1. Cultural Advances
Anthropology

2. Culture
Human Culture: Any learned behaviour, including technology

3. Paleolithic Era
The cultures of pre-historic humans are known mostly through stone tools and other imperishable artifacts
Early tools (simplest technologies) were thought to be from Paleolithic (“Old Stone Age”)

5. Paleolithic Era Lower: 2.5mya-100,000ya Middle: 250,000ya – 30,000ya
Upper: 50,000ya – 10,000ya
These are approximations and obviously overlap

7. Lower Paleolithic
Acheulian tool tradition used and made until roughly 100,00ya when Neanderthals and others achieved a major leap forward in tool making with the development of the Mousterian tool tradition

8. Mid-Paleolithic technologies
Changes in tool making (100,00ya)
Sophistication with dealing with environment (especially with obtaining food)
Local groups had differences and therefore variations of tools began
Most variation was through the “Mousterian” tool tradition

9. Mid - Paleo
This technology was part of their successful adaptation to hunting and gathering, especially in cooler climates like Europe during the last ice age (75,000ya)

11. Mousterian (mid-Paleo)
Reduction of large core tools (hand axes)
Specialized Flake Tools became more common
Levallois Flake

12. Levallois Flake

13. Uses
Think of possible uses for the Levallois Flake over the Acheulian tradition…
Animal Skin prep** (why most important?)
Butchering animals
Cutting small pieces of wood

14. This was the first time that stone tips were affixed to spears
This provided more effective killing
Neanderthals were pioneers which is another argument against the idea that they were brutish, apelike, dull-witted creatures

15. Neanderthal Culture Cooler climates require protection
Evidence of clothing manufacturing?
Stone Awls were found in sites belonging to Neanderthals
Wear on incisor teeth similar to Inuit women