The Stone Ages
We use the term Stone age to describe the broad prehistoric period during which stone was widely used to make implements with a sharp cutting edge, a point, or a percussion surface. This period stretches from about 3.4 million years ago until around 3000 years ago, when it ended with the advent of metalworking.
The earliest stone tools, found in the Olduvai Gorge in Tanzania, were simple chopping tools believed to be used by homonin species Australopithicus and Homo habilis. Later, Homo erectus inherited these Oldowan tools and took them along as they spread from Africa into Asia. Meanwhile this core-based technology developed into sophisticated bifacial handaxes as early as 1.7 million years ago.
Around 1 million years ago handaxes first appear in Europe and are associated with the European Homo erectus, Homo heidelbergensis. The period dominated by handaxes ends around 300,000 years ago and is replaced by a lithic technology known as the Mousterian, named after the archeological site of Le Moustier in France. This technology, primarily developed and used by Neanderthals in Europe and the Middle East during the Middle Palaeolithic, consists of smaller and sharper flake tools that were used as knifes, points as well as scrapers.
With the arrival of modern humans in Europe, around 43,000 years ago, the flake technology of the Neantherthals was replaced with Upper Palaeolithic blade technology. This technology evolved from the production of long blades into the microlithic industries of the Mesolithic period, which makes much more efficient use of the available material by producing composite hafted tools.
When the time line of the stone age is projected onto a football field it becomes evident how vast this period is in our human (pre)history, especially when compared with more the more recent historical time periods such as the Bronze age (~4,000 ya), Iron age (~3,000 ya) and the Roman period (~2,000 ya). Starting from the goal line on the left end of the field at 1 million years ago, the lower palaeolithic period extends beyond the half-way point of the field closing in on the penalty arc on the right half of the field. The Middle Palaeolithic period spans most of this half of the field and comes to a halt about 1 yard in front of the goal line, coinciding with the sudden disappearance of the Neanderthals.
The remaining Stone age periods, including the Upper Palaeolithic, Mesolithic and Neolithic are crammed together with the Bronze-, Iron age and Roman period in the final yard before reaching the goal line, representing the present time. The penalty spot, at 200,000 years ago, marks the appearance of Homo sapiens in Africa 160,000 years before this species brings the Upper Palaeolithic blade technology to Europe and the Middle East.
Stone tools are virtually indestructible and remain preserved in the archeological record longer than any form of evidence. This durability, coupled with the enormous span of time during which homonins made these stone tools results in a staggering amount of potentially recoverable information. In their Handbook of Palaeolithic Typology (1994 University of Pennsylvania Press), André Debénath and Harold Dibble estimated that if a constant population of 5,000 tool makers would each make 10 handaxes and about 100 flake tools per year during the time of the Lower Palaeolithic in Europe, which lasted around 500,000 years, this would have resulted in the production of 25 billion (25,000,000,000) handaxes and 250 billion (250,000,000,000) flake tools. Only a fraction of this material has been collected and researched so far, leaving a lot more still to be discovered.
