Bone Age Paleolithic. The Late Paleolithic era - the first way of life of modern people

Paleolithic - from Greek. palaios "ancient", litos "stone". It covers the time from the beginning of the Pleistocene (Quaternary, anthropogenic period, “Ice Age”) to the Holocene (Quaternary period, post-glacial era), i.e., at least 2 million years.

The Paleolithic, in turn, according to the level of occurrence of cultural layers, is divided into early (lower), middle and late (upper) (periodization according to G. Mortilier, French scientist).

Paleolithic (3 million - 14 thousand)

Early: Olduvai era - appearance of Homo habilis - from 2.5 million to 400 thousand years; Acheulian - 300 - 100 thousand years ago (archanthrope);

Middle: Moustier - 100-40 thousand years ago (Neanderthal)

Late (according to Leroy-Gourhan): Chatelperron (35-30 thousand years ago), Aurignacian (30-25), Gravet (25-20), Solutre (20-15), Madeleine (15-10 thousand years ago)

In France, the discovery of the Paleolithic is associated with the name of Jacques Boucher de Pert (1788-1868), who collected a grandiose collection of Paleolithic stone tools on the coastal terraces of the river. Somme. In 1846-47. His first publications were released, which were met with skepticism by academic science.

In 1865, J. Lubbock, in his book “Prehistoric Times,” proposed dividing the Stone Age into two eras - “Neolithic” and “Paleolithic”, highlighting thus. the most ancient stage of human history.

Modern man appeared about 100 thousand years ago (Cro-Magnon man). But already among the Neanderthals, the beginnings of art were revealed; the presence of burials indicates the existence of rituals and beliefs.

Among the Cro-Magnons, works of art appeared about 30 thousand years ago. The artistic creativity of primitive people was not art in the modern sense. It did not stand out as an independent type of activity and was organically connected with other forms of life. But art from the very beginning has had a special quality - it has always been associated with the expression of feelings.

Early Paleolithic- the carriers of material culture were Australopithecus, later Pithecanthropus. The sites are dominated by hand axes and choppers - pebble tools with only one edge chipped off. They master driven hunting, which requires mutual understanding, so it is believed that the result was the appearance of the rudiments of speech. Fire.

Middle Paleolithic- relatively warm period. Neanderthals. More advanced tools split stone into thin plates (scrapers, stone knives, chisels, gimlets - more than 60 types of tools in total). Neanderthal art is primitive - repeating marks on stones (de L'Aze, France). Funeral rituals (in the fetal position).

Late Paleolithic- the more complex way of life of the Cro-Magnons contributes to the emergence of more cultures (for example, in Syria and Palestine there are about 12 cultures).

Groups of crops:

Group of pre-glacial European tribes (Southern France, Northern Spain: Altamira, Lascaux, La Madeleine, Aurignac, Cro-Magnon, Solutre)

Kostenki culture (20 thousand, Don steppes, 40 km from Voronezh, Kostenki village)

Mediterranean culture

Caucasus, Crimea, Iran, India

One of the first manifestations of art is the image of hands or prints (negative and positive). Rock carvings of animals - hunting scenes (from simple silhouettes to polychrome images). Paints are natural dyes. Thread. "Twisted Perspective" Images of humans are rare (less realistic than images of animals). Paleolithic Venus.

The Upper Paleolithic period of its existence is much shorter and is determined by archaeologists to be between the 40th and 10th millennia BC. e. Until recently, the Upper Paleolithic was divided into more subdivided periods: Aurignac, Solutre and Madeleine, according to which further stages of the development of human society were classified. But although human culture at this time develops in similar ways, certain territorial differences are already emerging. Therefore, it is more correct to abandon the division of the Upper Paleolithic into cultures that has been in existence for a long time, which received their names from monuments found in France, and is now used in Western Europe. For all of humanity, it would be more correct to divide it into the early, middle and late periods of the Upper Paleolithic.

The time of the Upper Paleolithic was primarily marked by the appearance of the modern type of Homo sapiens, that is, Homo sapiens. Having replaced the Neanderthals, he completed the transition from animal to human, which lasted about two million years.

The differences between Neanderthals and Homo sapiens consisted not so much in the disappearance of many features of external structure inherited from animals, but in large changes in higher nervous activity. The man of modern times thought more, and therefore acted much more successfully than his predecessors. The reason that caused the emergence of a new type of person must first of all be sought in the formation of a matriarchal clan community. The Neanderthal, who lived in his own group, not only did not seek rapprochement with his own kind from other groups, but, most likely, avoided it, and in the event of a collision with his own kind, he behaved hostilely. Exogamy arose within the clan, that is, a custom prohibiting marriage relations between members of the clan, which forced a person to build interclan connections.

The Upper Paleolithic era coincided in time with the last stage of glaciation, which pushed humanity (especially in those areas where the cooling was felt especially strongly) to the further development of labor activity. First of all, this development affected the production of tools and the method of processing them. The technique for producing blank plates remains the same. They are obtained by cleaving from a prismatic core. But due to the improvement of retouching, the tools became more advanced, and their efficiency in work increased. For retouching, they began to use bone sticks fixed in a wooden handle. Pressing the compound wringer, the master did not chip off the elastic bone tip, but rather whittled flint flakes from the tool blank one after another. This “sharpening” of the working part of the weapon was carried out not on one side, as was the case in previous eras, but on both sides, which increased the quality of the weapon.

Retouching was used not only to process the working edge of a tool; it was often used to process the entire surface of the product. The retouching technique was complex and required maximum attention from the master. It was enough not to calculate the pressure when pressing, and the flint could be split. This apparently happened often, as evidenced by numerous finds of tools damaged by the master during the manufacturing process. Retouching covered parts of the tool that did not play a significant role in the labor process. Such a passion for retouching indicates the emergence of an aesthetic perception of things in a person. Man sought to make not only a convenient, but also a beautiful tool.

The time of the Upper Paleolithic was marked by the widespread use of, along with stone tools, tools made of bone: spear tips, darts (throwing spears) and harpoons, i.e. tips with jagged edges, were mainly made from this material. The expansion of hunting equipment speaks quite clearly about the intensity of hunting.

To throw a spear, a person invents a spear thrower. The materials for its manufacture were wood and bone. Modern peoples who use spear throwers currently make them primarily from wood. Perhaps in those days they were made more often from wood, but this is how it is poorly preserved, archaeologists more often find bone spear throwers or those made from reindeer antler. The latter include finds at Paleolithic sites in France: Bruniquel, Logerie Bass, Gourdan. The spear thrower allowed the hunter to increase the length of the spear's flight.

The role of hunting especially increased in areas close to the glacier, where there were fewer edible plants for human consumption. In these areas, herds of reindeer and musk ox grazed; a little to the south was the kingdom of the mammoth, woolly rhinoceros, and bison; Even further south, herds of wild horses, deer, antelope, etc. grazed. The possibility of rich prey attracted man, and he intensively moved north, exploring more and more new territories.

In areas where the influence of the next cold snap was not felt, the hunter of the Upper Paleolithic time hunted zebra, antelope, and elephant, but gathering, which in the northern regions came to almost nothing, plays a large role in human economic life.

In addition to bone tools intended for hunting and fishing, it is necessary to note the appearance of bone needles with a hole (eye) located in their thickest part, into which a tendon was pulled, acting as a thread. Bone needles were stored in special cases made from the tubular bones of birds. The appearance of needles indicates the existence of tailoring in the Upper Paleolithic era. True, a person could sew together individual parts of skins using simple punctures (bone and flint), but the presence of an eye simplified this process and undoubtedly contributed to more advanced production of various types of clothing. For a long time, scientists had no information about the presence of clothing among Paleolithic people. However, a bone figurine of a woman wearing clothes with a hood on her head was discovered in Buryatia. Today, science has sufficient material to completely reconstruct the various types of clothing, hats, and shoes that make up the complete set of clothing of a person from the Upper Paleolithic era.

Based on climatic conditions, and therefore differences in the economic life of man during the Upper Paleolithic period, it is more appropriate to consider the cultural development of five territorial regions.

The first area is periglacial. This includes the middle zone of Western and Eastern Europe. By the time of the Upper Paleolithic, the vast territory of this region, thanks to climate warming, was quickly covered with forests. At first, spruce and pine trees grew in place of the retreating glacier, then, when the glacier retreated further, they were replaced by oak, hornbeam, linden, beech, i.e., broad-leaved trees.

The most striking monument here is the Sungir site in Siberia. The most striking finds, in particular burials, were discovered here. The bones were stretched along a line from southwest to northeast. The children are aged seven and twelve years. The position of the corpse was unusual. Both children lay on their backs with their heads facing each other. Before this, this situation was known from a number of figurines. It is possible that this is a brother and sister who died of some disease at the same time. The young Sungir people were equipped with an amazing set of weapons in the amount of 16 items, among which were a club carved from mammoth bone (this kind of weapon was discovered for the first time), two spears - 2 m 42 cm and 1 m 66 cm, made from mammoth ivory. In addition to the listed items, there were also two sharp bone stiletto daggers measuring 42 and 28 cm. Bone darts also lay next to the buried people. Among the accompanying objects was the thigh of a cave lion (bones of this animal were also found in other sites at the site; they may have been used as decoration). A lot of jewelry was also made from bone. The graves in which the buried were placed were dug using hoes, also made of bone.

