The Lost Civilizations of the Stone Age
Richard Rudgley
The Free Press 1999
 *page divisions show different sources*


BASE INFORMATION
A standard account of the Stone Age – the vast time period from the origin of early man to the origin of the historical civilizations.

The Paleolithic (Old Stone Age)
The Mesolithic (Middle Stone Age)
The Neolithic (New Stone Age)
The Paleolithic period is the longest of the three, beginning with the earliest-known stone tools in Africa (2.4 million years ago) ending 10,000 years ago.
Subdivision
Lower (2000,000 years ago)
Middle (200,00 - 40,000years ago)
Upper Paleolithic (40,000 - 10,000 years ago)

The lower period is the time the earliest humans lived.  Known as hominids. (any of a family (Hominidae) of erect bipedal primate mammals comprising recent humans together with extinct ancestral and related forms: http://webster.com). All hominids belong to the family of Hominidae and are divided into those of the genus Australopithecus (any of a genus (Australopithecus) of extinct southern and eastern African hominids that include gracile and robust forms with near-human dentition and a relatively small brain. http://webster.com/cgi-bin/dictionary?va=australopithecine) and those of the genus homo.
Fossil remains of Australopithecus from East Africa date to at least 3 million years ago and perhaps much earlier.

The first tools are believed used by Homo habilis (2.2 to 1.6 million years ago) the earliest known member of our own genus.

No fossils have been found outside of Africa.

The next species to develop in Africa was Homo erectus (1.6 – 0.5 million years ago) accredited for being the first to leave Africa about 1 million years ago and colonizing Asia and Europe. Homo erectus developed Acheulian (bifacial tools with round cutting edges) a more sophisticated stone tool.  

The making of tools was continued by the archaic population of Homo sapiens who 1st emerged ~ 500,000 years ago.

Neanderthal man (Homo sapiens Neanderthaleusis ) arose ~ 100,000 years ago in Europe & Western Asia as a regional development of archaic Homo sapiens.  They disappeared ~ 33,000 years ago.

Anatomically modern Homo sapiens 1st emerged from Africa at least 100,000 years ago.  Like Homo erectus long before they spread to populate the world.  

Upper Paleolithic (40,000 – 10,000 years ago) ended about 10,500 years ago with the last ice age and was followed by the Mesolithic (Middle Stone Age) this began about 10,000 years ago in the Near East.  The mainstay was farming.  
Neolithic (New Stone Age) period began about 10, 000 years ago.



Upper Paleolithic saw the decline of Neanderthal, it saw Homo sapien sapien ("wise man," with an emphasis of wisdom is the evidence of a fully modern man http://www.gpc.peachnet.edu/~pgore/students/f97/glenda/sapiensapien.htm) as the sole surviving members of the hominid line.

Tho no major biological transformations of our own species took place 40,000 years ago many see Upper Paleolithic as a time when behaviorally modern humans emerged, an explosion of creative energies on all fronts.  The birth of art, magic and religion as well as causing rapid advances in technology and social organization was born.  

Mesolithic period saw fishing and development of new tools, particularly for use in woodworking.  In outlying areas like Britain the Mesolithic period continued until the 4th millenium BC when farming life characteristics of Neolithic finely took root.

Neolithic ~ 10,000 years ago in Near East is characterized by food production. Mainstay was farming & livestock. Communities living in villages & towns replaced Mobil societies. Pottery is seen as
the key diagnostic traits of the Neolithic. Many of the cultures were named after their distinctive form of pottery. Writing is considered one of the main features to be considered civilized. No writing
discovered yet for this period. Toward the end of the Neolithic period copper metallurgy emerged in some regions.

Tho Paleolithic, Mesolithic and Neolithic are used to describe the sequence of cultural events in Europe and parts of Asia they are not generally used in discussing the prehistoric archaeology of other parts of the world like the Americas and Australia. Tho evidence clearly points to both Australia & America were populated from Asia during the upper Paleolithic periods. What happened subsequently on those continents can not be adequately explained with in the terminology of Old World archaeology.

                                                             

                                                                                                        Starting point       

The numerical system of the Egyptians was highly developed before the Dynastic period (a powerful group or family that maintains its position for a considerable time http://webster.com/cgi-bin/dictionary ). 1,422,000 was shown in hieroglyphics symbols on Narmer’s http://www.ancient-egypt.org/kings/0101_narmer/palette.html mace head showing intellectual development occurred before the  supposed advent of civilization.

The largest human settlement site yet discovered from the early part of the Neolithic era is Catal Huyuk, 32 miles SE of Konya in the southern part of Anatolia (Turkey).  It’s estimated to have supported a population of 7,000 people founded more than 8,000 years ago.  It appears to have been a thriving community for 1,000 years or more.  

Buildings made with sun dried mud brick and numerous shrines within to a Goddess have been found.  High level of craftsmanship.  Objects found imply the importance of the female.

There are more then 40 Neolithic Stone Temples on Malta & Gozo (2nd largest Island in the Maltese archipelago).  These belong to the period 4500 to 2500 BC & demonstrate how without the use of metal tools they were able to construct monumental buildings using blocks of stone weighting as much as 50 tons.

Objects found such as ovens, clay chairs, figurines & vases point out this period was not ‘the dark ages’ of European pre history.  

Read rest but didn’t’ take notes.  Skull surgery is found in the Neolithic age.  

Not satisfied with what I’ve found so far.  The term STONE AGE is still used for tribes that have not progressed beyond the use of stone tools to this day (2003 AD).

This added little to finding the ‘beginning’ of the human race. The product of human life was found 2.4 million years ago but still doesn’t explain out side evolution of species where life came from.  The bible text of early life is far different.  Or, is the interpretation of the bible text in error?

04/22/03 letting go, for now.  May revisit in the future.


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A few general observations: The first stone (or artificial stone, i.e. brick, adobe, etc) buildings in Europe & the Middle East seem to date from the Neolithic period -- lots of excavation done at places like Jericho &
Catal Huyuk. Also the megalithic monuments of Europe, & stone chamber-tombs.

Agriculture itself was invented -- IIRC this is part of the definition of the Late Stone Age. The domestication of various plants & animals was an ongoing process for a very long time, with different targets & rates of
progress in different places. Some plants & animals seem to have been domesticated at multiple times by different groups of people -- I gather frex there's some uncertainty whether the 2 major forms of domestic cattle
are all descended purely from the European aurochs, or the humped cattle of India & Africa have some other strain mixed in too.

It's been speculated that beer was brewed before bread was baked – the archaeological evidence is apparently inconclusive but suggestive, & the quest for mind-altering substances seems to be pretty universal.

Ceramics are also a key development, which imply a host of support technologies. The clay has to be dug, prepared, & transported to the place-of-use, the making of the vessels typically involves at least a little equipment & training, firing the clay requires an oven or kiln, glazes involve obtaining & preparing additional substances, etc. I'm not
sure when & where the potter's wheel first appeared -- it's a fairly sophisticated machine, but spread quickly once it was invented.

Nomad-tech generally seems to put a premium on transportability (thus you get ingenious ways to construct tents) and/or seasonal regularity, as opposed to durable infrastructure like bridges & aqueducts. Their metal-working too emphasized portable objects, like weapons, tools & jewelry, over larger machines, & depended for materials on easily-worked sources like meteors (iron) and river-deposits (gold), or trade, rather than heavy-duty mining and smelting.                                    http://www.nocturne.org/world/archives/0106/0043.html
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Misc sites with info.


http://anthro.palomar.edu/homo2/neandertal.htm

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/1999/10/991027072728.htm

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2003/02/0220_030220_humanorigins2.html

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