Paleolithic Age

Paleolithic Age began around 3,000,000 BC. During this period human beings underwent a long and slow course of physical evolution: first, from ape-man to Homo erectus, than passing through earlier and later stages of Homo sapiens, to the emergence of modern humans having a similar bodily makeup as that of humans today.

During the Paleolithic Age, people were primarily nomadic hunters and gatherers, collecting fruit and fishing. While living in groups and dwelling in caves, they new about and used fire for heating and cooking. Their first introduction to fire was in the forest where lightning strikes had caused wildfires. At first the cave dwellers took coals from the forest home to make other fires. Later they learned ways to start their own fire by developing methods to catch sparks from drilling wood or rubbing two pieces of flint stone together. Fire played a significant role in the evolvement of human civiliztion. It not only provided lighting, heat and protection from wild beasts, but also enabled them to cook food to be better nourished. Fire dramatically changed the living habits of primitive people, much like how the use of the Internet in todays world has changed our methods of communication.

By the end of the Paleolithic Age, the ancients learned the idea of polishing stones for better quality. The early implements of the cave dwellers were thick and clumsy having been crudely made by hand-striking. There were only a few kinds available having very basic purposes. As mans knowledge and skills gradually increased they had learned the art of polishing stones for better quality and had developed a variety of tools, making not only stone articles and animal bone needles, but also bows and arrows, a set of devices for spear hurling and an awl for punching holes.