Stone Age - ancient period development of humanity. This cultural and historical period is characterized by the fact that during its course people made labor and hunting tools mainly from stone. In addition to stone, wood and bone were also used. The Stone Age lasted from 2.6-2.5 million years ago to 3.5-2.5 thousand years BC. e. It is also worth noting that there is no strict framework for the beginning and end of the Stone Age for the reason that in different parts of the Earth humanity developed unevenly and in some regions the Stone Age lasted much longer than in others. The beginning of the use of stones as tools is also controversial, since the age of finds and new discoveries may deepen or bring closer the beginning of the Stone Age.
In general, the beginning of the Stone Age dates back to 2.6-2.5 million years ago. It was during this period, as archaeological excavations in Africa show, that human ancestors learned to split stones to get a sharp edge (Olduvai culture).
The Stone Age is divided into several periods, which we will note briefly here, but will be studied in more detail in subsequent articles:
1. . Covers most of the Stone Age, starting from 2.6-2.5 million years ago and ending with 10 thousand years BC. e., that is, almost the entire Pleistocene period. The difference is that Pleistocene is a term that defines a period in the geochronology of the Earth, and Paleolithic is a term that defines the culture and history of the development of ancient man who learned to process stone. In turn, the Paleolithic is divided into several periods: Early Paleolithic, Middle Paleolithic and Upper Paleolithic. During this time, the culture of Stone Age man and the culture of stone processing advanced significantly.
2. . Immediately after the Paleolithic, a new period begins - the Mesolithic, which lasted for the X-VI thousand years BC.
3. . The Neolithic is the New Stone Age, which began during the so-called Neolithic Revolution, when human communities began to move from hunting and gathering to agriculture, farming and animal husbandry, which in turn led to a revolution in the processing of stone tools.
4. - Copper-Stone Age, Copper Age or Chalcolithic. Transitional period from the Stone Age to the Bronze Age. Covers the period of the IV-III millennium BC. e.
Stone Age. Human evolution:
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Stone Age a cultural and historical period in the development of mankind, when the main tools and weapons were made mainly of stone and there was still no metal processing; wood and bone were also used; at the late stage of K. century. The processing of clay from which dishes were made also spread. Through the transitional era - Eneolithic K. century. replaced by the Bronze Age (See Bronze Age). K.v. coincides with most of the era of the primitive communal system (See Primitive communal system) and covers the time from the separation of man from the animal state (about 1 million 800 thousand years ago) and ending with the era of the spread of the first metals (about 8 thousand years ago in the Ancient East and about 6-7 thousand years ago in Europe). K.v. is divided into the ancient K. century, or Paleolithic, and the new K. century, or Neolithic. The Paleolithic is the era of the existence of fossil humans and belongs to that distant time when the climate of the earth and its flora and fauna were quite different from modern ones. People of the Paleolithic era used only chipped stone tools, not knowing polished stone tools and pottery (ceramics). Paleolithic people hunted and gathered food (plants, shellfish, etc.). Fishing was just beginning to emerge, and agriculture and cattle breeding were unknown. Neolithic people already lived in modern climatic conditions and surrounded by modern flora and fauna. In the Neolithic, along with chipped ones, ground and drilled stone tools, as well as pottery, became widespread. Neolithic people, along with hunting, gathering, and fishing, began to engage in primitive hoe farming and breed domestic animals. Between the Paleolithic and Neolithic there is a transitional era - the Mesolithic. The Paleolithic is divided into ancient (lower, early) (1 million 800 thousand - 35 thousand years ago) and late (upper) (35-10 thousand years ago). The ancient Paleolithic is divided into archaeological eras (cultures): pre-Chelles (see Galek culture), Chelles culture (See Chelles culture), Acheulean culture (See Acheulean culture) and Mousterian culture (See Mousterian culture). Many archaeologists distinguish the Mousterian era (100-35 thousand years ago) into a special period - the Middle Paleolithic. The oldest pre-Chellian stone tools were pebbles chipped at one end and flakes chipped from such pebbles. The tools of the Chelles and Acheulean eras were hand axes, pieces of stone chipped on both surfaces, thickened at one end and pointed at the other, rough chopping tools (choppers and choppers), which had less regular outlines than axes, as well as rectangular ax-shaped tools (cleavers) and massive flakes that broke off from Nucleus ovs (cores). The people who made pre-Chelles - Acheulian tools belonged to the type of archanthropes (See Archanthropes) (Pithecanthropus, Sinanthropus, Heidelberg Man), and, possibly, to an even more primitive type (Homo habilis, Prezinjanthropus). People lived in warm climates, mostly south of 50° north latitude ( most Africa, Southern Europe and Southern Asia). In the Mousterian era, stone flakes became thinner, because... broke off from specially prepared disc-shaped or turtle-shaped nuclei - cores (the so-called Levallois technique); flakes were turned into various scrapers, points, knives, drills, choppers, etc. The use of bone (anvils, retouchers, points) became widespread, as did the use of fire; Due to the onset of cooling, people