The Sungir people, who lived on the plain, had already created artificial dwellings. A thorough study of a large accumulation of mammoth bones and other animals in one of the areas of the Sungir site and a fire pit located inside the observed accumulation made it possible to restore the appearance of one of the buildings. The dimensions of this building were small; its diameter was no more than 3 m. Its frame was made up of wooden poles and bones of large animals. The frame was covered on top with animal skins. A fire burned in the center of the room, warming people on long autumn and winter evenings. In addition to this kind of dwellings, the Sungir people also had other buildings that looked like a hut made of poles and branches.

The sites were usually located in places where there were many animals. The duration of the existence of these sites suggests that at that time ownership of hunting grounds had already arisen for each group, clan, etc., which made it possible to establish stronger connections between neighboring groups. Such connections were also strengthened through marriage alliances between members of neighboring groups.

For a long time it was believed that Upper Paleolithic man led a wandering lifestyle. The work carried out in the village of Kostenki on the Don (near Voronezh) marked the beginning of research into the Upper Paleolithic settlement. The people who lived in this area were amazing mammoth hunters and serious builders. The area of ​​one of the dwellings excavated here reached almost 600 sq.m. Its length was 35 m, and its width was 15-16 m. Along its central axis there were 9 hearths, the diameter of which reached 1 m. The hearths were located at a distance of up to 2 m from each other. This huge dwelling was the main one for the members of society who lived on the site. Analysis of the ashes and burnt bone remains suggests that the fuel was mainly animal bones.

Not all lesions performed the same functions. So, in one, pieces of brown iron ore and spherosiderite were fired and mineral paint - ocher - was obtained. Apparently, it was widely used, since traces of it were found on the entire surface of the floor. Near other hearths, archaeologists discovered tubular bones of a mammoth stuck into the ground. The characteristic notches and serifs on them suggest that they served as a kind of workbenches for the craftsmen working on them. In addition to this simple dwelling, there were three more. Two of them were dugouts located on the left and right sides of the main room. Both had fires. The frame of their roofs was constructed from mammoth tusks. The third room - a dugout - was located at the far end of the parking lot. The absence of a fireplace and any household items in it makes one think that this is a storage facility for food supplies and the most valuable products. Sculptural images of women and animals were hidden in special storage pits. Here the wife had jewelry made from the fangs of predators. Other pits contained finished tools, such as well-processed spearheads. It is not without interest that the figurines of women were deliberately broken. Archaeologists, comparing the available materials, came to the following conclusion: the settlement of Kostenki was abandoned by the owners shortly before the arrival of the enemies. The invaders, having discovered the figurines, smashed them, thereby destroying, according to their belief, the possibility of procreation of their enemies.

Similar dwellings were later discovered in Dolni Vestovica (Czechoslovakia). The dwelling there, too, was slightly recessed into the ground, oval in plan, its length was 19 m, width 9 m. There were five hearths inside. Among the finds there are many flint tools, there are also tools made of bone, but the bone here was used mainly for jewelry. In Switzerland, similar structures were discovered in Schussenried. Everywhere, bones and skulls of large animals, mainly mammoths, served as building material for dwellings. In Gontsy (Ukraine), 27 skulls and 30 mammoth scapular bones were needed to build a dwelling. The frame of this house was formed by 30 tusks. But not all houses were built only from bones. There are traces of dwellings with a supporting structure of a series of wooden posts. They had a gable roof, and its frame was made using wooden slats.

In Czechoslovakia, at the sites of Tibava and Barka, archaeologists discovered traces of a number of pillars and supports, with the help of which, apparently, the sloping roof was supported. The walls of some dwellings of the noted era were sometimes made of rods and had the appearance of wattle fence. It is possible that their walls were covered with animal skins. The walls were supported by stone slabs, mammoth bones, and sometimes earth rollers.

To the south of the periglacial zone of Europe there was a second zone, which included the southern regions of Europe, North Africa, i.e. Mediterranean. During the Upper Paleolithic and Mesolithic era, the so-called Capsian culture, named after the discovered monument of this culture near the city of Gafsa (Kapsa) in Tunisia, was widespread in this area.

Along with hunting, gathering played an important role in the life of people in this zone. The main objects for this type of activity were edible shellfish and plants. The scale of consumption of mollusks, both river and sea, is eloquently indicated by accumulations of shells, often covering an area of ​​​​several hundred square meters. The thickness of the layer of shells reaches two to three meters, and in some places reaches five. The areas filled with animal bones (the result of hunting) and mollusk shells (the result of gathering) sometimes exceed 10 thousand square meters.

Unlike the population of the periglacial regions, who lived sedentary lives and knew how to build houses, the southerners led a nomadic lifestyle. Climatic conditions did not require them to build houses, and if necessary, they quickly built light shelter huts to shelter them from the sun, wind and rain. The presence of natural shelters such as caves and grottoes made it possible to temporarily use them. Tools were made mainly of stone; bone was almost never used. Only awls of the simplest type were made from it. In stone processing, the population of this second region lagged significantly behind the inhabitants of the periglacial regions. Thus, the carriers of the Capsian culture did not know the method of pressing retouching, did not know how to make points using double-sided processing, and they did not have laurel tips. But they knew how to produce small flint plates - microliths, which served as dart tips. Some scientists believe that microliths also served as arrowheads, which means that the bow as a weapon was known to the Capsians. Other composite tools were also created using microliths. The base of such tools was wooden or bone. Small flint plates that made up the blade were inserted into a specially made slot in the base.

Pieces of ostrich egg shells were used as material for jewelry. They were given a certain shape, a hole was drilled for stringing on a core, and the surface was covered with thin carved lines. There are known examples of such plates with geometric patterns or with realistic images of gazelles, ostriches and other animals. Stringed on sinew, these pieces made necklaces and bracelets. Drilled sea shells and animal vertebrae also served as decoration.

It is difficult to talk about the clothing of the inhabitants of Africa and the Middle East of those times, and it is unlikely that there was any, except for loincloths. We know much more about the clothing of the inhabitants of the southern regions of Europe. In grottoes located in the vicinity of Menton (Italy), archaeologists discovered burials of the Upper Paleolithic era. People were buried in clothes made of leather and decorated with sea shells sewn onto it; they wore bracelets made of the same shells on their hands, and necklaces on their chests. As in the Sungir burial ground, the corpses were sprinkled with red mineral paint. The position of the corpse is not always elongated; it can also be crouched. In the Grimaldi caves (Italy) two skeletons were discovered: one of a man and the other of an old woman. Both skeletons were placed on the site of the extinguished fire in a crouched position, and with them inventory in the form of tools, weapons, and jewelry.

The main features of the Capsian culture are found in the Late Paleolithic layers of settlements in Palestine, Iraq, Asia Minor, Transcaucasia, Crimea and parts of Central Asia. Some sites in Georgia, such as Mgvimevi and Devis Khvrel, are especially close to the Capsian culture. Everywhere in these areas, the basis of the economy was hunting and gathering. The Capsians did not build permanent artificial dwellings.

The third region includes the central and southern parts of the African continent. This area has been poorly studied to this day. One of the features of the development of cultures in this area is their almost complete absence of features similar to those of the neighboring Capsian culture. This is all the more interesting because there are no significant natural barriers between both areas. It should be noted that the cultures of the first region (the periglacial region of Central Europe) and South Africa had common features. These common features were that the people who lived in the south of the African continent had flint laurel-leaf tips processed using squeezing retouching, which are completely absent from the people of the Capsian culture

The most significant and studied culture of the third region is the Bambat culture. It got its name from the Bambat Cave in Southern Rhodesia. In addition to flint, the Bambat culture also used quartz crystals. When struck at a certain angle, this stone can produce flake plates that are not inferior in quality to flint ones. In economic life, hunting here played a greater role than gathering. Analysis of fire pits indicates a person’s prolonged stay in one place.

The fourth region includes the territories of Eastern Siberia, the central part of the Asian continent and China. Archaeological research in the basin of the Angara and Yenisei rivers showed that in the Upper Paleolithic era a person penetrated here who had significant cultural skills and was in many ways close to the culture of the population of the Russian Plain. This can be traced on the basis of archaeological materials obtained from a settlement discovered near the city of Irkutsk (this is the earliest period), as well as from the Buret site on the river. Hangar and the settlement of Malta on the river. Belaya (tributary of the Angara). The population living in these places hunted mammoth, reindeer, bull, and wild horse. Although gathering existed, it provided a small amount of food. Climatic conditions allowed for gathering only at certain times of the year, so it was seasonal. The inhabitants of Bureti, like the hunters of settlements in the periglacial regions of Europe, led a sedentary lifestyle and knew how to build dwellings. In plan, these dwellings looked like a rectangle with slightly rounded corners. The floor of the room is somewhat recessed into the ground. Along the edge of this depression, the femur and shoulder blade bones of the mammoth were buried in a vertical position. For better fastening, their lower part was wedged with smaller bones and limestone slabs. The supports supporting the roof were large mammoth bones and tree trunks. The roof covering was assembled from reindeer antlers. The entrance to the dwelling was a long narrow corridor, lined along the edges with symmetrically located mammoth femurs. The corridor had no ceiling. This entrance device protected the room from the cold. Inside the dwelling there were fireplaces from which accumulations of ash remained. Exactly the same dwellings were discovered at the Malta site.

