Bianca
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« Reply #15 on: September 11, 2007, 11:21:36 am » |
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Neanderthal man is represented in several sites and lasts until about 35,000 years ago. There is little evidence of art or adornment at this time and technology appears to have been limited to very simple stone and bone tools.
Some major changes begin to appear about 35,000 years ago, with the onset of the period known as the Upper Paleolithic and the appearance of anatomically modern people. Although technology was still Stone Age, this was a time of growth in the roles of technology, social organization and planning. Tools became far more sophisticated. There is substantial evidence of human construction activity about 29,000 years ago in a site called Cueva Morin, including a large dug-out feature, postholes and graves with possible offerings.
Well-dated cultures in the late Upper Paleolithic - the Solutrean from 20,500 to 17,000 years ago and the Magdalenian from 17,000 to 11,000 years ago - show great development in both the well-known cave art and specialized technologies such as the spear-thrower and the arrow. More than sixty caves with cave art have been discovered in the area. The people also developed elaborate uses of fire.
The transition to the Mesolithic, or Middle Stone Age, comes around 11,000 years ago, near the time of the final destruction of Atlantis. As we have seen in North America, there were major climate changes, the growth of new forests and the rising of sea levels. The Neolithic, which we often think of as paving the way for civilization - with pottery and domesticated animals, began around 5,000 years ago, long after the sinking of Atlantis.
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