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What is the Mesolithic? |
From The Penguin Dictionary of Archaeology - Mesolithic (Middle Stone Age) The period of transition between the Palaeolithic and the Neolithic, with persistence of the old Palaolithic hunting and collecting way of life in the new environment created by the withdrawal of the Pleistocene ice sheets around 8300 BC. Glacial flora and fauna were replaced by modern forms, but agriculture was still unknown. Mesolithic flint industries are often distinguished by an abundance of microliths. The period came to an end with the gradual invention and diffusion of the 'Neolithic' manner of life based on farming and stock-rearing. In the Near East, which remained free of ice sheets, climatic change was less significant than in northern Europe and agriculture was practised soon after the close of the Pleistocene. In this area the Mesolithic was short and poorly differentiated, but it became longer as one moves further away from the centres of early farming. In Britain the Mesolithic-Neolithic transition did not come until around 4000 BC. Magdalenian The final Palaeolithic culture of much of western Europe, named after the site of La Madeleine in the Dordogne. Its centre of origin was southwest France and the adjacent parts of Spain, but elements characteristic of the later stages are represented in Britain, and eastwards to southwest Germany and Poland. Magdalenian culture, like that of earlier Upper Palaeolithic communities, was adapted to the cold conditions of the last (Wurm) glaciation, and reindeer were an important source of food. The Magdalenians are famous for their cave art, and for beautiful decorative work in bone and ivory. One of the most diagnostic tools of the later Magdalenian is the barbed harpoon. The time range is c.15,000-10,000 bc. Azilian A terminal Palaeolithic culture of northern Spain and southwest France, where its origins seem to lie in the Late Magdalenian of the area. In date it falls within the Late Glacial period, and can perhaps be correlated with the Allerod Oscillation of the 10th millennium bc. The diagnostic artefacts are flat bone harpoons and pebbles painted with schematic designs. Sauveterrian An Early Mesolithic culture of France and neighbouring parts of Europe. It is characterised by the lack of wood-working tools and by an abundance of geometric microliths. Tardenoisian The Mesolithic culture which in southwest France succeeded the Sauveterrian. Typical artefacts include trapeze-shaped chisel-ended arrowheads and small blades. Tardenoisian and similar industries are found from Iberia to central Europe, and span the period from the early 6th millennium bc until the arrival of the first Neolithic farmers. |
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