The tools used by the people who lived in this area during the Upper Paleolithic era are reminiscent of Western European tools from the Mousterian era. here, a disc-shaped core and massive triangular-shaped plates, as well as pointed points of an archaic appearance, were widely used. The processing technique uses impact retouching. Along with this, the population of Central Asia also knew prismatic cores and a method for obtaining long knife-like plates with regular parallel edges from them. They also used miniature scrapers. The pointed tips of spears and darts had a shape similar to European laurel leaves.

In Europe during this period, composite tools had not yet been used, but archaeologists discovered them at the Siberian sites of Afontova Gora and Oshchurkovskaya. Unlike the tribes living in Europe, the tribes of the Asian continent, along with flint, gray and black stone, used quartzite, jasper slate, deposits of which are found on the banks of the Lena, Angara, and Yenisei rivers; in addition, bone was widely used to make tools. Harpoons, piercing awls, and needles for sewing clothes were made from it, and the shape and size of the needles remained almost unchanged. The bone was also used to make jewelry - necklaces, plates with ornaments made of solid holes, figurines of humans, animals, and birds. Examples of the jewelry art of the peoples of Siberia from the Upper Paleolithic era can be found in the objects discovered in the complex of a child’s burial discovered in Malta. This burial testifies to the complexity of the worldview of man of that time, which was expressed in the emergence of a funeral cult. The child's body was buried in a slot-shaped hole dug in the floor of the dwelling. The skeleton was sprinkled with red ocher. Around the neck of the deceased was worn a necklace of approximately 120 large flat beads and seven pendants. All pendants - six middle ones and one central one - are decorated with drills. Pendants in the form of birds, shaped like a flying swan or goose, and one square with rounded corners were also placed in the grave. All jewelry is made from mammoth ivory. In the grave pit there were weapons made of bone and stone. A small tombstone made of stone slabs was built over the grave.

The finds of human figurines made it possible to restore the type of clothing of that time. A.P. Okladnikov, based on archaeological data - figurines like the remarkable female image from the Buret site, made from mammoth ivory, believes that the clothing of that time was a warm suit made of fur, the length of which reached the ankles. On the head they wore a headdress in the form of a fur hood that folded back. The clothes were put on over the head, since there were no marks from longitudinal cuts on it, but for the harsh climate it was very comfortable. This clothing has survived almost unchanged among many peoples living in the Arctic regions to this day.

It should be noted that figurines of a man in clothing dating back to the Upper Paleolithic are very rare. More often there are images of a naked person. Some researchers believe that people of those times obviously stayed naked or semi-naked in their homes. Clothes were used outside the home.

At the end of the Upper Paleolithic era, another warming occurred, which in turn led to changes in flora and fauna. The mammoth and woolly rhinoceros disappear, the deer becomes the main object of hunting, and since it is a nomadic animal, the nature of human settlements also changes. From a sedentary resident, he again becomes a nomad. Permanent housing was replaced by a lightweight, quickly assembled and disassembled round tent. Its frame is made of light wooden poles, covered on the outside with animal skins; in the center there is a fireplace. This type of housing has existed to this day among peoples living in the north and engaged in reindeer herding.

The above examples indicate the uniqueness of the cultural development of people who lived in North and Central Asia during the Upper Paleolithic. To the mentioned settlements you can add settlements on the river. Chusovoy (Ural), in Altai, in Northern Kazakhstan, in the area of ​​the upper reaches of the river. Irtysh, in the basins of the Toly and Orkhon rivers (Mongolia), Zhoutunku sites, located in a large bend of the river. Yellow River (China), etc. In terms of their material, they are close to those listed above.

The fifth area of ​​cultural development in the Upper Paleolithic era is the region of Southeast Asia. The inhabitants of this part of the Asian continent, like their northern brethren, knew chopping tools. The technique for making them is exactly the same as that used by the population of Malta, Bureti, etc. Many stone tools of this era are made of broken pebbles and roughly sharpened. These tools are original prototypes of axes and adzes of later times. Bone artifacts are found, but in small quantities.

The source of life was hunting and gathering. The latter could be even more important, since the tropical forest could supply humans with plant food all year round. This is what forced a person to lead a wandering lifestyle. On the other hand, an impenetrable tropical forest with a mass of strong predators and poisonous snakes limited the area of ​​nomads, which were located mainly on the edges, banks of rivers, lakes and on the coastal strip, which also had an impact on human economic activity. Although there is evidence of human hunting for elephants, rhinoceros and other smaller animals, his main food was edible plants, shellfish, turtles, and fish.

For housing, in addition to huts - temporary shelters, people also used numerous caves, which they often left, but invariably returned to. It is possible that he used the caves during the tropical rainy season. Such cave settlements include the sites of Bak Son and Hoa Bin. The first is located in the north, and the second in the south of Vietnam.

The inhabitants of the Zhoukoudian grotto (a region of Beijing, China) are close in lifestyle to the people of Southeast Asia. Natural conditions allowed the people of this area to engage in gathering, for which all they needed was a stick sharpened by fire, a stone chopper, and rough stone chips. The lack of development of hunting is evidenced by the minimal number of bones of small animals such as gophers found in settlements. The favorable climatic conditions of this area did not contribute to the development of people's skills in the construction of artificial dwellings, and the availability of food products obtained through gathering delayed the development of hunting.

The Upper Paleolithic era was marked by the penetration of man into the American continent. The issues surrounding the initial settlement of a new continent have long been controversial. Of these, the most controversial questions were when and how this happened. Man entered America through a passage located at the narrowest point of the Bering Strait. The width of the latter in the narrowest test is now just over 80 km. It should be noted that almost in the middle between the Chukotka Peninsula and Alaska there is a chain of islands of the Big and Little Diomedes, St. Lawrence and Ratmanov. It is also important that the depth of the ocean does not exceed 58 m (this is the deepest place, and on average it is 45 m), so scientists believe that when, due to the onset of glaciations on the globe, the level of the World Ocean dropped, between Asia and America formed an isthmus of considerable size, the so-called Beringia.

The oldest finds in the United States date back to about 12 thousand years ago. These are arrowheads that have one common characteristic feature: along both sides of their blades there is a deep longitudinal groove running from the base almost to the tip of the point. One of the first tips of this type was found in 1926 near Folsom in New Mexico.

In 1937, in one of the caves in the Sandia Mountains, archaeologist Frank Hibben found spearheads that were more crudely made, with a notch made only on one side - this tool was more ancient than the Folsom tips.

In the cave, as well as at other sites belonging to this culture, fragments of flint, burnt bones and roughly sharpened pieces of animal bones are found near hearths lined with stone.

Based on geological and stratigraphic data and radiocarbon analysis, it can be assumed that the tribes that created this culture lived about 22-25 thousand years ago. The basis of the economy was hunting, and these tribes led a wandering lifestyle. Mostly, the bearers of the Sandia culture lived in the western part of the United States (individual finds of stone tools are also found in more northern areas). The descendants of hunters gradually mastered the entire territory of North America and created a number of new cultures: Clovis, Stolsom, Elanview, etc. Hunting continued to be the basis of the economy of the bearers of these cultures, although in more southern regions gathering was already a significant help in people's lives. In terms of changes in the shape of hunting tools, it should perhaps only be noted that in the Folsom type tips, the petiole base had two protrusions and a notch, shaped like a fish tail.

Following the herds of animals, man gradually begins to explore new territories: first in North America, and then in South America. The complete development of these vast territories required the effort of almost 600 generations of people, i.e. about 18 thousand years (we take 30 years for the average human life expectancy). If the most ancient human sites in North America date back to 23 thousand years BC. e., then in Patagonia, located almost 13 thousand km to the south, the most ancient monuments of human presence there date back to 5 thousand years BC. e.

Finds of spearheads and darts in the lower layers of the Paglia Atke and Fell caves in Patagonia, made according to the Clovis and Folsom type, indicate that these areas were developed by people from North America, and not by peoples who arrived there from other areas, for example from the islands Indian Ocean, as some ethnographers claim (it is possible that later some representatives of the Pacific Islands moved to America).

Moving along this path, a person crossed areas with different geographical and climatic conditions and, settling in place, adapted to them, in some places engaging in hunting and fishing, in others using the abundance of wild cereals, fruits, vegetables, root crops, moving on to gathering, and later - to agriculture.

Man found the most favorable conditions for existence in the regions of Central America, and especially in the central part of Mexico, where a mild climate, vast spaces occupied by grasses, comfortable pastures in mountain valleys, many lakes and rivers - all contributed to the development of hunting and fishing. The largest representatives of the fauna here were mammoths. The abundance of plants contributed first to the development of gathering, and subsequently to the emergence of agriculture. Man mastered the regions of Central America around the 15th-12th millennium BC. e. In the town of Santa Isabel Istapan, a complete skeleton of a mammoth and a set of hunting weapons in the form of flint spearheads and darts, similar in type to the tools of the Clovis and Folsom cultures, were discovered.

