| ThePaleolithic |
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| ↑Pliocene (beforeHomo) |
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| ↓Mesolithic |
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| Human history andprehistory |
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| ↑beforeHomo (Pliocene epoch) |
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TheLower Paleolithic (orLower Palaeolithic) is the earliest subdivision of thePaleolithic or OldStone Age. It spans the time from around 3.3 million years ago when thefirst evidence forstone tool production and use byhominins appears in the currentarchaeological record,[1] until around 300,000 years ago, spanning theOldowan ("mode 1") andAcheulean ("mode 2")lithics industries.
In African archaeology, the time period roughly corresponds to theEarly Stone Age, the earliest finds dating back to 3.3 million years ago, withLomekwian stone tool technology, spanning Mode 1 stone tool technology, which begins roughly 2.6 million years ago and ends between 400,000 and 250,000 years ago, with Mode 2 technology.[1][2][3]
TheMiddle Paleolithic followed the Lower Paleolithic and recorded the appearance of the more advancedprepared-core tool-making technologies such as theMousterian. Whether the earliestcontrol of fire by hominins dates to the Lower or to the Middle Paleolithic remains an open question.[4]
The Lower Paleolithic began with the appearance of the firststone tools in the world. Formerly associated with the emergence ofHomo habilis, some 2.8 million years ago, this date has been pushed back significantly by finds of the early 2000s,[5] theOldowan or Mode 1 horizon, long considered the oldest type of lithic industry, is now considered to have developed from about 2.6 million years ago, with the beginningGelasian (Lower Pleistocene), possibly first used byaustralopithecine forebears of the genusHomo (such asAustralopithecus garhi).
However, even older tools were later discovered at the single site ofLomekwi 3 inKenya, in 2015, dated to as early as 3.3 million years ago. As such, they would predate the Pleistocene (the Gelasian), and fall into the latePliocene (thePiacenzian).[1]
The early members of the genusHomo produced primitive tools, summarized under the Oldowan industry, which remained dominant for nearly a million years, from about 2.5 to 1.7 million years ago.Homo habilis is assumed to have lived primarily onscavenging, using tools to cleave meat off carrion or to break bones to extract themarrow.
The move from the mostlyfrugivorous oromnivorous diet of homininAustralopithecus to thecarnivorous scavenging lifestyle of earlyHomo has been explained by the climate changes inEast Africa associated with theQuaternary glaciation. Decreasing oceanic evaporation produced a drier climate and the expansion of thesavannah at the expense of forests. Reduced availability of fruits stimulated some proto-australopithecines to search out new food sources found in the drier savannah ecology.Derek Bickerton (2009) has designated to this period the move from simpleanimal communication systems found in allgreat apes to the earliest form of symbolic communication systems capable of displacement (referring to items not currently within sensory perception) and motivated by the need to "recruit" group members for scavenging large carcasses.[6]
Homo erectus appeared by about 1.8 million years ago, via the transitional varietyHomo ergaster.
Homo erectus moved from scavenging tohunting, developing thehunting-gathering lifestyle that would remain dominant throughout the Paleolithic into theMesolithic.The unlocking of thenew niche of hunting-gathering subsistence drove a number of further behavioral and physiological changes leading to the appearance ofHomo heidelbergensis by some 800,000-600,000 years ago. As such,Homo rose to the ranks of omnivorous predators (and possibly becamehypercarnivores beforeHomo sapiens again transformed intohypocarnivores). As active hunters, they came in opposition to other, quadruped predators and started living in large groups.
Homo erectus migrated out of Africa and dispersed throughout Eurasia.Stone tools inMalaysia have been dated to be 1.83 million years old.[7] ThePeking Man fossil, discovered in 1929, is roughly 700,000 years old.
In Europe, theOlduwan tradition (known in Europe asAbbevillian) split into two parallel traditions, theClactonian, a flake tradition, and theAcheulean, ahand-axe tradition. TheLevallois technique forknappingflint developed during this time.
