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The Paleolithic time period is by far the longest, beginning some two
million years ago to coincide with the first evidence of tool making and
ending around 10,000 B.C. the end of the last ice age
Lower
Paleolithic quartzite bifacial handaxe 130mm long
500.000 BC - Spain
The Lower Paleolithic period begins with
the appearance of the first stone tools. At first, these are rather simple
forms such as flaked cobbles that have been found in Africa associated
with fossils of the oldest human species known. One of the first sites
where such tools were found is Olduvai Gorge, this early stone industry is
widely known as the Oldowan. The Lower Paleolithic of the Iberian
peninsula is known mainly through a few sites such as Torralba and Ambrona.
Lower
Paleolithic Acheulian Scraper 150mm long
200,000 - 120,000 BC
Dept de la Vienne, France
With time, stone tools became more
complex. Handaxes, characteristic of the Acheulian had appeared in Africa
more than one million years ago. It is at about this time that Europe
seems to be first occupied by humans. Sites from this period are scattered
all over the country, although they tended to concentrate along the
valleys of the major rivers and their tributaries.
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Mousterian
Handaxe/Scraper about 120,000 BC 120mm long
Early
Upper Paleolithic (30.000 – 20.000 BC)
Aurignacian Point - France 80mm long
The Aurignacian culture in
Europe was in the Upper Palaeolithic period. The name is derived from a
rock-shelter at Aurignac in the Pyrenees of France. The earliest cave
paintings and figurines are attributed to the Aurignacian peoples of
Western Europe about 30,000 BC. Its tools included scrapers, burins
(points for making holes or engraving), and blades. Aurignacian art
represents the first complete artistic tradition, moving from simple
engravings of animal forms on small rocks to finer pieces of carved bone
and ivory to highly stylised clay figurines.
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