began to settle in caves more often and developed wider territories. About the origin of primitive religious beliefs burials testify. People of the Mousterian era belonged to the paleoanthropes (See Paleoanthropes) (Neanderthals). In Europe, they lived mainly in the harsh climatic conditions of the beginning of the Würm glaciation (see Würm era), were contemporaries of mammoths, woolly rhinoceroses, cave bears. For the ancient Paleolithic, local differences in different cultures, determined by the nature of the tools being manufactured. In the Late Paleolithic era, a person of the modern physical type emerged (neoanthropus (See Neoanthropes), Homo sapiens - Cro-Magnons, Grimaldi man, etc.). Late Paleolithic people settled much more widely than Neanderthals, populating Siberia, America, and Australia. Late Paleolithic technology is characterized by prismatic cores, from which elongated plates were broken off and turned into scrapers, points, tips, burins, piercings, staples, etc. Awls, eyed needles, spatulas, picks and other items made of bone, horn and mammoth tusk appeared. People began to settle down; Along with cave camps, long-term dwellings spread - dugouts and above ground, both large communal ones with several hearths, and small ones (Gagarino, Kostenki (See Kostenki), Pushkari, Buret, Malta, Dolni Vestonice, Pensevan, etc.). Skulls, large bones and tusks of mammoths, reindeer antlers, wood and skins were used in the construction of dwellings. Dwellings often formed entire villages. The hunting industry has reached a higher stage of development. Appeared fine arts, characterized in many cases by striking realism: sculptural images of animals and naked women made of mammoth tusk, stone, sometimes clay (Kostenki I, Avdeevskaya site, Gagarino, Dolni Vestonice, Willendorf, Brassanpui, etc.), images engraved on bone and stone animals and fish, engraved and painted conventional geometric patterns - zigzag, diamonds, meanders, wavy lines (Mezinskaya site, Předmosti, etc.), engraved and painted (monochrome and polychrome) images of animals, sometimes people and conventional signs on the walls and ceilings of caves (Altamira, Lascaux, etc.). Paleolithic art, apparently, is partly connected with the female cults of the era of the maternal race, with hunting magic and totemism. There were a variety of burials: crouched, sessile, painted, with grave goods. In the Late Paleolithic there were several large cultural areas, as well as a significant number of smaller cultures. For Western Europe, these are Périgordian, Aurignacian, Solutrean, Magdalenian and other cultures; for Central Europe - Seletsky culture, etc. The transition from the Late Paleolithic to the Mesolithic coincided with the final extinction of glaciation and the establishment of a generally modern climate. Radiocarbon dating of the European Mesolithic 10-7 thousand years ago (in the northern regions of Europe the Mesolithic lasted until 6-5 thousand years ago); Mesolithic Middle East - 12-9 thousand years ago. Mesolithic cultures - Azilian culture, Tardenoise culture, Maglemose culture, Ertbølle culture, Hoa Binh culture, etc. The Mesolithic technology of many territories is characterized by the use of microliths - miniature stone tools of geometric shapes (in the shape of a trapezoid, segment, triangle), used as inserts in wooden and bone frames, as well as beaten chopping tools: axes, adzes, picks. Bows and arrows were distributed. The dog, which was probably domesticated already in the Late Paleolithic, was widely used by people in the Mesolithic. The most important feature of the Neolithic is the transition from the appropriation of finished products of nature (hunting, fishing, gathering) to the production of vital products, although appropriation continued to occupy a large place in human economic activity. People began to cultivate plants, and cattle breeding arose. The decisive changes in the economy that occurred with the transition to cattle breeding and agriculture are called by some researchers the “Neolithic revolution.” The defining elements of the Neolithic culture were pottery (ceramics), molded by hand, without a potter's wheel, stone axes, hammers, adzes, chisels, hoes (in their production, sawing, grinding and drilling of stone were used), flint daggers, knives, arrowheads and spears, sickles (made by pressing retouching), microliths and chopping tools that arose in the Mesolithic, all kinds of products made of bone and horn (fishhooks, harpoons, hoe tips, chisels), and wood (dugouts, oars, skis, sleighs , handles of various kinds). Flint workshops spread, and at the end of the Neolithic - even mines for the extraction of flint and, in connection with this, inter-tribal exchange of raw materials. Primitive spinning and weaving arose. Characteristic manifestations of Neolithic art are a variety of indented and painted ornaments on ceramics, clay, bone, and stone figurines of people and animals, monumental painted, incised and hollowed out rock art (paintings, petroglyphs). The funeral rite becomes more complex; burial grounds are being built. The uneven development of culture and its local uniqueness in different territories intensified even more in the Neolithic. There are a large number of different Neolithic cultures. Tribes different countries V different times passed through the Neolithic stage. Most of the Neolithic monuments of Europe and Asia date back to the 6th-3rd millennium BC. e. Neolithic culture developed most rapidly in the countries of the Middle East, where agriculture and livestock breeding arose first. People who widely practiced the collection of wild cereals and, perhaps, made attempts to artificially cultivate them, belong to the Natufian culture of Palestine, dating back to the Mesolithic (9-8th millennium BC). Along with microliths, sickles