Approximately until the 8th millennium BC. e. On the territory of the American continent, people were engaged in hunting and gathering. At the end of the VII millennium BC. e. Quite dramatic changes in climate are occurring around the globe. In Africa, in the Sahara region, at this time the rivers dry up and vegetation disappears; the same thing happens in the regions of Central America. The climate is becoming drier and warmer. Lush vegetation and lush meadows disappear, and savannas turn into arid steppes and semi-deserts. The lack of moisture-loving vegetation leads to the death of mammoth, mastodon, bison, and wild horse. Some animals go north. Hunting is losing its exceptional importance. Gatherers also experience no less difficulty, but the skills and knowledge acquired during gathering made it possible to begin primitive agriculture on the ocean coast and on the banks of preserved rivers and lakes, and, as an aid to agriculture, to maintain hunting for small animals (since there were no longer large ones) ) and poultry, fishing and collecting river and sea shellfish. It was in the regions of Central America, based on agriculture, that the greatest cultures of the peoples of the American continent later arose.

The tribes that inhabited North America, with the exception of the southern states, were engaged in hunting before the arrival of Europeans there. In the Arctic regions, it was carried out mainly on sea animals: seal, walrus, whale, as well as bear and arctic fox. The main type of hunting weapon was a dart thrown with a spear thrower and a harpoon with a movable tip. Fish were caught using bone hooks. For hunting sea animals and fishing, a boat has long been used, the wooden frame of which was covered with walrus or seal skin. Stone and bone served as materials for the production of tools and weapons. Animals, both sea and land, provided the people of this region with everything necessary for life: fat, meat, bones for the frame of dwellings and skins for covering it and for clothing. The meat was consumed raw, which was probably caused by purely practical considerations - to prevent vitamin deficiency - scurvy.

Tribes lived on the northwestern coast of North America, mainly engaged in fishing, as well as collecting wild berries and fruits. In the forest zone of Canada lived tribes of hunters armed with bows and arrows and spears (all types of weapons and tools - axes, knives, etc. - were made of stone and bone). They hunted mainly deer, elk, bear, and wild boar. In addition to hunting, the population collected wild seeds, fruits, nuts, etc. and led a nomadic lifestyle.

It should be noted that North and South America, from the point of view of archaeology, are still far from being studied, but based on the archaeological data available today, one can judge that the basis of the economy was hunting and fishing, only in some places did it flourish gathering.

Questions for self-control:

1. What human species appears in the Upper Paleolithic era?
2. What are the main zones of Upper Paleolithic cultures?
3. What type of economy and related activities predominated in the Upper Paleolithic?
4. What are the reasons for the differences in the economic and tool complex in various Upper Paleolithic cultures?
5. Why did clothing begin to be used everywhere in the Upper Paleolithic era?

Lecture 8 Mesolithic

Climate warming, which caused rapid melting of the glacier, marked the end of the Paleolithic, which lasted hundreds of thousands of years. A new era has begun - the Mesolithic, which was inferior to the previous period in terms of duration of existence, but in terms of the pace of development in economic and other areas of human life, it marked a new, more significant step forward.
The beginning of the Mesolithic is characterized by the almost universal distribution of microliths, bows and arrows. F. Engels in his work “The Origin of the Family, Private Property and the State” notes this event as follows: “a bow, a bowstring and an arrow constitute a very complex weapon, the invention of which requires long-term accumulated experience and more developed mental abilities, therefore, simultaneous acquaintance with many other inventions."

A bow as a hunter's weapon is more effective than a spear with a throwing board; it could be used to hunt any animal. The presence of a bow allowed man to hunt alone. Drive hunting, which required a large group of people, although it continued to be used, gradually lost its role, which was so significant in the Paleolithic era. The invention of the onion and its widespread use was caused by a number of circumstances. Thus, warming and a fairly rapid retreat of the glacier (in the area of ​​the Karelian Isthmus, this speed was approximately 160 m per year) led to another change in the fauna and flora. During the Mesolithic era, there were no longer mammoths or woolly rhinoceros, and the numbers of many game animals had decreased so much that they could be considered extinct. This happened, for example, with the musk ox. The fauna has become impoverished as a result of the disappearance of the largest representatives of the animal world. Much of Europe was covered with dense forests. The remaining animals and those that came from more southern regions were smaller in size, fleet-footed, and cautious. Many species of animals were not gregarious (for example, moose), other animals (deer, roe deer) live in small groups, and when danger approaches, they scatter in all directions. Hunting for them is possible only with the help of a bow, which allows you to achieve the greatest accuracy and speed in shooting. The use of the bow, the beginnings of which can be traced back to the Capsian culture (Upper Paleolithic), not only contributed to the further development and facilitation of hunting, but also made it possible for a person to provide himself and the members of his clan group with the necessary daily amount of meat food, and from the surplus to prepare food supplies for himself in in the form of meat smoked in the smoke of a fire and dried in the sun.

With the help of the bow, man was able to move on to a new type of preservation of meat food, that is, keeping lightly wounded animals in pens, which were killed if the hunt was unsuccessful. Such keeping of animals was convenient and did not require much time and labor; in addition, it was the impetus for a new type of farming - cattle breeding. It will still be a long time before man learns to raise livestock, but the beginnings of cattle breeding were laid in the Mesolithic. At this time, the first pet appears - a dog. In the Upper Paleolithic era, its traces are found only in some areas of China, and in the Mesolithic, bone remains of a dog are found at the sites of many Mesolithic sites. The domestication of the dog apparently occurred both for the purpose of using it for food, as some scientists believe, and for the purpose of obtaining an assistant in hunting (for example, waterfowl).

Simultaneously with the appearance of the first signs of cattle breeding, the Mesolithic time was also marked by signs of the emergence of another no less important form of farming - agriculture, the starting point for which was gathering. It was possible to collect not only edible shellfish, tree fruits, mushrooms, berries, edible root vegetables, but also grains of wild cereals. Grain collection in the Mesolithic era probably reached a large scale, otherwise it is difficult to explain the appearance of special harvesting knives at this time. Such a knife: found at a Mesolithic site in Kabardino-Balkaria (Caucasus). Composite tools were also used to collect cereals, which later served as the prototype of the sickle. The processing of grain is also evidenced by numerous grain grinders discovered in the Nebit-Daga cave (Central Asia). Fishing played no less importance in the life of people of Mesolithic times. Thus, the Mesolithic is characterized by the initial stages of completely new forms of farming.

For a long time, the Mesolithic was not identified by scientists as an independent era. It was believed that the Paleolithic gave way directly to the Neolithic. Only at the end of the 19th century, when the first Mesolithic sites were discovered, was the previously existing gap in the study of human history filled. Currently, this era is most fully studied from the monuments of Europe.

A common feature remains the abundance of small stone microlithic tools found at all Mesolithic sites. Some microliths were used as arrowheads, which had the shape of a triangle and a bay leaf; some arrowheads were made like a handle, i.e. they were close to the classical shape of an arrow. Microliths were also used as inserts, i.e. they were the cutting part of composite tools. The abundance of microliths at all Mesolithic sites indicates their dominance over all other tools used by man of that time. The method of obtaining microlithic tools was to split off plates 1-2 cm in size from the core using a bone squeezer. Their shape is strictly geometric - these are triangles, rhombuses, segments, the latter were used mainly as inserts. Composite tools with inserts are a big step forward in the history of technology development. The experience accumulated over many tens of thousands of years in the processing of stone tools allowed the master to make a fairly large and sharp tool such as a knife, but this tool required very skillful handling, because the slightest careless movement of the maker or the person working with it led to breakage, which was impossible to fix. A different matter is a weapon with microlith inserts. The base of such tools was made of wood and bone. This base could be given any shape. Individual microlithic plates, constituting the working blade of the tool, were inserted into a specially made slotted recess with their pointed part facing outward. Microlithic inserts made of flint or other types of stone during the Mesolithic era have been identified throughout Europe, Central Asia, India, Australia and Africa, where they were found during the Capsian culture.

In addition to microliths, Mesolithic people also used large stone tools - macroliths. These include adzes (tools for working wood) and numerous axes made of both stone and bone. These chopping tools were often secured in special couplings made of bone or horn. An ax of the lyngby type was made from the antlers of deer and elk. Its handle served as the trunk of the horn, and one, rarely two processes served as clinics. The appearance of two new types of military hunting weapons also dates back to the Mesolithic era. Thus, in North Africa, especially in the region of Egypt, as well as in the southern part of India, Mexico and Australia, the boomerang, one of the types of so-called throwing clubs, was used relatively widely, and in Europe and Central Asia to a much lesser extent. The flight range of non-returning boomerangs, depending on the force of the throw and the weight of the gun, reaches 130-180 m. Returning boomerangs are known as a hunting weapon only to Australians.

