Meaning & use
Paleolithic Age
Last updated
Meanings
proper nounproper
The very long early period of human history, before farming, when people made tools by chipping stone and lived by hunting and gathering.
Grammar: Capitalized as the name of a period: in the Paleolithic Age.
Patterns
- in the Paleolithic Age
- during the Paleolithic Age
People in the Paleolithic Age followed herds across the plains.
Fire was first used regularly during the Paleolithic Age.
Cave paintings are among the great achievements of the Paleolithic Age.
proper nounpropertechnical
The first of the three divisions of the Stone Age, coming before the Mesolithic and Neolithic.
Grammar: Often also called the Old Stone Age.
Patterns
- the Old Stone Age
Archaeologists divide the Paleolithic Age into lower, middle and upper phases.
The Paleolithic Age lasted for hundreds of thousands of years.
Common combinations
- Upper Paleolithic Age
- Art flourished in the Upper Paleolithic Age.
- during the Paleolithic Age
- Humans lived in small bands during the Paleolithic Age.
- end of the Paleolithic Age
- The end of the Paleolithic Age coincided with the last ice age.
- Paleolithic Age tools
- Paleolithic Age tools included hand axes and scrapers.
- Paleolithic Age people
- Paleolithic Age people hunted mammoths.
Synonyms and how they differ
- Old Stone Age
- Old Stone Age is the plain-English name and is easier for general readers than Paleolithic Age.
- Stone Age
- Stone Age is broader and covers the Paleolithic as well as later stone-tool periods.
- Paleolithic
- Paleolithic is the same term used as an adjective or short noun, while Paleolithic Age names the whole period.
Opposites
Word family
- Paleolithic adjective
- relating to the Old Stone Age
- Mesolithic adjective
- relating to the Middle Stone Age
- Neolithic adjective
- relating to the New Stone Age
- lithic adjective
- relating to stone
Commonly confused: Paleolithic Age or Neolithic Age?
Paleolithic Age vs Neolithic Age
The Neolithic Age came after the Paleolithic and was when farming and settled villages began.
Practice
Which period saw people living as hunter-gatherers with chipped stone tools, before farming began?
Choose one answer.
The Paleolithic Age is the early period of hunting and gathering. The Neolithic brought farming, and the Bronze and Iron Ages came much later.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “Paleolithic Age”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.