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Most of Central America formed during the Pliocene to connect the continents of North and South America, allowing fauna from these continents to leave their native habitats and colonize new areas. The formation of the isthmus had major consequences on global temperatures, because warm equatorial ocean currents were cut off, and the cold Arctic and Antarctic waters lowered temperatures in the now-isolated Atlantic Ocean. South America became linked to North America through the Isthmus of Panama, bringing a nearly complete end to South America's distinctive marsupial fauna. This epoch experienced important geographic and climatic changes that affected human societies.ĭuring the preceding Pliocene, continents had continued to drift from possibly as far as 250 km (160 mi) from their present locations to positions only 70 km (43 mi) from their current location. The Paleolithic coincides almost exactly with the Pleistocene epoch of geologic time, which lasted from 2.6 million years ago to about 12,000 years ago. Temperature rise marking the end of the Paleolithic, as derived from ice core data. By the end of the Upper Paleolithic Age humans had crossed Beringia and expanded throughout the Americas. 27,000 BP humans were present in Siberia, above the Arctic Circle. 45,000 BP, humans lived at 61°N latitude in Europe. 40,000 BP, the first humans set foot in Australia.
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Archaeological and genetic data suggest that the source populations of Paleolithic humans survived in sparsely-wooded areas and dispersed through areas of high primary productivity while avoiding dense forest-cover. Conditions during the Paleolithic Age went through a set of glacial and interglacial periods in which the climate periodically fluctuated between warm and cool temperatures. During the end of the Paleolithic Age, specifically the Middle or Upper Paleolithic Age, humans began to produce the earliest works of art and to engage in religious or spiritual behavior such as burial and ritual. Humankind gradually evolved from early members of the genus Homo-such as Homo habilis, who used simple stone tools-into anatomically modern humans as well as behaviourally modern humans by the Upper Paleolithic. Archaeologists classify artifacts of the last 50,000 years into many different categories, such as projectile points, engraving tools, knife blades, and drilling and piercing tools. The first evidence of human fishing is also noted, from artifacts in places such as Blombos cave in South Africa. In Africa, bone artifacts and the first art appear in the archaeological record. Other organic commodities were adapted for use as tools, including leather and vegetable fibers however, due to rapid decomposition, these have not survived to any great degree.Ībout 50,000 years ago, a marked increase in the diversity of artifacts occurred. The Paleolithic Age is characterized by the use of knapped stone tools, although at the time humans also used wood and bone tools. During the Paleolithic Age, hominins grouped together in small societies such as bands and subsisted by gathering plants, fishing, and hunting or scavenging wild animals. The Paleolithic Age in Europe preceded the Mesolithic Age, although the date of the transition varies geographically by several thousand years. It extends from the earliest known use of stone tools by hominins c. 3.3 million years ago, to the end of the Pleistocene c. 11,650 cal BP. The Paleolithic or Palaeolithic or Palæolithic ( / ˌ p eɪ l-, ˌ p æ l i oʊ ˈ l ɪ θ ɪ k/), also called Old Stone Age (from Greek palaios - old, lithos - stone), is a period in prehistory distinguished by the original development of stone tools that covers 99% of the period of human technological prehistory.