The
Paleolithic (American spelling; British spelling:
Palaeolithic; pronunciation: )
Age,
Era or
Period is a prehistoric
period of
human history distinguished by the development of the most primitive
stone tools discovered (
Grahame Clark's Modes I and II), and covers roughly 95% of human technological
prehistory. It extends from the earliest known use of stone tools, probably by
hominins such as
australopithecines, 2.6 million years ago, to the end of the
Pleistocene around 10,000
BP.