Editing Paleolithic (section)

== Technology and crafts ==
[[File:Bifaz de Atapuerca (TG10).jpg|thumb|left|[[Lower Paleolithic]] [[biface]] viewed from both its superior and inferior surface|alt=photograph]]

Some researchers have noted that science, limited in that age to some early ideas about [[astronomy]] (or [[cosmology]]),{{citation needed|date=January 2023}}<!-- is there any actual evidence for this, or is it just somebody's guess? --> had limited impact on Paleolithic technology. Making fire was widespread knowledge, and it was possible without an understanding of chemical processes. These types of practical skills are sometimes called crafts. Religion, superstitution or appeals to the supernatural may have played a part in the cultural explanations of phenomena like [[combustion]].<ref>{{cite book|last1=McClellan|first1=James E.|last2=Dorn |first2=Harold |title=Science and Technology in World History|date=2006|publisher=The Johns Hopkins University Press |location=United States |page=13}}</ref>

=== Tools ===
Paleolithic humans made tools of stone, bone (primarily of deer), and wood.<ref name="Stavrianos"/> The early Paleolithic hominins, ''[[Australopithecus]]'', were the first users of stone tools. Excavations in [[Gona, Ethiopia]], have produced thousands of artifacts, and through radioisotopic dating and [[magnetostratigraphy]] the sites can be firmly dated to 2.6&nbsp;million years ago. Evidence shows these early hominins intentionally selected raw stone with good flaking qualities and chose appropriately sized stones for their needs to produce sharp-edged tools for cutting.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Semaw |first1=Sileshi |title=The World's Oldest Stone Artefacts from Gona, Ethiopia: Their Implications for Understanding Stone Technology and Patterns of Human Evolution Between 2.6–1.5 Million Years Ago |journal=[[Journal of Archaeological Science]] |date=2000 |volume=27 |issue=12 |pages=1197–214 |doi=10.1006/jasc.1999.0592 |bibcode=2000JArSc..27.1197S |s2cid=1490212 }}</ref>

The earliest Paleolithic stone tool industry, the [[Oldowan]], began around 2.6&nbsp;million years ago.<ref name=Klein>{{cite book |last=Klein |first=R. |year=1999 |title=The Human Career |url=https://archive.org/details/humancareerhuman00klei_0 |url-access=registration |publisher=[[University of Chicago Press]] |isbn=9780226439631}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Oldowan Stone Tools |url=https://www.bradshawfoundation.com/origins/oldowan_stone_tools.php}}</ref> It produced tools such as [[Chopper (archaeology)|chopper]]s, [[Burin (lithic flake)|burins]], and [[stitching awl]]s. It was completely replaced around 250,000 years ago by the more complex [[Acheulean]] industry, which was first conceived by ''[[Homo ergaster]]'' around 1.8–1.65&nbsp;million years ago.<ref>{{cite journal|first1=Hélène |last1=Roche |first2=Jean-Philip |last2=Brugal |first3=Anne |last3=Delagnes |first4=Craig |last4=Feibel |first5=Sonia |last5=Harmand |first6=Mzalendo |last6=Kibunjia |first7=Sandrine |last7=Prat |first8=Pierre-Jean |last8=Texier |title=Les sites archéologiques plio-pléistocènes de la formation de Nachukui, Ouest-Turkana, Kenya: bilan synthétique 1997-2001 |language=fr |trans-title=The Plio-Pleistocene archaeological sites of the Nachukui formation, West-Turkana, Kenya: summary report 1997-2001 |pages=663–673 |journal=Palevol Reports |volume=2 |issue=8 |date=2003|doi=10.1016/j.crpv.2003.06.001 |bibcode=2003CRPal...2..663R |url=https://shs.hal.science/halshs-00134898/file/Rocheetal2003.pdf }}</ref> The Acheulean implements completely vanish from the archaeological record around 100,000 years ago and were replaced by more complex Middle Paleolithic tool kits such as the [[Mousterian]] and the [[Aterian]] industries.<ref>[[John Desmond Clark|Clark, JD]], ''Variability in primary and secondary technologies of the Later Acheulian in Africa'' in Milliken, S and Cook, J (eds), 2001</ref>

