Mesolithic

The Mesolithic (

The type of culture associated with the Mesolithic varies between areas, but it is associated with a decline in the group hunting of large animals in favour of a broader hunter-gatherer way of life, and the development of more sophisticated and typically smaller lithic tools and weapons than the heavy-chipped equivalents typical of the Paleolithic. Depending on the region, some use of pottery and textiles may be found in sites allocated to the Mesolithic, but generally indications of agriculture are taken as marking transition into the Neolithic. The more permanent settlements tend to be close to the sea or inland waters offering a good supply of food. Mesolithic societies are not seen as very complex, and burials are fairly simple; in contrast, grandiose burial mounds are a mark of the Neolithic.

Terminology

The terms "Paleolithic" and "Neolithic" were introduced by John Lubbock in his work Pre-historic Times in 1865. The additional "Mesolithic" category was added as an intermediate category by Hodder Westropp in 1866. Westropp's suggestion was immediately controversial. A British school led by John Evans denied any need for an intermediate: the ages blended together like the colors of a rainbow, he said. A European school led by Gabriel de Mortillet asserted that there was a gap between the earlier and later.

"Epipaleolithic" is sometimes also used alongside "Mesolithic" for the final end of the Upper Paleolithic immediately followed by the Mesolithic.[3] As "Mesolithic" suggests an intermediate period, followed by the Neolithic, some authors prefer the term "Epipaleolithic" for hunter-gatherer cultures who are not succeeded by agricultural traditions, reserving "Mesolithic" for cultures who are clearly succeeded by the Neolithic Revolution, such as the Natufian culture. Other authors use "Mesolithic" as a generic term for hunter-gatherer cultures after the Last Glacial Maximum, whether they are transitional towards agriculture or not. In addition, terminology appears to differ between archaeological sub-disciplines, with "Mesolithic" being widely used in European archaeology, while "Epipalaeolithic" is more common in Near Eastern archaeology.

Europe

The

An ancient chewed gum made from the pitch of birch bark revealed that a woman enjoyed a meal of hazelnuts and duck about 5,700 years ago in southern Denmark.[10]^[11] Mesolithic people influenced Europe's forests by bringing favored plants like hazel with them.^[12]

As the "

Compared to the preceding Upper Paleolithic and the following Neolithic, there is rather less surviving art from the Mesolithic. The Rock art of the Iberian Mediterranean Basin, which probably spreads across from the Upper Paleolithic, is a widespread phenomenon, much less well known than the cave-paintings of the Upper Paleolithic, with which it makes an interesting contrast. The sites are now mostly cliff faces in the open air, and the subjects are now mostly human rather than animal, with large groups of small figures; there are 45 figures at Roca dels Moros. Clothing is shown, and scenes of dancing, fighting, hunting and food-gathering. The figures are much smaller than the animals of Paleolithic art, and depicted much more schematically, though often in energetic poses.^[17] A few small engraved pendants with suspension holes and simple engraved designs are known, some from northern Europe in amber, and one from Star Carr in Britain in shale.^[18] The Elk's Head of Huittinen is a rare Mesolithic animal carving in soapstone from Finland.

The rock art in the

A total of 33 antler frontlets have been discovered at Star Carr.^[20] These are red deer skulls modified to be worn by humans. Modified frontlets have also been discovered at Bedburg-Königshoven, Hohen Viecheln, Plau, and Berlin-Biesdorf.^[21]

• 
  The

  Ain Sakhri lovers; c. 9000 BCE (late Epipalaeolithic Near East); calcite; height: 10.2 cm, width: 6.3 cm; from Ain Sakhri (near Bethlehem, Palestine); British Museum

  (London)
• 
  Animated image showing the sequence of engravings on a pendant excavated from the Mesolithic archaeological site of Star Carr in 2015^[22]
• 
  Roca dels Moros, Spain, The Dance of Cogul, tracing by Henri Breuil

Weaving

Weaving techniques were deployed to create shoes and baskets, the latter being of fine construction and decorated with dyes. Examples have been found in Cueva de los Murciélagos in Southern Spain that in 2023 were dated to 9,500 years ago.^[23][24]