with flint inserts and stone mortars are found here. In the 9th-8th millennium BC. e. primitive agriculture and cattle breeding also originated in the North. Iraq. By the 7th-6th millennium BC. e. include the settled agricultural settlements of Jericho in Jordan, Jarmo in Northern Iraq and Çatalhöyük in Southern Turkey. They are characterized by the appearance of sanctuaries, fortifications and often of considerable size. In the 6th-5th millennium BC. e. in Iraq and Iran, more developed Neolithic agricultural cultures with adobe houses, painted pottery and female figurines are common. In the 5th-4th millennium BC. e. agricultural tribes of the developed Neolithic inhabited Egypt. The progress of Neolithic culture in Europe proceeded on a local basis, but under the strong influence of the cultures of the Mediterranean and the Middle East, from where the most important cultivated plants and some species of domestic animals probably penetrated into Europe. On the territory of England and France in the Neolithic and Early Bronze Ages lived agricultural and pastoral tribes who built megalithic buildings (see Megalithic cultures, Megaliths) from huge blocks of stone. The Neolithic and Early Bronze Ages of Switzerland and adjacent territories were characterized by a wide distribution of pile buildings (See Pile buildings), the inhabitants of which were primarily engaged in livestock breeding and agriculture, as well as hunting and fishing. In Central Europe, in the Neolithic, agricultural Danube cultures took shape with characteristic ceramics decorated with ribbon patterns. In northern Scandinavia at the same time and later, up to the 2nd millennium BC. e., lived tribes of Neolithic hunters and fishermen. K.v. on the territory of the USSR. The most ancient reliable monuments of the K. century. belong to the Acheulean time and date back to the era preceding the Ris (Dnieper) glaciation (see Ris Age). They were found in the Caucasus, the Azov region, Transnistria, Central Asia and Kazakhstan; Flakes, hand axes, and choppers (rough chopping tools) were found in them. In the Kudaro, Tsonskaya and Azykhskaya caves in the Caucasus, the remains of hunting camps of the Acheulean era have been discovered. Sites of the Mousterian era are distributed further to the north. In the Kiik-Koba grotto in Crimea and in the Teshik-Tash grotto in Uzbekistan, burials of Neanderthals have been discovered, and in the Staroselye grotto in Crimea, the burial of a neoanthropist has been discovered. In the Molodova I site on the Dniester, the remains of a long-term Mousterian dwelling were discovered. The Late Paleolithic population on the territory of the USSR was even more widespread. The successive stages of development of the Late Paleolithic in different parts of the USSR, as well as the Late Paleolithic cultures are traced: Kostenkovo-Sungir, Kostenkovo-Avdeevskaya, Mezinskaya, etc. on the Russian Plain, Maltese, Afontovo, etc. in Siberia, etc. A large number of multi-layered Late Paleolithic settlements have been excavated on the Dniester (Babin, Voronovitsa, Molodova V, etc.). Another area where many Late Paleolithic settlements are known with the remains of dwellings of various types and examples of art is the Desna and Sudost basin (Mezin, Pushkari, Eliseevichi, Yudinovo, etc.). The third similar area is the villages of Kostenki and Borshevo on the Don, where over 20 Late Paleolithic sites were discovered, including a number of multi-layered ones, with the remains of dwellings, many works of art and 4 burials. The Sungir site on Klyazma is located separately, where several burials were found. The world's northernmost Paleolithic monuments include the Bear Cave and the Byzovaya site. r. Pechora (Komi ASSR). Kapova Cave in the Southern Urals contains painted images of mammoths on the walls. The caves of Georgia and Azerbaijan make it possible to trace the development of the Late Paleolithic culture through a number of stages, different from that on the Russian Plain - from the monuments of the beginning of the Late Paleolithic, where Mousterian points are still represented in significant quantities, to the monuments of the end of the Late Paleolithic, where many microliths are found. The most important Late Paleolithic settlement in Central Asia is the Samarkand site. In Siberia large number Late Paleolithic sites are known on the Yenisei (Afontova Gora, Kokorevo), in the Angara and Belaya basins (Malta, Buret), in Transbaikalia, and in Altai. The Late Paleolithic was discovered in the Lena, Aldan and Kamchatka basins. The Neolithic is represented by numerous cultures. Some of them belong to ancient agricultural tribes, and some belong to primitive fisher-hunters. The agricultural Neolithic includes monuments of the Bug and other cultures of Right Bank Ukraine and Moldova (5-3rd millennium BC), settlements of Transcaucasia (Shulaveri, Odishi, Kistrik, etc.), as well as settlements such as Dzheitun in Southern Turkmenistan, reminiscent of the settlements of Neolithic farmers of Iran. Cultures of Neolithic hunters and fishermen of the 5th-3rd millennium BC. e. also existed in the south - in the Azov region, in the North Caucasus, in Central Asia (Kelteminar culture); but they were especially widespread in the 4th-2nd millennium BC. e. in the north, in the forest belt from the Baltic to the Pacific Ocean. Numerous Neolithic hunting and fishing cultures, most of which are characterized by certain types of ceramics decorated with pit-comb and comb-prick patterns, are represented along the shores of Lakes Ladoga and Onega and the White Sea (here, in some places, rock art associated with these cultures is found images, petroglyphs), on the upper Volga and in the Volga-Oka interfluve. In the Kama region, in forest-steppe Ukraine, in Western and Eastern Siberia, ceramics