Mesolithic
The Mesolithic or Middle Stone Age[This translation can be ambiguous since Middle Stone Age is an older African prehistoric period.] was a period in the development of human technology in between the Paleolithic or Old Stone Age and the Neolithic or New Stone Age.
The word "Mesolithic" is derived from the Greek words mesos, meaning "middle", and lithos, meaning "stone".
The term "Mesolithic" was introduced by John Lubbock in his work Pre-historic Times, published in 1865. The term was, however, not much used until V. Gordon Childe popularized it in his book The Dawn of Europe (1947).[Linder, F., 1997. Social differentiering i mesolitiska jägar-samlarsamhällen. Institutionen för arkeologi och antik historia, Uppsala universitet. Uppsala.]
Recently, Ray Mears and paleoethnobotanist Gordon Hillman have brought the term 'Mesolithic' back into the public arena, prompting individuals to learn more about it and the diets of Mesolithic people through the popular BBC 2 broadcast 'Ray Mears' Wild Food'.
A question of terminology: "Mesolithic" or "Epipaleolithic"?
The term "Mesolithic" is in competition with another term, "Epipaleolithic", which means the "final Upper Palaeolithic industries occurring at the end of the final glaciation which appear to merge technologically into the Mesolithic".[Bahn, Paul, The Penguin Archaeology Guide, Penguin, London, pp. 141. ISBN 0-14-051448-1]
In the archaeology of northern Europe — for example for archaeological sites in Great Britain, Scandinavia, Ukraine, and Russia — the term "Mesolithic" is almost always used.
In the archaeology of other areas, the term "Epipaleolithic" may be preferred by most authors, or there may be divergences between authors over which term to use or what meaning to assign to each.
 Some authors use the term "Epipaleolithic" for those cultures that are late developments of hunter-gatherer traditions but not in transition toward agriculture, reserving the term "Mesolithic" for those cultures, like the Natufian culture, that are transitional between hunter-gatherer and agricultural practices.
Other authors use the term Mesolithic for a variety of Late Paleolithic cultures subsequent to the end of the last glacial period whether they are transitional towards agriculture or not.
A Spanish scholar, Alfonso Moure, says in this regard:
:In the terminology of prehistoric archeology, the most widespread trend is to use the term "Epipaleolithic" for the industrial complexes of post-glacial hunter-gatherer groups. Conversely, those that are in course of transition toward artificial food production are assigned to the "Mesolithic".[A. Moure El Origen del Hombre, 1999. ISBN 84-7679-127-5]
Some authors prefer the opposite convention, using the term "Epipaleolithic" for cultures that are in transition toward agriculture and "Mesolithic" for those that are not. This is not really as confusing as it seems. The important thing is to take note of how each author uses the term.
In Europe
It began at the end of the Pleistocene epoch around 11,500 BP and ended with the introduction of farming, the date of which varied in each geographical region. In some areas, such as the Near East, farming was already in use by the end of the Pleistocene, and there the Mesolithic is short and poorly defined. In areas with limited glacial impact, the term "Epipaleolithic" is sometimes preferred. Regions that experienced greater environmental effects as the last glacial period ended have a much more apparent Mesolithic era, lasting millennia. In northern Europe, for example, societies were able to live well on rich food supplies from the marshlands created by the warmer climate. Such conditions produced distinctive human behaviors that are preserved in the material record, such as the Maglemosian and Azilian cultures. Such conditions also delayed the coming of the Neolithic until as late as 5000 BC in northern Europe.
