The Paleolithic Age spans from 2.5 million to 12,000 years ago, characterized by glacial and interglacial periods that influenced human survival and migration. Humans lived as nomadic hunter-gatherers in small groups, using stone tools and practicing early forms of art and religious beliefs. Notable artifacts include cave paintings, Venus figurines, and various tools for hunting and crafting.

1. The Paleolithic Age ( The Stone Age)
Chronology 2,500,000 -12,000 years ago
Climate Throughout its history, the Earth has cycled between cold glacial periods (during which large masses of ice, known as glaciers, covered much of the
world's land mass) and warm interglacial periods (which lacked widespread glaciers). Humans have lived through many such cycles, which took place
over thousands of years. While glacial periods made survival more difficult, they also lowered the sea level, easing human colonization of the world.
We currently live in an interglacial period, which began ca. 10,000 BC.
Lifestyle Humans were predators; they didn’t replenish what had been used up.
They were hunter/gatherers, subsisting off the land.
Where did they live? They were nomads: they didn’t live in a fixed place.
They lived in open-air settlements, or they sheltered in caves.
What was society like?
They lived in small groups of twenty to thirty people known as hordes.
Various hordes formed a group called a tribe.
Skills and tools They made stone tools , hand axes (bi-faced, with a sharp point), spears, burins, or drills, for putting holes in wood; awls for punching holes in
leather; scrapers for cleaning the meat off of hides and bones; knives for cutting meat or vegetables; points for spears (and later still, arrows); spear
thrower, and chisels for working stone, wood and bone.
They tamed fire and made clothing.
Art Cave paintings. They painted realistic representations of animals.
They painted on protruding parts of the rock and cave ceilings to give an impression of volume.
Polychrome paintings: They used red, ochre and black.
They painted animals, simple hand stencils, red disks, and claviforms (club shapes)·
They carved pieces of bone and horn.
They made little statues of women, called Venus statues. These were made of ivory, stone or bone. These figures were fertility symbols
Religion Palaeolithic people had religious beliefs. They worshipped the forces of nature and buried the dead.
Prehistory in Caceres Santa Ana Cave and Maltravieso Cave