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When did the Paleolithic Period end?

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The Venus of Willendorf, a small Upper Paleolithic limestone figurine with exaggerated female features and textured head, displayed against a black background. — Paleolithic Period The Venus of Willendorf, a Upper Paleolithic limestone figurine originally colored with red ochre, 30,000–25,000 bce, found at Willendorf, Lower Austria; in the Natural History Museum, Vienna.

There is general agreement among scholars that the Paleolithic Period ended approximately 11,700 years ago (about 9700 BCE), coinciding with the beginning of the Holocene Epoch.1

While this date marks the transition, the end of the period is often associated with the onset of the Neolithic Period, which was characterized by the development of agriculture and animal domestication. Because these cultural shifts occurred at different times across the globe, the transition point is subject to debate. In many regions, the Paleolithic was followed by the Mesolithic Period, a transitional stage where human cultures adapted to post-Pleistocene environments through intensified food collection before the widespread adoption of farming.21