with comb-prick and comb patterns were common among Neolithic tribes. Other types of Neolithic ceramics were common in Primorye and Sakhalin. History of the study of K. v. The guess that the era of the use of metals was preceded by a time when stones served as weapons was expressed by Lucretius Carus in the 1st century. BC e. In 1836 dates. archaeologist K. J. Thomsen identified 3 cultural and historical eras based on archaeological material (C. Century, Bronze Age, Iron Age). The existence of Paleolithic fossil man was proven in the 40-50s. 19th century in the fight against reactionary clerical science, the French archaeologist Boucher de Pert. In the 60s The English scientist J. Lubbock dismembered the K. century. into the Paleolithic and Neolithic, and the French archaeologist G. de Mortillier created generalizing works on the K. century. and developed a more fractional periodization (Chellean, Mousterian eras, etc.). By the 2nd half of the 19th century. include studies of Mesolithic kitchen heaps (See Kitchen heaps) in Denmark, Neolithic pile settlements in Switzerland, numerous Paleolithic and Neolithic caves and sites in Europe and Asia. At the end of the 19th century. and at the beginning of the 20th century. Paleolithic painted images were discovered in caves in southern France and northern Spain. In the 2nd half of the 19th century. study of K. v. was closely connected with Darwinian ideas (see Darwinism), with progressive, although historically limited, evolutionism. At the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries. and in the 1st half of the 20th century. in the bourgeois science of capitalism. (primitive archaeology, prehistory, paleoethnology) the methodology of archaeological work was significantly improved, a huge new factual material, which did not fit into the framework of the old simplified schemes, the diversity and complexity of the development of cultural cultures was revealed. At the same time, ahistorical constructions associated with the theory of cultural circles, the theory of migration, and sometimes directly with reactionary racism became widespread. Progressive bourgeois scientists, who sought to trace the development of primitive humanity and its economy as a natural process, opposed these reactionary concepts. A serious achievement of foreign researchers of the 1st half and mid-20th century. is the creation of a number of general manuals, reference books and encyclopedias on K. v. Europe, Asia, Africa and America (French scientist J. Dechelet, German - M. Ebert, English - J. Clark, G. Child, R. Waughrey, H. M. Warmington, etc.), elimination of extensive white spots on archaeological maps, discovery and study of numerous monuments of the K. century. in European countries (Czech scientists K. Absolon, B. Klima, F. Proshek, I. Neustupni, Hungarian - L. Vertes, Romanian - K. Nikolaescu-Plopsor, Yugoslav - S. Brodar, A. Benac, Polish - L Savitsky, S. Krukovsky, German - A. Rust, Spanish - L. Pericot-Garcia, etc.), in Africa (English scientist L. Leakey, French - K. Arambur, etc.), in the Middle East (English). scientists D. Garrod, J. Mellart, K. Kenyon, American scientists - R. Braidwood, R. Soletsky, etc.), in India (H. D. Sankalia, B. B. Lal, etc.), in China (Jia Lan-po, Pei Wen-chung, etc.), in Southeast Asia (French scientist A. Mansuy, Dutch - H. van Heckeren, etc.), in America (American scientists A. Kroeber, F. Rainey, etc. .). Excavation techniques have improved significantly, the publication of archaeological monuments has increased, and comprehensive research of ancient settlements by archaeologists, geologists, paleozoologists, and paleobotanists has spread. The radiocarbon dating method and the statistical method of studying stone tools began to be widely used, and general works devoted to the art of stone centuries were created. (French scientists A, Breuil, A. Leroy-Gouran, Italian - P. Graziosi, etc.). In Russia, a number of Paleolithic and Neolithic sites were studied in the 70-90s. 19th century A. S. Uvarov, I. S. Polyakov, K. S. Merezhkovsky, V. B. Antonovich, V. V. Khvoika and others. The first 2 decades of the 20th century. were marked by generalizing works on geological history, as well as excavations of Paleolithic and Neolithic settlements carried out at a high level for their time, with the involvement of geologists and zoologists, by V. A. Gorodtsov, A. A. Spitsyn, F. K. Volkov, P. P. Efimenko and others. After the October Socialist Revolution, research into the cultural in the USSR acquired a wide scope. By 1917, 12 Paleolithic sites were known in the country; in the early 1970s. their number exceeded 1000. Paleolithic monuments were discovered for the first time in Belarus (K. M. Polikarpovich), in Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia (G. K. Nioradze, S. N. Zamyatnin, M. Z. Panichkina, M. M. Guseinov, L. N. Solovyov and others), in Central Asia (A. P. Okladnikov, D. N. Lev, V. A. Ranov, Kh. A. Alpysbaev, etc.), in the Urals (M. V. Talitsky etc.). Numerous new Paleolithic sites have been discovered and studied in the Crimea, on the Russian Plain, in Siberia (P. P. Efimenko, M. V. Voevodsky, G. A. Bonch-Osmolovsky, M. Ya. Rudinsky, G. P. Sosnovsky, A. P. Okladnikov, M. M. Gerasimov, S. N. Bibikov, A. P. Chernysh, A. N. Rogachev, O. N. Bader, A. A. Formozov, I. G. Shovkoplyas, P. I . Boriskovsky, etc.), in Georgia (N, Z. Berdzenishvili, A. N. Kalandadze, D. M. Tushabramishvili, V. P. Lyubin, etc.). The northernmost ones are open. Paleolithic monuments in the world: on Pechora, Lena, in the Aldan basin and Kamchatka (V.I. Kanivets, N.N. Dikov, etc.). A method for excavating Paleolithic settlements has been created, which has made it possible to establish the existence of sedentary life and permanent dwellings in the Paleolithic. A method has been developed