1. DIVISION OF THE HISTORICAL KNOWLEDGE
Pre-historical/Stone Age
(c – BC)
Historical Age
(3.000 BC – nowadays)
c BC Invention of writing by the Sumerians (cuneiform writing)

2. Paleolithic Age Neolithic Age
Stone Age
Mesolithic Age
( – BC)
Paleolithic Age Neolithic Age
( – BC) (6.800 – BC)
- The limits of each period may differ a little bit in the history books.

3. During the Paleolithic Age, the first human being appeared on Earth
The “Archanthropos” of the Petralona Cave (1960) in Chalkidiki (Greece) is the oldest anthropoid found in Europe.
His age is years old!!!
Europe was first inhabited by anthropoids at least in BC.

4. Archaeological finds in petralona cave
- 1959: cave – 1960: skeleton – 1965: systematic excavations by Aris Poulianos (founder of the Greek Anthropological Society)
- Finds: human skull (fossilized & covered with stalactites) & skeleton (feminine) – paleo-fauna (lions, mammoths, etc)

5. Paleolithic Age ( – BC)
Hunting and gathering as the basic way of life
Moving of people in groups to scare away wild animals
Use of fire for cooking and scaring away the animals while living in caves
Humans covered with coarse animal skin and large leaves for protection
Pictures of everyday’s life, painted on rocks or in caves
- Cave painting from Lascaux Cave in France

6. Greece in the Paleolithic Age
Geomorphologic and climatic changes
Strong and constant earthquakes
Fluctuation of the level of the Aegean Sea
Changes in flora and fauna and in human way of life
Flora: conifer-trees, wild-beans, etc.
Fauna: bears, mammoths, deer, wild-boars, etc.
More finds after BC

7. Greece in the Paleolithic Age
Most important archaeological points:
Theopetra (Thessaly)
Frankthi Cave (Peloponnese)
Characteristics:
Residence in caves, under rocks or outdoors
Living in groups of persons, sometimes related
Hunting in groups in deep forests or passages or collecting snails, herbs and fruit
- Hunting  Knowledge of the immigrating customs of animals

8. Greece in the Paleolithic Age
Characteristics:
Tools from stone, bone or horn (even some utensils from wood or clay)
Use of yellow or red ochre to paint the face or the body of the dead (paleolithic “gold”)
Burial in graves with funeral gifts (tools, flowers, horns)  Belief in life after death
- Ochre: e.g. from Thasos

9. Mesolithic Age (12.000 – 6.800 BC) First semi-permanent houses
Living in light wooden frameworks covered with thatch or sods, which could be erected and dismantled quickly and easily
Beginning of using boats for transportation and fishing
First flint tools with handles and stone tools from micro-stones, set into toothed slots in bone or antler shafts, in order to create a variety of harpoons, arrows and fish hooks

10. Greece in the Mesolithic Age
Stabilized geomorphologic and climatic conditions
Most important archaeological points:
Sidari (Corfu)
Frankthi Cave (Peloponnese)
Maroulas (Alonnesos)
Gioura (Aegean Sea)

11. Greece in the Mesolithic Age
Characteristics:
Residence in outdoor points or in caves near the sea
Living in groups of persons, sometimes related
Almost permanent installation
Accommodation with stone- made foundations
Graveyards next to the installation points
- p. 1: cave with Mesolithic finds on Gioura (little island near Alonnesos island)

12. Greece in the Mesolithic Age
Characteristics:
Hunting in groups, collecting herbs and fruit AND systematic fishery with developed equipment
Limited domestication of some wild plants and animals
Long, organized naval
trips in the open sea
( Tuna fishing OR transporting essential materials)
- ps: fish-bones & hooks from the cave in Gioura

13. Greece in the Mesolithic Age
Characteristics:
Import of tougher materials, to make more effective tools and weapons
Construction of blades (of normal and smaller size)
Cremation of dead (in some cases) for the first time
Construction of some kind of jewels as ornaments or even funeral gifts (according - probably - to the social position of the dead)
- p. 1: little blades made of horn
- p. 2: spoons made of shells