Editing Stone Age (section)

==Material culture==
===Tools===
[[Stone tool]]s were made from a variety of stones. For example, [[flint]] and [[chert]] were shaped (or ''[[chipped stone|chipped]]'') for use as cutting tools and [[weapon]]s, while [[basalt]] and [[sandstone]] were used for [[ground stone]] tools, such as [[quern-stone]]s. Wood, bone, [[Exoskeleton|shell]], [[antler]] (deer) and other materials were widely used, as well. During the most recent part of the period, [[sediment]]s (such as [[clay]]) were used to make [[pottery]]. Agriculture was developed and certain animals were [[Domestication|domesticated]] as well.

Some species of non-[[primate]]s are able to use stone tools, such as the [[sea otter]], which breaks [[abalone]] shells with them. [[Primate]]s can both use and manufacture stone tools. This combination of abilities is more marked in [[ape]]s and humans, but only humans, or more generally [[hominin]]s, depend on tool use for survival.<ref>{{harvnb|Barham|Mitchell|2008|p=74}}</ref> The key anatomical and behavioral features required for tool manufacture, which are possessed only by hominins, are the larger thumb and the ability to hold by means of an assortment of grips.<ref>{{harvnb|Barham|Mitchell|2008|p=108}}</ref>

===Food and drink===
{{main|Paleolithic diet|Paleolithic#Diet and nutrition|l2=Paleolithic diet and nutrition}}
Food sources of the Palaeolithic [[hunter-gatherer]]s were wild plants and animals harvested from the [[environment (biophysical)|environment]]. They liked animal [[organ (anatomy)|organ]] meats, including the [[liver]]s, [[kidney]]s and [[brain]]s. Large seeded [[legume]]s were part of the human diet long before the [[Neolithic Revolution|agricultural revolution]], as is evident from archaeobotanical finds from the [[Mousterian]] layers of [[Kebara Cave]], in Israel.<ref name="doi10.1016/j.jas.2004.11.006">{{cite journal |first1=Efraim |last1=Lev | first2=Mordechai E. |last2=Kislev|first3= Ofer |last3=Bar-Yosef |title=Mousterian vegetal food in Kebara Cave, Mt. Carmel |journal=Journal of Archaeological Science |volume=32 |issue=3 |pages=475–484 |date=March 2005 |doi=10.1016/j.jas.2004.11.006 | bibcode=2005JArSc..32..475L}}</ref> Moreover, recent evidence indicates that humans processed and consumed wild cereal grains as far back as 23,000 years ago in the [[Upper Paleolithic]].<ref name="pmid15295598">{{cite journal|first1=Dolores R. |last1=Piperno |first2=Ehud |last2=Weiss |first3=Irene |last3=Holst |first4=Dani |last4=Nadel |title=Processing of wild cereal grains in the Upper Palaeolithic revealed by starch grain analysis |journal=Nature |volume=430 |issue=7000 |pages=670–673 |date=5 August 2004 |pmid=15295598 |doi=10.1038/nature02734 |url=http://anthropology.si.edu/archaeobio/Ohalo%20II%20Nature.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110504082225/http://anthropology.si.edu/archaeobio/Ohalo%20II%20Nature.pdf |archive-date=4 May 2011 |bibcode=2004Natur.430..670P |s2cid=4431395 }}</ref>

Near the end of the [[Wisconsin glaciation]], 15,000 to 9,000 years ago, mass extinction of [[Megafauna]] such as the [[woolly mammoth]] occurred in Asia, Europe, North America and Australia. This was the first [[Holocene extinction event]]. It possibly forced modification in the dietary habits of the humans of that age and with the emergence of [[agricultural practices]], plant-based foods also became a regular part of the diet. A number of factors have been suggested for the extinction: certainly over-hunting, but also deforestation and climate change.<ref>{{Cite book | editor-first=Samuel T. | editor-last=Turvey | first=Samuel T. |last=Turvey | title=Holocene Extinctions | contribution=Chapter 2: In the shadow of the megafauna: prehistoric mammal and bird extinctions across the Holocene | series=Oxford Biology | location=Oxford | publisher=Oxford University Press | year=2009 | pages=16–17 }}</ref> The net effect was to fragment the vast ranges required by the large animals and extinguish them piecemeal in each fragment.

