The duration of the Mesolithic period is from about ______ years ago to ______ years ago.

The correct answer is 12000, 10000.

Key Points

• Stone Age is divided into three periods, namely-
• Paleolithic or Old Stone Age, 2) Mesolithic or Middle Stone Age, and 3) Neolithic or New Stone Age.
• The word lithic is derived from the Greek lithos, meaning stone. Paleolithic means Old Stone Age, Mesolithic means Middle Stone Age, and Neolithic means New Stone Age.
• Mesolithic Age-
  •  The Mesolithic Era began about 12,000 years ago and went on for about 2,000 years.
  • Also called the Middle Stone Age.
  • The mesolithic Age was a much shorter period than the Palaeolithic, having lasted about ten thousand years in India.
  • The technological hallmark of this period is tiny stone tools or microliths.
  •  In addition, the Mesolithic people also used non-microlithic tools made of flakes and blades.
•  Microliths
  •  Microliths are stone tools which are of length from 1cm to 5 cm, these are shaped like blades and are made of stones such as – chert, chalcedony, agate etc.
  • These tools are really small and sharp and have been found in different kinds of shapes such as triangles, crescents, trapezes, rhombus etc.

Additional Information

• Paleolithic Age: Paleolithic Age was developed in the Pleistocene period. 
  • Robert Bruce Foote was the first person to discover a Paleolithic Stone in India in 1863.
  • The tools of this period were made of hard rock 'quartzite' and hence people this age was called "Quartzite Man".
  • 'Palaeo' means Old and 'Lithic' means Stone. There was basically a Hunting and food-gathering culture

• Neolithic Age: Le Mesurier discover the tools and implementation of the Neolithic Age.
  • Neolithic-Chalcolithic Culture as a Self Sufficient food economy was defined by V. Gardon Childe.
  • Agriculture, Domestication of Animals, and polished and grinned stone tools were practices of this age.