Editing Epipalaeolithic (section)

== Term usage ==
[[File:Climate and Post-Glacial expansion in the Near East.jpg|thumb|upright=2|The Epipaleolithic corresponds to the first period of progressive warming after the [[Last Glacial Maximum]]. Evolution of temperatures in the Post-Glacial period according to [[Greenland ice cores]].<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Zalloua |first1=Pierre A. |last2=Matisoo-Smith |first2=Elizabeth |title=Mapping Post-Glacial expansions: The Peopling of Southwest Asia |journal=Scientific Reports |date=6 January 2017 |volume=7 |pages=40338 |doi=10.1038/srep40338 |pmid=28059138 |language=en |issn=2045-2322|pmc=5216412 |bibcode=2017NatSR...740338P }}</ref>]]

In describing the period before the start of the Neolithic, "Epipaleolithic" is typically used for cultures in regions that were far from the glaciers of the [[Last Glacial Maximum|Ice Age]], so that the retreat of the glaciers made a less dramatic change to conditions. This was the case in the [[Levant]].<ref>Simmons, 46–48; [http://search.eb.com/eb/article-10760 agriculture, origins of]. (2008). [[Encyclopædia Britannica]]. Retrieved April 10, 2008, from Encyclopædia Britannica Online.</ref> Conversely, the term "Mesolithic" is most likely to be used for Western Europe where climatic change and the extinction of the [[megafauna]] had a great impact of the Paleolithic populations at the end of the Ice Age, creating post-glacial cultures such as the [[Azilian]], [[Sauveterrian]], [[Tardenoisian]], and [[Maglemosian]].<ref>{{Cite encyclopedia | url=http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/195896/history-of-Europe/58234/Mesolithic-adaptations | title=History of Europe | encyclopedia=[[Encyclopædia Britannica]] online | access-date=8 April 2013 | quote=The Scandinavian Ice Sheet itself started to retreat northward about 8300&nbsp;[[bce]], and the period between then and the origins of agriculture (at various times in the 7th to 4th [[millennia]], depending on location) was one of great environmental and cultural change. It is termed the [[Mesolithic Period]] ([[Middle Stone Age]]) to emphasize its transitional importance, but the alternative term Epipaleolithic, used mostly in [[eastern Europe]], stresses the continuity with processes begun earlier.}}</ref>  In the past, French archaeologists had a general tendency to prefer the term "Epipaleolithic" to "Mesolithic", even for Western Europe.  Where "Epipaleolithic" is still used for Europe, it is generally for areas close to the [[Mediterranean]], as with the [[Azilian]] industry.

"Epipalaeolithic" stresses the continuity with the Upper Paleolithic.  Alfonso Moure says in this respect:
{{Quote|In the language of Prehistorical Archaeology, the most extended trend is to use the term "Epipaleolithic" for the industrial complexes of the post-glacial hunter-gatherer groups. Inversely, those that are in transitional ways towards artificial production of food are inscribed in the "Mesolithic".<ref>A. Moure ''El Origen del Hombre'', 1999. {{ISBN|8476791275}}</ref>}}

In Europe, the Epipalaeolithic may be regarded as a period preceding the Early Mesolithic,<ref>"...there are no sites defining the transition from the Epipalaeolithic Azilian to the Early Mesolithic" – p. 249, [[Homer L. Thomas|Thomas, Homer L.]], ''A Handbook of Archaeology: Cultures and Sites: North Africa, Egypt, Southwest Asia, Mediterranean, Northwest Europe, Northern Europe, ...'', Volume 1, 1996, Paul Astroms Forlag, {{ISBN|9170811229|978-9170811227}}</ref> or as locally constituting at least a part of it.  Other authors treat the Epipalaeolithic as part of the Late Palaeolithic;<ref>referring to the Azilian:  Jones, Emily Lena, ''In Search of the Broad Spectrum Revolution in Paleolithic Southwest Europe'', pp. 5–6, 2015, Springer, {{ISBN|3319223518|978-3319223513}}, [https://books.google.com/books?id=RQS0CgAAQBAJ&pg=PA5 google books]</ref> the culture in southern [[Portugal]] between about 10,500 to 8,500 years ago is "variously labelled as 'Terminal Magdalenian' and 'Epipalaeolithic{{'"}}.<ref>Straus, Lawrence Guy, p. 310 in Bailey and Spikins</ref> The different usages often reflect the degree of innovation and "economic intensification in the direction of domestication, [[sedentism]] or environmental modification" seen in the culture. If the Palaeolithic way of life continues with only adaptation to reflect changes in the types of wild food available, the culture may be called Epipalaeolithic.<ref>''Encyclopedia of Human Evolution and Prehistory'' (2nd Edition), eds. Eric Delson, Ian Tattersall, et al., p. 236. 2004, Routledge, {{ISBN|1135582289|978-1135582289}}, [https://books.google.com/books?id=6GFGsswTIO8C&pg=PA236 google books] (quoted); Bailey and Spikins, 4</ref> One writer, talking of Azilian [[microlith]]s in [[Vasco-Cantabria]] talks of "some exceptions that seem to herald the coming of 'true' Mesolithic technologies a few centuries later".<ref>Straus, Lawrence Guy, in Bailey and Spikins, 312</ref> The paleoanthropologist [[Trenton Holliday]] refers to a short Epipaleolithic phase in some areas of Europe after the end of the [[Younger Dryas]] 11,700 years ago, when in some areas of Europe most stone tools were small versions of Upper Paleolithic ones, before the introduction of Mesolithic technology around 10,000 years ago.{{sfn|Holliday|2021| pp= 39, 222-224}}