Table of Contents
As we have already understood that to study and understand the Stone Age period well, this period has been divided into 3 phases. Of which the Lower Paleolithic period is considered to be the initial stage of human civilization and this period refers to the initial stage of human prehistory. The presence and characteristics of this period can be determined from some of the tools and equipment found. These tools have been found at various archaeological sites in Iran. Which provide insight into the history of early human presence on the Iranian Plateau. Stay connected with the blog for detailed information.
The Lower Paleolithic period, also known as the Early Stone Age, is currently believed to have lasted from between 2.7 million years ago to 100,000 years ago. And It is believed that this is the first archaeological period in prehistory. this is to say that The Lower Paleolithic period is the period when the first evidence of what scientists consider human behaviors have been found, including stone tool making which was use by early humans and also include the control of fire.
The beginning of the Lower Paleolithic
The beginning of the Lower Paleolithic is traditionally marked when the first known stone tool was found during the excavation. It proves that the manufacture of the stone tool was also present in that period. After that the archeologist continue find evidence for period wise tool-making behavior.
Currently, the earliest stone tool tradition is called the Oldowan tradition, and Oldowan tools have been found at sites in the Olduvai Gorge in Africa dated to 2.5-1.5 million years ago. The earliest stone tools discovered so far are at Gona and Bouri in Ethiopia and (a little later) Lokalalei in Kenya.
The Lower Paleolithic began with the appearance of the first stone tools in the world. Following is the phases of the lower paleolithic period –
01) Lomekwi
02) Oldowan
03) Acheulean
04) Madrasian
05) Soanian
06) Clactonian
07) Mugharan
The diet of the Lower Paleolithic Period
The experts believe that the beginning of the Lower Paleolithic is traditionally marked when the first known and found stone tool manufacture occurred. And the period and behavior of making tools is going change as the finding of the evidences for tool making behavior is still in continue process.
Currently, the earliest stone tool tradition is called the Oldowan tradition. The Oldowan tools have been found at sites in the Olduvai Gorge in Africa dated from 2.5 million year ago to 1.5 million years ago. The earliest and the oldest stone tools are discovered at Gona and Bouri in Ethiopia and and Lokalalei in Kenya.
The expert believe that the diet at the Lower Paleolithic was based on the consuming the flesh of dead animals. The experts also believe that this behavior of consumption of scavenged food was continued at least by the Acheulean period, which was at least 1.4 million years ago.
They hunted large-sized animals like elephant, rhinoceros, hippopotamus and also medium sized animals like horse, cattle, deer and other mammals.
The factors responsible for The Rise of the Hominins
The experts believe that the Hominin (The group consisting of modern humans, extinct human species and all our immediate ancestors including all the members of the genera Homo, Australopithecus, Paranthropus and Ardipithecus) were responsible for the behavioral changes in evolution seen during the Lower Paleolithic.
The discovered Stone tools of the Paleolithic period which includes Acheulean handaxes and cleavers, witnessed that most of the human ancestors of the earliest period were not the hunters but they used to eat flesh.
The experts also believe that the presence of extinct animal types dated to the Early or Middle Pleistocene are the witness of the above statement which is present in the discovered sites of Lower Paleolithic. Evidence also seems to suggest that the controlled use of fire was figured out sometime during the Lower Paleolithic period.
Evidences discovered outside African sites
Currently the experts believed that the human beings known as Homo erectus may have left Africa and traveled towards the Eurasia along the Levantine belt.
The latest discovered site with the evidences of Homo erectus and Homo ergaster outside of Africa is the Dmanisi site in Georgia. The experts believe that discovered remains are dated about 1.7 million years ago.
Another early Homo erectus site dated to 1.4 million years ago to 1.7 million years ago is discovered at “Ubeidiya” which located close to the sea of Galilee.
The archaeological experts found that the evidences of the tradition of Lower and Middle Paleolithic stone tool tradition was established in sub-Sarahan Africa and it could be at about 1.4 million years ago.
The experts believe that the discovered tools of Acheulean period is dominated by stone flakes. The discovered bifacally working tools are were the first found bifacially worked tools, (Bifacal tools are the tools made to use from both sides). Later the Acheulean is divided into three major categories:-
Lower Acheulean period,
Middle Acheulean period, and
Upper Acheulean period.
Why did the Hominins leave or migrate Africa?
Experts believe that hominins most likely would have left Africa or migrated from Africa due to changes in climate. They suggested that this situation could have been helped them to push out of Africa.
Some of the experts suggest that droughts like situation arise in Africa and would have led to starvation, and humans would have thought that they were driven to near extinction before they ever had a chance to explore the world and they migrate outside Africa.
Ending the Lower Paleolithic period
The experts still discussing about the factors responsible for the end of the Lower Paleolithic period. The suggested reasons vary between different scholers and place. Some of the scholars just consider this period as one long sequence and referring to it as the ‘Earlier Paleolithic’.
Some of the other expert chose 200,000 year back as an ending point rather arbitrarily because they talk about the point when Mousterian technologies take over from Acheulean industries as the choice of tool by the hominin ancestors.
Behavioral pattern for the end of the Lower Paleolithic period, which was at about 400,000 years ago to 200,000 years ago. It includes blade production, systematic hunting, flash cutting techniques and meat-sharing habits.
Some of the experts believe that during the late Lower Paleolithic era the hominins probably used to hunted large game animals with hand-held wooden spears. They probably used a cooperative hunting strategies.
The experts also believe that they cut the hunted animal at the place where it was hunted and try to preserve the high quality parts of meat until they could be moved to the base home for further consumption.
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