Essay Example on Upper Paleolithic: 12,000-50,000 yrs Ago, Tech Elevation in Stone Age

The upper paleolithic period, also known as the late Stone Age, happens to be the third category of Old Stone Age, which falls between 12,000 and 50,000 years ago. The occurrence of stone tool industries identified the age. Human beings in this period used tools made of stones in their activity, for instance, hunting and gathering. Technological elevation refers to the attempt or further comprehension of the science to advance the current materials or devices for better functioning or making work more comfortable.

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During the period, we study how the old age-progressed from the use of stones or how they developed the rocks to be more improvised for functionality. Cognitive improvement narrates how the humans in that period developed more senses, memory, and also language processing.

During the paleolithic period, humans lived an ordinary life that included limited tools and less occupied settlements. Learning to survive, hunting for food, and preparation were among the technologies these humans believed to have achieved (Key & Lycett, 2018). Developing various types of stones: blade cores, end scrapers, burins, and awls, were significant technological developments.

They used the stones to prepare their hunt for foods, for instance, scraping the fur of the animals. The stones also helped them in shaving where they used sharp rocks. Men in the old age made weapons such as spears and digging sticks that enabled them to cultivate their lands. They discovered and invented fire by rubbing the stones against each other, that did not just provide warmth, but also for protection against wild animals.

The fire was significant technological progress in that period as it eased their operations and was seen as a breakthrough to melting in crafts works. Stone Age people invented clothing as a means of creating the cooling temperature to their bodies and also protection from animals.

They discovered that animal skin and linen from wax would help them make more clothes. The making of pottery was invented during this period, where they made many containers and jars for gathering and harvesting rainwater. They also made woven baskets from the water hyacinth that helped them to store their foods for more extended periods before spoiling.

All these were improvements the Stone Age people achieved, and through them, life was made easier where all these materials played a part (Key, Merritt & Kivell, 2018). The stones lead to the invention of other products, for instance, the improvement of hunting materials and strategies, which improved through the use of sharp spears and harpoons.

Cognitive developments in the Old Stone Age were characterized by various changes that happened from memory, language, and learning how to communicate and making responses. They developed senses in that; they learned how to keep animals as domestic ones. Keeping the animals happened to be a vital improvement in that they readily got food.

Through the domestication, they learned that the skins from the animals could be used to make clothes and also manufacture shoes in that they did not have to struggle in walking and hunting (Putt, Wijeakumar & Spencer, 2019). The mind developed, and so the memory, therefore making proper decisions and operations. They learned that they could cultivate their regions to plant and produce goods that could be used in making barter trade. With the structure of the brains actively developing, they could be able to have long memories.

Cognitive changes that occurred in this period helped them to realize that the stone tools that they were using could be improved and make better weapons to make progress to their hunting skills. They learned new techniques of hunting that aided them to make more hunts in the forests. They were able to establish communication properly and could relate and manage all the activities that took place (Shipton et al., 2018).

The stone age people lived in the caves; they developed the ideas of building houses with mad and grasses, and therefore they were able to move out of the caves and lived a more improved lifestyle. With the invention of fire, they developed the ideas of using the flames as a way of communication, for instance, where there was trouble. The cognitive change enabled them to live a better life with the various inventions that followed.

Conclusion

The first human beings were able to improve their lifestyle through the various technological and cognitive changes that took place. Through the use of stones, they learned that they could invent more weapons than the sticks they used to hunt. Human beings in this period used tools made of rocks in their activity, for instance, hunting and gathering. Learning to survive, hunting for food, and preparation were among the technologies these humans believed to have achieved.

Mind developments in the Old Stone Age were characterized by various changes that happened from memory, language, and learning how to communicate and making responses. The cognitive changes that occurred in this period aided them to see that the stone tools that they were used in various activities could be improved to make better weapons and other commodities to improve their lives.

References

Key, A. J., & Lycett, S. J. (2018). Investigating interrelationships between Lower Palaeolithic stone tool effectiveness and tool user biometric variation: implications for technological and evolutionary changes. Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences, 10(5), 989-1006. Retrieved from https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12520-016-0433-x

Key, A., Merritt, S. R., & Kivell, T. L. (2018). Handgrip diversity and frequency during the use of Lower Palaeolithic stone cutting-tools. Journal of human evolution, 125, 137-158. Retrieved fromhttps://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0047248417304281

Putt, S. S., Wijeakumar, S., & Spencer, J. P. (2019). Prefrontal cortex activation supports the emergence of early stone age toolmaking skills. NeuroImage, 199, 57-69. Retrieved from https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1053811919304483

Shipton, C., Roberts, P., Archer, W., Armitage, S. J., Bita, C., Blinkhorn, J., ... & Douka, K. (2018). 78,000-year-old record of Middle and Later Stone Age innovation in an East African tropical forest. Nature communications, 9(1), 1-8. Retrieved from https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-018-04057-3