A boomerang is a curved wooden plate about 1 cm thick. One surface is flat, and the other (the lower one when thrown) is convex. In tropical areas, people also used the so-called blowgun, with the help of which they hunted mainly birds; it was rarely used as a military weapon. The blowgun is a long (1.5 to 3 m) tube made from a reed-type plant. Miniature arrows, most often wooden, but always poisoned with plant poison, are blown from a tube. As ethnographers testify, an experienced hunter can send an arrow 30-40 m in this way. According to some information, some peoples of Western Siberia and the Urals knew this gun. Blowguns were widely used by the Iroquois (North America). Currently, it is used on the islands of Sumatra and Borneo; this weapon is also known on the Malacca Peninsula and in the tropical regions of South America.

The retreating glacier gradually left more and more parts of the land, where various kinds of animals rushed, and after them came man. Thus, the Mesolithic also marked the re-population of new territories by humans. It was possible to reconstruct not only the time of glacier retreat from one or another area, but also the time of human appearance there. Thus, the territory of the Karelian Isthmus was freed from the glacier 12,400 years ago, and after 400 years, traces of human habitation appeared there.

200 years after the glacier left the area of ​​the present city of Hamburg (Germany), when its remains still lay in the ravines, man had already established his camp there near the modern village of Meyendorf. The people who inhabited the lands freed from the glacier were hunting. The main game animals were deer, wild horse, wild bull aurochs and smaller animals - hare, fox, badger. On many rivers, lakes, and swamps left by the glacier, people hunted birds using a bow and arrow and a harpoon, the tips of which were found by archaeologists among the bones of a deer. Hunting for it was so important for the Meyendorf inhabitants that in the visual arts this animal was the only character. Another Mesolithic site, Shtelmoor, was discovered 600 m from the Meyendorf site. Its inhabitants lived a little later - between the 10th and 8th millennia BC. e. By this time, the Hamburg region had transformed from forest-tundra into an area of ​​mixed birch-pine forest, and now the main game animal here, in addition to the remaining reindeer, was the elk, and the fur-bearing animal was the beaver. There were apparently still a lot of reindeer at that time, because up to 1,300 antlers were found at one site. The oldest fragments of a bow and arrow in Europe were found at the Shtelmoor site.

On the territory of modern Poland, the Mesolithic is better traced at the site, which is located on the river. Swidere (20 km southeast of Warsaw). The inhabitants of this settlement were hunting. Thousands of arrows, cutters, and piercings were made from flint, reminiscent in appearance of Paleolithic products, but the technology for their processing was much higher than in the previous era. The arrowheads are symmetrical and resemble a willow leaf in appearance. The Swider culture (the Mesolithic culture of Poland) brought to us in addition to a series of sites, of which the most famous are the sites near the villages of Velishevo, Stavinoch, Wistka Shlyakhetska, and burials of the Mesolithic era. In 1937, K. Yazhdzhevsky near the village. Jani Slavica of the Skierniewice region discovered the burial. Flint tools and other objects, more than 40 in total, made of bone and horn were found near the skeleton. Of greatest interest are stiletto points made from the shoulder blades of a wild aurochs, knife-scrapers made from boar tusks, pendant-decorations made from deer teeth, and a small hoe made from elk antler.

Mesolithic sites in southern and middle Scandinavia and northern England are characterized by the Maglemose culture. The most famous are the sites on the island. Zealand: Kholmogora, Sverdborg, some sites in Denmark and Southern Sweden. Some sites in Estonia are close to this culture, for example, the Kunda site.

The life of the carriers of the Maglemoz culture was based on hunting and fishing. All known human settlements of this culture are located along the banks of rivers and lakes. When hunting with a bow, they caught bison, elk, red deer, brown bear, wild boar, roe deer and other smaller forest animals. Of no less importance was hunting for waterfowl, for which darts and nets were used. The dead bird was most likely retrieved from the water by a dog, whose abilities had already been assessed by man. Fishing was also important. They hit the fish with a harpoon, a three-pronged spear, and, undoubtedly, they also used a bow and arrows. Fishermen of the Mesolithic era knew pins, tops and nets. The tops were woven from willow and willow twigs. The shape and structure of the top have not changed and have survived to this day. Some fragments of it for catching medium and small fish are found at Mesolithic sites in Scandinavia. The nets were woven from willow bark fibers; dried nettle fibers could also be used for the same purpose. The floats were made of bark, and the sinkers were made of stone. A fragment of such a network was discovered in one of the peat bogs near the city of Vyborg.

Waterfowl hunting and fishing created an urgent need for the invention of a means of transportation on water. In Perth (Scotland), in the sediment of one of the lakes, archaeologists found a boat burned out of Scottish spruce. Its stern and bow parts were slightly pointed. On such boats, people had not yet ventured far from the shore and were unlikely to use the boat at sea. In one of the peat bogs on the island. Zealand, oars were discovered in the Mesolithic layer. On the territory of the Baltic States, sites culturally close to Maglemosis sufficiently indicate that fishing and waterfowl hunting significantly prevailed over animal hunting. Thus, at the Kunda site (Estonia), the number of bones of waterfowl sharply exceeds those of land animals. The people of Kunda established a settlement on the island. Boats were used for crossing. The most common find during the study of the settlement was a bone harpoon, which indicates a developed fishing industry.

The art of Maglemose culture is unique. At this time, an ornament appears on some types of tools, which consists of dimples and scratched wavy lines. Images of animals are less common; sculptural images also appear, most often of fish, snakes, frogs, and very rarely of deer and people. Images of humans are also rare and highly stylized. Amber was used for jewelry in the form of oval plates and beads.

The Mesolithic of the southern regions of Europe differs from the northern ones. A significant role in this was played by the fact that the southern regions did not experience such sharp temperature fluctuations as the northern ones. Therefore, the nature of the southern regions has not undergone drastic changes.

The most significant culture of the early Mesolithic era of southern Europe was the Azilian. It got its name from finds in the Mas d'Azil cave in the foothills of the Pyrenees Mountains in France. The Azilians, like their predecessors in the Paleolithic, continued to live in caves. The basis of their life was hunting red deer, wild boar, beaver, and ram. a less important role was played by gathering, especially of edible mollusks, among which the forest snail occupied the first place. In the production of stone tools, the Azilians followed the path common to the Mesolithic era, that is, along the path of increasing the assortment of small tools. They were used, but to a lesser extent, macrolithic tools. In the manufacture of bone tools among the Azilians, there is a noticeable shift towards increasing their size, massiveness and roughness in processing technology. This is explained by the following: the strength of red deer antler is significantly inferior to the antler of reindeer, which does not have a loose spongy core, and can be processed to any depth, while red deer antler can be processed shallowly, only within the thickness of the outer crust (no more than 4-5 mm). This forced the craftsman to subject the deer antler to only minor processing.

One of the interesting features of the Azilian culture is the obligatory presence of piles of painted pebbles at cave sites. Painting, most often in the form of an ornament, was applied to the surface of the stones with red paint mixed with fat. Pebbles of a grayish or whitish color were chosen for coloring. In addition to the ornamental design, there are figurines of people and animals, made in schematic form. The French scientist E. Piette sees signs of ancient writing in Azilian painted pebbles. Domestic scientist S.A. Tokarev, speaking about these pebbles, makes the following assumption: “The analogy of the Azil pebbles is much more likely not with written signs, but with the so-called churingas of modern Australians, stone and wooden sacred tablets, totemic emblems, which are covered with symbolic drawings , in part they are very reminiscent of the drawings on Azilian pebbles. This comparison suggests the presence of totemic beliefs in the Azilian era." The hypothesis put forward by S.A. Tokarev can also be confirmed by the fact that part of the pebbles was deliberately split. The aborigines of Australia, seeking revenge on the enemy, destroy his churinga; something similar was noted when describing the female figurines in Kostenki-1. Archaeologists encountered painted pebbles at Azilian sites in France, in the Rista Cave in Spain, at the Mesolithic sites of Crimean Yalta (plateau of the Crimean Mountains), in Bierseck (Switzerland). In Birzeke, out of 225 pebbles discovered, 120 have preserved signs. Painted pebbles lay in piles (nests), many of the pebbles were broken.

The different forms of burials also indicate that the Azilians have beliefs. Thus, in the Gross Offnet cave in Bavaria, in two pits, archaeologists found 33 skulls, of which 20 were children’s, 9 women’s and 4 men’s. All the skulls were arranged in order: those placed in the center were more ancient than the skulls located on the edge. This indicates burial at different times. Women's and children's skulls were decorated with deer tusks and drilled shells. A similar burial was found in the Zamil-Koba grotto (Crimea), the skull found there was decorated with the teeth of predatory fish. Another burial was found in the Cold Grotto in Abkhazia, where the skulls were thickly sprinkled with red ocher. Group burials in the Mesolithic are found in North Africa and Portugal. Traces of Azilian culture are found in Central Asia and the British Isles.

