The Stages of Prehistory and their Characteristics

The stages of prehistory are the different phases prior to the beginning of history and go from the original appearance of the first hominids (the ancestors of Homo sapiens sapiens). They can be divided into: Stone Age (Paleolithic, Mesolithic, Neolithic) and Metal Age (Copper Age, Bronze Age and Iron Age).

The beginning of prehistory is really imprecise and culminated with the invention of writing and the first reports of calligraphic documents around 3,300 BC, a date that is considered to be the beginning of History..

Article index

• 1 What is prehistory?
• 2 How is it divided?
  • 2.1 Stone Age
  • 2.2 Age of Metals
• 3 References

What is prehistory?

Prehistory is known as the stage in the history of humanity that ranges from the origin of the human being to the first written testimonies. With the first writings it is considered that the story begins.

It is estimated that prehistory could have started approximately 4 or 5 million years ago, human evolution was slow and progressive so it is not known with certainty when man appeared with characteristics similar to the current one..

This time is known thanks to the existence of some vestiges such as instruments, cave paintings, constructions, bones.

No consensus has been reached about when the Has sapiens (man who thinks). It is approximated that they appeared 300,000 or 100,000 years ago and had little creative capacity.

About 30,000 years ago, the Has sapiens sapiens, the last human evolution that was hunter, gatherer, made use of fire, created rudimentary weapons with wood, etc..

How is it divided?

Prehistory is divided into the Stone Age and the Metal Age.

Stone age

The stone age is divided into:

• Paleolithic
• Mesolithic
• Neolithic

According to some historians and archaeologists, the Stone Age is considered to be the era in which humans developed the greatest number of tools from stones, although they soon began to use other materials such as bone, ivory and wood..

A large number of archaeologists and anthropologists have dedicated their lives to analyzing and studying DNA samples, artifacts of the time, cave paintings or bones in order to build a database of what our ancestors were like and what life could have been like on our planet ago. millions of years.

Currently available evidence shows that this process developed at very different times depending on the different parts of the world, the dates of the Stone Age vary depending on the territory to be analyzed and the dates assigned to the stones implemented and discovered in each region..

As a consequence of this, the dates of the Stone Age have varied multiple times with each new discovery and also because of the development of the methods of measuring time..

There is evidence of the use of rocks as implements as far back as 2.5 million years in Africa, 1.8 million years in Asia and a million years ago in Europe.

According to all the information found so far, theories indicate that the African continent is considered to be the place with the first human developments..

During the course of the Stone Age, humanity also experienced an Ice Age, between 1.6 million to 10,000 years ago, Most of the world became frozen and glaciers covered most of North America.

After the colmunication of this period, humans began to make plantations and began a new life: the first communities were created, animals were domesticated, etc..

The culmination of the stone stage occurred when in an area the first uses of metallic implements began to be evidenced. It is generally believed to have culminated between 6,000 and 4,000 BC.. 

- Paleolithic

This period covers about 95% of human “history”. It is characterized by having a nomadic population. Due to the need for survival that forced them to migrate, they did not live established in the same place.

During this time there was one of the greatest discoveries of humanity: fire. This find brought many changes and improvements to the life of the first men, who used hunting, fishing and gathering as their main source of food..

They used carved stone, bones and wood for the manufacture of their first instruments, utensils and weapons. Religious beliefs were dominated by magic.

At this stage, the first artistic manifestations of the human race were also presented through cave paintings, drawings and prehistoric sketches, which were made on the rocks and were found mainly inside the caves..

General characteristics of the Paleolithic

• Longest and oldest period in human history.
• Climatic changes abounded, alternated between glaciation and interglacial periods.
• There were 4 glaciations that started times of polar climate, these have the names: Günz, Mindel, Riss and Würm.
• During the interglacial periods the predominant climate was temperate and rainy.
• Almost all of Europe was completely frozen, except for some shores of the Mediterranean.
• We live in an interglacial period called Holocene, previously they were named according to the glacial period: for example in the case of Günz / Günz-Mindel interglacial period) - Mindel / Mindel interglacial period - Riss / Riss - Riss-Würm / Würm interglacial period - Holocene interglacial period.

As it is the longest phase of humanity, it is subdivided into three stages: Lower Palaeolithic, Middle Palaeolithic and Upper Palaeolithic..

a) Lower Palaeolithic

• They were based on gathering, hunting and fishing.
• The man of that time was nomadic.
• They made camps.
• They used tools and weapons of carved stone.
• They organized into bands.
• The "carved song" was created around this time and is considered the oldest human-made artifact. It has many other names: olduyayense, pebble culture, pre-Achelense, culture of carved songs.
• At this time the hominids appeared:
  • In Africa: the appearance of the homo habilis, first tool creator, the homo ergaster (from homo habilis).
  • In Asia: homo erectus that inhabited East Asia (China, Indonesia) were the first to make use of fire, in China the homo erectus was called Sinantropus and in indonesia Pitecantropus.
  • In Europe: the oldest hominid species in Europe was the homo ancestor, a species of fossil belonging to the genus Homo.

