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The Paleolithic is a prehistoric era distinguished by the development of stone tools. It covers virtually all of humanity's time on Earth, extending from 2.5 million years ago, with the introduction of stone tools by hominids such as Homo habilis, to the introduction of agriculture in around 10,000 BCE. The term "Paleolithic", literally "Old Age of the Stone", was coined by archaeologist John Lubbock in 1865 and derives from the Greek "παλαιός", "paleos" ("old") and "λίθος", "lithos", ("stone"). The Paleolithic era ended with the Mesolithic, or in areas with an early neolithisation, the Epipaleolithic.
The Paleolithic is characterized by the utilization of knapped stone tools, although humans at the time also used wood and bone tools. Other organic commodities were synthesized as tools, including leather and vegetable fibers; however these have not been preserved to any great degree. Traditionally, the Paleolithic is divided into three periods, the Lower Paleolithic, Middle Paleolithic and the Upper Paleolithic; the three ages mark technological and cultural advances in different human communities.
The timeline below shows a simplified genealogy of Paleolithic humanity:[1] <timeline> DateFormat = yyyy ImageSize = width:800 height:auto barincrement:18 PlotArea = left:20 right:20 bottom:20 top:10 Colors = id:white value:rgb(1,1,1) id:black value:black id:canvas value:gray(0.98) id:holocene value:rgb(1,0.984,0.941) id:pleisto value:rgb(1,0.968,0.690) id:pliocene value:rgb(1,1,0.6) id:miocene value:rgb(1,1,0) id:paleo value:rgb(0.651,0.875,0.616) id:gray value:gray(0.80) id:darkblue value:rgb(0.3,0.3,0.7) id:blue value:rgb(0.45,0.45,0.80) id:lightblue value:rgb(0.65,0.65,0.90) id:red value:rgb(0.8,0.30,0.30) id:rougemoy value:rgb(0.88,0.45,0.45) id:lightred value:rgb(0.92,0.64,0.64) id:lightred2 value:rgb(0.95,0.84,0.84) id:orange value:rgb(1,0.7,0.3) id:orangesom value:rgb(0.9,0.45,0.25) id:or value:rgb(1,0.9,0) id:grilleMajor value:gray(0.7) id:grilleMinor value:gray(0.9)
Period = from:-3000 till:1 TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal format:yyyy AlignBars = justify ScaleMinor = unit:year increment:100 start:-3000 gridcolor:grilleMinor ScaleMajor = unit:year increment:500 start:-3000 gridcolor:grilleMajor BackgroundColors = canvas:canvas bars:canvas BarData= bar:evenement1 bar:espace1 bar:evenement2 bar:espace2 bar:evenement3 bar:espace3 bar:evenement4 bar:espace4 bar:evenement5 bar:espace5 bar:evenement6 bar:espace6
Define $center = anchor:from align:center Define $left = anchor:from align:left shift:( 4,-4) Define $right = anchor:till align:right shift:(-4,-4) Define $left2 = anchor:from align:left shift:( 4, 3) Define $right2 = anchor:till align:right shift:(-4, 3)
PlotData=
bar:evenement1 color:black width:20 $left from:-3000 till:-1950 color:gray at:-2650 textcolor:black text:" Australopithecus"
bar:espace1 width:12 at:-2556 mark:(line, blue)
bar:evenement2 color:black width:20 $left from:-2556 till:-1700 color:or at:-2300 textcolor:black text:" Homo habilis"
bar:espace2 width:12 at:-2043 mark:(line, blue)
bar:evenement3 color:black width:20 $left from:-2043 till:-1000 color:darkblue at:-1650 textcolor:black text:" Homo ergaster" from:-700 till:-300 color:blue textcolor:black text:"Homo rhodesiensis" from:-200 till:0 color:lightblue at:-300 textcolor:black text:" Homo sapiens" at:-880 textcolor:black text:"?"
bar:espace3 width:12 at:-1121 mark:(line, blue) bar:espace3 width:36 at:-1750 mark:(line, blue)
bar:evenement4 color:black width:20 $left from:-1121 till:-800 color:lightred at:-1125 textcolor:black text:"Homo antecessor" from:-700 till:-201 color:rougemoy at:-675 textcolor:black text:"Homo heidelbergensis" from:-199 till:-35 color:red at:-225 textcolor:black text:"Neanderthal" at:-1750 mark:(line, darkblue) at:-770 textcolor:black text:"?" bar:espace4 width:12 at:-1750 mark:(line, darkblue)
bar:evenement5 color:black width:20 bar:evenement5 color:black width:20 $left from:-1750 till:-100 color:orange at:-1000 textcolor:black text:" Homo erectus"
bar:espace5 width:12 at:-100 mark:(line, blue)
bar:evenement6 color:black width:20 $left from:-100 till:-27 color:orangesom at:-315 textcolor:black text:" Homo soloensis"
bar:ages0 from:-2600 till:-10 width:10 color:paleo textcolor:white at:-1600 text:"Paleolithic"
bar:ages fontsize:9 from:-3000 till:-1806 color:pliocene at:-2400 text:"Pliocene" from:-1806 till:-11 color:pleisto at:-1000 text:"Pleistocene" from:-11 till:0 color:holocene at:-100 text:"H->" at:-3000 mark:(line, black) at:-1806 mark:(line, black) at:-11 mark:(line, black) at:0 mark:(line, black)
</timeline>
<center>
</center>
The economy of a typical Paleolithic society was simplistic, with humans living a hunter-gatherer lifestyle. They obtained food, firewood and materials for their tools, clothes or cabins.
In general, the methods of fabrication for tools did not change a great deal during the Paleolithic, despite the number of cultures that existed through the era.
There is no archaeological evidence of social inequalities or violent battles between groups (i.e. war). Paleolithic humans were grouped in clans that ranged from 25 to 50 members; these clans were formed by several families.