The Azilian culture was replaced by the Tardenoise culture, named after the site of Fère-en-Tardenois (France), where its traces were first found. These cultures have many common features, so some scientists consider them to be one - Azilian-Tardenoise. But, despite the similarities between them, there are still differences. The first is that the flint products of this culture became smaller in size, in addition, the Tardenoise hunters and fishermen led a more sedentary life than their Azilian predecessors.

The most striking expression of the characteristics of the Tardenoise culture are found in the Mugem region (a suburb of Lisbon). This area is located on the banks of the river. Temu (Tahoe) 25 km from its confluence with the Atlantic Ocean. The staple food of the inhabitants of this area was edible shellfish, the accumulation of shells of which is unparalleled. The hill formed from shells, known as Cabezo d'Arruda, has a length of 100 m, a width of -60 m, and in places reaches a height of 7 m. It is interesting to note that the shells do not belong to river mollusks, but to sea mollusks. Consequently, people used food resources of the ocean. In addition to collecting sea shellfish, the population of this area was intensively engaged in hunting, as evidenced by the finds of bones of red deer, bull, wild boar, birds, as well as fishing. A significant layer of ash and ash in the hearths of the dwellings suggests a predominantly sedentary lifestyle. built in the form of semi-dugouts. In non-coastal areas, the dwellings of the Tardenoisians had the form of semi-dugouts, having an oval shape in plan. The depth of the semi-dugouts was from 50 to 75 cm. The edges were lined with sandstone slabs.

This type of dwelling was built in the Tardenoise settlement near the village. Ansbach (district: Nuremberg). The tools found in this area are mainly made of stone; very few items made of bone are found.

A comparison of monuments of Tardenoise culture found in England, Portugal, Crimea and other places made it possible to derive the following pattern: if these monuments were located on the ocean or sea coast, then the inhabitants of these places led a seasonal lifestyle. In summer they went to the coastal mountains, and in winter they went down to the sea. The reason for this change of residence, apparently, was that in the summer, when the mountain pastures and forests were covered with lush vegetation, the animals went there, and people followed them. In winter, to escape the cold and possible lack of food, animals descended from the mountains to the coastal strip, heated by warm sea currents.

The Tardenoise burials resemble those of the Upper Paleolithic in appearance. Dead relatives were often buried at the clan's habitat - in a cave, grotto. The corpse was placed in a special recess and covered with red ocher (bloodstone). Such are the burials in the Crimean caves of Fatma-Koba, Murzak-Koba, etc. There are group burials, but not in a common pit, like among the Azilians, but in separate graves, which indicates the appearance of burial grounds, i.e., one place where burial takes place a member of a clan, and possibly a tribe. Necropolises of that time numbered from several dozen to several hundred graves. The bones in the grave pits lie in a crouched or extended position. In some burial grounds there are mainly female and children's burials, in others the overwhelming majority are male. These include the burial ground of Fr. Tevyeka (France). The bones of the buried are crumpled and thickly sprinkled with red ochre. Each bone was placed in a separate burial pit. One of the burials is of particular interest. Archaeologists discovered two deer antlers above the head of the buried man. This is probably the burial of a sorcerer (in the cave of the Three Brothers (Spain) there is an image of a dancing man with a headdress made of deer antlers).

Another type of Mesolithic burial ground was discovered by archaeologists near the village. Vasilyevka, Dnepropetrovsk region. D. A. Avdusin gives the following description of it: “The burials were made without grave pits on the site of a specially dug recess common to the entire burial ground. A small mound was erected over each deceased. The dead were buried with their heads at sunrise. The bones are so twisted that one might think that the dead were tied up. A heavy stone was placed on one of these burials. All this, apparently, was caused by fear of the dead. The flint implements are very poor - a few typically Mesolithic arrows and scrapers, in addition, river shells - perhaps the remains of food given to the dead. There are few female burials in these burial grounds (near the village of Vasilyevka, three burial grounds have been explored; two of them date back to the Neolithic era). Scientists think that the environment of the tribe that left these burial grounds was hostile, and armed clashes were frequent. Arrowheads were found on one of the buried people, which were probably used to kill him.”

The increase in the growth of members of clans and tribes led to the separation from them of groups of people who went to new, less populated areas or areas completely undeveloped by humans. This kind of relocation in Europe and Asia took place in the northern and northeastern regions, and in Africa, on the contrary, - from North to South. For the American continent, the Mesolithic period is the time of human exploration of the territory of North America; the islands of Oceania and Australia were also developed.

Questions for self-control:

1. What is the progressive role of the bow and arrow?
2. What did the retreat of the glacier mean for the development of the economy?
3. Why did it become possible to develop the entire territory of the earth?
4. Main characteristics of the era.

Paleolithic, Mesolithic, Neolithic are three large cultural and historical periods of the Stone Age. It received its name due to the fact that weapons in those days were made only from stone, and only towards the end of the century bones began to be used and the century lasted for hundreds of thousands of years. But even now, thanks to numerous historical and archaeological finds, we can learn at least the main moments of the life of primitive people at the dawn of human civilization.

What is Paleolithic?

The earliest history of mankind is the Paleolithic era, the longest period of the Stone Age, which began more than 2.5 million years ago. Its main feature is the evolution of people: from an animal to a primitive communal system. The emergence and development of speech is very important and significant. The Paleolithic is divided into three stages: early, middle and late.

Early Paleolithic

This is the first and longest stage. The beginning of the Paleolithic is associated with the appearance of the first ape-like man - Archanthropus. They were not tall (1.5 - 1.8 m), had characteristic clearly defined brow ridges and a sloping chin. They used animal skins as clothing, lived in caves and, according to many scientists, actively practiced cannibalism. The main feature of the Early Paleolithic is the beginning of the use of homemade stone tools. They were made by cutting off all the excess from one stone to another in order to form a chip or cutting edge. Gradually, manufacturing techniques improved, and hand axes and so-called drills appeared - tools with which they dug up roots or chopped down trees. Another significant evolutionary step of the Early Paleolithic was the use of fire. Traces of ancient fire pits dating back 1.5 million years were discovered in Africa and Asia. But at this stage he could only maintain the fire; he had not yet produced it on his own.

Middle Paleolithic

At this time, Homo erectus is still the predominant species, and its evolution continues. In Africa, about 200-300 thousand years ago, a new species appeared, which in terms of brain volume was close to modern man - this is the Neanderthal. They were taller and had a very strong muscular build, which gave them considerable physical strength. The Middle Paleolithic is an era of survival, since Neanderthals lived in perhaps the most difficult climatic conditions - during the Ice Age.

What helped them survive was that people learned to make fire on their own, using the carving method. It was discovered, most likely, by accident during the manufacture of another sharp stone tool. At the same time, the first spears and knives, arrowheads and scrapers for processing animal skins appeared. The social structure develops, people live in large groups, caring for the elderly. Art arose in the form of rock paintings depicting hunting or, very often, women, which can be regarded as prerequisites for matriarchy.

Late Paleolithic

This is the period when a person resembling the modern one appeared - the Cro-Magnon man, he was named after the Cro-Magnon cave in which his remains were found. The Cro-Magnon phenotype is reminiscent of modern people: a high forehead, a pronounced chin, smaller muscles, developed hand motor skills, which made it possible to make improved tools for hunting and everyday life. The main material is still stone. During the Late Paleolithic-Mesolithic (early) period, the first semblance of boats appeared. This was preceded by the production of the first rafts from logs or dry twigs. Needles, the ancestors of modern ones, were made from bones; they were used to make clothes and rods. Figures made from mammoth tusks and bones and rock paintings actively developed. The Paleolithic era at a late stage marked the beginning of the domestication of wild animals; dogs, as we know, were the first. The Cro-Magnons determined time using the solar and lunar calendars. gradually replaced by matriarchal The production of the first clay figurines characterizes the Paleolithic. The Neolithic is marked by the appearance of the first pottery.

Mesolithic

This era begins after the end of the last ice age. This segment is controversial among historians. It is most strongly expressed in the north of modern Europe. During this period, weapons continued to improve, and the bow and arrow appeared. People domesticated wild animals: buffalos, horses, cows. Society develops, and the first norms of behavior and rules appear. The Mesolithic is characterized by the further development of speech.

Neolithic

If the Paleolithic is a period of active hunting, fishing and gathering, then one of the main events of the Neolithic is the transition to a productive economy: agriculture and cattle breeding. People became more attached to one place, the first houses, huts and even cities began to appear. Clay began to be used for making dishes and in art.

The Neolithic, like the Paleolithic, is divided into early, middle and late periods. And each of them proceeded unevenly, not at the same time; different cultures entered each stage at different times. Even then, for example, the territory of modern China could boast of high development.

Paleolithic, Mesolithic, Neolithic are milestones in the evolution of man as a biological species. For thousands of years it has won its place in the sun from nature. One species was replaced by another, tools were improved, the system changed from the herd characteristic of animals to the primitive communal one, and art was born.

About 2.588 million years ago, the Pleistocene began - the longest section of the Quaternary period of the geological history of the Earth, or rather its earliest part - the Gelazian stage. At this time, significant changes occurred both in the Earth's climate and in its biosphere. Another decrease in temperature led to a decrease in the evaporation of water from the ocean surface, as a result of which the forests of East Africa began to be replaced by savannas. Faced with a lack of traditional plant foods (fruits), the ancestors of modern humans began to look for more accessible food sources in the dry savannah.

