The Stone Age: The Earliest People

Vocabulary flashcards covering key terms, historical periods, tool types, archaeological sites, and lifestyle transformations throughout the Palaeolithic, Mesolithic, and Neolithic Stone Ages.

Palaeolithic Period

The 'Old Stone Age' which roughly began about two million years ago and lasted until about 10,000 BCE, during which early humans were nomadic hunter-gatherers using crude stone tools.

Pleistocene Period

Also referred to as the 'Ice Age', a division of the Lower Palaeolithic Period when most of the earth's surface was covered with thick sheets of ice and climate was extremely cold.

Lower Palaeolithic Period

A subdivision of the Palaeolithic Period characterized by very cold ice age climate and the use of hand axes by early humans.

Middle Palaeolithic Period

A period within the Palaeolithic era where early humans used stone flake tools such as scrapers and borers, and used needles to sew furs and animal skins for body coverings.

Upper Palaeolithic Period

The final subdivision of the Palaeolithic Period with a slightly warmer climate, during which flint tools, blades, and projectile points were used for hunting and skinning wild animals.

Mesolithic Period

The 'Middle Stone Age' that lasted from 10,000 BCE to 8000 BCE, acting as a transition phase between the Palaeolithic and Neolithic periods.

Microliths

Small, polished, sharp, and pointed stone tools formed from chips (such as blades, points, borers, and scrapers) used during the Mesolithic Period.

Tilwara

The westernmost Mesolithic site in India, located in Rajasthan, showing two occupational phases, fire hearths, circular stone arrangements indicating habitation, and wheel-made pottery in its second phase.

Bagor

The largest Mesolithic site in India, located in the Bhilwara district of Eastern Rajasthan near the Kothari river, featuring three occupational levels, stone-paved floors, geometric microliths, and animal bones.

Langhnaj

An extensively studied Mesolithic site in the Mehsana district of Gujarat where discoveries included microliths, wild animal bones, potsherds, and 14 human skeletons with forehead cut marks.

Neolithic Period

The 'New Stone Age' lasting from around 8000 BCE to about 4000 BCE, marked by the invention of agriculture, fine polished stone tools, permanent riverbank settlements, and pottery.

Neolithic Revolution

The foundational shift between 8000 BCE and 4000 BCE from nomadic hunting and gathering to settled agriculture, plant/animal domestication, permanent housing, and pottery usage.

Domestication

A process starting around 12,000 years ago in which humans select, grow, and cultivate healthy plant varieties and care for chosen animal species.

Pastoralism

A branch of farming where domesticated animals such as camels, goats, cattle, and sheep are moved in herds in search of fresh pasture grounds and water.

Nomad

A person or wanderer who travels from place to place to find food and water rather than residing in a fixed permanent home.

Sites

Specific geographical locations where material remains of past human civilizations and activities are discovered by archaeologists.