Palaeolithic

British

/ ˌpælɪəʊˈlɪθɪk /

noun

the period of the emergence of primitive man and the manufacture of unpolished chipped stone tools, about 2.5 million to 3 million years ago until about 12 000 _bc . See also Lower Palaeolithic Middle Palaeolithic Upper Palaeolithic

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

adjective

(sometimes not capital) of or relating to this period

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

Similar distinct resonances in the natural environment have been measured, for example, in the Palaeolithic caves of France and Spain, occurring especially near paintings on cave walls.

From Science Daily • Nov. 27, 2023

During Palaeolithic times it contained a shallow lake.

From Seattle Times • Jun. 2, 2023

Residues from an Upper Palaeolithic site in the Pontic steppe in eastern Europe show ancient people pounded tubers before they ate them.

From Salon • Dec. 5, 2022

The Palaeolithic artwork, it says, must have been made by Neanderthals, a "sister" species to Homo sapiens, as they were Europe's sole human inhabitants at the time.

From BBC • Aug. 3, 2021

The famous rock paintings in Chauvet, France, made by cave- dwelling people of the Upper Palaeolithic period, or European Ice Age, are 32,000 years old.

From "The Story of Music" by Howard Goodall

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023