Ceramic Mesolithic

In North-Eastern

Cultures

Part of a series on
Human history and prehistory
↑ before Homo   (Pliocene epoch)
Prehistory Stone Age Lower Paleolithic Homo Homo erectus Middle Paleolithic Early Homo sapiens Upper Paleolithic Behavioral modernity Epipalaeolithic Mesolithic Neolithic Cradle of civilization Protohistory Copper Age Bronze Age Europe Near East South Asia East Asia Bronze Age collapse Iron Age Europe Near East South Asia Southeast Asia East Asia West Africa
Recorded history Ancient history Earliest records Protohistory Post-classical history Modern history Early Late Contemporary
↓ Future   (Holocene epoch)
v t e

The Mesolithic
↑ Upper Paleolithic
Mesolithic cultures Mesolithic Europe Fosna–Hensbacka culture Komsa culture Maglemosian culture Iron Gates Mesolithic Kunda culture Narva culture Komornica culture Swiderian culture Epipaleolithic Transylvania Mesolithic Transylvania Tardenoisian Schela Cladovei culture Mesolithic Southeastern Europe Epipalaeolithic Near East Levantine corridor Natufian Caucasus Trialetian Mesolithic Zagros Zarzian culture
↓ Neolithic
v t e

Geographical range	Periodization	Culture	Temporal range	Notable sites
Southeastern Europe (Greece, Aegean)	Balkan Mesolithic		15,000–7,000 BP	Theopetra[34]
Southeastern Europe (Romania/Serbia )	Balkan Mesolithic	Iron Gates culture	13,000–5,000 BP	Lepenski Vir[35]
Western Europe	Early Mesolithic	Azilian	14,000–10,000 BP
Northern Europe (Norway)		Fosna-Hensbacka culture	12,000–10,500 BP
Northern Europe (Norway)	Early Mesolithic	Komsa culture	12,000–10,000 BP
Central Asia (Middle Urals)			12,000–5,000 BP	Shigir Idol, Vtoraya Beregovaya[36]
Northeastern Europe (Estonia, Latvia and northwestern Russia)	Middle Mesolithic	Kunda culture	10,500–7,000 BP	Lammasmägi, Pulli settlement
Northern Europe		Maglemosian culture	11,000–8,000 BP
Western and Central Europe		Sauveterrian culture	10,500–8,500 BP
Western Europe (Great Britain)	British Mesolithic		11,000–6000 BP	Star Carr, Howick house, Gough's Cave, Cramond, Aveline's Hole
Western Europe (Ireland)	Irish Mesolithic		11,000–5,500 BP	Mount Sandel
Western Europe (Belgium and France)		Tardenoisian culture	10,000–5,000 BP
Central and Eastern Europe (Belarus, Lithuania and Poland)	Late Mesolithic	Neman culture	9,000–5,000 BP
Northern Europe (Scandinavia)		Nøstvet and Lihult cultures	8,200–5,200 BP
Northern Europe (Scandinavia)		Kongemose culture	8,000–7,200 BP
Northern Europe (Scandinavia)	Late Mesolithic	Ertebølle	7,300–5,900 BP
Western Europe (Netherlands)	Late Mesolithic	Swifterbant	7,300–5,400 BP
Western Europe (Portugal)	Late Mesolithic		7,600–5,500 BP

"Mesolithic" outside of The old world

Epipaleolithic Near East

. 22,000–18,000 BP

While Paleolithic and Neolithic have been found useful terms and concepts in the archaeology of China, and can be mostly regarded as happily naturalized, Mesolithic was introduced later, mostly after 1945, and does not appear to be a necessary or useful term in the context of China. Chinese sites that have been regarded as Mesolithic are better considered as "Early Neolithic".^[37]

In the archaeology of India, the Mesolithic, dated roughly between 12,000 and 8,000 BP, remains a concept in use.^[38]

In the archaeology of the Americas, an Archaic or Meso-Indian period, following the Lithic stage, somewhat equates to the Mesolithic.

