Palaeolithic Prehistory

map of human migrations, according mitochondrial population genetics. numbers millennia before present (accuracy disputed).

palaeolithic means old stone age , , begins first use of stone tools. paleolithic earliest period of stone age.

the part of palaeolithic called lower palaeolithic, predates homo sapiens, beginning homo habilis (and related species) , earliest stone tools, dated around 2.5 million years ago. evidence of control of fire humans during lower palaeolithic era uncertain , has @ best limited scholarly support. accepted claim h. erectus or h. ergaster made fires between 790,000 , 690,000 bp (before present period) in site @ bnot ya akov bridge, israel. use of fire enabled humans cook food, provide warmth, , have light source @ night.

early homo sapiens originated 200,000 years ago, ushering in middle palaeolithic. anatomic changes indicating modern language capacity arise during middle palaeolithic. during middle palaeolithic era, there first definitive evidence of human use of fire. sites in zambia have charred bone , wood have been dated 61,000 b.p. systematic burial of dead, music, art, , use of increasingly sophisticated multi-part tools highlights of middle paleolithic.

throughout palaeolithic, humans lived nomadic hunter-gatherers. hunter-gatherer societies tended small , egalitarian, though hunter-gatherer societies abundant resources or advanced food-storage techniques developed sedentary lifestyles complex social structures such chiefdoms, , social stratification. long-distance contacts may have been established, in case of indigenous australian highways known songlines.