Editing Mesolithic (section)

==Mesolithic outside of Europe==
[[File:Stone Age Stone Mortar & Pestle, Kebaran culture, 22000-18000 BP.jpg|thumb|Mesolithic stone mortar and pestle, [[Kebaran culture]], [[Epipaleolithic Near East]]. 22,000–18,000 BP]]

While Paleolithic and Neolithic have been found useful terms and concepts in the [[archaeology of China]], and can be mostly regarded as happily naturalized, Mesolithic was introduced later, mostly after 1945, and does not appear to be a necessary or useful term in the context of China. Chinese sites that have been regarded as Mesolithic are better considered as Early Neolithic.<ref>Zhang, Chi, [https://www.dlib.si/stream/URN:NBN:SI:doc-ON9U3D5U/3841cd9c-4969-4198-8dea-efd7f3b2bf7e/PDF ''The Mesolithic and the Neolithic in China''] (PDF), 1999, ''Documenta Praehistorica. Poročilo o raziskovanju paleolitika, neolotika in eneolitika v Sloveniji. Neolitske študije'' = Neolithic studies, [Zv.] 26 (1999), pp. 1–13 dLib</ref>

In the [[archaeology of India]], the Mesolithic, dated roughly between 12,000 and 8,000 BP, remains a concept in use.<ref>Sailendra Nath Sen, [https://books.google.com/books?id=Wk4_ICH_g1EC&pg=PA23 ''Ancient Indian History and Civilization''], p. 23, 1999, New Age International, {{ISBN|8122411983|978-8122411980}}</ref>

In the [[archaeology of the Americas]], an [[Archaic period (North America)|Archaic]] or Meso-Indian period, following the [[Lithic stage]], somewhat equates to the Mesolithic.

The [[Saharan rock art|Saharan rock paintings]] found at [[Tassili n'Ajjer]] in central [[Sahara]], and at other locations depict vivid scenes of everyday life in central [[North Africa]]. Some of these paintings were executed by a hunting people who lived in a [[savanna]] region teeming with a water-dependent species like the [[hippopotamus]], animals that no longer exist in the now-desert area.<ref>{{cite web |title=Tassili n'Ajjer |url=https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/179/ |publisher=[[UNESCO]]}}</ref>
<!--
unrelated, just a case for {{distinguish}}
In the archaeology of [[sub-Saharan Africa]],  Lower Paleolithic is replaced by "[[Early Stone Age]]", Middle Paleolithic is replaced by "[[Middle Stone Age]]" and Upper Paleolithic by "[[Later Stone Age]]" (beginning some 50,000 years ago) according to the terminology introduced  by John Hilary Goodman and [[Clarence van Riet Lowe]] of South Africa in the early 20th century. Therefore, care must be taken in translating "Mesolithic" as "Middle Stone Age", as the latter term has an unrelated technical meaning in the context of [[African archaeology]].
-->

{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
! Geographical range
! Periodization
! Culture
! Temporal range
! Notable sites
|-
| North Africa ([[Morocco]])
| Late Upper Paleolithic to Early Mesolithic
| [[Iberomaurusian|Iberomaurusian culture]]
| {{sort|24|24,000–10,000 BP}}
|-
| [[North Africa]]
|
| [[Capsian culture]]
| {{sort|12|12,000–8,000 BP}}
|
|-
|[[East Africa]]
|
|Kenya Mesolithic
|8,200–7,400 BP
|Gamble's cave<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.britannica.com/event/Stone-Age/Africa|title=Africa-Paleolithic|website=Britannica|access-date=28 November 2018}}</ref>
|-
|  Central Asia ([[Ural (region)|Middle Urals]])
|
|
| 12,000–5,000 BP
|[[Shigir Idol]], [[Vtoraya Beregovaya]]<ref>
Central Asia does not enter the Neolithic, but transitions from the Mesolithic to the [[Chalcolithic]] in the fourth millennium BC ([https://www.metmuseum.org/toah/ht/02/nc.html metmuseum.org]).
The early onset of the Mesolithic in Central Asia and its importance for later European mesolithic cultures was understood only after 2015, with the radiocarbon dating of the Shigor idol to 11,500 years old.
N.E. Zaretskaya et al., "Radiocarbon chronology of the Shigir and Gorbunovo archaeological bog sites, Middle Urals, Russia", ''Proceedings of the 6th International Radiocarbon and Archaeology Symposium'', (E Boaretto and N R Rebollo Franco eds.), ''RADIOCARBON''   Vol 54, No. 3–4, 2012, 783–794.</ref>
|-
| East Asia ([[Japan]])
| [[Jōmon period|Jōmon cultures]]
|
| {{sort|16|16,000–2,350 BP}}
|
|-
| East Asia ([[Korea]])
| [[Jeulmun pottery period]]
|
| {{sort|10|10,000–3,500 BP}}
|
|-
|South Asia (India)
|[[South Asian Stone Age]]
|
|{{sort|12|12,000–4,000 BP}}<ref>The term "Mesolithic" is not a useful term for the periodization of the South Asian Stone Age, as certain [[Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes|tribes]] in the interior of the Indian subcontinent retained a Mesolithic culture into the modern period, and there is no consistent usage of the term. The range 12,000–4,000 BP is based on the combination of the ranges given by Agrawal et al. (1978) and by Sen (1999), and overlaps with the early Neolithic at [[Mehrgarh]]. D.P. Agrawal et al., "Chronology of Indian prehistory from the Mesolithic period to the Iron Age", ''Journal of Human Evolution'', Volume 7, Issue 1, January 1978, 37–44: "A total time bracket of c. 6,000–2,000 B.C.  will cover the dated Mesolithic sites,  e.g.  Langhnaj, Bagor, Bhimbetka, Adamgarh, Lekhahia, etc." (p. 38). S.N. Sen, [https://books.google.com/books?id=Wk4_ICH_g1EC&pg=PA23 ''Ancient Indian History and Civilization''], 1999: "The Mesolithic period roughly ranges between 10,000 and 6,000 B.C."  (p. 23).</ref>
|[[Bhimbetka rock shelters]], [[Chopani Mando]], [[Lekhahia]]
|-
|}