The Saharan rock paintings found at Tassili n'Ajjer in central Sahara, and at other locations depict vivid scenes of everyday life in central North Africa. Some of these paintings were executed by a hunting people who lived in a savanna region teeming with a water-dependent species like the hippopotamus, animals that no longer exist in the now-desert area.^[39]

Geographical range	Periodization	Culture	Temporal range	Notable sites
North Africa (Morocco)	Late Upper Paleolithic to Early Mesolithic	Iberomaurusian culture	24,000–10,000 BP
North Africa		Capsian culture	12,000–8,000 BP
East Africa		Kenya Mesolithic	8,200–7,400 BP	Gamble's cave[40]
Central Asia (Middle Urals)			12,000–5,000 BP	Shigir Idol, Vtoraya Beregovaya[41]
East Asia (Japan)	Jōmon cultures		16,000–2,350 BP
East Asia (Korea)	Jeulmun pottery period		10,000–3,500 BP
South Asia (India)	South Asian Stone Age		12,000–4,000 BP[42]	Bhimbetka rock shelters, Lekhahia

See also

• Caucasus hunter-gatherer
• History of archery#Prehistory
• List of Stone Age art
• List of Mesolithic settlements
• Mammoth extinction
• Eastern Hunter-Gatherer
• Scandinavian Hunter-Gatherer
• Western Hunter-Gatherer
• Anatolian hunter-gatherers
• Younger Dryas

