The Stone Age

The Stone Age

The Stone Age is a broad prehistoric period during which stone was widely used to make tools with a sharp edge, a point or striking surface. The period lasted approximately 3.4 million years ago and ended between 4500 BC and 2000 BC with the advent of metallurgy. Artifacts include stone age tools used by humans and their species that preceded it in the genus Homo, as well as earlier partly contemporary genera Australopithecus and Paranthropus. Bone tools were used during this period as well, but are more rarely preserved in the archaeological record. The Stone Age is divided by types of stone tools used.

Historical importance

The Stone Age is almost contemporary with the evolution of the genus Homo, the only exception being perhaps the very beginning, when species before Homo may have manufactured tools. Depending on the age and location of the current evidence, the birthplace of such system is the East African Rift, especially to the north in Ethiopia, where it is bordered by meadows. The nearest among other living primates parent, gender Pan, is a branch that continued deep into the forest, where primates evolved. The gap served as a conduit for the movement in South Africa and as far north along the Nile in North Africa and the continuing vulnerability of the Levant to the vast grasslands of Asia.
From about 3 million years ago a single biome established itself from South Africa through the fault, North Africa, Asia and modern China, which has been called "transcontinental" savannahstan "recently. From meadows Rift Homo erectus, the ancestor of modern man, has found a niche as a manufacturer of tools and developed an addiction to it, become a "living with the savannah tool" .

End of the Stone Age

Innovation technology smelting ore ended the Stone Age and began the Bronze Age. The first most significant metal was made in bronze, an alloy of copper and tin, each of which has been separately melted. The transition from the Stone Age to the Bronze Age was a period during which modern people could smelt copper, but did not make bronze, a time known as the Copper Age, or most technically the 'Chalcolithic "copper-stone". The Chalcolithic is by convention the initial period of the Bronze Age and is undoubtedly part of the Metal Age. The Bronze Age was followed by the Iron Age. Meanwhile, all the stone remains in service in parallel with the metals for some items, including those already used in the Neolithic, such as pottery stone.
The transition from the Stone Age occurred between 6000 BCE and 2500 BCE for much of humanity living in North Africa and Eurasia. The first evidence of human metallurgy dates back to between the 5th and 6th millennium BC in archaeological sites Majdanpek, Yarmovac and Pločnik (a copper ax from 5500 BCE belonging to Vincha culture) but not traditionally considered part of the Chalcolithic or Copper "Age", this gives the first known example of copper metallurgy. and Rudna Glava mine in Serbia. Ötzi, the mummy of about 3300 BCE carried with him a copper ax and a flint knife.
In regions such as sub-Saharan Africa, the Stone Age was followed by the Iron Age. Regions of southeast Asia and the Middle East rose past Stone Age technology around 6000 BC. Europe and the rest of Asia became limited post-Stone Age about 4000 BCE. The proto-Inca cultures of South America continued at a level of the Stone Age until around 2000 BC, when gold, copper and silver made their entrance, the rest follows later. Australia remained in the Stone Age to the 17th century. the manufacture of stone tools continued. In Europe and North America, millstones were in use until the mid-20th century, and are still in many parts of the world.

tools of stone age

Stone tools were made from a variety of stone. For example, flint and chert were shaped (or chipped) for use as cutting tools and weapons, while basalt and sandstone were used for ground stone tools such as grinders. Wood, bone, shell, horn (deer) and other materials have been widely used, as well. During the most recent part of the period, sediments (like clay) were used to make pottery. Agriculture was developed and some animals have been domesticated.
Some species of non-primates are able to use stone tools, such as the sea otter, which breaks Abalone shells with them. Primates can both use and manufacture of stone tools. This combination of skills is more pronounced in monkeys and men, only men, or more generally Hominans depends on the use of the tool for survival. The key anatomical and behavioral characteristics required for the production facilities, which are owned solely by Hominans are the largest thumb and the ability to keep using a variety of handles.