10 characteristics of the MESOLITHIC

The Mesolithic was the middle period of the Stone Age. and was marked by the end of the ice age. In unProfesor we discover the characteristics of the Mesolithic.

Of all the periods that make up the Stone Age, the most unknown is possibly the Mesolithic, being located between the two major stages of the Paleolithic and Neolithic, and therefore occupying a more secondary role in the important period known as the Age of Stone. For this reason, and to know this in depth, in this lesson from a Teacher we must talk about the main Mesolithic features.

Before talking about the characteristics of the Mesolithic, let's get to know this period of Prehistory better. the mesolithic was the intermediate period of the Stone age, being therefore located between the Paleolithic and the Neolithic, being therefore sometimes known as the Middle Stone Age. It was a very important time in our history, marking a turning point and change between the two main epochs of the Stone Age, and therefore having characteristics of both stages.

To talk about the chronological period of the Mesolithic, we must understand that there is no fixed period to talk about. For this reason we are talking about quite unequal periods of time, since the sources that we use to analyze this period are not very numerous or reliable. Even so, we must understand that this stage of the Stone Age is located more or less between 12,000 B.C. c. and 9000 B.C. c., although depending on the region we can place it further back in time or later.

The Mesolithic often does not appear as a period as such, since according to some historians it cannot be considered as something of its own, but rather as part of the Paleolithic or Neolithic. The reality is that the Mesolithic must be considered as a period as such, having important advances that differentiate it from other periods from Prehistory.

To continue with this lesson on the characteristics of the Mesolithic, we must talk about the main elements that define this period of history, marking many of the great changes that human beings underwent when passing from the Paleolithic to the Neolithic.

The main characteristics of the Mesolithic We must comment on the following:

1. the mesolithic was marked for the end of the last ice age before our time. For all this, the ice melted, the sea levels changed, and the temperature increased, thereby changing the way humans face life. The thaw also brought with it the rising sea levels and a hot, dry climate. Human beings had to face a totally new world, changing some of their main customs as they were not adaptable to new times.
2. The main economic activities of the time were the usual ones of the Paleolithic, being the fishing, hunting and gathering, being those that could give food to human beings, being the basic factor for life. Little by little new economic activities appeared, but these remained the basic ones for society to survive.
3. The new temperatures allowed humans they did not have to emigrate constantly by the temperatures, since they found places where they could be maintained constantly. We don't know exactly the temperature differences, but the fact that the change in society was so great seems to show that the temperature varied much more than we thought.
4. The new climate made small mammals and birds more numerous than large ones, some of which became extinct. This brought a new diet to the human being, changing their hunting habits, and this also served so that the human being was more protected, since dangerous animals for them were less and less common.
5. The new warm climate, together with the emergence of agriculture in some places, it made fruits and vegetables more numerous, causing the diet of human beings to be able to expand and not depend on their migrations. It could be said that many of the current fruits were born in this period, since the previous climate made it impossible for them to arise, at least in the way we know today.
6. The new way of life made the humans formed their first habitats, being groups of people much larger than those that had existed until the time, and these being the first cities of which we have knowledge.
7. Art, up to that moment, had been cave, evolved into something new and no longer always represented what human beings saw. For the first time human beings could be differentiated by the style or content of what they painted, being the first art schools
8. The society was transformed going from a hunter and gatherer to one based on the fact that human beings could generate their own food, this being thanks to the agriculture and livestock. This transformation was not complete in this period, but it did lay the foundations so that years later they would emerge as habitual elements.
9. The first cemeteries arose, where human beings could bury the dead of the cities. We must bear in mind that until then it had been common for human beings to perform tributes or tributes to the deceased, but never to be buried together, as a kind of community.
10. The stone tools they maintained their main role within the Mesolithic system, this being a period of the Stone Age. Even so, we must say that the tools of this period were better than those used in the Paleolithic.