--- title: "Paleolithic Period | Intro to Cultural Anthropology" description: "Paleolithic Period is the Old Stone Age, when early humans used stone tools, lived as hunter-gatherers, and developed the first cultural behaviors." canonical: "https://fiveable.me/introduction-cultural-anthropology/key-terms/paleolithic-period" type: "key-term" subject: "Intro to Cultural Anthropology" unit: "Unit 1" --- # Paleolithic Period | Intro to Cultural Anthropology ## Definition The Paleolithic Period is the Old Stone Age, the earliest long phase of human history in which people used stone tools and lived as nomadic hunter-gatherers. In Intro to Cultural Anthropology, it shows the roots of human culture, survival, and adaptation. ## What It Is In Intro to Cultural Anthropology, the Paleolithic Period is the earliest stage of human cultural development, often called the Old Stone Age. It begins with the first widely recognized stone tools and lasts until the end of the last Ice Age, when farming starts to appear in different parts of the world. This period is not just about “old” humans. It is where you see the basic pattern of human survival that shaped later culture: small mobile groups, tool use, shared knowledge, cooperation, and responses to changing environments. People were not farming or living in permanent cities. They moved with seasons, animals, and plant availability, which made social life highly flexible. A big part of the Paleolithic story is technology. Early stone tools became more refined over time, from simple chipped rocks to more specialized blades and hunting tools. Fire also changed daily life. It gave warmth, protection, light, and cooked food, which made digestion easier and expanded what humans could eat. Anthropology also uses this period to discuss the relationship between biology and culture. Human brains, hands, and social behavior were changing alongside tool use and cooperation. That is why the Paleolithic Period is tied to ideas like human evolution, adaptation, and the emergence of complex thought. You may also see evidence of symbolic behavior here, especially cave art such as the paintings at Lascaux in France. Those images suggest that early humans were not only surviving, but also creating meaning, communicating, and representing the world around them. That makes the Paleolithic Period a major starting point for thinking about what counts as culture in the first place. ## Why It Matters The Paleolithic Period gives you a baseline for almost every later topic in cultural anthropology. It shows what human life looked like before agriculture, cities, and states, which makes later changes easier to compare and explain. It also connects directly to how anthropologists think about adaptation. When people live as hunter-gatherers, they depend on local ecology, seasonal movement, and group cooperation. That makes the Paleolithic a useful example of how environment shapes subsistence patterns, social organization, and technology. This term also matters because it pushes you to separate “primitive” from “simple.” Paleolithic people used complex knowledge about animals, plants, climate, fire, and tools. Cave paintings and other symbolic materials suggest that culture was already deep and expressive long before writing. In class, the Paleolithic Period often becomes the starting point for comparing earlier human lifeways with the Neolithic Revolution. That comparison shows why farming was such a major shift, not just a new food source. It changed settlement, labor, property, social hierarchy, and population size. ## Connections ### Neolithic Revolution The Neolithic Revolution is the major shift away from Paleolithic hunter-gatherer life toward farming and settled villages. These two periods are often paired because the contrast shows how food production changed nearly everything about human social life, from mobility to population density to property. ### Cave Paintings Cave paintings are one of the clearest forms of Paleolithic symbolic behavior. In anthropology, they are evidence that early humans were making images, meaning, and shared representations, not just surviving with tools. They help you see culture as more than subsistence. ### [Cognitive Modernity](/introduction-cultural-anthropology/key-terms/cognitive-modernity) Cognitive modernity refers to the development of modern-like thinking, including symbolic communication, planning, and creativity. The Paleolithic Period is where anthropologists often look for evidence of those abilities in tools, art, and cooperation. ### [homo erectus](/introduction-cultural-anthropology/key-terms/homo-erectus) Homo erectus is one of the important human ancestors often associated with early Paleolithic lifeways. It is tied to long-distance movement, tool use, and control of fire, so it helps explain how human survival strategies developed during this era. ## On the AP Exam A quiz or short-answer question might ask you to identify the Paleolithic Period from a description of mobile hunter-gatherers, stone tools, and fire use. You might also compare it with the Neolithic