Lower Paleolithic humans used a variety of stone tools, including [[hand axe]]s and choppers. Although they appear to have used hand axes often, there is disagreement about their use. Interpretations range from cutting and chopping tools, to digging implements, to flaking cores, to the use in traps, and as a purely ritual significance, perhaps in [[Courtship display|courting behavior]]. [[William H. Calvin]] has suggested that some hand axes could have served as "killer [[frisbees]]" meant to be thrown at a herd of animals at a waterhole so as to stun one of them. There are no indications of [[hafting]], and some artifacts are far too large for that. Thus, a thrown hand axe would not usually have penetrated deeply enough to cause very serious injuries. Nevertheless, it could have been an effective weapon for defense against predators. Choppers and [[Scraper (archaeology)|scrapers]] were likely used for skinning and butchering scavenged animals and sharp-ended sticks were often obtained for digging up edible roots. Presumably, early humans used wooden spears as early as 5&nbsp;million years ago to hunt small animals, much as their relatives, [[Common chimpanzee|chimpanzees]], have been observed to do in [[Senegal]], Africa.<ref>{{cite news|first=Rick |last=Weiss |url= https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/02/22/AR2007022201007.html |title=Chimps Observed Making Their Own Weapons |newspaper=[[The Washington Post]] |date=22 February 2007}}</ref> Lower Paleolithic humans constructed shelters, such as the possible wood hut at [[Terra Amata (archaeological site)|Terra Amata]].

{{Further|List of earliest tools}}

=== Fire use ===
[[File:Font-de-Gaume.jpg|thumb|[[Charles R. Knight]]'s 1920 reconstruction of Magdalenian painters at [[Font-de-Gaume]], France]]
Fire was used by the Lower Paleolithic hominins ''[[Homo erectus]]'' and ''[[Homo ergaster]]'' as early as 300,000 to 1.5&nbsp;million years ago and possibly even earlier by the early Lower Paleolithic (Oldowan) hominin ''[[Homo habilis]]'' or by robust ''[[Australopithecine]]s'' such as ''[[Paranthropus]]''.<ref name="McClellan"/> However, the use of fire only became common in the societies of the following [[Middle Stone Age]] and [[Middle Paleolithic]].<ref name="Thoth&Schick"/> Use of fire reduced mortality rates and provided protection against predators.<ref name=MarloweFW22>{{cite journal |last=Marlowe |first=F.W. |title=Hunter-gatherers and human evolution |journal=[[Evolutionary Anthropology (journal)|Evolutionary Anthropology]] |volume=14 |issue=2 |page=15294 |year=2005 |url=http://www.anthro.fsu.edu/people/faculty/marlowe_pubs/hunter-gatherers%20and%20human%20evolution.pdf |doi=10.1002/evan.20046 |s2cid=53489209 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080527230019/http://www.anthro.fsu.edu/people/faculty/marlowe_pubs/hunter-gatherers%20and%20human%20evolution.pdf |archive-date=27 May 2008 |accessdate=11 April 2008 }}</ref> Early hominins may have begun to cook their food as early as the Lower Paleolithic ({{c.|1.9}}&nbsp;million years ago) or at the latest in the early Middle Paleolithic ({{c.|250,000}} years ago).<ref name=Wrangham>{{cite journal |vauthors=Wrangham R, Conklin-Brittain N |title=Cooking as a biological trait |journal=Comp Biochem Physiol A |volume=136 |issue=1 |pages=35–46 |date=September 2003 |pmid=14527628 |doi=10.1016/S1095-6433(03)00020-5 |url=http://anthropology.tamu.edu/faculty/alvard/anth630/reading/Week%208%20Diet%20tubers/Wrangham%20and%20Conklin-Brittain%202003.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050519215539/http://anthropology.tamu.edu/faculty/alvard/anth630/reading/Week%208%20Diet%20tubers/Wrangham%20and%20Conklin-Brittain%202003.pdf |archive-date=19 May 2005}}</ref> Some scientists have hypothesized that hominins began cooking food to defrost frozen meat, which would help ensure their survival in cold regions.<ref name=Wrangham/>
Archaeologists cite morphological shifts in cranial anatomy as evidence for emergence of cooking and [[food processing]] technologies. These morphological changes include decreases in [[molar (tooth)|molar]] and jaw size, thinner tooth [[Tooth enamel|enamel]], and decrease in gut volume.<ref>Wrangham, R.W. 2009. Catching Fire: How Cooking Made Us Human. Basic Books, New York.</ref>
During much of the [[Pleistocene]] epoch, our ancestors relied on simple [[food processing]] techniques such as [[roasting]].<ref>Johns, T.A., Kubo, I. 1988. A survey of traditional methods employed for the detoxification of plant foods. Journal of Ethnobiology 8, 81–129.</ref>
The [[Upper Palaeolithic]] saw the emergence of boiling, an advance in [[food processing]] technology which rendered plant foods more digestible, decreased their toxicity, and maximised their nutritional value.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Speth | first=J.D. | year=2015 | title=When did humans learn to boil | journal=PaleoAnthropology | pages=54–67}}</ref> Thermally altered rock (heated stones) are easily identifiable in the archaeological record. Stone-boiling and pit-baking were common techniques which involved heating large pebbles then transferring the hot stones into a perishable container to heat the water.<ref>Mousterian Brace 1997: 545</ref> This technology is typified in the [[Middle Palaeolithic]] example of the [[Abri Pataud]] hearths.<ref>{{cite journal| last=Movius Jr | first=H.L. | year=1966 | title=The hearths of the Upper Perigordian and Aurignacian horizons at the Abri Pataud, Les Eyzies (Dordogne), and their possible significance | journal=American Anthropologist | pages=296–325}}</ref>

