The Final, Recent, or Evolved Paleolithic period marks the last era of the Paleolithic era. It witnessed the development of leaf and microlithic armatures, particularly arrowheads, which signaled advancements in hunting and warfare. Animal bones were crafted using both conventional stone-working techniques (percussion, polishing) and specialized methods (sawing, abrasion). The range of tools during this period was extensive, encompassing spears, pierced sticks, harpoons, propellers, eyed needles, smoothers, spatulas, and punches. The utilization of bone facilitated the refinement and perfection of tools due to its lightness, flexibility, and versatility, allowing for piercing, incising, and sculpting. Neolithic The Neolithic period, which followed the Paleolithic, witnessed significant technological and social transformations. Human groups adopted an agricultural and livestock-breeding subsistence model, which often led to sedentarization. This shift facilitated the development of advanced technologies such as polished stone tools, pottery, seed grinding equipment, and architecture. Breeding Animal domestication has taken very varied forms depending on the cultures and environments that saw its birth. Similarly, the spread of domestic species in regions where they did not exist in the wild has profoundly disrupted the societies and ecosystems concerned. The many pastoral and agro-pastoral societies have thus developed lifestyles for several millennia as evidenced by the many parietal representations that dot the continent but also the care taken in the decoration of animals by some current nomadic breeders. Agriculture and gathering Mobile hunter-gatherer groups will gradually transform into settled societies with the modification of their environment by means of adapted agricultural techniques (for example irrigation) allowing significant surplus production. These developments favor an increase in population, a complex division of labor, economies of trade; centralized administrative and political structures and knowledge sharing systems such as writing