Revolution by explaining how food gathering differs from farming. In essay prompts, this term often shows up as background for human evolution, symbolic culture, or changing subsistence patterns. If a passage mentions cave art, seasonal movement, or small kin-based groups, you can connect those details back to Paleolithic life. For image questions, look for tool making, hunting scenes, or early symbolic art and explain what they suggest about adaptation and culture. ## Paleolithic Period vs Neolithic Period The Paleolithic Period is the Old Stone Age, when humans were mainly hunter-gatherers. The Neolithic Period comes later and is marked by farming, permanent settlements, and much larger social changes. They are easy to mix up because both involve early human history, but the subsistence pattern is the big difference. ## Key Takeaways - The Paleolithic Period is the earliest and longest phase of human history, centered on stone tools and hunter-gatherer life. - This period matters in cultural anthropology because it shows the roots of human adaptation, cooperation, and symbolic behavior. - Fire, tool use, and mobility were not side details, they shaped how people ate, traveled, and survived. - Cave art shows that Paleolithic humans were capable of representation and meaning-making, not just basic survival. - The end of the Paleolithic Period leads into the Neolithic Revolution, which changed human life from foraging to farming. ## FAQs ### What is the Paleolithic Period in Intro to Cultural Anthropology? It is the Old Stone Age, the earliest long phase of human history, when people used stone tools and lived as mobile hunter-gatherers. In cultural anthropology, it marks the early development of human culture, technology, and symbolic behavior. ### How is the Paleolithic Period different from the Neolithic Period? The Paleolithic Period is based on hunting and gathering, while the Neolithic Period is based on farming and settled life. That shift changes everything from housing and diet to social organization and population size. ### Why do anthropologists care about Paleolithic cave art? Cave art is evidence that early humans could create symbols, communicate ideas, and represent animals or events visually. It helps anthropologists argue that culture includes meaning and expression, not just survival strategies. ### What kinds of evidence are used to study the Paleolithic Period? Anthropologists use stone tools, bones, fire remains, cave art, and settlement patterns. Since there is no writing from this period, material evidence is what reveals how people lived, moved, hunted, and created culture. ## Related Study Guides - [1.4 Human Biological and Cultural Evolution](/introduction-cultural-anthropology/unit-1/human-biological-cultural-evolution/study-guide/lnQSRaqMfQLkEAYq) ## About This Document Canonical Fiveable pages are available as Markdown at the same path plus `.md`. - [llms.txt](https://fiveable.me/llms.txt): index of Fiveable's sections and URL patterns - [llms-full.txt](https://fiveable.me/llms-full.txt): complete subject and unit listing - [MCP server](https://fiveable.me/mcp): call Fiveable as tools instead of fetching pages (`https://fiveable.me/api/mcp`) - [MCP server for AP teachers](https://fiveable.me/mcp/teachers): a teacher's classes, assignments and AP-rubric grading (`https://fiveable.me/api/mcp/teacher`) ## Structured Data ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"LearningResource","@id":"https://fiveable.me/introduction-cultural-anthropology/key-terms/paleolithic-period#resource","name":"Paleolithic Period | Intro to Cultural Anthropology","url":"https://fiveable.me/introduction-cultural-anthropology/key-terms/paleolithic-period","learningResourceType":"Concept explainer","educationalLevel":"AP® / High School","about":{"@id":"https://fiveable.me/introduction-cultural-anthropology/key-terms/paleolithic-period#term"},"audience":{"@type":"EducationalAudience","educationalRole":"student"},"dateModified":"2026-07-03T02:22:49.653Z","isPartOf":{"@type":"Collection","name":"Intro to Cultural Anthropology Key Terms","url":"https://fiveable.me/introduction-cultural-anthropology/key-terms"},"author":{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://fiveable.me/editorial#content-team","name":"Fiveable Content Team","url":"https://fiveable.me/editorial","parentOrganization":{"@id":"https://fiveable.me/#organization"},"member":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Amanda DoAmaral","sameAs":["https://www.linkedin.com/in/adoamaral"]},{"@type":"Person","name":"Becky Bahr","sameAs":["https://www.linkedin.com/in/becky-bahr-b52743132"]}]},"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Fiveable","url":"https://fiveable.me"}},{"@type":"DefinedTerm","@id":"https://fiveable.me/introduction-cultural-anthropology/key-terms/paleolithic-period#term","name":"Paleolithic Period","description":"The Paleolithic Period is the Old Stone Age, the earliest long phase of human history in which people used stone tools and lived as nomadic hunter-gatherers. 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