{"id":726,"date":"2020-09-22T16:39:49","date_gmt":"2020-09-22T20:39:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/cavestocathedrals\/?post_type=chapter&#038;p=726"},"modified":"2020-12-14T16:51:45","modified_gmt":"2020-12-14T21:51:45","slug":"mesolithic","status":"publish","type":"chapter","link":"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/cavestocathedrals\/chapter\/mesolithic\/","title":{"raw":"Mesolithic Art","rendered":"Mesolithic Art"},"content":{"raw":"<p class=\"import-Normal\">During the Mesolithic period, humans developed cave paintings, engravings, and ceramics to reflect their daily lives.<\/p>\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"598\"]<img class=\"photo by David Hawgood CC BY-SA 2.0\" title=\"photo by David Hawgood CC BY-SA 2.0\" src=\"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/alenabuis\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1143\/2020\/09\/image12-7.jpeg\" alt=\"image\" width=\"598\" height=\"448\" \/> <em><strong>Hunter gatherer's camp at Irish National Heritage Park Exhibit: <\/strong>Demonstration of how a 7000 BCE campsite of Mesolithic period hunter-gatherers would have looked. They were nomadic and built temporary houses. Wood, bone and flint were the materials of their tools. They fished using dugout canoes - there is one in the photo.<\/em>[\/caption]\r\n<p class=\"import-Normal\">The period between the Paleolithic Age and the Neolithic Age is known as the [pb_glossary id=\"952\"]Mesolithic[\/pb_glossary] Period. The years attributed to this period vary from region to region, but it roughly corresponds to the time in Northern Europe during which the climate began to warm and the glaciers to recede. Some characteristics of the Mesolithic Age are a transition from large chipped stone tools and hunting in groups of large herd animals to smaller ([pb_glossary id=\"950\"]microliths[\/pb_glossary]) chipped stone tools and a more hunter-gatherer culture. It ends with the introduction of the growing of crops and husbandry of animals in the Neolithic. There is rather less art attributed to the Mesolithic than in the period prior and subsequent. Certain regions developed distinctive pottery during this period. Possibly the most significant and long-lasting development during the Mesolithic is the domestication of the dog.<\/p>\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<div class=\"textbox textbox--learning-objectives\"><header class=\"textbox__header\">\r\n<p class=\"textbox__title\">By the end of this chapter you will be able to:<\/p>\r\n\r\n<\/header>\r\n<div class=\"textbox__content\">\r\n<ul>\r\n \t<li>Compare and contrast the Mesolithic period with the Paleolithic and Neolithic periods<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<div class=\"wrapper\">\r\n<div id=\"wrap\">\r\n<div id=\"content\" role=\"main\">\r\n<div id=\"post-1509\" class=\"standard post-1509 chapter type-chapter status-publish hentry\">\r\n<div class=\"entry-content\">\r\n<div class=\"boundless-concept\">\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\nThe Mesolithic Period, or Middle Stone Age, is an archaeological term describing specific cultures that fall between the Paleolithic and the Neolithic Periods. While the start and end dates of the Mesolithic Period vary by geographical region, it dated approximately from 10,000 BCE to 8,000 BCE.\r\n\r\nThe Paleolithic was an age of purely hunting and gathering, but toward the Mesolithic period, the development of agriculture contributed to the rise of permanent settlements. The later Neolithic period is distinguished by the domestication of plants and animals. Some Mesolithic people continued with intensive hunting, while others practiced the initial stages of domestication. Some Mesolithic settlements were villages of huts, others walled cities.\r\n\r\nThe type of tool used is a distinguishing factor among these cultures. Mesolithic tools were generally composite devices manufactured with small chipped stone tools called [pb_glossary id=\"950\"]microliths[\/pb_glossary] and retouched bladelets. The Paleolithic utilized more primitive stone treatments, and the Neolithic mainly used polished rather than chipped stone tools.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<div class=\"entry-content\">\r\n<div class=\"boundless-concept\">\r\n<div class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" data-global-id=\"gid:\/\/boundless\/Image\/11658\">\r\n<div class=\"figure-cont\">\r\n<div class=\"wp-nocaption \">\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"507\"]<img src=\"https:\/\/s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com\/courses-images\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1849\/2017\/05\/31155143\/microlame-0.225.1.jpeg\" alt=\"Photograph depicts the front and back view of a bladelet made of what appears to be flint.\" width=\"507\" height=\"409\" \/> <em><strong>Backed edge bladelet:<\/strong> Mesolithic tools were generally composite devices manufactured with small chipped small stone tools called microliths and retouched bladelets.