The Palaeolithic and the Mesolithic
The Palaeolithic (Old Stone Age) and Mesolithic (Middle Stone Age) can be dated from around 4 to 3 million years to 5,500 BC. The climate of the Palaeolithic period was characterized by alternating ice ages and warm phases. The gravel terraces and shifting sand dunes that characterize our region were formed during the cold periods. The flora and fauna changed accordingly: from a tundra and steppe landscape with mammoth, reindeer and woolly rhinoceros to forest vegetation with giant deer, elk and forest elephants.
At that time, people lived as hunters and gatherers in small, non-sedentary groups.
In the Middle Stone Age (Mesolithic), fishing and bird hunting became more important. Tents or windbreaks made of branches, skins and leather hides were erected at the campsites and offered protection from the weather.
Tools and weapons were made from stone, which was given the desired shape by chipping off individual pieces. The oldest tools were simple pebbles from which only one piece was chipped off to create a sharp working edge.
Over the course of time, the manufacturing technique was refined and scrapers, scrapers, blades, hand axes and finally, in the Middle Stone Age (Mesolithic), very small tools, the so-called microliths, were produced. People also used wood, bone, antler and fur to make tools and clothing.
The fact that people made progress in their techniques makes it possible for archaeologists thousands of years later to trace the period from which a find originates. The following objects date from the Mesolithic period (from 9,500 to 5,500 BC) and indicate that hunter-gatherers roamed our region.