===Shelter and habitat===
Around 2 million years ago, ''[[Homo habilis]]'' is believed to have constructed the first man-made structure in East Africa, consisting of simple arrangements of stones to hold branches of trees in position. A similar stone circular arrangement believed to be around 380,000 years old was discovered at [[Terra Amata (archaeological site)|Terra Amata]], near [[Nice]], France. (Concerns about the dating have been raised: see [[Terra Amata (archaeological site)|Terra Amata]].) Several human habitats dating back to the Stone Age have been discovered around the globe, including:
* A tent-like structure inside a cave near the [[Grotte du Lazaret]], Nice, France.
* A [[Dolní Věstonice (archaeology)|structure]] with a roof supported with timber, discovered in [[Dolní Věstonice]], the [[Czech Republic]], dates to around 23,000 BC. The walls were made of packed clay blocks and stones.
* Many huts made of [[mammoth]] bones have been found in East-Central Europe and [[Siberia]]. The people who made these huts were expert mammoth hunters. Examples have been found along the [[Dniepr]] river valley of [[Ukraine]], including near [[Chernihiv]], in [[Moravia]], Czech Republic and in southern Poland.
* An animal hide tent dated to around 15000 to [[10000 BCE|10000 BC]], in the [[Magdalenian]], was discovered at Plateau Parain, France.

===Art===
[[Prehistoric art]] is visible in the artifacts. [[Prehistoric music]] is inferred from found instruments, while [[parietal art]] can be found on rocks of any kind. The latter are petroglyphs and rock paintings. The art may or may not have had a religious function.<ref name="Ranger1976">{{cite book|last1=Ranger|first1=Terence O.|last2=Kimambo|first2=Isaria N.|title=The Historical Study of African Religion|date=1976|publisher=University of California Press|isbn=978-0-520-03179-1|page=30|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KPcGrcVAlowC&pg=PA30|access-date=25 September 2017|language=en}}</ref>

====Petroglyphs====
{{main|Petroglyph}}
[[File:Aboriginal rock carvings, Terrey Hills, New South Wales, Sydney - Wiki0157.jpg|thumb|Petroglyph in [[Sydney]], Australia]]

[[Petroglyph]]s appeared in the [[Neolithic]]. A Petroglyph is an [[intaglio (sculpture)|intaglio]] abstract or symbolic image engraved on natural stone by various methods, usually by prehistoric peoples. They were a dominant form of pre-writing symbols. Petroglyphs have been discovered in different parts of the world, including Australia ([[Sydney rock engravings]]), Asia ([[Bhimbetka|Bhimbetka, India]]), North America ([[Death Valley National Park]]), South America ([[Cumbe Mayo]], Peru), and Europe ([[Rock carvings at Alta|Finnmark, Norway]]).