It is believed that the earliest, crudest and most primitive stone tools currently found, made by the ancestors of modern man, date back to around this time (2.5-2.6 million years ago). Although quite recently, in May 2015, the journal Nature published the results of research and excavations in Lomekwi, where tools made by an as yet unidentified hominid were found, whose age is estimated at 3.3 million years. This is how the lower or early paleolithic– the most ancient part of the Paleolithic ( ancient stone age). In other regions of the planet, the production of stone tools (and, accordingly, the onset of the Paleolithic) began later. In Western Asia this happened about 1.9 million years ago, in the Middle East - about 1.6 million years ago, in Southern Europe - about 1.2 million years ago, in Central Europe - less than a million years ago.

Probably one of the first species of australopithecus to make stone tools was Australopithecus garhi (lat. Australopithecus garhi). His remains, about 2.6 million years old, were discovered only relatively recently, in 1996. Along with them, the most ancient stone tools were found, as well as animal bones with traces of processing with these tools.

Approximately 2.33 million years ago, Homo habilis (lat. Homo habilis) appeared, possibly descended from Australopithecus gari. Adapting to the savannah climate, he included roots, tubers and animal meat in his diet in addition to traditional fruits. At the same time, the first people were content with the role of scavengers, scraping off the remains of meat from the skeletons of animals killed by predators with stone scrapers, and extracting bone marrow from bones split by stones. It was Habilis who created, developed and spread the Olduvai culture in Africa, which flourished between 2.4 and 1.7 million years ago. At the same time as Homo habilis, there was another species - Rudolf man (lat. Homo rudolfensis), however, due to the extremely small number of finds, very little is known about him.

About 1.806 million years ago, the next - Calabrian - stage of the Pleistocene began, and around the same time two new species of people appeared: a working person (lat. Homo ergaster) and a erect person (lat. Homo erectus). The most important change in the morphology of these species was a significant increase in brain size. Homo erectus soon migrated from Africa and spread widely throughout Europe and Asia, moving from a scavenger role to a hunter-gatherer lifestyle that dominated the rest of the Paleolithic. Along with erectus, the Olduvai culture also spread (in Europe, before Leakey’s discoveries, it was known as Chelles and Abbeville). A man working in Africa soon created a more advanced Acheulian culture of stone processing, but it spread to Europe and the Middle East only after hundreds of thousands of years, and did not reach Southeast Asia at all. At the same time, in Europe, in parallel with the Acheulean, another culture arose - the Klektonian. According to various estimates, it existed in a period of time from 300 to 600 thousand years ago and was named after the city of Clacton-on-Sea in Essex (Great Britain), near which corresponding stone tools were found in 1911. Similar instruments were later found in Kent and Suffolk. The creator of these instruments was Homo erectus.

Approximately 781 thousand years ago, the Ionian stage of the Pleistocene began. At the beginning of this period, another new species appeared in Europe - Heidelberg man (lat. Homo heidelbergensis). He continued to lead a hunter-gatherer lifestyle and used stone tools belonging to the Acheulean culture, but somewhat more advanced.

Some time later - according to various estimates from 600 to 350 thousand years ago - the first people appeared, with Neanderthal features or protoanderthals.

The first attempts by man to use fire date back to the Early Paleolithic. However, fairly reliable evidence of fire control dates back to the very end of this period - a time about 400 thousand years ago.

Middle Paleolithic

The Middle Paleolithic replaced the Early Paleolithic about 300 thousand years ago and lasted until about 30 thousand years ago (in different regions the time boundaries of the period may differ significantly). During this time, significant changes occurred in all spheres of life of primitive humanity, coinciding with the emergence of new species of people.

From the proto-neanderthals that arose at the end of the Early Paleolithic, the classical Neanderthal (lat. Homo neanderthalensis) was formed by the second half of the Middle Paleolithic (approximately 100-130 thousand years ago).

Neanderthals, who lived in small related groups, were able to perfectly adapt to the cold climate during the last ice age and populated large areas of Europe and Asia that were not covered with ice. Survival in harsh climates was made possible by a number of changes in the lives of these ancient people. They created and developed the Mousterian culture, which used Levallois techniques for stone processing and was the most progressive throughout most of the Middle Paleolithic. The improvement of hunting weapons (spears with stone tips) and a high level of interaction with their fellow tribesmen allowed Neanderthals to successfully hunt the largest land mammals (mammoths, bison, etc.), whose meat formed the basis of their diet. The invention of the harpoon made it possible to successfully catch fish, which became an important source of food in coastal areas. To protect themselves from the cold and predators, Neanderthals used shelter in caves and fire, and they also cooked food on fire. To preserve meat for future use, they began to smoke and dry it. An exchange with other groups of valuable raw materials (ochre, rare high-quality stone for making tools, etc.) that were unavailable in the area in which one or another group lived was developed.

Archaeological evidence and comparative ethnography studies indicate that Middle Paleolithic people lived in egalitarian (egalitarian) societies. Equal distribution of food resources avoided starvation and increased the community's chances of survival. Members of the group took care of injured, sick and old fellow tribesmen, as evidenced by remains with traces of healed injuries and at a considerable age (of course, by Paleolithic standards - about 50 years). Neanderthals often buried their dead, leading some scientists to conclude that they developed religious beliefs and concepts, such as belief in life after death. This can be evidenced, among other things, by the orientation of the graves, the characteristic poses of those who died in them, and the burial of utensils with them. However, other scientists believe that the burials were carried out for rational reasons. The development of thinking was manifested in the appearance of the first examples of art: rock paintings, decorative items made of stone, bone, etc.

About 195 thousand years ago, anatomically modern Homo sapiens appeared in Africa. According to the currently dominant hypothesis of the African origin of man, after several tens of millennia, anatomically modern people began to gradually spread beyond Africa. There is some evidence that about 125 thousand years ago, having crossed the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, they appeared on the Arabian Peninsula (the territory of modern UAE), a little later - about 106 thousand years ago - on the territory of modern Oman, and about 75 thousand years ago - possibly on the territory of modern India. Although no human remains have been found in those places dating back to this time, the obvious similarities between stone tools found there and in Africa suggest that they were created by modern man. Another group of people, passing through the Nile Valley, reached the territory of modern Israel about 100-120 thousand years ago. The settlers moving south and east gradually populated south-east Asia, and then, taking advantage of the reduced sea level due to glaciation, about 50 thousand years ago they reached Australia and New Guinea, and a little later, about 30 thousand years ago - and numerous islands east of Australia.

The first anatomically modern humans (Cro-Magnons) entered Europe through the Arabian Peninsula about 60 thousand years ago. About 43 thousand years ago, large-scale colonization of Europe began, during which Cro-Magnons actively competed with Neanderthals. In terms of physical strength and adaptability to the climate of Europe during the glaciation period, the Cro-Magnons were inferior to the Neanderthals, but were ahead of them in technological development. And after 13-15 thousand years, by the end of the Middle Paleolithic, the Neanderthals were completely forced out of their habitat and became extinct.

Along with the Mousterian culture itself, in the Middle Paleolithic era its local variants also existed in some regions. Very interesting in this regard is the Aterian culture in Africa, which was discovered at the beginning of the 20th century near the city of Bir el-Ather in eastern Algeria, after which it was named. Initially, it was believed that it first appeared about 40 thousand years ago, then this boundary was pushed back to 90-110 thousand years. In 2010, the Moroccan Ministry of Culture published a press release reporting that in the prehistoric caves of Ifri n'Amman, objects of Aterian culture dating back up to 175 thousand years were discovered. In addition to stone tools, drilled mollusk shells were also found at Aterian sites , presumably serving as jewelry, which indicates the development of aesthetic feelings in humans.In Europe, there were such early and transitional varieties of Mousterian as the Teillac and Micoq industries.In the Middle East, the Emirian culture developed from Mousterian.

During the same period, there were also independent cultures in Africa, formed from the earlier Acheulean, such as Sangoi and Stilbeian. The Howiesons-Port culture, which arose (possibly from the Stilbeian) in South Africa about 64.8 thousand years ago, is very interesting. In terms of the level of production of stone tools, it corresponds rather to the cultures of the beginning of the Late Paleolithic, which appeared 25 thousand years later. We can say that in terms of its level it was significantly ahead of its time. However, having existed for just over 5 thousand years, it disappeared approximately 59.5 thousand years ago, and tools from more primitive cultures reappeared in the region of its distribution.

Late Paleolithic

The Late Paleolithic - the third and final stage of the Paleolithic - began about 40-50 thousand years ago and ended about 10-12 thousand years ago. It was during this period that modern man became first the dominant and then the only representative of his own species. The changes in the life of mankind during this period are so significant that they are called the Late Paleolithic revolution.

