The earliest societies passed through various stages. We can judge this from stone tools and implements. These implements are of different types and sizes. They also had different designs. The stage of stone tools and implements from the source of early man is known as the Stone Age.
On the Basis of these tools and Implements, Anthropologists have divided the Stone Age into different stages:
- The Palaeolithic age,
- The Mesolithic age and
- The Neolithic age.
The Palaeolithic Age
The Palaeolithic age is the period of evolution of man. It was at this age that he started living together with his fellow beings. Further, he also attained the art of speaking and started making tools from stone for his use.
The Mesolithic Age
The Mesolithic age is the period of man’s life between the Palaeolithic period and Neolithic period. This period started about 12000 years ago till about 10000 years ago. This period witnessed many environmental changes. During this period man started making highly developed tool.
The Neolithic Age
The Neolithic period is the period started about 10000 years ago. This was a period in which since the Mesolithic period, the man had gradually taken to agriculture. He changed his habits from food gathering to food producing. H gave up the nomadic life and took to a settled life.
Primitive man was only a little better than wild animals. The only difference was that man walked on two feet and used his hands. On the contrary, the animal walked on all four.
The Stone Age like in Ancient India
The early men in the Stone Age were always on the move and did not stay at one place for long. Hence, they were also known as the so-called hunter-gatherers. They did not know how to produce their food. Hence, they were always on the move in search of new places where they could find their food easily.
A man by nature is weaker than animals like tigers, elephants, etc. He has neither sharp teeth nor claws or horns. Hence, groups of men, women, and children lived and moved together. They moved in small groups because it was safer to belong to a group than move alone.
They used sharp stones. These stones were shaped into knives, ax heads, and choppers, etc. These were used to kill animals, to remove their skins, to fell trees, to dig the earth and to shape wood and stone. Hence the period, when these people lived on earth is known as the Stone Age.
