MESOLITHIC PERIOD

also called Middle Stone Age, ancient cultural stage, or level of human development, that existed between the Paleolithic Period (q.v.), with its chipped stone tools, and the Neolithic Period (q.v.), with its polished stone tools. Mesolithic tool kits are based on chipped stone and often include microliths, very small stone tools intended for mounting together on a shaft. Polished stone occurs in some Mesolithic assemblages, as do a variety of bone, antler, and wooden tools. Mesolithic usually refers specifically to a development in northwestern Europe that began about 8000 BC, after the end of the Pleistocene Epoch, and lasted until about 2700 BC. Although culturally and technologically continuous with Paleolithic peoples, Mesolithic cultures developed diverse local adaptations to special environments. The Mesolithic hunter achieved a greater efficiency than did the Paleolithic and was able to exploit a wider range of animal and vegetable food sources. Immigrant Neolithic farmers probably absorbed many indigenous Mesolithic hunters and fishers, and some Neolithic communities seem to have been composed entirely of Mesolithic peoples who adopted Neolithic equipment (these are sometimes called Secondary Neolithic). There is no direct counterpart to the Mesolithic Period outside northwestern Europe, and the term is no longer used to reflect a hypothetical worldwide sequence of human cultural evolution. See also stone-tool industry.