The Mesolithic or Middle Stone Age is the Old World archaeological period between the Upper Paleolithic and the Neolithic. The term Epipaleolithic is often used synonymously, especially for outside northern Europe, and for the corresponding period in the Levant and Caucasus. The Mesolithic has different time spans in different parts of Eurasia. It refers to the final period of hunter-gatherer cultures in Europe and Western Asia, between the end of the Last Glacial Maximum and the Neolithic Revolution. In Europe it spans roughly 15,000 to 5,000 BP; in Southwest Asia roughly 20,000 to 10,000 BP. The term is less used of areas farther east, and not at all beyond Eurasia and North Africa.
A megalith is a large stone that has been used to construct a prehistoric structure or monument, either alone or together with other stones. There are over 35,000 in Europe alone, located widely from Sweden to the Mediterranean sea.
The Nordic Bronze Age is a period of Scandinavian prehistory from c. 2000/1750–500 BC.
Julliberrie's Grave, also known as The Giant's Grave or The Grave, is an unchambered long barrow located near to the village of Chilham in the south-eastern English county of Kent. Probably constructed in the fourth millennium BCE, during Britain's Early Neolithic period, today it survives only in a state of ruin.
The Tellem were the people who inhabited the Bandiagara Escarpment in Mali between the 11th and 16th centuries CE. The Dogon people migrated to the escarpment region around the 14th century. In the rock cells of this red cliff, clay constructions shelter the bones of the Tellem as well as vestiges witnessing to their civilization, which existed well before that of the Dogons.
Paleolithic religions are a set of spiritual beliefs and practices that may have appeared during the Paleolithic time period. Paleoanthropologists Andre Leroi-Gourhan and Annette Michelson believe unmistakably religious behaviour emerged by the Upper Paleolithic, before 30,000 years ago at the latest, but behavioral patterns such as burial rites that one might characterize as religious — or as ancestral to religious behaviour — reach back into the Middle Paleolithic, as early as 300,000 years ago, coinciding with the first appearance of Homo neanderthalensis and possibly Homo naledi.
Punishment of the Grave is a Judeo-Islamic concept about the time between death and resurrection on the Day of Judgement. According to some hadiths, the souls of the unrighteous are punished by two angels in the grave, while the righteous find the grave "peaceful and blessed".
Julian Stewart Thomas is a British archaeologist, publishing on the Neolithic and Bronze Age prehistory of Britain and north-west Europe. Thomas has been vice president of the Royal Anthropological Institute since 2007, has been Professor of Archaeology at the University of Manchester since 2000, and is former secretary of the World Archaeological Congress. Thomas is perhaps best known as the author of the academic publication Understanding the Neolithic in particular, and for his work with the Stonehenge Riverside Project.
Nicola Jane Milner is a British archaeologist and academic. She is head of the Department of Archaeology at the University of York. Her research focuses on the Mesolithic period, and the transition between the Mesolithic and Neolithic. She has worked at the iconic site of Star Carr in the Vale of Pickering for over 15 years, and has directed excavations at the site since 2004.
The Zvejnieki burial ground is an archaeological site consisting of a large Stone Age cemetery with over 400 burials and associated grave goods. It is located along a drumlin on the northern shore of Lake Burtnieks in northern Latvia.
Alice Stevenson is a British archaeologist and museum curator. She is Senior Lecturer in Museum Studies at UCL's Institute of Archaeology and a specialist in Predynastic and Early Dynastic Egyptian archaeology.
Sarah Tarlow is a British archaeologist and academic. As professor of historical archaeology at the University of Leicester, Tarlow is best known for her work on the archaeology of death and burial. In 2012, Tarlow was awarded the chair in archaeology at the University of Leicester.
Aigyr-Zhal 2 is a historical site in Naryn city on the territory of University of Central Asia (UCA), Kyrgyzstan. It is a part of a bigger and more complex site Aigyr-Zhal. It is dated between Mesolithic time and Middle Ages. Aigyr-Zhal is the only site in the Tian-Shan that has evidence of human occupation from Mesolithic time till the Turkic period . It was first was discovered in 1953 by Akhmat Kibirov. However, during the Soviet time the site was partially destroyed, therefore it was impossible to research the site for a long time. Only in 2012 it was first researched by Kubat Tabaldiev's archaeological team. The length of Aigyr-Zhal 2 is 300 metres, while the width is 100 metres, and the heigh of the site is 2026 metres above the sea level. Since 2002 the whole Aigyr-Zhal complex is in the list of National importance of Kyrgyzstan.
Joanna Bruck is an archaeologist and academic, who is a specialist on Bronze Age Britain and Ireland. Since 2020, she has been Professor of Archaeology and Head of the School of Archaeology at University College Dublin. She was previously Professor of Archaeology at the University of Bristol between 2013 and 2020.
Hannah C. Cobb is an archaeologist at the University of Manchester, noted for her work on pedagogy, post-humanist theory, and diversity and equality in archaeology.
Toloy is the name given to the first occupants of the Bandiagara Escarpment in Mali. Since the 15th century, this area has been known as Dogon country.
Prehistoric religion is the religious practice of prehistoric cultures. Prehistory, the period before written records, makes up the bulk of human experience; over 99% of human history occurred during the Paleolithic alone. Prehistoric cultures spanned the globe and existed for over two and a half million years; their religious practices were many and varied, and the study of them is difficult due to the lack of written records describing the details of their faiths.
Funerary archaeology is a branch of archaeology that studies the treatment and commemoration of the dead. It includes the study of human remains, their burial contexts, and from single grave goods through to monumental landscapes. Funerary archaeology might be considered a sub-set of the study of religion and belief. A wide range of expert areas contribute to funerary archaeology, including epigraphy, material culture studies, thanatology, human osteology, zooarchaeology and stable isotope analysis.
The Schalkholz Passage Grave, also known as Schalkholz-Vierth is a megalithic burial site of the Neolithic period and of the Funnelbeaker culture in Vierth, a district of Schalkholz in the province of Schleswig-Holstein in Germany. During the late Bronze Age or early Iron Age, it was used for a secondary burial site and was expanded upon. It has the Sprockhoff number 139 and the site number LA 33 or Heide LA 5. The grave was archaeologically investigated in 1969 and 1970 and was afterwards moved to the nearby town of Heide. In 2021 it was moved back to Schalkholz.