=== Rafts ===
The Lower Paleolithic ''Homo erectus'' possibly invented [[raft]]s ({{c.|840,000|800,000}}&nbsp;BP) to travel over large bodies of water, which may have allowed a group of ''Homo erectus'' to reach the island of [[Flores]] and evolve into the small hominin ''[[Homo floresiensis]]''. However, this hypothesis is disputed within the anthropological community.<ref name="vicnet1">{{cite web |url=http://mc2.vicnet.net.au/home/mariners/web/mariner1.html |title=First Mariners Project Photo Gallery 1 |publisher=Mc2.vicnet.net.au |access-date=31 January 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091025085331/http://mc2.vicnet.net.au/home/mariners/web/mariner1.html |archive-date=25 October 2009 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://mc2.vicnet.net.au/home/mariners/web/ng2004.html |title=First Mariners – National Geographic project 2004 |publisher=Mc2.vicnet.net.au |date=2 October 2004 |access-date=31 January 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091026043820/http://mc2.vicnet.net.au/home/mariners/web/ng2004.html |archive-date=26 October 2009}}</ref> The possible use of rafts during the Lower Paleolithic may indicate that Lower Paleolithic hominins such as ''Homo erectus'' were more advanced than previously believed, and may have even spoken an early form of modern language.<ref name="vicnet1"/> Supplementary evidence from Neanderthal and modern human sites located around the Mediterranean Sea, such as Coa de sa Multa ({{c.|300,000|lk=no}}&nbsp;BP), has also indicated that both Middle and Upper Paleolithic humans used rafts to travel over large bodies of water (i.e. the Mediterranean Sea) for the purpose of colonizing other bodies of land.<ref name="vicnet1"/><ref name="Miller2006">{{cite book |title=Anthropology |last1=Miller |first1=Barbra |first2=Bernard |last2=Wood |first3=Andrew |last3=Balansky |first4=Julio |last4=Mercader |first5=Melissa |last5=Panger |year=2006 |publisher=Allyn and Bacon |location=Boston |isbn=978-0-205-32024-0 |page=768}}</ref>

=== Advanced tools ===
By around 200,000&nbsp;BP, Middle Paleolithic [[stone tool]] manufacturing spawned a tool-making technique known as the [[prepared-core technique]], which was more elaborate than previous [[Acheulean]] techniques.<ref name="encarta.msn.com"/> This technique increased efficiency by allowing the creation of more controlled and consistent [[Lithic flake|flakes]].<ref name="encarta.msn.com"/> It allowed [[Middle Paleolithic]] humans to create stone-tipped [[spear]]s, which were the earliest composite tools, by hafting sharp pointy stone flakes onto wooden shafts. In addition to improving tool-making methods, the Middle Paleolithic also saw an improvement of the tools themselves that allowed access to a wider variety and amount of food sources. For example, [[microlith]]s or small stone tools or points were invented around 70,000–65,000&nbsp;BP and were essential to the invention of bows and [[Spear-thrower|atlatls]] (spear throwers) in the following Upper Paleolithic.<ref name=MarloweFW22/>

