Editing Epipalaeolithic (section)

==History of the term==
{{Main|Three-age system#The Epipaleolithic and Protoneolithic of Stjerna and Obermaier}}
[[File:Microlith tools from Ein Qashish South, Jezreel Valley, Israel, Kebaran and Geometric Kebaran deposits (ca. 23ka and ca. 16.5ka BP).jpg|thumb|[[Microliths]] tools from Ein Qashish South, Jezreel Valley, Israel, [[Kebaran]] and Geometric Kebaran, ca. 23,000-16.500 BP]]
[[File:Lovers 9000BC british museum.jpg|thumb|The [[Ain Sakhri lovers]], Ain Sakhri near [[Bethleem]], [[Israel]]. [[Kebaran culture]], Late [[Epipaleolithic Near East]]]]
The concept of the "Epipalaeolithic" arrived several decades after the main components of the [[three-age system]], the Paleolithic, Mesolithic and Neolithic. It was first proposed in 1910 by the Swedish archaeologist, [[Knut Stjerna]], his initial example being a culture or sub-culture in Scandinavian archaeology,<ref>{{harvnb|Stjerna|1910|p=2}}</ref> that would not be often called Epipalaeolithic today. This left stone-lined pit graves containing implements of bone, such as harpoon and javelin heads. Stjerna observed that they "persisted during the recent Paleolithic period and also during the  Protoneolithic". Here he had used a new term, "Protoneolithic", which was according to him to be applied to the Danish [[Ertebølle culture|kitchen-middens]].<ref>{{harvnb|Stjerna|1910|p=12}}: "... a persisté pendant la période paléolithique récente et même pendant la période protonéolithique."</ref>  Stjerna also said that the eastern culture "is attached to the Paleolithic civilization" (''"se trouve rattachée à la civilisation paléolithique"''). However, it was not intermediary and of its intermediates he said "we cannot discuss them here" (''"nous ne pouvons pas examiner ici''"). This "attached" and non-transitional culture he chose to call the Epipaleolithic, defining it as follows:<ref>{{harvnb|Stjerna|1910|p=12}}</ref>
<blockquote>With Epipaleolithic I mean the period during the early days that followed the age of the reindeer, the one that retained Paleolithic customs. This period has two stages in Scandinavia, that of Maglemose and that of Kunda. (''Par époque épipaléolithique j'entends la période qui, pendant les premiers temps qui ont suivi l'âge du Renne, conserve les coutumes paléolithiques. Cette période présente deux étapes en Scandinavie, celle de Maglemose et de Kunda.'')</blockquote>
{{Human history and prehistory}}

Stjerna made no mention of the Mesolithic, and it is unclear if he intended his terms to replace that.  His new terms were soon adopted by the German [[Hugo Obermaier]], who in 1916 used them in ''El Hombre fósil'' (translated into English in 1924) as part of an attack on the concept of the Mesolithic, which he insisted was a period of "transition" and an "interim" rather than "transformation":<ref>{{cite book | first=Hugo | last=Obermaier | title=Fossil man in Spain | url=https://archive.org/details/fossilmaninspain00ober | url-access=registration | year=1924 | location=New Haven | publisher=Yale University Press | page=[https://archive.org/details/fossilmaninspain00ober/page/322 322]}}</ref>

<blockquote>But in my opinion this term is not justified, as it would be if these phases presented a natural evolutionary development – a progressive transformation from Paleolithic to Neolithic. In reality, the final phase of the [[Capsian]], the [[Tardenoisian]], the [[Azilian]] and the northern [[Maglemosian|Maglemose]] industries are the posthumous descendants of the Palaeolithic&nbsp;...</blockquote>

This early history of the term introduced the ambiguity and degree of confusion which has continued to surround its use, at least as relates to the archaeology of Europe.