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The Mesolithic (Greek: μέσος, mesos 'middle' + λίθος, lithos 'stone') or Middle Stone Age is the Old World archaeological period between the Upper Paleolithic and the Neolithic. The term Epipaleolithic is often used synonymously, especially for outside northern Europe, and for the corresponding period in the Levant and Caucasus .
The dates for each age can vary by region. On the geologic time scale, the Holocene epoch starts at the end of the last glacial period of the current ice age (c. 10,000 BC) and continues to the present. The beginning of the Mesolithic is usually considered to correspond to the beginning of the Holocene epoch.
A transition period in the development of human technology between the Paleolithic and the Neolithic, the Balkan Mesolithic began around 15,000 years ago. In Western Europe, the Early Mesolithic, or Azilian, began about 14,000 years ago, in the Franco-Cantabrian region of northern Spain and southern France.
There was then limited occupation by Ahrensburgian hunter gatherers, but this came to an end when there was a final downturn in temperature which lasted from around 9,400 to 9,200 BC. Mesolithic people occupied Britain by around 9,000 BC, and it has been occupied ever since. [25]
3200 BC – 2500 BC: The Norte Chico or Caral–Supe civilization begins on the coast of Peru with a wave of monumental construction and founding of the first cities in the Americas. It is generally considered the oldest civilization in the Americas. [149] 3200 BC: The Yamnaya culture appears on the Pontic–Caspian steppe. [150]
The names for archaeological periods vary enormously from region to region. This is a list of the main divisions by continent and region. Dating also varies considerably and those given are broad approximations across wide areas.
The Scandinavian Peninsula became ice-free around the end of the last ice age.The Nordic Stone Age begins at that time, with the Upper Paleolithic Ahrensburg culture, giving way to the Mesolithic hunter-gatherers by the 7th millennium BC (Maglemosian culture c. 7500 – 6000 BC, Kongemose culture c. 6000 – 5200 BC, Ertebølle culture c. 5300 – 3950 BC).
The Minoan civilization based on the Greek island of Crete becomes Europe's first actual civilization. The culture of Mycenaean Greece (1600-1100 BC) offers the first written evidence of the Greek language. [23] Several Mycenaean attributes and achievements were borrowed or held in high regard in later periods.