Scientists Say: Stone Age

This era accounts for over 99 percent of human history

The Bhimbetka rock shelters in Madhya Pradesh, India, include some of the earliest depictions of human life. Some rock paintings here date as far back as 10,000 B.C.

Soltan Frédéric/The Image Bank/Getty Images Plus

By Katie Grace Carpenter

October 7, 2024 at 6:30 am

Stone Age (noun, “STONE age”)

The Stone Age is the earliest of three periods in human history before written records. It started around 3.3 million years ago. That’s when people first made stone tools. It’s also a time when people developed farming practices and domesticated animals.

The Stone Age ended with the start of the Bronze Age about 5,000 years ago. That’s when people started smelting copper. And the Bronze Age ended with the start of the Iron Age, which is when people started smelting iron. That happened about 2,500 to 3,300 years ago for most of Europe, Asia and Africa.

The Stone Age accounts for more than 99 percent of human history. But much remains unknown about the many cultures that lived during this time. Because it happened before there were written records, archeologists must depend on tools, paintings and other artifacts left behind.

Archeologists divide the Stone Age into three eras. These are the Paleolithic, Mesolithic and Neolithic eras. The Paleolithic began about 3.3 million years ago, when people made the oldest known stone tools. In 2015, archeologists discovered ancient stone tools in Kenya. These tools were about 700,000 years older than the oldest known stone tools at the time. This caused archeologists to push the era’s start date back.

The Mesolithic was a transitional era between the Paleolithic and Neolithic. During this time, stone tools became smaller and more refined. Different cultures’ tool-making developed at different rates. So this era started at different times in different places. But it generally began about 20,000 to 10,000 years ago and lasted about 10,000 years. During this time, archeologists also note that human burials became more ritualized.

The Neolithic era started about 12,000 to 10,000 years ago. This period saw major changes in people’s way of life. Until this point, people had survived mainly by hunting and gathering food. But Neolithic people started growing crops on large scales. They also domesticated animals. Human settlements became more permanent during this age, with fewer people living as nomads.