Eras

The Paleolithic Period

PAY-lee-oh-LITH-ik

Also Known As Old Stone Age

Citation Formats

General Reference

History Atlas. "The Paleolithic Period." Accessed August 30, 2026. https://dev-history.interactiveatlas.org/eras/paleolithic-period.

APA Style

History Atlas. (n.d.). The Paleolithic Period. Retrieved August 30, 2026, from https://dev-history.interactiveatlas.org/eras/paleolithic-period

BibTeX

@misc{historyatlas-the-paleolithic-period,
  author = {History Atlas},
  title = {The Paleolithic Period},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://dev-history.interactiveatlas.org/eras/paleolithic-period},
  note = {Accessed August 30, 2026}
}

The Paleolithic, or Old Stone Age, is the period in human prehistory defined by the earliest stone tool technologies, running from the first known stone tools made by early hominins roughly 3.3 million years ago to the end of the Pleistocene epoch, about 11,650 years before present. It covers by far the longest span of human technological history, spanning the evolution and spread of early hominins out of Africa and, later, of anatomically modern humans across Europe, Asia, Australia and eventually the Americas. Paleolithic societies were universally hunter-gatherers, and the period ends, by convention, with the retreat of the last ice age and the technological and economic changes historians and archaeologists group under the Neolithic Revolution.

Facts

Disputed

Start Year

-3,300,000 1

Conventionally dated from the earliest known stone tools, roughly 3.3 million years ago; the exact starting point shifts as earlier tool finds are dated.

End Year

9700 BCE 1

Conventionally closed with the end of the Pleistocene epoch, about 11,650 years before present; the boundary is geological rather than cultural and its calendar date depends on the dating convention used.

Geographic Scope

Global in principle: stone tool use is attested wherever hominins and, later, modern humans lived. The earliest sites are concentrated in eastern Africa, with the archaeological record for the period's later phases extending across Europe, Asia, Australia and, by its close, the Americas. 1

Cross-Tradition Connections