<\/em>[\/caption]\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\nArt from this period reflects the change to a warmer climate and adaptation to a relatively sedentary lifestyle, population size, and consumption of plants\u2014all evidence of the transition to agriculture and eventually the Neolithic period. Still, food was not always available everywhere, and Mesolithic populations were often forced to become migrating hunters and settle in rock shelters. It is difficult to find a unique type of artistic production during the Mesolithic Period, and art forms developed during the Upper Paleolithic (the latest period of the Paleolithic) were likely continued. These included cave paintings and engravings, small sculptural artifacts, and early architecture.\r\n<h3>Mesolithic Rock Art<\/h3>\r\nA number of notable Mesolithic rock art sites exist on the Mediterranean coast of Spain. The art consists of small painted figures of humans and animals, which are the most advanced and widespread surviving from this period in Europe and possibly worldwide. Notably, this collection is the largest concentration of such art in Europe. The human figure is frequently the main theme in painted scenes. When in the same scene as animals, the human runs towards them. Hunting scenes are the most common, but there are also scenes of battle and dancing, and possibly agricultural tasks and managing domesticated animals. In some scenes gathering honey is shown, most famously at Cuevas de la Ara\u00f1a en Bicorp.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<div class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" data-global-id=\"gid:\/\/boundless\/Image\/34557\">\r\n<div class=\"figure-cont\">\r\n<div class=\"wp-caption alignnone\">\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"230\"]<img src=\"https:\/\/s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com\/courses-images\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1849\/2017\/05\/31155145\/yc7fvzotnccjvaog59dr.png\" alt=\"Cave painting that depicts a human figure hanging from a vine that holds a beehive. Several bees surround the figure.\" width=\"230\" height=\"406\" \/> <em><strong>\u00a0The Man of Bicorp:<\/strong>\u00a0The Man of Bicorp holding onto lianas to gather honey from a beehive as depicted on an 8000-year-old cave painting near Valencia, Spain.<\/em>[\/caption]\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n<span style=\"text-align: initial;font-family: Lora, serif;font-size: 1em\">The painting known as <\/span><em style=\"text-align: initial;font-family: Lora, serif;font-size: 1em\">The Dancers of Cogul<\/em><span style=\"text-align: initial;font-family: Lora, serif;font-size: 1em\"> is a good example of the depiction of movement in static art. In this scene, nine women are depicted, something new in the art of this region, some painted in black and others in red. They are shown dancing around a male figure with an abnormally large phallus, a figure that was rare if not absent in Paleolithic art. Along with humans, several animals, including a dead deer or buck impaled by an arrow or atlatl, are depicted.<\/span>\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<div class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" data-global-id=\"gid:\/\/boundless\/Image\/34558\">\r\n<div class=\"figure-cont\">\r\n<div class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\">\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"547\"]<img src=\"https:\/\/textimgs.s3.amazonaws.com\/boundless-art-history\/6h5vo6ittmox9ho5ydem.jpe#fixme\" alt=\"Prehistoric rock art depicts human figures surrounding an animal that has been speared. Other large game with horns and antlers surround the human figures.\" width=\"547\" height=\"395\" \/> <em><strong>Dance of the Cogul:<\/strong> El Cogul, Catalonia, Spain.<\/em>[\/caption]\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n<span style=\"text-align: initial;font-family: Lora, serif;font-size: 1em\">The native Mesolithic populations were slow in assimilating the agricultural way of life, starting solely with the use of ceramics. It took a thousand years into the Neolithic period before they adopted animal husbandry (which became especially important to them) and plant cultivation. When they eventually developed an interest in the more fertile areas utilized by the late Danubian cultures, they compelled the Danubian farmers to fortify their settlements.<\/span>\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n<span style=\"font-family: 'Cormorant Garamond', serif;font-size: 1.602em\">Findings from Archaeological Excavations\r\n<\/span><span style=\"text-align: initial;font-size: 1em\">\r\nExcavation of some [pb_glossary id=\"954\"]megalithic[\/pb_glossary] monuments in Britain, Ireland, Scandinavia, and France has revealed evidence of ritual activity, sometimes involving architecture, during the Mesolithic Period. One megalith (circa 9350 BCE), found submerged in the Strait of Sicily, was over 39 feet long and weighing nearly 530,000 pounds. Its purpose remains unknown. In some cases, however, megalith monuments are so far removed in time from their successors that continuity is unlikely. In other cases, the early dates or the exact character of activity are controversial.