Synthesizing the Paleolithic

For many archaeologists the term "Paleolithic" evokes long lists of stone tool types leavened only by the explosion of cave art during the peak of the Last Glaciation. This is a shame, because the Paleolithic period encompasses momentous events in human evolution. It begins more than 2.5 million years ago with a diverse array of early hominid species and culminates with the global dominion of modern humans. The Pleistocene Epoch (1.7 million to 12,500 years ago), during which the bulk of the Paleolithic drama played out, was a period of wide and frequent climate changes. Ice Age humans lived in a "lost world" that we only know indirectly, through archaeology. Europe's peninsular shape and its proximity to the Arctic Circle during Pleistocene glacial periods probably made this continent a peripheral zone of human habitation compared to Africa and South Asia. Nevertheless, the historical priority of Paleolithic research in Europe has created a richer archaeological record on this continent than in any other region. For much of the 20th century, the structure of the European Paleolithic was the model for the Paleolithic in the rest of