During the Mesolithic period, humans developed cave paintings,
engravings, and ceramics to reflect their daily lives.
LEARNING OBJECTIVE [ edit ]
Compare and contrast the Mesolithic period with the Paleolithic and Neolithic periods.
KEY POINTS [ edit ]
The Mesolithic or Middle Stone Age is an archaeological term used to describe specific groups
of cultures defined as falling between the Paleolithic and the Neolithic Periods.
The use of small chipped stone tools, called microliths, and retouched bladelets are the key
defining factor to identify the Mesolithic as a period in prehistory.
Mesolithic people most likely continued the art forms developed during the Upper Paleolithic
Period, including cave paintings and engravings, small sculptural artifacts, and early megalithic
architecture—in addition to some unique pottery found in Siberia.
The native Mesolithic populations were slow in gradually assimilating the agricultural way of life,
beginning with just the use of ceramics.
The native Mesolithic populations were slow in gradually assimilating the agricultural way of life,
beginning with just the use of ceramics.
TERMS [ edit ]
Microlith
A small stone tool.
Mesolithic
A prehistoric period that lasted between 10,000 and 5,000 BC.
Megalith
A construction involving one or several roughly hewn stone slabs of great size.
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Background
The Mesolithic Period, or Middle Stone
Age, is an archaeological term used to
describe specific groups of cultures
defined as falling between the Paleolithic
and the Neolithic Periods. While the start
and end dates of the Mesolithic Period
vary by geographical region, we can date it
approximately from 10,000 BCE to 8,000
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BCE.
The Paleolithic was an age of purely hunting and gathering, but toward the Mesolithic period
the development of agriculture contributed to the rise of permanent settlements. The later
Neolithic period is distinguished by the domestication of plants and animals. Some
Mesolithic people continued with intensive hunting, while at the same time others were
practicing the initial stages of domestication. Some Mesolithic settlements were villages
of huts and others walled cities. The type of tool remains a diagnostic factor for the rea:
Mesolithic tools were generally composite devices manufactured with small chipped small
stone tools called microliths and retouched bladelets . The Paleolithic had utilized more
primitive stone treatments, and the Neolithic mainly abandoned the modes in favor of
polished, rather than chipped, stone tools.
Backed edge bladelet
Mesolithic tools were generally composite devices manufactured with small chipped small stone tools
called microliths and retouched bladelets.
Art from this period responds to the changing weather conditions to a warmer climate and
adaption to sedentism, population size, and use of plant foods—all evidence of the transition
to agriculture and eventually the Neolithic. Still, food was not always available everywhere,
and Mesolithic populations were often forced to become migrating hunters and still settle in
rock shelters. It is difficult to find a unique type of artistic production during the Mesolithic
Period, and it is believed that people most likely continued the art forms developed during
the Upper Paleolithic (the latest period of the Paleolithic). These include cave paintings and
engravings, small sculptural artifacts, and early architecture.
The native Mesolithic populations were slow in gradually assimilating the agricultural way of
life, beginning with just the use of ceramics. It took a thousand years into the Neolithic period
before they adopted animal husbandry (which became especially important to them) and
plant cultivation to any appreciable degree. When they eventually developed interest in the
more fertile areas utilized by the late Danubian cultures, they became the threat that
compelled the Danubian farmers to fortify their settlements.
Findings from archeological excavations
Excavation of some megalithic monuments in Britain, Ireland, Scandinavia, and France has
revealed evidence of ritual activity, sometimes involving architecture, during the Mesolithic
Period. In some cases, however, the megalith monument is so far removed in time from its
successors that continuity is unlikely. In other cases, the early dates, or the exact character of
activity, are controversial.
In North-Eastern Europe, Siberia, and certain southern European and North African sites, a
"ceramic Mesolithic" can be distinguished between 7,000-3,850 BCE. Russian archaeologists
prefer to describe such pottery-making cultures as Neolithic, even though farming is absent.
These pottery-making Mesolithic cultures can be found peripheral to the sedentary Neolithic
cultures. They created a distinctive type of pottery, with point or knob base and flared rims,
manufactured by methods not used by the Neolithic farmers. Though each area of Mesolithic
ceramic developed an individual style, common features suggest a single point of origin. The
earliest manifestation of this type of pottery may be in the region around Lake Baikal in
Siberia.