The Middle Paleolithic period, between about 250,000 and 45,000 years ago, saw the rise of the hominids, and several competing hominid types--Homo erectus, Homo sapiens and Neanderthals--sharing the earth.
Upper Paleolithic Textiles from Dzudzuana Cave
The Human Family Tree Migration Pathways
Recent investigations at Sibudu Cave and other Early Modern Human sites in South Africa suggest that the bow and arrow was part of the tool kit of Howiesons Poort/Still Bay cultures some 60,000 years ago.
The Middle Paleolithic period (ca 200,000 to 45,000 years ago or so) is the period during which Archaic humans including Homo sapiens neanderthalensis appeared and flourished all over the world.
The rockshelter of Abric Romaní is a Middle and Upper Paleolithic site located in a cliff outside of the village of Capellades, in the Autonomous Community of Catalonia, some 50 kilometers west of Barcelona, Spain.
Boomplaas Cave (Tree Farm Cave) is located in the Swartberg Range of South Africa, near the southern most tip of the continent.
The multicomponent archaeological cave site of El Mirón is located in the Rio Ason valley of eastern Cantabria, Spain, that has occupations between the late Middle Paleolithic to AD 1400.
The Enkapune Ya Muto rockshelter (also called Twilight Cave) is located on the Mau Escarpment of the central Rift Valley in Kenya.
Etiolles is the name of an Upper Paleolithic (Magdalenian) site located on the Seine River near Corbeil-Essonnes about 30 kilometers south of Paris, France.
The archaeological site of Gesher Benot Yaaqov is located in the northern Jordan Valley on the shore of an ancient lake.
The Grottes des Pigeons is a Middle Paleolithic rockshelter located in eastern Morocco
Hayonim Cave is the name of a cave located on the Mediterranean coast of Israel, in a limestone bluff about 250 meters above modern sea level.
The most advanced industries of the Middle Stone Age are those of the Howiesons Poort and Stillbay industries of southern Africa.
The site of Kaletepe Deresi 3 is located in the Göllü Dag region of central Turkey, and it contains at least three Middle and Lower Paleolithic archaeological components
Located on the western escarpment of Mount Carmel, Kebara Cave has two important components, Middle Paleolithic Aurignacian and Mousterian, and Epi-Paleolithic Natufian.
The Middle and Upper Paleolithic site of Molodova is located on the Dniester River in the Chernovtsy province of the Ukraine.
The Mousterian industry is the name archaeologists have given to an ancient Middle Stone Age method of making stone tools
The Mumba Rockshelter (or Mumba-Hohle) is located in the Rift Valley of Tanzania
The Great Cave of Niah in an important Middle Paleolithic] archaeological site in Borneo, and part of the Southern Disperal Route argument.
Orgnac 3 is a Middle Paleolithic cave and open air site located in the Rhone Valley of France, near the Ardeche river gorges.
PP13B is the scientific designation for a sea cave in the coastal cliffs at Pinnacle Point near Mossel Bay, South Africa.
Pontnewydd Cave is a Middle Paleolithic (Middle Stone Age) cave site in North Wales.
Rose Cottage is a Middle Paleolithic (Howiesons Poort) cave site located in the eastern Free State of South Africa.
The Southern Dispersal Route refers to a theory concerning an early migration of modern human beings from southern Africa to the east along the coastlines of Africa, Arabia and India to Australia and Melanesia between about 70,000 and 45,000 years ago.
