Epoca Mesolithic

10000 a.C. – 7000 a.C. · 4 siti

Le etichette del Mesolitico variano per regione, ma l'archeologia è coerente: cacciatori-raccoglitori post-glaciali, spesso lungo coste e fiumi, con microliti e accampamenti stagionali. È il cardine tra la mobilità paleolitica e il sedentarismo neolitico — non un sottile capitolo residuo.

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Painted rock shelter 8 at Bhimbetka, Madhya Pradesh

Nuovo

Record continentale

Longest Recorded History in Asia

Bhimbetka Rock Shelters

100000 a.C. – 1000 d.C.

A sandstone hill of painted rock shelters in the Vindhyas of Madhya Pradesh, with occupation from the Lower Palaeolithic through historic centuries, inscribed by UNESCO in 2003.

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PaleolithicMesolithicChalcolithic

Prehistoric rock paintings on a sandstone wall at Tassili n'Ajjer, Algeria

In evidenza

Record continentale

Longest Recorded History in Africa

Tassili n'Ajjer

10000 a.C. – 1000 a.C.

A vast sandstone plateau in the central Sahara sheltering the world's largest collection of prehistoric rock art — over 15,000 engravings and paintings spanning 12,000 years that document the Sahara's green past, its vanished animals, and its ancient peoples.

PaleolithicMesolithicNeolithic

Fish-human sandstone sculptures and trapezoid house floors at Lepenski Vir, Serbia

Record continentale

Oldest Settlement in Europe

Lepenski Vir

7000 a.C. – 5500 a.C.

The most remarkable Mesolithic settlement ever found — a precisely planned riverside village on the Danube in Serbia dating to 7000-5500 BCE whose trapezoid stone houses sheltered enigmatic fish-human sculptures, representing the earliest monumental art tradition in Europe.

Mesolithic

Sakarya Valley landscape near Bilecik, northwestern Türkiye, the river corridor below Gedikkaya Cave. Not a photograph of the cave mouth or the 2026 figurines.

In evidenzaNuovo

Record continentale

Oldest Complex in Asia

Gedikkaya Cave

14500 a.C. – 4500 a.C.

A north-facing limestone cave above the Sakarya Valley near İnhisar, Bilecik, occupied from the Epipaleolithic through the Middle Chalcolithic (c. 14,500-4,500 BCE). The 2026 season recovered about 25 limestone turtle figurines around circular stone rings.

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PaleolithicMesolithicNeolithic