STONE AGE. A term commonly used to denote the earliest recognized stage in the de velopment of human culture as defined by the materials used IT man for weapons. utensils, etc. The phrase is somewhat misleading, however, since it is quite probable that primitive man made use of wood and other perishable materials to a far greater extent than of stone. and as a consequence the stage is defined by the prevailing material of the relics rather than by that of the actual implements in common use.
The term Stone Age represents in no sense a chronological division of human progress, but is a loose equivalent for a stage of cultural de velopment varying widely in duration in different parts of the world. There are, for example, tribes still in the Stone Age, while, on the other hand. some groups had progressed beyond it be fore the dawn of history. It is also worth not ing that some tribes commonly classed as be longing to the Stone Age produced objects of a superior artistic and industrial merit to those of peoples who had advanced to the use of metals. The evidence for the existence of such an age in most parts of the world is conclusive, but it is from the prevalence and character of the relies in certain parts of Europe rather than in Amer ica that the idea and the term have come into general use.
A very common and well-reeo,7ized subdivision of the Stone Age is into the paleolithie and neo lithie periods. In the paleolithic period man's best tools were extremely crude, and he is con sidered to have understood how to chip stone into shape. hut not how to grind or polish it. In the neolithic period both these advances had been made. The terms protolithic and teehnolithie have also been proposed to indicate the earlier and later periods of the Stone Age, but have not come into general use. Relics of the Stone Age abound in practically all parts of the world, and are found in great numbers in all a relnpological mu seums. The most characteristic types are knives, scrapers, arrow-points, spear-heads, eelts, axes, mortars, and pestles. See ARCII2EOLOGY, AMERI CAN.