for restoring the functions of primitive tools based on traces of their use, traceology (S. A. Semenov). illuminated historical changes that took place in the Paleolithic - the development of the primitive herd and the maternal clan system. Late Paleolithic and Mesolithic cultures and their relationships have been identified. Numerous monuments of Paleolithic art were discovered and general works devoted to them were created (S. N. Zamyatnin, Z. A. Abramova, etc.). Generalizing works have been created on the chronology, periodization and historical coverage of Neolithic monuments in a number of territories, the identification of Neolithic cultures and their relationships, the development of Neolithic technology (V. A. Gorodtsov, B. S. Zhukov, M. V. Voevodsky, A. Ya. Bryusov , M. E. Foss, A. P. Okladnikov, V. N. Chernetsov, N. N. Gurina, O. N. Bader, D. A. Krainev, V. N. Danilenko, D. Ya. Telegin, V . M. Masson and others). Monuments of Neolithic monumental art have been studied - rock carvings from the north-west. USSR, Azov region and Siberia (V.I. Ravdonikas, M.Ya. Rudinsky and others). Soviet researchers K. v. done great job to expose the ahistorical concepts of reactionary bourgeois scientists, to illuminate and decipher Paleolithic and Neolithic monuments. Armed with the methodology of dialectical and historical materialism, they criticized the attempts of many bourgeois researchers (especially in France) to classify the study of calculus as centuries. to the field of natural sciences, consider the development of cultural culture. like a biological process or construct it for studying K. v. a special science “paleoethnology”, occupying an intermediate position between biological and social sciences. At the same time, owls researchers oppose the empiricism of those bourgeois archaeologists who reduce the tasks of studying Paleolithic and Neolithic monuments only to a careful description and definition of things and their groups, and also ignore the conditionality of the historical process, the natural connection of material culture and social relations, their consistent natural development. For owls researchers monuments of K. century. - not an end in itself, but a source for studying the early stages of the history of the primitive communal system. They fight especially irreconcilably against the bourgeois idealistic and racist theories widespread among specialists in cultural warfare. in the USA, Great Britain and a number of other capitalist countries. These theories erroneously interpret and sometimes even falsify the archaeological data of the Caucasus. for statements about the division of peoples into chosen and unelected, about the inevitable eternal backwardness of certain countries and peoples, about the beneficence in human history of conquests and wars. Soviet researchers K. v. showed that the early stages world history and the history of primitive culture was a process in which all peoples, large and small, participated and contributed. Lit.: Engels F., The origin of the family, private property and the state, M., 1965; by him, The role of labor in the process of transformation of a monkey into a human, M., 1969; Abramova Z. A., Paleolithic art on the territory of the USSR, M. - L., 1962; Aliman A., Prehistoric Africa, trans. from French, M., 1960; Beregovaya N.A., Paleolithic localities of the USSR, M. - L., 1960; Bonch-Osmolovsky G. A., Paleolithic of Crimea, c. 1-3, M. - L., 1940-54; Boriskovsky P.I., Paleolithic of Ukraine, M. - L., 1953; by him, Ancient Stone Age of South and Southeast Asia, L., 1971; Bryusov A. Ya., Essays on the history of the tribes of the European part of the USSR in the Neolithic era, M., 1952; Gurina N.N., Ancient history of the north-west of the European part of the USSR, M. - L., 1961; Danilenko V.N., Neolith of Ukraine, K., 1969; Efimenko P.P., Primitive society, 3rd ed., K., 1953; Zamyatnin S.N., Essays on the Paleolithic, M. - L., 1961; Clark J. G. D., Prehistoric Europe, [trans. from English], M., 1953; Masson V. M., Central Asia and Ancient East, M. - L., 1964; Okladnikov A.P., Neolithic and Bronze Age of the Baikal region, parts 1-2, M. - L., 1950; his, Distant Past of Primorye, Vladivostok, 1959; by him, Morning of Art, L., 1967; Panichkina M.Z., Paleolithic of Armenia, L., 1950; Ranov V. A., Stone Age of Tajikistan, c. 1, Soul., 1965; Semenov S. A., Development of technology in the Stone Age, Leningrad, 1968; Titov V.S., Neolith of Greece, M., 1969; Formozov A. A., Ethnocultural areas on the territory of the European part of the USSR in the Stone Age, M., 1,959; by him, Essays on primitive art, M., 1969 (MIA, No. 165); Foss M.E., Ancient history of the north of the European part of the USSR, M., 1952; Child G., At the Origins of European Civilization, trans. from English, M., 1952; Bordes F., Le paléolithique dans ie monde, P., 1968; Breuil N., Quatre cents siècles d "art pariétal, Montignac, 1952; Clark J. D., The prehistory of Africa, L., 1970: Clark G., World L., prehistory, 2 ed., Camb., 1969; L" Europe à la fin de l"âge de la pierre, Prague, 1961; Graziosi P., Palaeolithic art, L., 1960; Leroi-Gourhan A., Préhistoire de l"art occidental, P., 1965; La prehistoire. P., 1966; La préhistoire. Problems et tendances, P., 1968; Man the hunter, Chi., 1968; Müller-Karpe N., Handbuch der Vorgeschichte, Bd 1-2, Münch., 1966-68; Oakley K. P., Frameworks for dating fossil man. 3 ed., L., 1969. P. I. Boriskovsky. Mousterian era: 1 - Levallois core; 2 - leaf-shaped tip; 3 - teiyak tip; 4 - discoid nucleus; 5, 6 - pointed points; 7 - double-pointed tip; 8 - gear tool; 9 - scraper; 10 - chopper; 11 - knife with edge; 12 - tool with a notch; 13 - puncture; 14 - kina type scraper; 15 - double scraper; 16, 17 - longitudinal scrapers. Paleolithic sites and finds of human fossil remains in Europe.
