Lifestyles of Paleolithic Hominids

Lower Paleolithic Economy

The Paleolithic Age is the period of human history characterized by the development of most primitive stone and wood tools (Toth & Schick, 2007). The Paleolithic Age extends from the earliest origins regarding the use of stone tools by hominins to the end of the Pleistocene and the Lower Paleolithic Period spans a time period from approximately two and a half million years ago until about 300,000 years ago (Harding et al., 2012). The development of these tools, especially stone tools, was the beginning of the formation of a higher division of labor among hominins and the possibly the development of societies or tribes beyond the family system (Toth & Schick, 2007).

Even though it is believed that the economies and social organization of the Lower Paleolithic societies was more complex than the social organization of the lower apes such is the societies observed in chimpanzee troops, the social organizations of these hominins are not well-known and must be inferred based on the available evidence (Toth & Schick, 2007). The evidence indicates that hominins evolved from gathers, to hunters, to hunter- gathers depending on their locale and the available food supplies (Stiner, Munro, Surovell, Tchernov, & Bar-Yosef, 1999). The evidence also suggests that these tribes were the first to develop central home bases and use them to assist in their strategies for obtaining food via their hunting, gathering (which probably included scavenging carrion), or hunting -- gathering lifestyles (Lieberman, 1991).

The development of stone tools suggests that a basic hierarchical structure probably existed in these groups whereby the teaching of tool making took place most likely from elder members to younger members in the hierarchy and then these weapons/tools were used by the maker (Renfrew & Bahn, 1996). It is unclear if these small groups were polygamous or monogamous (Lieberman, 1991)