Old Stone Age v. New Stone Age
The differences
Old Stone Age (Paleolithic era)
The term "Stone Age" is used to describe a period of human evolution where stone was used as the most hardest material for making tools. The Stone Age started around 2.5 to 2 million years ago when early humans first produced the first stone tools in East Africa and ended with the development of agriculture, the domestication of certain animals such as sheep, goat and cow, etc.The Paleolithic is characterized by the use of stone tools known as choppers, although at the time, humans also used wood and bone tools. Other organic tools, including leather and vegetable fiber were included. Food of these hunter-gatherers included animals and plants that were part of the environment in which they lived. Paleolithic people particularly liked animal organ meats including the livers, kidneys and brains. The climate changed between warm and cool so they would do their daily routine around the weather. They also ate leaves and roots and towards the end of this period wild cereal grains. Around the end of the Paleolithic, humans began to produce the earliest works of art and engage in religious and spiritual behavior such as burial and ritual.
New Stone Age (Neolithic Era)
The Neolithic Age, Era, or Period, or New Stone Age, was a period in the development of human technology, beginning about 9500 BC in the Middle East that is traditionally considered the last part of the Stone Age. Early Neolithic farming was limited to a narrow range of plants, both wild and domesticated, which included wheat, millet and spelt, and the keeping of dogs, sheep and goats. By about 8000 BC, it included domesticated cattle and pigs, the establishment of permanently or seasonally inhabited settlements, and the use of pottery. During most of the Neolithic age, people lived in small tribes composed of multiple bands or lineages. These developments are also believed to have greatly encouraged the growth of settlements, since it may be supposed that the increased need to spend more time and labor in tending crop fields required more localized dwellings. To the fishing methods employing hooks, Neolithic people added more complex tools, like fishing baskets and nets, using plant stems and fibers. In shallow water, Neolithic people could use wooden sticks for catching fish. The first 'vessels' appeared in the shape of canoes made of carved tree trunks or skiffs made of a branch scaffold covered by tarred skins. Navigation was made using long poles and only in shallow waters.