====Rock paintings====
{{main|Cave painting}}
In Paleolithic times, mostly animals were painted, in theory ones that were used as food or represented strength, such as the [[rhinoceros]] or large [[Felidae|cats]] (as in the [[Chauvet Cave]]). Signs such as dots were sometimes drawn. Rare human representations include handprints and half-human/half-animal figures. The Cave of Chauvet in the [[Ardèche]] department, France, contains the most important cave paintings of the paleolithic era,<ref>{{cite web|date=12 February 2017|first=Emma|last=Groeneveld |title=Chauvet Cave|url=https://www.worldhistory.org/Chauvet_Cave/|website=[[World History Encyclopedia]]|access-date=24 July 2019}}</ref> dating from about 36,000 BC.<ref>{{cite journal |first1=Anita |last1=Quiles |first2=Hélène |last2=Valladas |first3=Hervé |last3=Bocherens |first4=Emmanuelle |last4=Delqué-Kolic |first5=Evelyne |last5=Kaltnecker |first6=Johannes |last6=van der Plicht |first7=Jean-Jacques |last7=Delannoy |first8=Valérie |last8=Feruglio |first9=Carole |last9=Fritz |first10=Julien |last10=Monney |first11=Michel |last11=Philippe |first12=Gilles |last12=Tosello |first13=Jean |last13=Clottes |first14=Jean-Michel |last14=Geneste |display-authors=6 |title=A high-precision chronological model for the decorated Upper Paleolithic cave of Chauvet-Pont d'Arc, Ardèche, France |journal=PNAS |volume=113 |issue=17 |pages=4670–4675 |date=11 April 2016 |doi=10.1073/pnas.1523158113 |doi-access=free |pmid=27071106 |pmc=4855545 |bibcode=2016PNAS..113.4670Q }}</ref><ref name="Netburn">{{cite news|last1=Netburn|first1=Deborah|title=Chauvet cave: The most accurate timeline yet of who used the cave and when|url=http://www.latimes.com/science/sciencenow/la-sci-sn-chauvet-caves-timeline-20160412-story.html|access-date=22 December 2016|work=Los Angeles Times|date=December 2016}}</ref> The [[Altamira (cave)|Altamira]] cave paintings in Spain were done 14,000 to 12,000 BC and show, among others, [[bison]]s. The hall of bulls in [[Lascaux]], Dordogne, France, dates from about 15,000 to 10,000 BC.

[[File:Bhimbetka rock paintng1.jpg|thumb|Rock painting at [[Bhimbetka]], India, a [[World Heritage Site]]]]

The meaning of many of these paintings remains unknown. They may have been used for seasonal rituals. The animals are accompanied by signs that suggest a possible magic use. Arrow-like symbols in Lascaux are sometimes interpreted as [[calendar]] or [[almanac]] use, but the evidence remains interpretative.<ref>{{cite book | first=Amir D. | last=Aczel | title=The Cave and the Cathedral: How a Real-Life Indiana Jones and a Research Scholar Decoded the Ancient Art of Man | place=Hoboken | publisher=John Wiley & Sons | pages=157–158 | year=2000 }}</ref>

Some scenes of the Mesolithic, however, can be typed and therefore, judging from their various modifications, are fairly clear. One of these is the battle scene between organized bands of archers. For example, "the marching warriors", a rock painting at Cingle de la Mola, [[Castellón de la Plana|Castellón]] in Spain, dated to about 7,000–4,000 BC, depicts about 50 bowmen in two groups marching or running in step toward each other, each man carrying a bow in one hand and a fistful of arrows in the other. A file of five men leads one band, one of whom is a figure with a "high crowned hat".

In other scenes elsewhere, the men wear head-dresses and knee ornaments but otherwise fight nude. Some scenes depict the dead and wounded, bristling with arrows.<ref>{{cite book | pages=48–51 | title=Rock art of the Spanish Levant | first=Antonio Beltrán | last=Martínez | series=The Imprint of Man | location=Cambridge | publisher=Cambridge University Press | year=1982 | orig-year=1979}}</ref> One is reminded of [[Ötzi the Iceman]], a Copper Age mummy revealed by an Alpine melting glacier, who collapsed from loss of blood due to an arrow wound in the back.{{opinion|date=October 2024}}

===Stone Age rituals and beliefs===
{{main|Paleolithic religion|Prehistoric religion|Mother goddess}}
[[File:Paulnabrone.jpg|thumb|[[Poulnabrone dolmen]] in [[County Clare]], Ireland]]

Modern studies and the in-depth analysis of finds dating from the Stone Age indicate certain [[ritual]]s and [[belief]]s of the people in those prehistoric times. It is now believed that activities of the Stone Age humans went beyond the immediate requirements of procuring food, body coverings, and shelters. Specific [[Ritual|rite]]s relating to death and burial were practiced, though certainly differing in style and execution between cultures. {{Citation needed|date=November 2008}} [[Megalithic tomb]]s, multichambered, and [[dolmen]]s, single-chambered, were [[Grave (burial)|graves]] with a huge stone slab stacked over other similarly large stone slabs; they have been discovered all across Europe and Asia and were built in the [[Neolithic]] and the [[Bronze Age]].