<\/span>\r\n\r\n<span style=\"text-align: initial;font-size: 1em\">An engraved shale pendant unearthed in Star Carr, England in 2015 is believed to be the oldest Mesolithic art form on the island of Great Britain. Engraved jewelry from this period outside of Scandinavia is extremely rare. Although the hole in the upper angle of the rock suggests that it was worn, archaeologists are currently analyzing the object to determine whether this was the case. The incised patterns are similar to those on pendants found in Denmark, which suggests contact with cultures on the continent or migration from the continent to Britain. However, these possibilities remain under investigation.<\/span>\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<div class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" data-global-id=\"gid:\/\/boundless\/Image\/34559\">\r\n<div class=\"figure-cont\">\r\n<div class=\"wp-nocaption \">\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"533\"]<img src=\"https:\/\/textimgs.s3.amazonaws.com\/boundless-art-history\/gvf2zzmet2ysnlpjobjg.jpe#fixme\" alt=\"Photo depicts front and back view of a shale pendant. The pendant is shaped like a triangle with rounded edges. There are a series of lines etched into the stone.\" width=\"533\" height=\"348\" \/> <em><strong>Star Carr pendant:<\/strong> The incised lines bear striking similarities to similar objects found in Denmark.<\/em>[\/caption]\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\nIn northeastern Europe, Siberia, and certain southern European and North African sites, a \u201cCeramic Mesolithic\u201d can be distinguished between 7,000-3,850 BCE. Russian archaeologists prefer to describe such pottery-making cultures as Neolithic, even though farming is absent. These pottery-making Mesolithic cultures were peripheral to the sedentary Neolithic cultures. They created a distinctive type of pottery with a point or knob base and flared rims, manufactured by methods not used by the Neolithic farmers. Though each area of Mesolithic ceramics developed an individual style, common features suggest a single point of origin. The earliest manifestation of this type of pottery may have been around Lake Baikal in Siberia.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<div class=\"textbox textbox--key-takeaways\"><header class=\"textbox__header\">\r\n<p class=\"textbox__title\">Summary<\/p>\r\n\r\n<\/header>\r\n<div class=\"textbox__content\">\r\n<ul>\r\n \t<li>The Mesolithic or Middle Stone Age is an archaeological term used to describe specific cultures that fall between the Paleolithic and the Neolithic Periods.<\/li>\r\n \t<li>The use of small chipped stone tools called microliths and retouched bladelets are the key factors in identifying the Mesolithic as a prehistoric period.<\/li>\r\n \t<li>Mesolithic people likely continued the art forms developed during the Upper Paleolithic Period, including cave paintings and engravings, small sculptural artifacts, and early megalithic architecture.<\/li>\r\n \t<li>The most extensive collection of Mesolithic rock art has been found on the Mediterranean coast of Spain. These paintings consist of human and animal figures in scenes of hunting and early agricultural activities, such as collecting honey.<\/li>\r\n \t<li>A Mesolithic pendant excavated in England bears striking similarities with contemporary pendants produced in Denmark. Whether this points to intercultural contact or travel across vast expanses is unclear.<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\nAdapted from\u00a0<strong>\"Boundless Art History\"<\/strong>\u00a0https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/boundless-arthistory\/chapter\/the-mesolithic-period\/ <strong>License<\/strong>:\u00a0<em><a href=\"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by-sa\/4.0\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"license noopener noreferrer\">CC BY-SA: Attribution-ShareAlike<\/a><\/em>\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div>","rendered":"<p class=\"import-Normal\">During the Mesolithic period, humans developed cave paintings, engravings, and ceramics to reflect their daily lives.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<figure style=\"width: 598px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"photo by David Hawgood CC BY-SA 2.0\" title=\"photo by David Hawgood CC BY-SA 2.0\" src=\"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/alenabuis\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1143\/2020\/09\/image12-7.jpeg\" alt=\"image\" width=\"598\" height=\"448\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\"><em><strong>Hunter gatherer&#8217;s camp at Irish National Heritage Park Exhibit: <\/strong>Demonstration of how a 7000 BCE campsite of Mesolithic period hunter-gatherers would have looked. They were nomadic and built temporary houses. Wood, bone and flint were the materials of their tools. They fished using dugout canoes &#8211; there is one in the photo.