<P> The Later Stone Age (LSA, sometimes also called the Late Stone Age) refers to a period in African prehistory . Its beginnings are roughly contemporaneous with the European Upper Paleolithic . It lasts until historical times and this includes cultures corresponding to Mesolithic and Neolithic in other regions . </P> <P> Stone tools were made from a variety of stones . For example, flint and chert were shaped (or chipped) for use as cutting tools and weapons, while basalt and sandstone were used for ground stone tools, such as quern - stones . Wood, bone, shell, antler (deer) and other materials were widely used, as well . During the most recent part of the period, sediments (such as clay) were used to make pottery . Agriculture was developed and certain animals were domesticated as well . </P> <P> Some species of non-primates are able to use stone tools, such as the sea otter, which breaks abalone shells with them . Primates can both use and manufacture stone tools . This combination of abilities is more marked in apes and men, but only men, or more generally Hominans, depend on tool use for survival . The key anatomical and behavioral features required for tool manufacture, which are possessed only by Hominans, are the larger thumb and the ability to hold by means of an assortment of grips . </P> <P> Food sources of the Palaeolithic hunter - gatherers were wild plants and animals harvested from the environment . They liked animal organ meats, including the livers, kidneys and brains . Large seeded legumes were part of the human diet long before the agricultural revolution, as is evident from archaeobotanical finds from the Mousterian layers of Kebara Cave, in Israel . Moreover, recent evidence indicates that humans processed and consumed wild cereal grains as far back as 23,000 years ago in the Upper Paleolithic . </P>

When did the stone age begin and end