Paragraph on “The Stone Age” complete paragraph for Class 9, Class 10, Class 11 and Class 12

The Stone Age

About two and a half million years ago, before man learnt the use of metals, man used stone as a raw material for making weapons, tools and fire. This period was called the Stone Age. The Stone Age can be divided into three parts i.e. the Palaeolithic or Old stone age, the Mesolithic or Middle stone age and the Neolithic or the New stone age. During the palaeolithic age, which lasted for about 10,000 years, the people learned how to use stones for cutting and chipping. They used to sharpen pieces of rock into a tool for cutting. As a result of this they developed the first knives, spear heads and scrapers. As time went by they learnt how to use small chips of stone for making arrow heads and other finer tools and weapons. They carved pieces of rock through careful chipping and in turn sharpened the edges to make finer tools. This period was called the Middle stone age. About 9,000 years ago in the Middle East the people knew how to make smooth and finely finished tools, including farming tools, and weapons like the Axe head out of stone.

In the earlier years of the stone age, people constantly moved around hunting for food in small groups or families. During the coldest seasons they lived in caves while in the warmer seasons they set up camps. They used the animal skins to make warm clothing for surviving the bitter cold. Due to the Ice age most of the larger animals had either died of natural causes or had been hunted down by man.

After the Ice age these people hunted smaller animals and fish for their survival. It was only in the new stone age when the farming tools were developed that these people gave up their nomadic life and settled down in what we could call as small villages. Settling down also led to the domestication of animals both as pack animals and for food and into the advent of farming.