Paleolithic
Earliest stone tools
Paleolithic designates the earliest and longest period of human prehistory, characterized by the development of stone tools, hunting and gathering, and cave art.
The term divides into Lower, Middle, and Upper phases marking technological and cultural advancement.
Paleolithic cave paintings at Lascaux date back 17,000 years. (Lowercase paleolithic appears in informal contexts.)
Paleolithic painted cavern
- AltamiraSpanish cave with paintings
- cave paintingsPrehistoric artwork on stone
- ochreIron-rich earth pigment
- pigmentColor-imparting material
handprints · petroglyphs · hunting scenes · bison · charcoal drawing · engraving · anthropomorphic · zoomorphic
Act of unearthing
- stratigraphyStudy of rock layers
- fossilsPreserved ancient organism traces
- artifactsHuman-made historical objects
- paleoanthropologyScience of ancestral human remains
anthropology · Pleistocene · Quaternary · sediment layers · typology · seriation · osteology · carbon dating
Extinct bipedal human ancestor
- NeanderthalsExtinct European hominins
- Homo sapiensScientific name for humans
- DenisovansExtinct hominin species
- ancestorsThose from whom one descends
hominids · evolution · migration · bipedalism · cranial capacity · Australopithecus · Homo heidelbergensis · interbreeding
Extinct elephant with curved tusks
- mastodonExtinct elephantine Pleistocene mammal
- woolly rhinocerosExtinct furry horned herbivore
- saber-toothed catExtinct long-fanged felid
- aurochsExtinct wild cattle species
cave bear · dire wolf · extinction · hunting · bison · reindeer · musk ox · game animals
Subsistence through wild resources
- foragersThose seeking wild food
- nomadicWithout fixed residence
- tribesAncestral social groups
- clansRelated family groups
fire-making · animal skins · shelters · survival · gathering · butchering · kinship · division of labor
Era of massive glaciation
- glacierSlow-moving ice mass
- permafrostPerpetually frozen earth layer
- ice sheetThick glacial landmass covering
- interglacialEpoch between major freezes
tundra · steppe · Holocene · ice core · boreal · refugia · sea level · land bridge
Lascaux
Paleolithic painted cavern
- AltamiraSpanish cave with paintings
- cave paintingsPrehistoric artwork on stone
- ochreIron-rich earth pigment
pigment · handprints · petroglyphs · hunting scenes · bison · charcoal drawing · engraving · anthropomorphic · zoomorphic · decoration
excavation
Act of unearthing
- stratigraphyStudy of rock layers
- fossilsPreserved ancient organism traces
- artifactsHuman-made historical objects
paleoanthropology · anthropology · Pleistocene · Quaternary · sediment layers · typology · seriation · osteology · carbon dating · paleoecology
Homo erectus
Extinct bipedal human ancestor
- NeanderthalsExtinct European hominins
- Homo sapiensScientific name for humans
- DenisovansExtinct hominin species
ancestors · hominids · evolution · migration · bipedalism · cranial capacity · Australopithecus · Homo heidelbergensis · interbreeding · Lucy
mammoth
Extinct elephant with curved tusks
- mastodonExtinct elephantine Pleistocene mammal
- woolly rhinocerosExtinct furry horned herbivore
- saber-toothed catExtinct long-fanged felid
aurochs · cave bear · dire wolf · extinction · hunting · bison · reindeer · musk ox · game animals · glyptodon
hunter-gatherers
Subsistence through wild resources
clans · fire-making · animal skins · shelters · survival · gathering · butchering · kinship · division of labor · tool use
ice age
Era of massive glaciation
- glacierSlow-moving ice mass
- permafrostPerpetually frozen earth layer
- ice sheetThick glacial landmass covering
interglacial · tundra · steppe · Holocene · ice core · boreal · refugia · sea level · land bridge · Beringia
flint
Spark-producing sedimentary rock
scraper · blade · lithic · burin · hammerstone · anvil · core · flake · retouching · pressure flaking
- ancient worldancient Greece, ancient Rome, ancient Egypt, pyramids, pyramid
- prehistorystone tools, Stone Age, caveman, cavemen, Bronze Age
- ancientantiquity, archaic, classical, medieval, Middle Ages
- erasera, epoch, age, bronze age, period
- Historical AgesStone Age, Bronze Age, Iron Age, Copper Age, Golden Age
- historical erasStone Age, Bronze Age, Iron Age, Middle Ages, Renaissance
PaleolithicNeolithic
Final prehistoric stone-tool era
Bronze Age · Iron Age · modern era · Copper Age · Chalcolithic
Paleolithicmodern
Of recent times
advanced · contemporary · civilized · technological · futuristic
Paleolithicagricultural
Of farming practices
sedentary · civilized · urban · domesticated · pastoral
- Paleolithic dietPre-agricultural food regimen
- Lower PaleolithicEarliest prehistoric tool-making epoch
- Paleolithic artIce-age creative works
- Paleolithic eraEarliest human tool-making period
paleontologist, Neolithic, paleontologists, paleontological, paleobotanist