The Mesolithic, or Middle Stone Age, was the period between the Palaeolithic and the Neolithic, when the glaciers of the last Ice Age retreated and the warmer Holocene climate began. Forests spread across Europe, sea levels rose and flooded land such as Doggerland between Britain and the continent, and people adapted by hunting, fishing and gathering a broad range of foods. They made small flint blades called microliths, used boats and bows and kept dogs. The period ended at different times in different places, as farming spread from the Near East, and in some regions of northern Europe hunter-gatherer ways of life lasted much longer.
Before and after
- c. 9,501 BCEBuilders raise the first monumental temple at Gobekli Tepe
- from c. 9,050s BCE to 8,850s BCEClovis culture
- from 10th millennium BCE to 3rd millennium BCENeolithic revolution
- from 10th millennium BCE to 3rd millennium BCENeolithic
- from 10th millennium BCE to 6th millennium BCEMesolithic
- c. 8,750 BCEEruption of Ulleungdo
- 86th century BCESheep, goats and cattle are domesticated
- c. 8,400 BCEEruption of Michinmahuida
- c. 8,230 BCEEruption of Grimsvotn
More in Evolution & life
- from about 50,000 years ago to 2nd millenniumPre-Columbian era
- from about 50,000 years ago to 9,726 years agoUpper Paleolithic
- about 23,100 years agoPeople are already in North America
- from about 15,000 years ago to 1st millennium BCEJōmon period
- about 12,000 years agoHolocene extinction
- c. 9,750s BCEQuaternary extinction event
The era
This moment belongs to the Human prehistory (300,000 years ago to 3,200 BCE), the human story before writing.