Page 6 - Behind the Cave Wall: Osha's Story

When is the story set?

The Stone Age is a very, very, very long period of time. To make things easier, it is split into three
different ‘ages’:

The Paleolithic Age – The Old Stone Age 2.7 million – 11,000 years ago(ya) “From the Cave Wall” is set during
The Mesolithic Age – The Middle Stone Age – 11,000 – 6,000 years ago the late old stone age or the Upper
Palaeolithic Age, about 13,000ya.
The Neolithic Age – The New Stone Age – 6,000 – 2,000 years ago Just before the start of the

Mesolithic age!
The Palaeolithic age is then split into three again, as shown below: Upper
Paleolithic
40,000-
11,000ya

The Paleolithic Age – 2.7 million - 11,000

Lower Paleolithic Middle Paleolithic
2.7 milion–300,000ya 300,000-4000ya

350,000 325,000 300,000 275,000 250,000 225,000 200,000 175,000 150,000 125,000 100,000 75,000 50,000 25,000

About 60,000ya About 30,000ya
At some point… The first successful Neanderthals
Several human species (hominids) evolve in Africa: Neanderthals and Homo Sapiens human settlements disappear and
Australopithecus (modern humans) evolved. outside of Africa humans begin to live
Homo habilis are created. across the world.
Homo erectus They developed more ‘modern’ behaviours: Humans make art in caves and
Homo ergaster Stone tool use other places. They use tools made
Hunting and gathering
And more… Caring for older people of lots of natural materials.
3 Please note: All times are approximate and the timeline is NOT to scale!