Mesolithic

The Mesolithic (Greek: μέσος, mesos 'middle' + λίθος, lithos 'stone') is the archaeological period between the Upper Paleolithic and the Neolithic. It was a time when people mostly hunted and gathered food from the land and water.

During the Mesolithic, people changed how they lived. They hunted fewer large animals and gathered more foods from forests, rivers, and seas. They made smaller, clever tools from stone to help them. In some places, they made pottery and textiles, but most still did not farm.

Mesolithic people usually lived near water, where they could find food. Their homes were simple, and their burials were not fancy, unlike later times. The Mesolithic shows how people slowly moved from wandering to settling down and starting to farm. The time period of the Mesolithic was different in various regions, lasting from about 15,000 to 5,000 years ago in Europe and from 20,000 to 10,000 years ago in the Middle East.

Terminology

Main article: Three-age system § Stone Age subdivisions

Long ago, people found ways to describe different times in history by looking at old tools and objects. Two big words, "Paleolithic" and "Neolithic," were first used by a man named John Lubbock in 1865. Later, a person named Hodder Westropp added a middle word, "Mesolithic," in 1866 to describe the time between these two periods.

Some experts thought this middle word wasn’t needed, but others liked it. As more information was found, many agreed there was a time between the Paleolithic and Neolithic. Today, people still use both "Mesolithic" and "Epipaleolithic" to talk about this time, but they don’t always agree on which word to use or what it means. In places like Great Britain, Germany, Scandinavia, Ukraine, and Russia, "Mesolithic" is the word most often used. In other areas, like the Near East, "Epipaleolithic" might be used more often.

Europe

Further information: Prehistoric Europe § Mesolithic (Middle Stone Age)

The Mesolithic period in Europe began around 15,000 years ago in the Balkans. In Western Europe, it started about 14,000 years ago in the Franco-Cantabrian region of northern Spain and Southern France. By 11,500 years ago, the Mesolithic had begun in other parts of Europe, lasting until farming was introduced between about 8,500 and 5,500 years ago. Areas affected by climate changes at the end of the last glacial period showed stronger Mesolithic traits, with rich food from marshlands supporting distinctive cultures like the Maglemosian and Azilian.

One key feature of the Mesolithic was the use of small stone tools called microliths, different from the larger tools used earlier. Some places, like Ireland, used larger stone tools instead. Evidence suggests early construction with possible special meaning, such as alignments at Stonehenge and a possible lunar calendar at Warren Field in Scotland. An ancient piece of chewed gum from southern Denmark showed that Mesolithic people ate hazelnuts and duck.

Art

Compared to earlier and later times, less art from the Mesolithic has survived. Rock art in places like the Iberian Mediterranean Basin shows human figures in scenes of dancing, hunting, and food-gathering. Small engraved items and carvings, like the Elk's Head of Huittinen from Finland, are also found.

Weaving

People used weaving to make shoes and baskets, with some baskets found in Cueva de los Murciélagos in Southern Spain dating back to 9,500 years ago.

Ceramic Mesolithic

In parts of Europe, Siberia, and North Africa, a "ceramic Mesolithic" existed from about 9,000 to 5,850 years ago. This pottery, made with unique methods, appeared first around Lake Baikal in Siberia and spread to areas like Denmark and Northern Germany. The earliest known pottery, found in China, dates to between 20,000 and 19,000 years ago, made by hunter-gatherers before farming began.

Mesolithic outside of Europe

The word "Mesolithic" is not often used when talking about archaeology of China. Places that might be called Mesolithic are usually thought of as part of the Early Neolithic instead. But in the archaeology of India, the Mesolithic time, from about 12,000 to 8,000 years ago, is still an important idea.

In the archaeology of the Americas, a time called the Archaic or Meso-Indian time comes after the Lithic stage and is like the Mesolithic. The Saharan rock paintings at Tassili n'Ajjer in central North Africa show happy pictures of everyday life from a time when the area was a savanna full of animals like the hippopotamus, which do not live there today.