The Stone Age lasted more than two million years and is the longest part of our history. The name of the historical period is due to the use of tools made of stone and flint by ancient people. People lived in small groups of relatives. They collected plants and hunted for their food.
Cro-Magnons are the first modern people, lived in Europe 40 thousand years ago.Stone Age man did not have a permanent home, only temporary camps. The need for food forced groups to look for new hunting grounds. It will be a long time before a person learns to cultivate the land and keep livestock so that he can settle in one place.
The Stone Age is the first period in human history. This is a symbol of the time frame when a person used stone, flint, wood, plant fibers for fastening, bone. Some of these materials did not fall into our hands because they simply rotted and decomposed, but archaeologists around the world continue to record stone finds today.
Researchers use two main methods to study preliterate human history: through archaeological finds and by studying modern primitive tribes.
The woolly mammoth appeared on the continents of Europe and Asia 150 thousand years ago. An adult specimen reached 4 m and weighed 8 tons. Considering the duration of the Stone Age, historians divide it into several periods, divided depending on the materials of the tools used by primitive man.
- Ancient Stone Age () – more than 2 million years ago.
- Middle Stone Age () – 10 thousand years BC The appearance of a bow and arrow. Hunting for deer, wild boar.
- New Stone Age (Neolithic) – 8 thousand years BC. The beginning of agriculture.
This is a conditional division into periods, since in each individual region progress did not always appear simultaneously. The end of the Stone Age is considered the period when people mastered metal.
First people
Man was not always the way we see him today. Over time, the structure of the human body has changed. The scientific name for man and his closest ancestors is hominid. The first hominids were divided into 2 main groups:
- Australopithecus;
- Homo.
First harvests
Growing food first appeared 8 thousand years BC. in the Middle East. Some wild grains remained in reserve for the next year. The man observed and saw that if the seeds fall into the ground, they sprout again. He began to deliberately plant seeds. By planting small plots, more people could be fed.
To control and plant crops, it was necessary to stay in place, this prompted people to migrate less. Now we have managed not only to collect and receive what nature provides here and now, but also to reproduce it. This is how agriculture was born, about which read more.
The first cultivated plants were wheat and barley. Rice was cultivated in China and India 5 thousand years BC.
Gradually they learned to grind grain into flour in order to make porridge or cakes from it. The grain was placed on a large flat stone and ground into powder using a grindstone. Coarse flour contained sand and other impurities, but gradually the process became more refined and the flour purer.
Cattle breeding appeared at the same time as agriculture. Man had herded cattle into small pens before, but this was done for convenience during the hunt. Domestication began 8.5 thousand years BC. The goats and sheep were the first to succumb. They quickly got used to human proximity. Noticing that large individuals give more offspring than wild ones, man learned to select only the best. So livestock became larger and meatier than wild ones.
Stone processing
The Stone Age is a period in human history when stone was used and processed to improve life. Knives, tips, arrows, chisels, scrapers... - achieving the desired sharpness and shape, the stone was turned into a tool and weapon.
The emergence of crafts
Cloth
The first clothes were needed to protect against the cold and they were animal skins. The skins were pulled out, scraped out and fastened together. Holes in the skin could be made using a pointed awl made of flint.
Later, plant fibers served as the basis for weaving threads and subsequently for making fabric. Decoratively, the fabric was painted using plants, leaves, and bark.
Decorations
The first decorations were shells, animal teeth, bones, and nut shells. Random searches for semi-precious stones made it possible to make beads held together with strips of thread or leather.
Primitive art
Primitive man revealed his creativity using the same stone and cave walls. At least these drawings have survived intact to this day (). Animal and human figures carved from stone and bone are still found all over the world.
End of the Stone Age
The Stone Age ended the moment the first cities appeared. Climate change, a sedentary lifestyle, the development of agriculture and cattle breeding led to the fact that clan groups began to unite into tribes, and the tribes eventually grew into large settlements.
The scale of settlements and the development of metal brought man into a new era.
What periods is the Stone Age divided into?
- Thanks for the answer. Helped a lot
- Archeology distinguishes three main “ages” (periods, eras) in ancient history Europe: stone, bronze, iron. The Stone Age is the longest of them. At this time, people made the main tools and weapons from wood, stone, horn and bone. It was only at the very end of the Stone Age that the ancient inhabitants of Europe first became acquainted with copper, but used it mainly for making jewelry. Tools and weapons made of wood were probably the most numerous among early humans in Europe, but wood is not usually preserved, nor are other organic materials, including horn and bone. Therefore, the main source for studying the Stone Age is stone tools and the remains of their production.
Long period The Stone Age is usually divided into three parts: the ancient Stone Age, or Paleolithic; the Middle Stone Age, go Mesolithic, and the New Stone Age, or Neolithic. These divisions arose in the last century, but remain important to this day. The Paleolithic is the longest period, its beginning dates back to the emergence of human society. Paleolithic stone tools were made mainly by the beating technique, without the use of grinding and drilling. The Paleolithic coincides with the Pleistocene, the early part of the Quaternary, or glacial, period of Earth's history. The basis of the human economy in the Paleolithic was hunting and gathering.The Paleolithic, in turn, is divided into three parts: lower (or early), middle and late (younger, or upper).
