Stone Age: References & Edit History
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Additional Reading
A sampling of the many regional studies includes, on Africa, C. Garth Sampson, The Stone Age Archaeology of Southern Africa (1974), an archaeological sourcebook surveying 2,000,000 years of human prehistory; on Asia, Robert Stigler (ed.), The Old World: Early Man to the Development of Agriculture (1974), a brief introduction to Paleolithic culture and the beginnings of the major civilizations in South Asia and the Middle East; on Europe, Sarunas Milisauskas, European Prehistory (1978), an anthropological treatment from the first settlements to the Roman Empire, tracing economies, settlements, social organization, trade, and ideology in the Neolithic and subsequent periods; Timothy Champion et al., Prehistoric Europe (1984), a comprehensive introduction; and Barry Cunliffe (ed.), The Oxford Illustrated Prehistory of Europe (1994), through the decline of the Roman Empire; on the Americas, Shirley Gorenstein (ed.), Prehispanic America (1974), a discussion of Paleo-Americans, Mesoamericans, and the rise of civilization in South America; Robert F. Spencer et al., The Native Americans, 2nd ed. (1977), a scholarly study of traditional North American Indian cultures; Jesse D. Jennings (ed.), Ancient North Americans (1983), and Ancient South Americans (1983); Brian M. Fagan, The Great Journey: The Peopling of Ancient America (1987), and Ancient North America (1991), for the general reader; and Jesse D. Jennings, Prehistory of North America, 3rd ed. (1989), a survey of the earliest cultures of North America; and on Oceania, J. Allen, J. Golson, and R. Jones (eds.), Sunda and Sahul: Prehistoric Studies in Southeast Asia, Melanesia, and Australia (1977), essays exploring biology, agriculture, ethnography, biogeography, and other aspects; J. Peter White, A Prehistory of Australia, New Guinea, and Sahul (1982), a scholarly overview; and Josephine Flood, Archaeology of the Dreamtime: The Story of Prehistoric Australia and Its People, rev. ed. (1990), for the general reader.
Article Contributors
Primary Contributors
- Marija Gimbutas
- Robert J. Braidwood
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Hallam L. Movius
Professor of Anthropology, Harvard University; Curator of Paleolithic Archaeology, Peabody Museum.
- Felix M. Keesing
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Robert McCormick Adams
Secretary, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C., 1984–94. Provost, University of Chicago, 1982–84; Harold H. Swift Distinguished Service Professor of Anthropology, 1975–84; Director, Oriental Institute, 1962–68 and 1981–82.
- Richard Pittioni
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The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica
Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree. They write new content and verify and edit content received from contributors.
Other Contributors
- KeithGM Gmeinder
Other Encyclopedia Britannica Contributors
Article History
| Type | Description | Contributor | Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| Modified link of Web site: Humanities LibreTexts - The Stone Age. | Nov 14, 2025 | ||
| Questions and answers added. | Mar 14, 2025 | ||
| Article updated. | Oct 25, 2024 | ||
| Added cross-reference. | Sep 25, 2024 | ||
| Add new Web site: Humanities LibreTexts - The Stone Age. | Aug 08, 2023 | ||
| Add new Web site: Livescience - Back to the Stone Age: 17 key milestones in Paleolithic life. | May 13, 2022 | ||
| Changed “the Ukraine” to “Ukraine” throughout. | Mar 09, 2022 | ||
| Article revised and updated. | Nov 10, 2020 | ||
| Add new Web site: Ancient Origins - The Stone Age: The First 99 Percent of Human History. | Dec 18, 2019 | ||
| Corrected display issue. | Jul 05, 2018 | ||
| Changed date of first tool use by humans from "about 600,000 or 700,000 years ago" to "sometime before 3.3 million years ago." |
|
Feb 01, 2017 | |
| Changed start date of Holocene Epoch from "11,700 BCE" to "11,700 years ago (about 9700 BCE)." | Dec 07, 2016 | ||
| Noted that the world's oldest tools date to 3.3 million years ago during the Middle Pliocene Epoch. | Jun 22, 2016 | ||
| Noted that the world's oldest tools date to 3.3 million years ago. | Jun 22, 2016 | ||
| Media added. | Jun 22, 2016 | ||
| Add new Web site: World History Encyclopedia - Stone Age. | Aug 11, 2014 | ||
| Add new Web site: Maps of World - Stone Age. | Apr 15, 2013 | ||
| Add new Web site: HistoryWorld - Stone Age. | Apr 15, 2013 | ||
| Article revised and updated. | Jun 08, 2012 | ||
| Photographs of Neolithic gallery grave added. | Feb 16, 2010 | ||
| Updated geologic time data. | Sep 11, 2009 | ||
| Media added. | Feb 26, 2009 | ||
| Article revised and updated. | Mar 06, 2008 | ||
| Article revised and updated. | May 15, 2007 | ||
| Article revised and updated. | Oct 06, 2006 | ||
| Bibliography revised. | Oct 06, 2006 | ||
| Article revised. | Jul 03, 2002 | ||
| Article revised. | Nov 16, 2001 | ||
| Article revised. | Sep 25, 2000 | ||
| Article added to new online database. | Aug 23, 1998 |