We tend to divide Prehistory into two large sets of unequal time durations. For hundreds of thousands of years, humans relied on gathering and hunting (the so-called hunting-gathering stage). We named this entire period the Paleolithic Era, based not so much on economic criteria as on technological ones (the way of shaping stone).

However, within a period of 12,000-10,000 years, a fundamental change occurred. Humans gradually began to replace what they consumed, resulting in livestock farming displacing hunting and agriculture displacing gathering. This stage marks the roots of our civilizations. We have named these specific millennia the Neolithic Era, a term that is also based on technological and only technological criteria and which etymologically has since fallen out of significance.

This study focuses exclusively on the tools and way of life of the hunter-gatherers of the Paleolithic Era.