Paleolithic Era

The Paleolithic, also known as the Old Stone Age, is a time in human prehistory marked by the first creation of stone tools, and it spans 99 percent of human technological prehistory. 

It dates back to 3.3 million years ago, when early humans first used stone tools. In Europe, the Paleolithic Age preceded the Mesolithic Age, while the change occurred thousands of years apart regionally. 

Early humans lived in tiny groups called bands throughout the Paleolithic era, collecting plants, fishing, and hunting or scavenging wild animals for food.

The Paleolithic Era is distinguished by the use of flintknapping stone tools, however people also utilized wood and bone resources at the time.

Other organic materials, such as leather and vegetable fibers, were modified for use as tools, but due to quick disintegration, these have not lasted well.

A massive increase in the variety of relics happened around 50,000 years ago. Bone remains and the first art are found in Africa's geological record. Artifacts found in areas like South Africa's Blombos cave provide the first evidence of human fishing. 

Engraving instruments, dagger blades, and drilling and piercing tools are just a few of the classifications that archaeologists use to identify objects from the last 50,000 years.

Through the Upper Paleolithic, humans had progressed from early members of the genus Homo anatomically modern humans as well as behaviorally modern humans. 

Humans started to form the first works of art and engage in religious or spiritual activities such as burial and ritual at the end of the Paleolithic Age, specifically the Middle or Upper Paleolithic Age. During the Paleolithic Age, the environment alternated between warm and chilly temperatures due to a series of glacial and interglacial episodes.

Archaeological and genetic evidence suggests that Paleolithic human source groups thrived in sparsely forested areas, dispersing through high-primary-productivity areas while avoiding extensive forest cover.

At the conclusion of the Upper Paleolithic Era, a group of humans crossed Beringia and spread fast across the Americas.

This Stone Age is marked through the use of equipment by our early human ancestors, who evolved around 300,000 BCE, and the eventual transformation from a hunting and gathering culture to farming and food production. 

It is divided into three periods: Paleolithic, Mesolithic, and Neolithic. Early humans coexisted with a number of now-extinct hominid relatives, including Neanderthals and Denisovans, during this time period.

The conclusion of this period coincided with the end of the last Ice Age, which saw the demise of many great creatures as well as rising sea levels and climate change, forcing man to migrate.