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The Palaeolithic
(400,000 - 10,000 years ago)
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The Mesolithic
(8,000 - 4,000 BC)
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The Neolithic
(4,000 - 2,000 BC)
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The Bronze Age
(2,000 - 700 BC)
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The Iron Age
(700 BC - AD 55)
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The Palaeolithic was the period
in which people lived by hunting and gathering on the open tundra
plains of Europe before the close of the last ice age. Before the
Upper Palaeolithic (30 000 – 10 000 years ago) archaic Homo Sapiens
such as Neanderthals and their predecessor Homo Heidelbergis inhabited
Europe, rather than modern humans. |
The Mesolithic (Middle Stone Age)
is the period after the last ice age (8000 BC), lasting until the
advent of farming around 3500-4000 BC. People subsisted by hunting
and foraging. |
The Neolithic (New Stone Age) is the period in
which people began farming and making pottery. |
The period is marked by the introduction
of metallurgy - mainly copper and tin in the form of bronze alloy.
Stone tools were used in conjunction with metal tools. |
The period saw the widespread use
of metallurgy and the complete replacement of stone tools. |
