<P> Cultural aspects emerged, such as art of the Upper Paleolithic period, which included cave painting, sculpture such as the Venus figurines, carvings and engravings of bone and ivory . The most common subject matter was large animals that were hunted by the people of the time . The Cave of Altamira and Paleolithic Cave Art of Northern Spain and Côa Valley Paleolithic Art are examples of such artwork . Musical instruments such as flutes emerged during this period . </P> <P> The Mesolithic period was a transitional era between the Paleolithic hunter - gatherers, beginning with the Holocene warm period around 11,660 BP and ending with the Neolithic introduction of farming, the date of which varied in each geographical region . Adaptation was required during this period due to climate changes that affected environment and the types of available food . </P> <P> Small stone tools called microliths, including small bladelets and microburins, emerged during this period . For instance, spears or arrows were found at the earliest known Mesolithic battle site at Cemetery 117 in the Sudan . Holmegaard bows were found in the bogs of Northern Europe dating from the Mesolithic period . </P> <P> The Neolithic Revolution was the first agricultural revolution, representing a transition from hunting and gathering nomadic life to an agriculture existence . It evolved independently in six separate locations worldwide circa 10,000--7000 years BP (8,000--5,000 BC). The earliest known evidence exists in the tropical and subtropical areas of southwestern / southern Asia, northern / central Africa and Central America . </P>

Devices used to store information in prehistoric age