The direct ancestor of Neanderthal man in Europe is the homo heidelbergensis nicknamed "Goliath".

b) Middle Palaeolithic

• It was defined by the presence of Homo neandethalensis.
• It was called Mousterian because of the fossils found in Le Moustier, France..
• The Neanderthal lived for 70,000 years.
• Neanderthal man was a hominid hunter and nomad. They lived in caves.
• During this time hunting techniques were perfected and the use of fire to light.
• Greater degrees of social solidarity began to appear.
• Appeared in Africa on homo sapiens sapiens, current man.

c) Upper Palaeolithic

• The extinction of the homo sapiens neanderthalensis.
• The homo sapiens sapiens prevailed in this era.
• The bow and thruster were invented.
• They were mostly hunters and gatherers.
• They began to tame the dog.
• Culturally, art began to be a characteristic and predominant element in their culture.
• Engravings were made in the caves as a way of artistic expression.
• First appearances of rock art.
• They develop working techniques and lithic tools were perfected.
• This was the period of the Supremacy of the present man.

- Mesolithic

Prehistoric period located between the Paleolithic (old stone) and the Neolithic (new stone), for this reason, its name means “between stones”. It occurred around 15,000-10,000 years ago, roughly.

During this stage, the end of the Pleistocene ice age occurred, a situation that improved human living conditions considerably. This motivated man to leave his caves to live in the open air..

It was determined by the peak of harvesting and the boom in fishing, among other activities.

Artifacts with geometric shapes that were joined with wood and other materials were commonly used to form arrows of stone, bone, wood and similar instruments to facilitate hunting and obtain skins without damaging them too much..

The culture of man during the Mesolithic stage was nomadic, with lodgings in caves during the winter and summer camps..

In some cases, when they were near coasts with abundant food, they settled in those places throughout the year.

This period was divided into two phases: the Epipaleolithic (post-Paleolithic phase) and the Protoneolithic (pre-Neolithic and metal age period).

General characteristics of the Mesolithic

• Vegetable gathering and hunting boom.
• Development of fishing with net, hooks and boats.
• The first signs of sedentary lifestyle appeared.
• Caves are abandoned to live in the open air.
• The first villages and huts were created.
• The art was characterized by an abundance of conceptual art and rationalism.
• Artistic expressions based on the geometric and abstract.
• The differentiation of races and colonization of the planet begins.
• The first cemeteries were created.

- Neolithic

Third and last stage of the Stone Age, considered the “new stone age”, lasted around 10,000 to 6,000 / 4,000 years ago.

It was named as the Neolithic revolution because it was the first radical transformation of the human way of life. In this phase, man ceases to be nomadic and the first settlements appear, humanity becoming sedentary and promoting social organization..

Agriculture and livestock are discovered, the improvement of their tools and the polishing of stones begins, ceramics are developed and even the creation of textile garments..

Climate change led to a transformation of the subsistence economy based on hunting, towards a more stable one based on livestock and crops.

Productive societies with a more complex organization appear: division of labor (not all were engaged in the same as in previous times), first signs of private property, beginning of wealth.

General characteristics of the Neolithic

• Agriculture and livestock boom.
• The first type of trade occurs.
• Barter trade.
• Craftsmanship begins and the exchange of crafts for products.
• Job differentiation.
• Start of wealth.
• Emergence of private property.
• Social inequality appears as a consequence of bartering, private property and surpluses.
• In matters of religion they worshiped the fertility of the earth "Mother Goddess".
• At the end of the Neolithic, nature was worshiped: earth, sun, water, mountains, seas, all of these were gods.

Age of metals

The Metal Age is divided into:

• Copper Age.
• Bronze Age.
• Iron age.

It begins when humans start to use metals to create tools.

The type of metal used in its early days was probably influenced by the availability of the metal in its natural form, such as gold or copper, since both were soft and easy to melt..

The ease of melting these metals was critical since the development of metallurgy went hand in hand with the ability to produce more powerful fires and containers to support the molten material..

The use of gold probably began by mechanically forming this metal in a cold state and then gently heating it to soften it to the level of melting and reforming it..

- Copper Age (5,000 BC - 1,800 BC)

It was one of the first metals used by man. At first it was used in its natural state to be able to be modeled with rudimentary techniques.

It required the beginning of the development of metallurgy, the science of extracting metals and their transformation.

- Bronze Age (1,800 BC - 800 BC)

The development of bronze occurred as a result of the alloy between copper and tin.

- Iron Age (800 BC - 1 AD)

Iron gains popularity as an essential material for the manufacture of weapons and tools.

References

1. Lasso, Sara (2016). "Stages of prehistory. Timeline" .
2. Portillo, Luis (2009). "Prehistory: the paleolithic" .
3. Portillo, Luis (2009). "Prehistory: the Mesolithic" .
4. Portillo, Luis (2009). "Neolithic Revolution" .