Mesolithic Period

Middle Stone Age


It is a truism, but the Middle Stone Age is what lies between the younger Old Stone Age (Upper Palaeolithic) and the New Stone Age (Neolithic). The beginning is defined by climate change, namely by the end of the last ice age, which also defines the beginning of the Holocene. At the beginning of the Holocene, around 11,600 BP, the glaciers melted and Central Europe was reforested. This, however, ended the time of the herds of big game that roamed the cold steppes and were followed by humans, because these moved to Scandinavia and Siberia or disappeared. People had to adapt, they hunted standing game in the forests and intensified fishing. The Middle Stone Age ends with the transition to agriculture and animal husbandry. Since this did not happen everywhere at the same time, the end of the Neolithic period varies from region to region. In southeastern Europe it ended around 7,800 BP, while in northwestern Europe it only ended around 6,300 BP.

As you can easily see, this classification is very European. Actually, even Central European. It can only be applied to other parts of the world to a limited extent, especially as far as the beginning is concerned. The end, the transition to agriculture, is a worldwide phenomenon, but it did not happen everywhere. For example, one could argue that the Indians of the U.S. Midwest who followed bison herds and hunted them, were a Mesolithic culture.

Mesolithic burials are rather rare, a characteristic of the Late Mesolithic are cranial burials. A characteristic, an alternative definition, so to speak, of the Mesolithic is the occurrence of microliths. Instead of making one large flint blade, a great many very small ones were made. They were first used in lances, spears and harpoons as sharp inserts or also as barbs on the sides. They also mark the invention of the bow and arrow; they were ideal for use as arrowheads. The dagger, i.e. a knife with a cutting edge on both sides, was also invented in the Mesolithic. Shafted flint axes, so-called core and disc axes, dugouts and paddles have been found. In certain archaeological sites there is excellent organic preservation of artefacts.