Stone Age - II

Archeology is the branch of anthropology that studies the origin and development of culture in early human beings. Human beings are distinguished from the other creatures by their tool-using ability. Based on tool-using ability of the human being, the whole prehistoric time is divided into three periods:

• The Stone Age
• The Bronze Age
• The Iron Age

As the name suggests, Stone Age is that prehistoric period of the human era in which people were using the stones as tools (lack of technology). In this period, stones were shaped to use as tools for different purposes and also shaped as weapon. Exact date range of this period is not known but it is believed that it began around 2 to 5 million years ago. It is then followed by Bronze Age, the period in which bronze is used as the tools.

Stone Age is further divided into three subcategories by archeologists:

• Paleolithic (between 2,500,000 and 10,000 BCE) – It refers to the oldest period of the Stone Age. Other subcategories of Paleolithic are Lower Paleolithic, Upper Paleolithic, and Epipaleolithic.
• Mesolithic (aka Epi-paleolithic and in Europe it is between 10,000 and 4,000) – It refers to the period between the Paleolithic and Epipaleolithic. This period is characterized by the introduction of agriculture.
• Neolithic (4,000–2,000 BCE) - Neolithic is the end period of the Stone Age with the beginning of farming. This is the age after which metal tools like bronze came into existence.

Out of these three prehistoric periods, Paleolithic was the longest period of the era.