References

1. PMID 28059138
   .
2. ^ Linder, F. (1997). Social differentiering i mesolitiska jägar-samlarsamhällen. Uppsala.: Institutionen för arkeologi och antik historia, Uppsala universitet.
3. ISBN 978-0-14-051448-3
   .
4. ISBN 9788496606289
   .
5. ISBN 9781407315195
   .
6. doi:10.1016/j.quaint.2015.10.002
   .
7. hdl:10034/621138
   .
8. ^ Driscoll, Killian (2006). The early prehistory in the west of Ireland: Investigations into the social archaeology of the Mesolithic, west of the Shannon, Ireland (Thesis). National University of Ireland, Galway.
9. ^ V. Gaffney; et al. "Time and a Place: A luni-solar 'time-reckoner' from 8th millennium BC Scotland". Internet Archaeology. Retrieved 16 July 2013.
10. PMID 31848342
    .
11. ^ "5,700-Year-Old Lola, Her Genome Sequenced from Gum, Joins Other Named Forebears". DNA Science. 19 December 2019. Retrieved 5 January 2021.
12. ^ Paschall, Max (22 July 2020). "The Lost Forest Gardens of Europe". Shelterwood Forest Farm. Retrieved 5 January 2021.
13. ISBN 978-0521665728
    .
14. ^
    hdl:10852/85345
    .
15. S2CID 206552000. Archived from the original
    (PDF) on 5 May 2020.
16. ISBN 0521855039, 978-0521855037
17. ^ Sandars, Nancy K., Prehistoric Art in Europe, Penguin (Pelican, now Yale, History of Art), pp. 87–96, 1968 (nb 1st edn.)
18. ^ "11,000 year old pendant is earliest known Mesolithic art in Britain", University of York
19. ^ Geggel, Laura (25 April 2018). "This Eerie, Human-Like Figure Is Twice As Old As Egypt's Pyramids". Live Science. Retrieved 28 April 2018.
20. ^ Nicky Milner; Chantal Conneller; Barry Taylor (2018). STAR CARR Volume 1: a persistent place. White Rose University Press.
21. ^ Martin Street; Markus Wil (2015). "Technological aspects of two Mesolithic red deer 'antler frontlets' from the German Rhineland". In N. Ashton; C. Harris (eds.). No Stone Unturned. Papers in Honour of Roger Jacobi. pp. 209–219.
22. doi:10.11141/ia.44.11
    .
23. ^ Hunter-Gatherers Were Making Baskets 9,500 Years Ago, Researchers Say by Rachel Chaundler, The New York Times 30 September 2023 Science, updated 3 October 2023
24. PMID 37756397
    .
25. ^ De Roevers, pp. 162–63
26. ISBN 978-9402404654
    .
27. ISBN 978-0691148182
    .
28. ^ Gronenborn, Detlef (2007). "Beyond the models: Neolithisation in Central Europe". Proceedings of the British Academy. 144: 73–98.
29. ^ Detlef Gronenborn, Beyond the models: Neolithisation in Central Europe, Proceedings of the British Academy, vol. 144 (2007), pp. 73–98 (87).
30. ^ Huan, Anthony (13 April 2019). "Ancient China: Neolithic". National Museum of China.
31. ^ Stanglin, Douglas (29 June 2012). "Pottery found in China cave confirmed as world's oldest". USA Today.
32. ^
    S2CID 37666548
    .
33. ^
    S2CID 37666548
    .
34. ^ Sarah Gibbens, "Face of 9,000-Year-Old Teenager Reconstructed", National Geographic, 19 January 2018.
35. ISBN 978-0-500-39009-2
    .
36. ^ Central Asia does not enter the Neolithic, but transitions from the Mesolithic to the Chalcolithic in the fourth millennium BC (metmuseum.org). The early onset of the Mesolithic in Central Asia and its importance for later European mesolithic cultures was understood only after 2015, with the radiocarbon dating of the Shigor idol to 11,500 years old. N.E. Zaretskaya et al., "Radiocarbon chronology of the Shigir and Gorbunovo archaeological bog sites, Middle Urals, Russia", Proceedings of the 6th International Radiocarbon and Archaeology Symposium, (E Boaretto and N R Rebollo Franco eds.), RADIOCARBON Vol 54, No. 3–4, 2012, 783–94.
37. ^ Zhang, Chi, The Mesolithic and the Neolithic in China (PDF), 1999, Documenta Praehistorica. Poročilo o raziskovanju paleolitika, neolotika in eneolitika v Sloveniji. Neolitske študije = Neolithic studies, [Zv.] 26 (1999), pp. 1–13 dLib
38. ISBN 8122411983, 978-8122411980
39. ^ "Tassili n'Ajjer". UNESCO.
40. ^ "Africa-Paleolithic". Britannica. Retrieved 28 November 2018.
41. ^ Central Asia does not enter the Neolithic, but transitions from the Mesolithic to the Chalcolithic in the fourth millennium BC (metmuseum.org). The early onset of the Mesolithic in Central Asia and its importance for later European mesolithic cultures was understood only after 2015, with the radiocarbon dating of the Shigor idol to 11,500 years old. N.E. Zaretskaya et al., "Radiocarbon chronology of the Shigir and Gorbunovo archaeological bog sites, Middle Urals, Russia", Proceedings of the 6th International Radiocarbon and Archaeology Symposium, (E Boaretto and N R Rebollo Franco eds.), RADIOCARBON Vol 54, No. 3–4, 2012, 783–794.
42. ^ The term "Mesolithic" is not a useful term for the periodization of the South Asian Stone Age, as certain tribes in the interior of the Indian subcontinent retained a mesolithic culture into the modern period, and there is no consistent usage of the term. The range 12,000–4,000 BP is based on the combination of the ranges given by Agrawal et al. (1978) and by Sen (1999), and overlaps with the early Neolithic at Mehrgarh. D.P. Agrawal et al., "Chronology of Indian prehistory from the Mesolithic period to the Iron Age", Journal of Human Evolution, Volume 7, Issue 1, January 1978, 37–44: "A total time bracket of c. 6,000–2,000 B.C. will cover the dated Mesolithic sites, e.g. Langhnaj, Bagor, Bhimbetka, Adamgarh, Lekhahia, etc." (p. 38). S.N. Sen, Ancient Indian History and Civilization, 1999: "The Mesolithic period roughly ranges between 10,000 and 6,000 B.C." (p. 23).

External links

• Media related to Mesolithic at Wikimedia Commons