During the Late Paleolithic, significant climate changes occurred in areas inhabited by humans. Since the vast majority of the period occurred during the last ice age, the overall climate of Eurasia varied from cold to temperate. Along with climate changes, the area of ​​the ice sheet changed, and, accordingly, the area of ​​human distribution. Moreover, if in the northern regions the territory suitable for habitation decreased, then in the more southern regions it increased due to a significant decrease in the level of the World Ocean, the waters of which were concentrated in glaciers. So, during the maximum of the Ice Age, which occurred 19-26.5 thousand years ago, sea level fell by about 100-125 m. Therefore, many archaeological evidence of human life who lived on the coast in those days is now hidden by the waters of the seas and is located at a considerable distance from the modern coastline. On the other hand, glaciation and low sea levels allowed man to move across the Bering Isthmus that existed at that time to North America.

Since the beginning of the Late Paleolithic, the variety of artifacts left by people has increased significantly. Manufactured instruments are becoming more specialized, and their manufacturing technologies are becoming more complex. Important achievements are the invention of various types of tools and weapons. In particular, about 30 thousand years ago a spear thrower and a boomerang were invented, 25-30 thousand years ago - a bow and arrow, 22-29 thousand years ago - a fishing net. Also at this time, a sewing needle with an eye, a fishing hook, a rope, an oil lamp, etc. were invented. One of the most important achievements of the Late Paleolithic can be called the taming and domestication of the dog, which, according to various estimates, occurred 15-35 thousand years ago (and possibly earlier). A dog has much better developed hearing and sense of smell than a human, which makes it an indispensable assistant in protecting against predators and hunting. More advanced tools and weapons, methods of hunting, building housing and making clothing allowed people to significantly increase their numbers and populate previously undeveloped territories. The earliest evidence of organized human settlements dates back to the Late Paleolithic. Some were used year-round, although more often people moved from one settlement to another depending on the season, following food sources.

Instead of a single dominant culture, various regional cultures with numerous local varieties arise in different places, existing partly simultaneously and partly replacing each other. In Europe, these are the Chatelperonian, Seletian, Aurignacian, Gravettian, Solutrean, Badegulian and Magdalenian cultures. In Asia and the Middle East - Baradostian, Zarzian and Kebarian.

In addition, during this period the flourishing of fine and decorative arts began: Late Paleolithic man left many rock paintings and petroglyphs, as well as artistic products made of ceramics, bone and horn. One of the ubiquitous varieties is female figurines, the so-called Paleolithic Venus.

Almost everywhere the Stone Age can be traced back to the 5th millennium BC. , with the exception of some areas of the forest zone, where late Stone Age communities survive until the 2nd millennium BC. , and among the isolated tribes of the globe that were lagging behind in their development, the Stone Age survived even longer.

The Stone Age is divided into ancient (Paleolithic), middle (Mesolithic) and new (Neolithic). Each period is more progressive than the previous stage in the development of technology for making tools, their improvement, in the development of social relations and the development of territories.

Paleolithic

Let us give a fractional periodization of the Paleolithic:

1) Lower Paleolithic: Olduvai - ca. 2.4 mil. - 1.5 mil. years BC Early Acheulian: 1.5 mil. - 400 thousand BC Middle and late Acheulian: 400 - 130 thousand BC.

The Olduvai period in human history, which began at the end of the Pleistocene era, in which the first use of stone tools by the ancestors of modern man, Homo Habilis, began. He knew how to think and create primitively. The formation of man occurred in close connection with the development of social forms. The biological prerequisite was an increasing ability to learn, an increased degree of individualization of the level of communications. Fairly well-organized assistance and mutual assistance, availability of prey for all members, training of cubs through the transfer of skills and experience, generally peaceful relationships.

Homo Habilis had hunting camps, the so-called “base houses” - prototypes of the most ancient dwellings - accumulations of bones and stone tools, surrounded by stone blocks. Occupations: hunting and gathering. The division of labor was between males and females; hunting and tool making predominated among males, and gathering among females. Homo Habilis brought prey to the site to provide for females and young. The tools were roughly processed products.

In the early Acheulian period, Homo Habilis was replaced by the species Homo Erectus - “upright man”. The first Homo Erectus was discovered by the Dutch anthropologist Eugene Dubois (1858-1940) on the island of Java (Indonesia), he was named Pithecanthropus. The dwellings were above ground, made of tree branches, surrounded by stones. Caves. Occupations: hunting and gathering. Pithecanthropus hunted not only small animals, but also large animals, for example, elephants, rhinoceroses, saber-toothed tigers, bears, buffaloes, camels, horses, antelopes, hyenas. They knew how to maintain (but, apparently, not yet start) fire. They moved from place to place in search of food. They hunted small and large animals.

Such a hunt was impossible alone and required organization. The use of a special stone processing technique called retouching begins.

Retouching is the correction of the working edges or the entire surface of stone tools by separating small flakes from the surface of the stone by pressing or lightly striking the tool blank.

The Middle and Late Acheulean periods are characterized by glacial cooling. The social structure becomes more complex. There is a transition from a primitive herd to a local group. Apparently, already during this period, a clan appeared - an exogamous group of blood relatives descending from a common ancestor on the maternal or paternal line. A driven hunt appears. Methods of making fire and also preserving it are emerging. In the Lower Paleolithic, the main type of settlement was parking. Now intensive development of the caves is taking place.

Tool processing techniques are being improved. The Levallois technique arises - this is a technique in which the core is subjected to preliminary processing to give the flake a certain specified shape and size. The nucleus was pre-upholstered on all sides from the edges to the center. It is tortoise-shaped, one side is flat and the other is dome-shaped.

By the end of the period, approx. 150-130 thousand years ago the Neanderthal man (Homo neanderthalensis) appears. Neanderthals buried their dead. For example, burial in the La Chapelle-aux-Saints grotto in France. Corpse position: crumpled. Accompanying inventory: tools, flowers and, possibly, food (meat) were placed in the burial.

2) Middle Paleolithic (Mousterian): 130-45 thousand BC.

The Mousterian period is the time of life of the Neanderthals, following the Late Acheulean archaeological era. The Mousterian culture coincided with the end of the Riess-Würm interglacial and the beginning of the Würm glaciation. The settlement territory of the Neanderthals was more extensive, and their adaptation to the environment was more active than that of the people of the Early Paleolithic.

The significance of peculiar glacial natural and climatic conditions in the history of human development is extremely great. The fact is that during the Mousterian period, human development reached a level that allowed, unlike numerous representatives of the animal world, to actively adapt and withstand the harsh conditions of nature. In turn, new conditions intensified his conscious activity and allowed him to take the next significant step along the path of progress. The invention of clothing, a method of making fire and the development of dwellings contributed to the settlement of people in new, previously undeveloped territories. Mousterian monuments are numerous and varied: settlements in caves and grottoes, open-type settlements, sites such as temporary hunting camps.

The Mousterian period was a significant step in the development of the productive forces of primitive society. Stone tools appear, varied in quantity and in their productive functions.

Collective hunting techniques were of decisive importance in the life of the community. The exceptional importance of hunting is evidenced by the huge number of bones in the layers of settlements and seasonal hunting camps.

The appearance of burials is undoubtedly associated with a meaningful representation of life and death. Obviously, these were the beginnings of those false ideas on the basis of which later ideas about the “soul” and the other world arose.

The formation of a primitive clan organization is associated with long-term settlements, collective labor activity, which was based on hunting, and the development of consciousness. Long-term cohabitation, overcoming animal egoism, caring not only for one’s own needs, but also the needs of the entire team, constant interconnection and support were undoubtedly already characteristic of the first Neanderthal communities.

3) Late Paleolithic (Solutre): ca. 45 - 12 thousand BC

About 35 thousand years ago, a new period began in the history of mankind, called the Upper, or Late, Paleolithic. This was the time of the formation of man of the modern physical type, new achievements in the technology of making tools.

Man still lived in the peculiar conditions of a glacial climate, although the ice masses became significantly smaller in size. The Upper Paleolithic was the time of the expansion of the mammoth fauna. Mammoth was the main object of hunting. The disappearance of mammoths coincided with the Paleolithic horses.

The Upper Paleolithic technique differs from its predecessor primarily in new, more progressive techniques for making tools from stone. A variety of bone products are also widely distributed: tips, harpoons, massive percussion tools such as picks, miniature bone needles with an eye. Armed with a variety of tools and having accumulated great experience and skill, Upper Paleolithic man settled throughout the vast territory of Eurasia that was not covered by a glacier.

Many achievements of people of the Paleolithic era were developed in subsequent times. Paleolithic people invented clothing similar in design to modern ones, firmly mastered dwellings, and developed tools, without which it is difficult to imagine the further development of mankind.

Upper Paleolithic hunters living in direct contact with nature had significant knowledge and concrete and abstract ideas about the world around them. On the basis of a primitive materialistic worldview, bright and unique Paleolithic art arose. It is represented by cave paintings, bone and stone sculptures, and engravings on tusk and horn plates. Carrying images of a realistic depiction of the surrounding world, the works are subordinated to a certain semantic content. The traditional depiction of animals, and not all, but only those that were valuable as an object of hunting, is apparently associated with the emergence of the primitive cult of the beast and hunting magic, witchcraft. The origin of this cult was due to the importance of hunting as the main source of human existence.

stone age anthropogenesis mesolithic