Question

What Happend in the Mesolithic Age that is really Note worth

Answer 1

The Mesolithic or Middle Stone Age is a part of Holocene (geological Recent) that began at the end of Pleistocene period. It exerted a profound influence on the course of prehistory. A change primarily affected the people of advanced palaeolithic culture occupying the regions subjected to the late glacial or pluvial climate. The time has been grossly counted as 10,000 B.C. In fact, Ice Age ended about 16,000 B.C., but the glaciers in high altitude did not vanish overnight; it took time to melt away.

Mesolithic was a brief period in comparison to Paleolithic. It was a less distinctive period for the use of stone. Moreover, some significant non-lithic innovations were found during Mesolithic. In fact, from the end of the Magdalenian period of Upper Palaeolithic, a rapid change in atmospheric temperature was noticed.

The change was so vigorous that it altered the ecological niche and upset the balance of human society. As a result a major readjustment was found in the sphere of culture which we define as Mesolithic. But in some territories, it is difficult to distinguish Mesolithic from Upper Paleolithic (on the basis of cultural ground) because those territories did not witness any sudden change in natural environment.





On the other hand, in South, forests withered under drought and prairies gradually turned to deserts. The mammoth, woolly rhinoceros, reindeer and bison that were abundant in cold environment withdrew themselves, as they could not cope up the changed environment. Some of them spread eastward and northward; others died out.


The new species, which succeeded them, were stag deer, wild boar and urus, the giant wild cattle. The act of hunting became difficult in forest situation and at the same time the new games could not hold up the growing population with enough food. Therefore Mesolithic people began to scatter out from the old territory and diverted their attention towards water creatures like fish, shellfish, waterfowl etc.

This shift in the subsistence pattern was mainly responsible for the cultural development of Mesolithic period. The Upper Paleolithic economy of food gathering persisted in Mesolithic but fishing, fowling and collecting were added. At the same time, the base of farming was prepared.

Thus, Mesolithic stood as a well-defined stage of terminal food gathering, which can safely be placed between Palaeolithic and Neolithic. The development towards farming served as definite evolutionary link between the two periods. The Mesolithic or the Middle Stone Age is therefore a transitional phase; lying between the Old Stone Age and the New Stone Age, it denotes a period of readjustment.

Most of the Archaeologists believe that the environmental changes induced some European groups to alter their food pattern. There are some other schools of thought who argue that the new races of man with new fauna came from the South and the East to crush and absorb the Upper Paleolithic races of Europe.

The new races of man were considered as real seafood relishers as their living areas exhibited a store of millions of mussel shells, which perhaps were tossed aside after enjoying the meal. Changes in tool technology were evident at this time. The elegant harpoons of the Upper Paleolithic had become a poor stag-horn copy with eye for lashing to the haft. Flints turned to pygmy tools, microliths.

Microliths are the characteristic tools of Mesolithic Age. These are extremely minute. Some measure only 3/16 inch, or even less in size. The shapes vary greatly but the usual forms are more or less geometrical. Crescent and lozenge shaped microliths are not uncommon at all. All are the tiny tools, which could be attached, joined, or embedded to the wooden or bone handles. Such microliths used to be hafted in rows to act as knives, sows, sickles, spearheads, chisel-edged arrow-points, etc.

These new tools involved a new technology as an aid to the new economic life. Mesolithic people invented a wonderful device for killing of the animals—bow and arrow. Soon it became a major weapon of the people; they learnt to use chisel-headed arrow points. Blunt-headed wooden arrows were also used for stunning birds and small games without ruining skin.

The other tool typical to the Mesolithic period was the stone-axe, meant for woodcarving. It was not like an old hand-axe, rather a true axe with a haft. The haft was parallel to the cutting edge. Prehistorians have named it as ‘hewn axe’ to differentiate the type from the previous Abbevillean-Acheulean hand-axes as well as from the ground and polished axes of Neolithic.

The most significant developments of Mesolithic were domestication of animal (dog), invention of pottery and the bow. All these three became more important in later period, Neolithic. The dog was perhaps associated with man from the very beginning but it did not serve any utilitarian purpose until the Mesolithic period.

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Answer 2

The Mesolithic Age(9000 BC-4000 BC)

• It acted as a transitional phase beteween the Paleolithic Age and the Neolithic Age.
• In this age, climate became warm and dry, which brought about changes in fauna and flora and made it possible for human beings to move to new areas.
• The Mesolithic people lived on hunting, fishing and food-gathering. At a later stage, they also domesticated animals.
• The characteristics tools of the Mesolithic Age were microliths, pointed cresconic blades, scrappers, etc., which were made up of stones.
• Adamgarh in Madhya Pradesh and Bagor in Rajasthan provide the earliest evidence for the domestication of animals.
• The people of Paleolithic and Mesolithic ages practised painting. Bhimbetka in Madhya Pradesh is a striking site of Pre-historic paintings.