Era Mesolithic

10000 a.C. – 7000 a.C. · 4 sítios

Mesolithic labels vary by region, but the archaeology is consistent: post-glacial foragers, often along coasts and rivers, with microliths and seasonal camps. It is the hinge between Palaeolithic mobility and Neolithic sedentism — not a thin leftover chapter.

Todos os sítios deste período

Painted rock shelter 8 at Bhimbetka, Madhya Pradesh

Novo

Continent Record

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.

111

PaleolithicMesolithicChalcolithic

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

Destaque

Continent Record

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

Continent Record

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.

DestaqueNovo

Continent Record

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.

311

PaleolithicMesolithicNeolithic