The carrier species from Africa to Europe was undoubtedlyHomo erectus. This type of human is more clearly linked to the flake tradition, which spread across southern Europe through theBalkans to appear relatively densely insoutheast Asia. ManyMousterian finds in theMiddle Paleolithic have been knapped using a Levallois technique, suggesting thatNeanderthals evolved fromHomo erectus (or, perhaps,Homo heidelbergensis; see below).
Monte Poggiolo, nearForlì, Italy, is the location of anAcheulianlittoral handaxeindustry dating from 1.8 to 1.1 million years ago.[8]
The advent of technology and both verbal and non-verbal communication due to transition to group hunting and gathering resulted in the expansion of the parts of the brain associated with these, as well as greater cognition due to it being interlinked with the two. Later, behavioral adaptations to further social life, uncertain food distribution (resulting in need to find and secure food and remember where it could be found) and ecological changes brought about byHomo led to the further expansion of the brain in the areas of problem-solving, memory etc., ultimately leading to the great behavioral flexibility, highly efficient communication, and ecological dominance of humanity. The biological pre-adaptations of thegreat apes and earlier primates allowed the brain to expand threefold within just 2 to 2.3 million years of thePleistocene, in response to increasingly complex societies and changing habitats.[9][10]
The appearance ofHomo heidelbergensis about 600,000 years ago heralds a number of other new varieties, such asHomo rhodesiensis andHomo cepranensis about 400,000 years ago.Homo heidelbergensis is a candidate for first developing anearly form of symbolic language. Whethercontrol of fire and earliestburials date to this period or only appear during the Middle Paleolithic is an open question.
Also, in Europe, a type of human appeared that was intermediate betweenHomo erectus andHomo sapiens, sometimes summarized underarchaicHomo sapiens, typified by such fossils as those found atSwanscombe,Steinheim,Tautavel, andVertesszollos (Homo palaeohungaricus). The hand-axe tradition originates in the same period. The intermediate may have beenHomo heidelbergensis, held responsible for the manufacture of improvedMode 2Acheulean tool types, in Africa, after 600,000 years ago. Flakes and axes coexisted in Europe, sometimes at the same site. The axe tradition, however, spread to a different range in the east. It appears inArabia andIndia, but more importantly, it does not appear in southeast Asia.
From about 300,000 years ago, technology, social structures and behaviour appear to grow more complex, withprepared-core technique lithics, earliest instances ofburial and changes tohunting-gathering patterns of subsistence.Homo sapiens first appeared about 300,000 years ago, as evidenced by fossils found atJebel Irhoud in Morocco.[11]
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TheMadrasian culture is a prehistoricarchaeological culture of theIndian subcontinent, dated to theLower Paleolithic, the earliest subdivision of theStone Age. It belongs to theAcheulian industry, and some scholars consider the distinction between the Madrasian and the broader, regional Acheulian tradition defunct.
The Madrasian is characterized bybifacial handaxes andcleavers, but also includesflake tools,microliths and other chopping tools. Most were made fromquartzite.
The Madrasian was named for itstype site ofAttirampakkam (then part of theMadras Presidency), and Pallavaram near to the city of Madras (now renamed asChennai) in the state of Tamilnadu, discovered by British archaeologist and geologistRobert Bruce Foote in 1863. The oldest tools at Attirampakkam have been dated to 1.5 million years ago usingcosmic-ray exposure dating.
North India
Guy Ellcock Pilgrim, a British geologist andpalaeontologist, discovered 1.5 million-year-oldprehistoric human teeth and part of a jaw indicating thatancient people, intelligenthominins dating as far back as 1,500,000ybpAcheulean period,[12] lived in the Pinjore region nearChandigarh.[13]Quartzite tools of the lower Paleolithic period were excavated in this region extending from Pinjore in Haryana toNalagarh (Solan district in Himachal Pradesh).[14] The lands of Gujarat has been continuously inhabited from the Lower Paleolithic (c. 200,000 BP) period. Evidence of Stone Age habitation has been discovered in riverbeds ofSabarmati,Mahi River and lowerNarmada rivers of Gujarat.[15]
