The Stone Age probably began more than three million years ago. It faded away some 5000 years ago and was succeeded by the Bronze Age. This period has been described as the landmark in the human history when man learned to make and use stone tools. This was followed by the metal age when people learnt the use of metals.
The Stone Age has been divided into three periods: the Paleolithic or Old Stone Age; the Mesolithic or Middle Stone Age and the Neolithic or New Stone Age.
The Paleolithic or the Old Stone Age essentially began with the appearance of the first ‘hominids’ or man-like forms such as the australopithecines. The Paleolithic men were all hunters. Their tools were generally crude and made by flaking. The oldest Paleolithic tools are about 2,500,000 years old. It is likely that apart from the stone tools, the earliest hominids also used tools fabricated from wood and bone. The Pleistoce Epoch began about 2,500,000 years ago and lasted until about 10,000 years ago. During the latter part of the Old Stone Age, people had learned the art of making paintings on the cave walls. They had also learned the sculpture work.
The Mesolithic period or the Middle Stone Age usually refers to that period when in the north-western Europe certain advancement started in about 8000 BC and lasted until about 2700 BC. During this period finer stone tools were made. The hunters used tiny flakes of flint in arrows and harpoons.
During the Neolithic or New Stone Age, farming and the manufacture of pottery became widespread in Europe. The New Stone Age began in the Middle East about 9000 years ago. The people in the New Stone Age manufactured smooth axe heads of ground stone as they learned to grind and polish stones. The domestication of animals was an important factor in Neolithic life as was agriculture, including the plant care and growing of crops. This was the period when mining also came to be practiced. By this time agriculture had started and the people started forming villages.
When the Europeans discovered America most of the Native Americans (Red Indians) were living in a Neolithic state. Some Australian aborigines and tribes in New Guinea still lead largely a Stone Age life.