolution of Egalitarian Behavior" page 198 Harvard university press *Leften Stavros Stavrianos (1991). A Global History from Prehistory to the Present. New Jersey, USA: Prentice Hall. ISBN 0133570053 *[http://www.nyu.edu/gsas/dept/anthro/programs/csho/Content/Facultycvandinfo/White/Women%20of%20Brassempouy%20Final%20red.pdf Randall White, "The women of Brassempouy: A century of research and interpretation", ''Journal of Archaeological Method and Theory'' '''13'''.4, December 2006:253] pdf file *Bahn, Paul (1996) "The atlas of world archeology" Copyright 2000 The Brown Reference Group PLC *[http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9503E0DF173CF936A25754C0A9659C8B63 Early Voices: The Leap to Language by Nicolas Wade] *[http://encarta.msn.com/encnet/refpages/RefArticle.aspx?refid=761566394 "Human Evolution," Microsoft® Encarta® Online Encyclopedia 2007] © 1997-2007 Microsoft Corporation. All Rights Reserved. Contributed by Richard B. Potts, B.A., Ph.D. *[http://encarta.msn.com/encyclopedia_761555928/Stone_Age.html "Stone Age," Microsoft® Encarta® Online Encyclopedia 2007] © 1997-2007 Microsoft Corporation. All Rights Reserved. Contributed by Kathy Schick, B.A., M.A., Ph.D. and Nicholas Toth, B.A., M.A., Ph.D. *[http://www.indiana.edu/~arch/saa/matrix/ia/ia03_mod_11.html Middle and Upper Paleolithic Hunter-Gatherers The Emergence of Modern Humans, The Mesolithic] *[http://www.scotese.com/lastice.htm Map of Earth during the late Upper Paleolithic By Christopher scotese] *[http://www.thamesandhudsonusa.com/web/humanpast/summaries/ch04.html introduction to the human past] {{Three-age system of Archaeology}} [[Category:Pleistocene]] [[Category:Paleolithic]] [[Category:Stone Age]] [[Category:Greek loanwords]] {{Link FA|es}} [[ar:عصر حجري قديم]] [[ast:Paleolíticu]] [[bn:প্যালিওলিথিক]] [[be-x-old:Палеаліт]] [[bs:Paleolit]] [[bg:Палеолит]] [[ca:Paleolític]] [[cv:Палеолит]] [[cs:Paleolit]] [[cy:Hen Oes y Cerrig]] [[da:Ældste stenalder]] [[de:Altsteinzeit]] [[et:Paleoliitikum]] [[el:Παλαιολιθική περίοδος]] [[es:Paleolítico]] [[eo:Paleolitiko]] [[eu:Paleolito]] [[fr:Paléolithique]] [[gl:Paleolítico]] [[ko:구석기 시대]] [[hr:Starije kameno doba]] [[id:Paleolitik]] [[it:Paleolitico]] [[he:תקופת האבן הקדומה]] [[la:Palaeolithicum]] [[lv:Paleolīts]] [[lt:Paleolitas]] [[li:Paleolithicum]] [[hu:Paleolitikum]] [[mk:Палеолит]] [[ms:Zaman Paleolitik]] [[nl:Paleolithicum]] [[ja:旧石器時代]] [[no:Paleolitikum]] [[oc:Paleolitic]] [[pl:Paleolit]] [[pt:Paleolítico]] [[ro:Paleolitic]] [[ru:Палеолит]] [[sq:Paleoliti]] [[simple:Paleolithic]] [[sk:Paleolit]] [[sl:Paleolitik]] [[sr:Палеолит]] [[sh:Paleolit]] [[fi:Paleoliittinen kausi]] [[sv:Paleolitikum]] [[th:ยุคหินเก่า]] [[vi:Thời đại đồ đá cũ]] [[tr:Eski Taş Çağı]] [[uk:Палеоліт]] [[zh:旧石器时代]]