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p class=\"import-Normal\">The period between the Paleolithic Age and the Neolithic Age is known as the <a class=\"glossary-term\" aria-haspopup=\"dialog\" aria-describedby=\"definition\" href=\"#term_726_952\">Mesolithic<\/a> Period. The years attributed to this period vary from region to region, but it roughly corresponds to the time in Northern Europe during which the climate began to warm and the glaciers to recede. Some characteristics of the Mesolithic Age are a transition from large chipped stone tools and hunting in groups of large herd animals to smaller (<a class=\"glossary-term\" aria-haspopup=\"dialog\" aria-describedby=\"definition\" href=\"#term_726_950\">microliths<\/a>) chipped stone tools and a more hunter-gatherer culture. It ends with the introduction of the growing of crops and husbandry of animals in the Neolithic. There is rather less art attributed to the Mesolithic than in the period prior and subsequent. Certain regions developed distinctive pottery during this period. Possibly the most significant and long-lasting development during the Mesolithic is the domestication of the dog.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<div class=\"textbox textbox--learning-objectives\">\n<header class=\"textbox__header\">\n<p class=\"textbox__title\">By the end of this chapter you will be able to:<\/p>\n<\/header>\n<div class=\"textbox__content\">\n<ul>\n<li>Compare and contrast the Mesolithic period with the Paleolithic and Neolithic periods<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"wrapper\">\n<div id=\"wrap\">\n<div id=\"content\" role=\"main\">\n<div id=\"post-1509\" class=\"standard post-1509 chapter type-chapter status-publish hentry\">\n<div class=\"entry-content\">\n<div class=\"boundless-concept\">\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>The Mesolithic Period, or Middle Stone Age, is an archaeological term describing specific cultures that fall between the Paleolithic and the Neolithic Periods. While the start and end dates of the Mesolithic Period vary by geographical region, it dated approximately from 10,000 BCE to 8,000 BCE.<\/p>\n<p>The Paleolithic was an age of purely hunting and gathering, but toward the Mesolithic period, the development of agriculture contributed to the rise of permanent settlements. The later Neolithic period is distinguished by the domestication of plants and animals. Some Mesolithic people continued with intensive hunting, while others practiced the initial stages of domestication. Some Mesolithic settlements were villages of huts, others walled cities.<\/p>\n<p>The type of tool used is a distinguishing factor among these cultures. Mesolithic tools were generally composite devices manufactured with small chipped stone tools called <a class=\"glossary-term\" aria-haspopup=\"dialog\" aria-describedby=\"definition\" href=\"#term_726_950\">microliths<\/a> and retouched bladelets. The Paleolithic utilized more primitive stone treatments, and the Neolithic mainly used polished rather than chipped stone tools.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<div class=\"entry-content\">\n<div class=\"boundless-concept\">\n<div class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" data-global-id=\"gid:\/\/boundless\/Image\/11658\">\n<div class=\"figure-cont\">\n<div class=\"wp-nocaption\">\n<figure style=\"width: 507px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com\/courses-images\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1849\/2017\/05\/31155143\/microlame-0.225.1.jpeg\" alt=\"Photograph depicts the front and back view of a bladelet made of what appears to be flint.\" width=\"507\" height=\"409\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\"><em><strong>Backed edge bladelet:<\/strong> Mesolithic tools were generally composite devices manufactured with small chipped small stone tools called microliths and retouched bladelets.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>Art from this period reflects the change to a warmer climate and adaptation to a relatively sedentary lifestyle, population size, and consumption of plants\u2014all evidence of the transition to agriculture and eventually the Neolithic period. Still, food was not always available everywhere, and Mesolithic populations were often forced to become migrating hunters and settle in rock shelters. It is difficult to find a unique type of artistic production during the Mesolithic Period, and art forms developed during the Upper Paleolithic (the latest period of the Paleolithic) were likely continued. These included cave paintings and engravings, small sculptural artifacts, and early architecture.<\/p>\n<h3>Mesolithic Rock Art<\/h3>\n<p>A number of notable Mesolithic rock art sites exist on the Mediterranean coast of Spain. The art consists of small painted figures of humans and animals, which are the most advanced and widespread surviving from this period in Europe and possibly worldwide. Notably, this collection is the largest concentration of such art in Europe. The human figure is frequently the main theme in painted scenes. When in the same scene as animals, the human runs towards them. Hunting scenes are the most common, but there are also scenes of battle and dancing, and possibly agricultural tasks and managing domesticated animals. In some scenes gathering honey is shown, most famously at Cuevas de la Ara\u00f1a en Bicorp.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<div class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" data-global-id=\"gid:\/\/boundless\/Image\/34557\">\n<div class=\"figure-cont\">\n<div class=\"wp-caption alignnone\">\n<figure style=\"width: 230px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com\/courses-images\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1849\/2017\/05\/31155145\/yc7fvzotnccjvaog59dr.png\" alt=\"Cave painting that depicts a human figure hanging from a vine that holds a beehive. Several bees surround the figure.