Sculptures during the

Paleolithic Era

What is Paleolithic Era?

Paleolithic

comes from the Greek word palaios (old) and

lithos (stone) wherein it is the earliest period of human
development and the longest phase of mankind's history.

During

this time humans used stone to make tools and

stone was used many times as part of the actual tool.

The

most abundant remains of Paleolithic cultures are a

variety of stone tools whose distinct characteristics
provide the basis for a system of classification containing
several tool making traditions or industries.

Lower Paleolithic Egypt (700,000200,000 years ago)

First

stone tools were used to meet people's 3 basic

needs: food, shelter, clothing. To hunt for food, the
formed spears, first by sharpening the ends of sticks, but
later by attaching a sharp stone spear-tip to wood.

It

was characterized by the production of large stone

tools known as handaxes.

Four views of an Acheulean handaxe (Lower Paleolithic Era)

Middle Paleolithic Egypt (250,00050,000 years ago)

It was this time where more efficient stone tools were

made by making several stone tools from one core
resulting in numerous thin, sharp flakes that required
minimal reshaping.

Standardization

of stone tool making led to development

of several new tools.

Tool makers pushed advancement even farther by

making tools from animal bones and wide variety of stone
tools.

Aterian bifacial
point

Aterian nosed
point

Aterian nosedend scraper

Upper Paleolithic Egypt (50,00010,000 years ago)

Desertification

overtook the Sahara region. People were

forced to migrate closer to the Nile River valley. Near the
Nile, new cultures and industries started to develop. It
had many new trends in production of stone tools,
especially that of miniaturization and specialization.

It

was characterized by production of long thin stone tools

known as blades.

Prismatic Blade

Burin Blade

Epipaleolithic Egypt (10,000-5,000

years ago)
Hunter-gatherers

made relatively advanced tools from

small flint or obsidian blades, known as microliths.

Began

a transition to the village-dwelling farming

cultures.

Necklaces,

pendants, breast ornaments, headdresses of

shell and bone are sculpted for ritual burials.

After

7000 BC, permanent settlements were located on

the floodplain of the Nile. It became permanent as people
began to develop true agriculture.