The Mesolithic (sometimes called the Epipaleolithic, although these terms are not entirely equivalent) is a much shorter period. He continued in many respects the traditions of the Paleolithic, but already in post-glacial times, when the population of Europe adapted to new natural conditions, changing the economy, material production and lifestyle. The appropriating nature of the economy in the Mesolithic is preserved, but new branches are developing - fishing, including sea fishing, hunting for marine mammals, and collecting sea mollusks.
A characteristic feature of the Mesolithic is the reduction in the size of tools and the appearance of microliths.
However, the main milestone in the history of the Stone Age of Europe occurs at the beginning of the Neolithic. At this time, the long period of appropriative farming, hunting, gathering, and fishing was replaced by farming and cattle breeding—the producing economy. The significance of this event is so great that the term “Neolithic revolution” is used to describe it.
Between the Stone Age and the Bronze Age, the Copper-Stone Age (Chalcolithic) is distinguished, but this period can not be traced throughout Europe, but mainly in the south of the continent, where at that time agricultural and pastoral societies emerged and flourished, with large settlements, developed social relations, religion and even protoliteracy. Copper metallurgy is experiencing its first boom, the first large-sized copper tools appear - eye axes, adze axes, battle axes, as well as jewelry made of copper, gold and silver.
Ethnogenesis of the Circassians. Hutts, Kaskis and Sindos - Meotian tribes - the ancient ancestors of the Circassians
Iron Age
Bronze Age
The North Caucasus is a unique region of our planet not only in terms of its natural and climatic conditions, but it is also a place where people have lived since the early stages of the Paleolithic (Old Stone Age). The settlement of the North Caucasus came from the south, and this process began 500 - 200 thousand years ago.
The modern relief of the North Caucasus was formed 10 million years ago. Initially, the Greater Caucasus was like a vast island with a dissected topography. Volcanic eruptions made the mountains and the North Caucasus the way we have it now, with its beauties of mountains, plains, forests and rivers. The North Caucasus, with such a wealth of flora and fauna, could not remain undeveloped by man.
The mining process, which began 10 million years ago, continued until the end of the Paleolithic era. It was accompanied not only by volcanic eruptions, but also by periodic fluctuations in the levels of the Black and Caspian Seas. For example, the amplitude of fluctuations in the levels of these seas reached 100 - 200 m. During the period of raising their levels, the Manych turned into a strait, and the Sea of Azov into a flowing basin. They formed a single water artery.
The starting point of human history is the primitive communal system. If you look at this period of our history, it is not only the most ancient period, but it is also the longest and most difficult period in the history of the human race. It was during this period that man stands out from the animal world and declares himself as the most intelligent creature.
The primitive era, although considered the most primitive in the history of mankind, is a time of such processes without which the life of man himself, and therefore of human civilization itself, is impossible. Here are some of them:
1) man stands out from the animal world;
2) articulate speech appears;
3) human labor appears, or a person begins to make tools with the help of which he obtains food for himself;
4) a person begins to use the power of fire;
5) a person builds primitive dwellings and dresses himself;
6) the type of activity of people changes, namely: they move from appropriating activities to producing ones (from gathering and hunting to farming and animal husbandry).
By the end of the Stone Age, man made other important discoveries that played a huge role in his future fate. Many scientists wrote in detail and clearly about all this and other discoveries of our ancient ancestors, but F. Engels in his works “The Role of Labor in the Process of Transformation of Ape into Man” and “The Origin of the Family, Private Property and the State” explored this period, to our look, most fully.
It is customary to divide the primitive era into archaeological and historical periodization schemes. The archaeological scheme is based on differences in the material and technique of making tools. That is, humanity moved from one qualitative state to another, higher one, depending on the level of tools and the materials used to make them. In accordance with this scheme, the history of human society is divided into three stages or centuries:
1. Stone Age - 3 million - 3 thousand BC.
2. Bronze Age - 3 thousand BC – beginning I millennium BC
3. Iron Age - beginning of the 1st millennium BC.
The oldest, longest and most difficult period in human history is the Stone Age. Based on the technique of making stone tools and other characteristics, this period itself is divided into three stages:
1. Paleolithic (Old Stone Age). It began 2.5 - 3 million years BC. ago and ended 12 - 10 thousand years BC.
2. Mesolithic (Middle Stone Age). It covers from X thousand years BC. and lasted until 6 thousand years BC.
3. Neolithic (New Stone Age). This period covers the 5th - 6th thousand years BC.
There is also a special transition period from stone to metal - the Eneolithic, when a person moves from the Stone to the Copper-Bronze Age.
Now let's look briefly at each of the stages of the Stone Age. As mentioned above, the Paleolithic period is the longest in its duration and exceeds all subsequent eras of human history by hundreds of times. In turn, the Old Stone Age is divided into three archaeological eras: the Lower (or Early), Middle and Upper (or Late) Paleolithic.