As what Mithen terms the "Neolithic package" (including farming, herding, polished stone axes, timber longhouses and pottery) spread into Europe by routes that remain controversial among scholars, the Mesolithic way of life was marginalized and eventually disappeared. Mesolithic adaptations are cited as of relevance of the question of the transition to agriculture, including sedentism, population size and plant foods.[Europe's first farmers - T.Douglas Price, Cambridge University Press 2000, page 5 ] In Europe, a "ceramic Mesolithic" can be distinguished between 5200-3850 cal BC that ranging from southern to northern Europe. Other labels are Subneolithicum or "Mesolithic, Last Hunters, First Farmers"(Price).[De Roevers, p. 135] This stage of Mesolithic culture can be found periferic to the sedentary communities and Neolithic cultures (Linear Pottery -with Rössen culture and Lengyel culture being the most important derivate cultures- and Cardium Pottery) that by then had already passed their "aceramic Neolithic stage". By then most Mesolithic people employed a distinct type of pottery manufactured by methods not known to the Neolithic farmers. Though each area developed an individual style, yet some common features such as the point or knob base and the superimposed circular rolls of clay, suggests enduring contact and even "ethnic" relationships between the groups. The special shape of this pottery has been related to transport by logboat in wetland areas.[De Roevers, p.162-163]. Jeunesse et al (1991, fig.22) related similar point base pottery from Spain, southern Scandinavia and the Dnieper-Donets region in the Ukraine. Another area featuring neolithic point base pottery is Northern Africa. Denmark's Ertebølle culture is one example of a Mesolithic culture that made some pottery and engaged in significant trade with Neolithic groups directly to their south.[Mithen, 2004]
Mithen notes that Mesolithic cultures were a historical dead end, unlike the somewhat earlier cultures of the late Paleolithic period in West Asia, which were evolving steadily toward the Neolithic. At the same time, genetic studies strongly suggest that modern Europeans' ancestry, especially their matrilineal mitochondrial DNA, is descended directly from these Mesolithic peoples, who must have eventually adopted the Neolithic way of life that had come to them from West Asia.[Mithen, 2004]
In the Levant
There are two designated periods:
Mesolithic 1 (Kebara culture; 20–18,000 BC to 12,150 BC) followed the Aurignacian or Levantine Upper Paleolithic throughout the Levant. By the end of the Aurignacian, gradual changes took place in stone industries. Microliths and retouched bladelets can be found for the first time. The microliths of this culture period differ greatly from the Aurignacian artifacts. This period is more properly called Epipaleolithic.
By 20,000 to 18,000 BC the climate and environment had changed, starting a period of transition. The Levant became more arid and the forest vegetation retreated, to be replaced by steppe. The cool and dry period ended at the beginning of Mesolithic 1. The hunter-gatherers of the Aurignacian would have had to modify their way of living and their pattern of settlement to adapt to the changing conditions. The crystallization of these new patterns resulted in Mesolithic 1. New types of settlements and new stone industries developed.
The inhabitants of a small Mesolithic 1 site in the Levant left little more than their chipped stone tools behind. The industry was of small tools made of bladelets struck off single-platform cores. Besides bladelets, burins and end-scrapers were found. A few bone tools and some ground stone have also been found.
These so-called Mesolithic sites of Asia are far less numerous than those of the Neolithic and the archeological remains are very poor.
Mesolithic 1 started somewhere around 18,000 BC in Israel. The change from Mesolithic 1 to Natufian culture can be dated more closely. The latest date from a Mesolithic 1 site in the Levant is 12,150 BC. The earliest date from a Natufian site is 11,140 BC. The 10th millennium BC seems to correspond with three other sites at Kebara (9200 BC), Mugharet el Wad (9970 and 9525 BC), and Jericho (9216 BC). However, other sites suggest an even later start via dates of 8930 and 8540 BC. It would thus appear that Natufian culture emerges around 11,000–9000 BC in Israel and Lebanon.
Natufian culture is commonly split into two subperiods: Early Natufian (14,500–12,800 BP) (Christopher Delage gives a. 13000 - 11500 bp
uncalibrated)[Delage, Christopher, The Last Hunter-gatherers in the Near East, British Archaeological Reports (1 Jun 2004), ISBN 1841713892] and Late Natufian (12,800–11,500 BP). The Late Natufian most likely occurred in tandem with the Younger Dryas. Radiocarbon dates of 14,500–11,500 BP place this culture just before the end of the Pleistocene.
The earliest known battle occurred during the Mesolithic period at a site in Egypt known as Cemetery 117.
See also
Jomon period
10th millennium BC
9th millennium BC
8th millennium BC
7th millennium BC
Mesolithic sites
Some notable Mesolithic sites:
Lepenski Vir, Serbia — 7000 BC
Star Carr, England — 8700 BC
Pulli settlement, Estonia — 9000 BC
Franchthi cave, Greece — 20,000–3000 BC
Cramond, Scotland — 8500 BC
Mount Sandel, Ireland — 7010 BC
Howick house, England — 7000 BC
Newbury, England
Swifterbant culture, The Netherlands
External links
Official Lepenski Vir Site in Serbian
Mesolithic Miscellany — Newsletter and Information on the European Mesolithic
20th Century Mesolithic Sites in Mandla (Madhya Pradesh), India, discovered by Dr. Babul Roy:  , , and
Picture Gallery of the Paleolithic (reconstructional palaeoethnology), Libor Balák at the Czech Academy of Sciences, the Institute of Archaeology in Brno, The Center for Paleolithic and Paleoethnological Research
Further reading
Dragoslav Srejovic Europe's First Monumental Sculpture: New Discoveries at Lepenski Vir. (1972) ISBN 0-500-390-096
Notes
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