Stone Age - Chronology

Chronology

In 1859 Jens Jacob Worsaae first proposed a division of the Stone Age into older and younger parts based on his work with Danish kitchen middens that began in 1851. In the subsequent decades this simple distinction developed into the archaeological periods of today. The major subdivisions of the Three-age Stone Age cross two epoch boundaries on the geologic time scale:

• The geologic Pliocene—Pleistocene boundary (highly glaciated climate)
  • The Paleolithic period of archaeology
• The geologic Pleistocene—Holocene boundary (modern climate)
  • Mesolithic or Epipaleolithic period of archaeology
  • Neolithic period of archaeology

The succession of these phases varies enormously from one region (and culture) to another.