Complete 7 pages APA formatted article: Chronohistory of Europe. This period was referred to as the Old Stone Age (or Paleolithic). There has been very limited proof for this although modern evidence

Complete 7 pages APA formatted article: Chronohistory of Europe. This period was referred to as the Old Stone Age (or Paleolithic). There has been very limited proof for this although modern evidence has found that the earliest trace of recognizable tools (which are the main characteristics of human existence) can be traced to the Lower Pleistocene Age. It is during this period that momentous changes in climate across various parts of the world took place. There were formations of ice sheets, river valleys as well as the coastlines seen today. These environmental factors seem to have had a profound influence on the culture formation of the early man (Silberman and Alexander 544).

The earliest man during this Paleolithic era was a food gatherer and largely depended on hunting wild animals, collecting wild fruits, and fishing. As earlier mentioned, the artifactual records of this era are quite inconclusive, only relying on various imperishable such as traces of stones, bones, and other objects made of flint that have withstood the ravages of time. This included tools such as pebble tools, hand ax or bifacial tools, blade tools, and flake tools among others. This has made it a complex process of identifying exactly what could have been the traditions and cultures of this era.

In Europe, the existence of humans during the Paleolithic era has been traced in various countries such as France, Spain, Bosnia-Herzegovina, and Austria among others. Many Paleolithic discoveries in Europe have been made in France with archaeological sites such as Saint Acheul and Solutre showing the Pleistocene deposits such as the distinctive large hand axes that characterize the period. The terraces that resulted from the alternating cycles of the deposited streams are allied to the changes in sea levels and a general climatic shift during this era. Bones of elephants and rhinoceros from the Paleolithic have been found as well. In other European countries such as Spain, caves, and rock shelters have been found in the North Coast of the country in areas such as Mount Buciero, Cantarabia, and the Covalanas Cave.