Palaeolithic Culture — 2015 Paper I

Approach

• Demand of Question: Explain the principal technological, subsistence and cultural characteristics of the Palaeolithic stage.
• Structuring the Response: Define the period, distinguish Lower, Middle and Upper Palaeolithic traditions, and indicate major behavioural developments.
• Key Dimensions to Cover: Stone tools, hunting-gathering, Acheulian, flake tools, blade technology, fire, art, burials and Indian sites.

Model Answer

Introduction: The Palaeolithic or Old Stone Age represents the earliest and longest phase of human cultural development, characterized primarily by chipped-stone technology and hunting-gathering subsistence.

It is conventionally divided into:

1. Lower Palaeolithic

Characterized by:

• handaxes;
• cleavers;
• choppers;
• large cutting tools.

The Acheulian tradition is closely associated with Homo erectus and later archaic humans.

Indian sites include Attirampakkam, Isampur and Hunsgi-Baichbal.

2. Middle Palaeolithic

Marked by greater use of:

• flakes;
• points;
• scrapers;
• prepared-core techniques.

Toolkits became more specialized and efficient.

3. Upper Palaeolithic

Characterized by:

• blades;
• burins;
• bone and antler implements in many regions;
• ornaments;
• cave art;
• increasing symbolic behaviour.

Subsistence was primarily:

Hunting + Gathering + Fishing where locally available

Control of fire, organized hunting, shelters and increasing cooperation greatly expanded human adaptability.

Later Palaeolithic contexts also provide evidence of burials and symbolic expression.

Conclusion: Palaeolithic culture records the gradual transition from simple stone-tool dependence to increasingly sophisticated technology, cooperation and symbolic behaviour, laying the foundations of later human cultural development.