Middle Paleolithic
The 3rd British Ice age started somewhere around 150,000 years ago, and the last Ice Age is reported to have commenced before 75,000 BC.
The middle Paleolithic supposedly started from the interglacial period and there are no known reports of a presence of a hominid at that time in Britain. There are reports which confirm that towards the end of middle Paleolithic a new hominid called 'Homo sapiens Neanderthalic' appeared.
The Neanderthals were different from 'Homo Erectus' in length and size. They were said to be shorter in height and bulkier in size or stature. These men were said to have existed around 60,000 BC, somewhere near the south of unglaciated Britain. Reports from the examinations of the discovered human remains and tools reveal the history of the Neanderthals existence from their predecessors.
There were advanced tools 'Mousterian' used by Neanderthals which were found at the Old bury rock shelters in Kent. They made a lot of flint flake tools which included a hand axe which was created around 50,000 years ago. This was the same time when mammoths existed and one of the butchered remains of a mammoth was found in Norfolk in 2002. This one seemed to have been hunted down by Neanderthals. It's quite possible that this might have been scavenged too? We are not sure at this moment. There were other Neanderthal sites found near Kent's Cavern in Devon.
That's not all, the Neanderthals had travelled a long distance and their remains were found in different parts of Europe, northern Africa, Palestine and also Siberia. The nature of Neanderthals is still unknown and there have been many theories describing the way these men might have lived but they are only assumptions as nothing concrete can be confirmed.
For sure lots of theories confirm that Neanderthals were the early age modern humans existing around 100.000 years ago from the fact that they used sophisticated tool making techniques in manufacturing stone tools with which they could control their surroundings and that they had acquired the mastery of fire.
There were dead bodies dug out of the graves which were of the Neanderthals timeline which could have been the way the dead were supposed to be buried as per their existing religion and rituals. Hunting was again their primary source of food and it is also quite possible that Neanderthals smoked fish as well as learning greater techniques of drying and preserving meat.
Original Authors: Rohit Maini
Edit Update Authors: M.Harris
Updated On: 12/05/2008