[[Harpoon]]s were invented and used for the first time during the late Middle Paleolithic ({{c.|90,000}}&nbsp;BP); the invention of these devices brought fish into the human diets, which provided a hedge against starvation and a more abundant food supply.<ref name="Miller2006"/><ref name="ReferenceA-1">[http://encarta.msn.com/encyclopedia_761566394_12/human_evolution.html "Human Evolution," Microsoft Encarta Online Encyclopedia 2007] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080408032236/http://encarta.msn.com/encyclopedia_761566394_12/human_evolution.html |date=2008-04-08 }} Contributed by Richard B. Potts, B.A., Ph.D.</ref> Thanks to their technology and their advanced social structures, Paleolithic groups such as the Neanderthals—who had a Middle Paleolithic level of technology—appear to have hunted large game just as well as Upper Paleolithic modern humans,<ref name=Parson2006>{{cite web |url=http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2006/01/0125_060125_neanderthal.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060217152429/http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2006/01/0125_060125_neanderthal.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=February 17, 2006 |title=Neanderthals Hunted as Well as Humans, Study Says |work=National Geographic News |author=Ann Parson |access-date=2008-02-01}}</ref> and the Neanderthals in particular may have likewise hunted with projectile weapons.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Boëda |first1=E. |last2=Geneste |first2=J.M. |last3=Griggo |first3=C. |last4=Mercier |first4=N. |last5=Muhesen |first5=S. |last6=Reyss |first6=J.L. |last7=Taha |first7=A. |last8=Valladas |first8=H. |year=1999 |title=A Levallois point embedded in the vertebra of a wild ass (Equus africanus): Hafting, projectiles and Mousterian hunting |journal=[[Antiquity (journal)|Antiquity]] |volume=73 |issue=280 |pages=394–402 |doi=10.1017/S0003598X00088335 |s2cid=163560577}}</ref> Nonetheless, Neanderthal use of projectile weapons in hunting occurred very rarely (or perhaps never) and the Neanderthals hunted large game animals mostly by [[ambush]]ing them and attacking them with handheld weapons such as thrusting spears rather than attacking them from a distance with projectiles.<ref name="Hillary Mayell"/><ref>{{cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/4251299.stm |title= The icy truth behind Neanderthals |work=[[BBC News]] |first=Cameron |last=Balbirnie |access-date=1 April 2008 |date=10 May 2005}}</ref>

=== Other inventions ===
During the [[Upper Paleolithic]], further inventions were made, such as the [[net (device)|net]] ({{c.|22,000}} or {{c.|29,000|lk=no}}&nbsp;BP)<ref name=MarloweFW22/> [[bolas]],<ref>J. Chavaillon, D. Lavallée, « Bola », in ''Dictionnaire de la Préhistoire'', PUF, 1988.</ref> the [[spear thrower]] ({{c.|30,000|lk=no}}&nbsp;BP), the bow and arrow ({{c.|25,000|lk=no}} or {{c.|30,000|lk=no}}&nbsp;BP)<ref name="McClellan"/> and the oldest example of ceramic art, the [[Venus of Dolní Věstonice]] ({{c.|29,000|25,000|lk=no}}&nbsp;BP).<ref name="McClellan"/> [[Kilu Cave]] at [[Buka Island|Buku island]], [[Solomon Islands (archipelago)|Solomon Islands]], demonstrates navigation of some 60&nbsp;km of open ocean at 30,000 BCcal.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Wickler |first=Stephen |title=Prehistoric Melanesian Exchange and Interaction: Recent Evidence from the Northern Solomon Islands. |url=https://scholarspace.manoa.hawaii.edu/bitstream/handle/10125/16987/AP-v29n2-135-154.pdf |journal=Asian Perspectives |volume=29 |issue=2 |pages=135–154}}</ref>

Early dogs were domesticated sometime between 30,000 and 14,000&nbsp;BP, presumably to aid in hunting.<ref name="TheBookofGeneralIgnorance">[[John Lloyd (producer)|Lloyd, J]] & [[John Mitchinson (researcher)|Mitchinson, J]]: "[[The Book of General Ignorance]]". Faber & Faber, 2006.</ref> However, the earliest instances of successful domestication of dogs may be much more ancient than this. Evidence from [[canidae|canine]] [[DNA]] collected by Robert K. Wayne suggests that dogs may have been first domesticated in the late Middle Paleolithic around 100,000&nbsp;BP or perhaps even earlier.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.sciencenews.org/pages/pdfs/data/1997/151-26/15126-11.pdf |title=Stalking the ancient dog |work=Science news |first=Christine |last=Mellot |access-date=3 January 2008}}</ref>

Archaeological evidence from the [[Dordogne]] region of France demonstrates that members of the European early [[Upper Paleolithic]] culture known as the [[Aurignacian]] used calendars ({{c.|30,000}}&nbsp;BP). This was a lunar calendar that was used to document the phases of the moon. Genuine solar calendars did not appear until the Neolithic.<ref name="Felipe Fernandez Armesto 2003 400"/> Upper Paleolithic cultures were probably able to time the migration of game animals such as wild horses and deer.<ref name="ReferenceA-2">[http://encarta.msn.com/encyclopedia_761555928_4/Stone_Age.html "Stone Age," Microsoft Encarta Online Encyclopedia 2007] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091101033259/http://encarta.msn.com/encyclopedia_761555928_4/Stone_Age.html |date=2009-11-01 }} Contributed by Kathy Schick, B.A., M.A., Ph.D. and Nicholas Toth, B.A., M.A., Ph.D.</ref> This ability allowed humans to become efficient hunters and to exploit a wide variety of game animals.<ref name="ReferenceA-2"/> Recent research indicates that the Neanderthals timed their hunts and the migrations of game animals long before the beginning of the Upper Paleolithic.<ref name=Parson2006/>