\" width=\"230\" height=\"406\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\"><em><strong>\u00a0The Man of Bicorp:<\/strong>\u00a0The Man of Bicorp holding onto lianas to gather honey from a beehive as depicted on an 8000-year-old cave painting near Valencia, Spain.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<p><span style=\"text-align: initial;font-family: Lora, serif;font-size: 1em\">The painting known as <\/span><em style=\"text-align: initial;font-family: Lora, serif;font-size: 1em\">The Dancers of Cogul<\/em><span style=\"text-align: initial;font-family: Lora, serif;font-size: 1em\"> is a good example of the depiction of movement in static art. In this scene, nine women are depicted, something new in the art of this region, some painted in black and others in red. They are shown dancing around a male figure with an abnormally large phallus, a figure that was rare if not absent in Paleolithic art. Along with humans, several animals, including a dead deer or buck impaled by an arrow or atlatl, are depicted.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" data-global-id=\"gid:\/\/boundless\/Image\/34558\">\n<div class=\"figure-cont\">\n<div class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\">\n<figure style=\"width: 547px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/textimgs.s3.amazonaws.com\/boundless-art-history\/6h5vo6ittmox9ho5ydem.jpe#fixme\" alt=\"Prehistoric rock art depicts human figures surrounding an animal that has been speared. Other large game with horns and antlers surround the human figures.\" width=\"547\" height=\"395\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\"><em><strong>Dance of the Cogul:<\/strong> El Cogul, Catalonia, Spain.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<p><span style=\"text-align: initial;font-family: Lora, serif;font-size: 1em\">The native Mesolithic populations were slow in assimilating the agricultural way of life, starting solely with the use of ceramics. It took a thousand years into the Neolithic period before they adopted animal husbandry (which became especially important to them) and plant cultivation. When they eventually developed an interest in the more fertile areas utilized by the late Danubian cultures, they compelled the Danubian farmers to fortify their settlements.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: 'Cormorant Garamond', serif;font-size: 1.602em\">Findings from Archaeological Excavations<br \/>\n<\/span><span style=\"text-align: initial;font-size: 1em\"><br \/>\nExcavation of some <a class=\"glossary-term\" aria-haspopup=\"dialog\" aria-describedby=\"definition\" href=\"#term_726_954\">megalithic<\/a> monuments in Britain, Ireland, Scandinavia, and France has revealed evidence of ritual activity, sometimes involving architecture, during the Mesolithic Period. One megalith (circa 9350 BCE), found submerged in the Strait of Sicily, was over 39 feet long and weighing nearly 530,000 pounds. Its purpose remains unknown. In some cases, however, megalith monuments are so far removed in time from their successors that continuity is unlikely. In other cases, the early dates or the exact character of activity are controversial.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"text-align: initial;font-size: 1em\">An engraved shale pendant unearthed in Star Carr, England in 2015 is believed to be the oldest Mesolithic art form on the island of Great Britain. Engraved jewelry from this period outside of Scandinavia is extremely rare. Although the hole in the upper angle of the rock suggests that it was worn, archaeologists are currently analyzing the object to determine whether this was the case. The incised patterns are similar to those on pendants found in Denmark, which suggests contact with cultures on the continent or migration from the continent to Britain. However, these possibilities remain under investigation.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" data-global-id=\"gid:\/\/boundless\/Image\/34559\">\n<div class=\"figure-cont\">\n<div class=\"wp-nocaption\">\n<figure style=\"width: 533px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/textimgs.s3.amazonaws.com\/boundless-art-history\/gvf2zzmet2ysnlpjobjg.jpe#fixme\" alt=\"Photo depicts front and back view of a shale pendant. The pendant is shaped like a triangle with rounded edges. There are a series of lines etched into the stone.\" width=\"533\" height=\"348\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\"><em><strong>Star Carr pendant:<\/strong> The incised lines bear striking similarities to similar objects found in Denmark.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>In northeastern Europe, Siberia, and certain southern European and North African sites, a \u201cCeramic Mesolithic\u201d can be distinguished between 7,000-3,850 BCE. Russian archaeologists prefer to describe such pottery-making cultures as Neolithic, even though farming is absent. These pottery-making Mesolithic cultures were peripheral to the sedentary Neolithic cultures. They created a distinctive type of pottery with a point or knob base and flared rims, manufactured by methods not used by the Neolithic farmers. Though each area of Mesolithic ceramics developed an individual style, common features suggest a single point of origin. The earliest manifestation of this type of pottery may have been around Lake Baikal in Siberia.