Middle Paleolithic

Subdivisions of the Quaternary Period
System/ Period	Series/ Epoch	Stage/ Age	Age
Quaternary	Holocene	Meghalayan	0	4,200
		Northgrippian	4,200	8,200
		Greenlandian	8,200	11,700
	Pleistocene	'Upper'	11,700	129ka
		Chibanian	129ka	774ka
		Calabrian	774ka	1.80Ma
		Gelasian	1.80Ma	2.58Ma
Neogene	Pliocene	Piacenzian	2.58Ma	3.60Ma
Notes and references Subdivision of the Quaternary Period according to the ICS, as of January 2020. For the Holocene, dates are relative to the year 2000 (e.g. Greenlandian began 11,700 years before 2000). For the beginning of the Northgrippian a date of 8,236 years before 2000 has been set. The Meghalayan has been set to begin 4,250 years before 2000. 'Tarantian' is an informal, unofficial name proposed for a stage/age to replace the equally informal, unofficial 'Upper Pleistocene' subseries/subepoch. In Europe and North America, the Holocene is subdivided into Preboreal, Boreal, Atlantic, Subboreal, and Subatlantic stages of the Blytt–Sernander time scale. There are many regional subdivisions for the Upper or Late Pleistocene; usually these represent locally recognized cold (glacial) and warm (interglacial) periods. The last glacial period ends with the cold Younger Dryas substage.

The Middle Paleolithic (or Middle Palaeolithic) is the second subdivision of the Paleolithic or Old Stone Age as it is understood in Europe, Africa and Asia. Very broadly it dates to between around 300,000 and 30,000 years ago. There are considerable dating differences between regions. It is succeeded by the Upper Paleolithic subdivision.

Characteristics

• It was the time when Homo neanderthalensis (300,000–30,000 years ago) lived. These hominids had an increasing control over their surroundings and later saw the emergence of modern humans around 100,000 years ago.

• Stone tool manufacturing developed a more sophisticated toolmaking technique known as the prepared-core technique, which permitted the creation of more controlled and consistent flakes. These could sometimes be hafted onto wooden shafts as arrows to form more efficient composite tools. Standard sharp point wood spears were still prevalent in the Middle Paleolithic age.

• Hunting provided the primary food source but people also began to exploit shellfish and may have begun smoking and drying meat to preserve it. This would have required a mastery of fire (attested from ca. 800,000 years ago) and some sites indicate that plant resources were managed through selective burning of wide areas.

• Artistic expression emerged for the first time (although some examples of artistic expression such as the Venus of Tan-Tan date back earlier to the Lower paleolithic around 850,000 BCE), with ochre used as body paint and some early rock art appearing. There is also some evidence of purposeful burial of the dead, which may indicate religious and ritual behaviours.

• Phylogenetic separation of Modern humans dates to this period, Mitochondrial Eve to roughly 150,000 years ago, Y-chromosomal Adam to roughly 90,000 years ago; see single-origin hypothesis.

Middle Paleolithic cave sites

• Petralona, Greece
• Le Moustier, France — see also Mousterian
• La Quina, France
• Neanderthal, Germany
• Goyet, Belgium
• Grotte de Spy, Spy, Belgium

Middle Paleolithic open-air sites

• Biache-Saint-Vaast, France
• Rheindahlen, Germany
• Maastricht-Belvédère, The Netherlands
• Veldwezelt-Hezerwater, Belgium

See also

• Early human migrations
• Recent African Origin
• 1 E12 s

External links

• Veldwezelt-Hezerwater
• Online community of people who strive to emulate the diet and fitness of Paleolithic humans
• Picture Gallery of the Paleolithic (reconstructional palaeoethnology), Libor Balák at the Czech Academy of Sciences, the Institute of Archaeology in Brno, The Center for Paleolithic and Paleoethnological Research