The Early and Middle Paleolithic corresponds to the era of the primitive human herd, or ancestral community. The primitive tribal community arose in the Late Paleolithic era. It should be noted that the most ancient people penetrated the North Caucasus during the Early Paleolithic period. In all likelihood, settlement came from the south and coincided in time with the penultimate period of the great interglacial warming that occurred about 500 - 200 thousand years ago. Stone tools found in various regions of the North Caucasus, namely in the basins of the rivers Psekups, Kuban, etc., belong specifically to this period.
However, it should be noted that the settlement of the territory of the North Caucasus by people was uneven. Everything depended on the natural and climatic conditions of the territories being developed. Where the flora and fauna are warmer and richer, that territory was previously developed by humans.
The mining process that took place in the North Caucasus continued until the end of the Middle Paleolithic, and more massive settlement by people occurred during periods of interglacial warming. The last such warming occurred 150 - 80 thousand years ago, during the Early Paleolithic era. In more than 60 regions of the Kuban region, i.e. in the basins of the rivers Psekups, Kurdzhips, Khodz, Belaya, etc., traces of human settlement during this period were found. At the Abadzekh site of people of this time alone, more than 2,500 specimens of stone tools were found. More numerous sites of ancient man were discovered during the Middle Paleolithic period (80 - 35 thousand years BC). By this period, the territory of human settlement was already moving east and covered the areas of modern Kabardino-Balkaria, North Ossetia, Chechnya, Ingushetia and Karachay-Cherkessia.
In the Middle Paleolithic era, man not only significantly improved his tools, but also great changes occurred in his thinking and physical development. At this stage, the beginnings of religious ideas and art appear. One of the most striking monuments of the Middle Paleolithic in the North Caucasus is the Ilskaya site, 40 km away. from Krasnodar. This monument occupies about 10 thousand m2; bones of numerous and varied animals were discovered here, such as mammoth, bison, horse, etc. From the materials discovered at this site, it is clear that people were already building houses like round huts and were engaged in gathering and hunting. Traces of activity from this period were found in our region, in particular in the area of the modern villages of Zayukovo, Baksan district.
The era of the late (Upper) Paleolithic (from 35 to 12 - 10 thousand years BC) is the period of completion of the process of becoming a modern type of man. At this stage, not only the tools of labor are significantly improved, but also great changes occur in the social organization of people, i.e. there is a process of transformation of the primitive human herd (ancestral community) into a tribal social organization. A clan system arises and its main unit is the clan, the clan community.
Traces of the Upper Paleolithic were found not only in those regions of the North Caucasus - in the basin of the Kuban (Psyzh) River and its tributaries, which have always been the most densely populated region, but also in the current territory of the Kabardino-Balkarian Republic.
The most striking monument of material culture of this period is the so-called Sosruko Grotto, which is located on the left bank of the Baksan River near the villages. Lashkuta. This Grotto has 6 layers, but its main materials belong to the next era of the Stone Age - the Mesolithic. The beginning of the Mesolithic was associated with climate warming (10 - 6 thousand years BC). This period includes the rapid development of flora and fauna in the North Caucasus with an increase in population. At this stage, large animals that served as the object of collective hunting by people disappear, and the dog is tamed. With the invention of the bow and arrow, hunting takes on a more individual character.
Sosruko Grotto was a cave site and was inhabited several times. Hunting played an important role in the economy of the inhabitants of the Sosruko Grotto, as evidenced by the numerous bones of wild animals (boar, chamois, red deer, hare, badger, etc.) discovered at this site.
The final stage of the Stone Age is the Neolithic (New Stone Age), which made great changes not only in the technique of making tools, but also in the social organization of man himself. In science, this period is also called the Neolithic revolution, because during this period a real revolution actually took place not only in material production, but also in the social life of our ancient ancestors. Although it covers only from the 5th to the first half of the 6th millennium BC, it was during this time that great events took place.
At this stage, man further improves the technique of making stone tools, invents ceramics, and his everyday life includes spinning and weaving, which significantly contributed to the establishment of people’s positions in nature. However, one of the most significant developments of this period is the transition from gathering and hunting to farming and animal husbandry. This is a real “explosion” of human intelligence: he begins to “cultivate” various types of plants and animals. From this moment on, man significantly leaves the power of nature; he recognizes the importance of growing plants and domesticating animals. This revolution in material production created objective conditions for subsequent changes in the entire social organization of people - the transition from matriarchy to patriarchy, the formation of classes and the state.
In the North Caucasus, including in the current territory of the Kabardino-Balkarian Republic, traces of settlements of people from the Neolithic period have been discovered. For example, such a monument of material culture was found near the Kenzhe River and in other places.
In our region, the Neolithic revolution, i.e. the transition from gathering and hunting to agriculture and animal husbandry occurred in the second half of the 4th millennium BC, i.e. in the Chalcolithic era. The way of life of people of this period in our region is well illustrated by the Agubekovskoye settlement. This site was discovered by archaeologists in 1923 on the northwestern edge of the mountains. Nalchik. From the materials discovered at this site, it is clear that the “Agubekovites” lived in turluch dwellings, built from rods coated with clay on both sides. The inhabitants of this site used low-fired pottery. The closest in time to the Agubekovsky settlement is the Nalchik burial ground, discovered in the 20s. last century on the current territory of the Nalchik City Hospital. According to archaeological data, both the “Agubekovites” and the inhabitants of the latter believed in an afterlife at that time. From the discovered materials it is clear that they maintained contacts with people in distant regions of Western Asia and the Mediterranean.