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<div class=\"textbox textbox--key-takeaways\">\n<header class=\"textbox__header\">\n<p class=\"textbox__title\">Summary<\/p>\n<\/header>\n<div class=\"textbox__content\">\n<ul>\n<li>The Mesolithic or Middle Stone Age is an archaeological term used to describe specific cultures that fall between the Paleolithic and the Neolithic Periods.<\/li>\n<li>The use of small chipped stone tools called microliths and retouched bladelets are the key factors in identifying the Mesolithic as a prehistoric period.<\/li>\n<li>Mesolithic people likely continued the art forms developed during the Upper Paleolithic Period, including cave paintings and engravings, small sculptural artifacts, and early megalithic architecture.<\/li>\n<li>The most extensive collection of Mesolithic rock art has been found on the Mediterranean coast of Spain. These paintings consist of human and animal figures in scenes of hunting and early agricultural activities, such as collecting honey.<\/li>\n<li>A Mesolithic pendant excavated in England bears striking similarities with contemporary pendants produced in Denmark. Whether this points to intercultural contact or travel across vast expanses is unclear.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>Adapted from\u00a0<strong>&#8220;Boundless Art History&#8221;<\/strong>\u00a0https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/boundless-arthistory\/chapter\/the-mesolithic-period\/ <strong>License<\/strong>:\u00a0<em><a href=\"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by-sa\/4.0\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"license noopener noreferrer\">CC BY-SA: Attribution-ShareAlike<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"glossary\"><span class=\"screen-reader-text\" id=\"definition\">definition<\/span><template id=\"term_726_952\"><div class=\"glossary__definition\" role=\"dialog\" data-id=\"term_726_952\"><div tabindex=\"-1\"><p>A prehistoric period that lasted between 10,000 and 5,000 BC. (Meso = Middle, Lithic = Stone)<\/p>\n<\/div><button><span aria-hidden=\"true\">&times;<\/span><span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Close definition<\/span><\/button><\/div><\/template><template id=\"term_726_950\"><div class=\"glossary__definition\" role=\"dialog\" data-id=\"term_726_950\"><div tabindex=\"-1\"><p>A small stone tool.<\/p>\n<\/div><button><span aria-hidden=\"true\">&times;<\/span><span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Close definition<\/span><\/button><\/div><\/template><template id=\"term_726_954\"><div class=\"glossary__definition\" role=\"dialog\" data-id=\"term_726_954\"><div tabindex=\"-1\"><p>A construction involving one or several roughly hewn stone slabs of great size.<\/p>\n<\/div><button><span aria-hidden=\"true\">&times;<\/span><span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Close definition<\/span><\/button><\/div><\/template><\/div>","protected":false},"author":961,"menu_order":2,"template":"","meta":{"pb_show_title":"on","pb_short_title":"","pb_subtitle":"","pb_authors":[],"pb_section_license":""},"chapter-type":[],"contributor":[],"license":[],"class_list":["post-726","chapter","type-chapter","status-publish","hentry"],"part":722,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/cavestocathedrals\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/726","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/cavestocathedrals\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/cavestocathedrals\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/chapter"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/cavestocathedrals\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/961"}],"version-history":[{"count":16,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/cavestocathedrals\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/726\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1993,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/cavestocathedrals\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/726\/revisions\/1993"}],"part":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/cavestocathedrals\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/parts\/722"}],"metadata":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/cavestocathedrals\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/726\/metadata\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/cavestocathedrals\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=726"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"chapter-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/cavestocathedrals\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapter-type?post=726"},{"taxonomy":"contributor","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/cavestocathedrals\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/contributor?post=726"},{"taxonomy":"license","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/cavestocathedrals\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/license?post=726"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}