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In archaeology, the Epipalaeolithic or Epipaleolithic (sometimes Epi-paleolithic etc.) is a period occurring between the Upper Paleolithic and Neolithic during the Stone Age. Mesolithic also falls between these two periods, and the two are sometimes confused or used as synonyms. More often, they are distinct, referring to approximately the same period of time in different geographic areas. Epipaleolithic always includes this period in the Levant and, often, the rest of the Near East. It sometimes includes parts of Southeast Europe, where Mesolithic is much more commonly used. Mesolithic very rarely includes the Levant or the Near East; in Europe, Epipalaeolithic is used, though not very often, to refer to the early Mesolithic.
The Epipalaeolithic has been defined as the "final Upper Palaeolithic industries occurring at the end of the final glaciation which appear to merge technologically into the Mesolithic".Bahn, Paul, The Penguin Archaeology Guide, Penguin, London, p. 141. The period is generally dated from Before Present to 10,000 BP in the Levant,Simmons, 46 but later in Europe. If used as a synonym or equivalent for Mesolithic in Europe, it might end at about BP or even later.
In the Levant, the period may be subdivided into Early, Middle and Late Epipaleolithic, the last also being the Natufian culture.Simmons, 47–48 The preceding final Upper Paleolithic period is the Kebaran or "Upper Paleolithic Stage VI".
Epipalaeolithic , generally , made relatively advanced tools from small flint or obsidian blades, known as , that were Hafting in wooden implements. There are settlements with "flimsy structures", probably not Sedentism except at some rich sites, but used and returned to seasonally.Simmons, 48–49
"Epipalaeolithic" stresses the continuity with the Upper Paleolithic. Alfonso Moure says in this respect:
In Europe, the Epipalaeolithic may be regarded as a period preceding the Early Mesolithic,"...there are no sites defining the transition from the Epipalaeolithic Azilian to the Early Mesolithic" – p. 249, Thomas, Homer L., A Handbook of Archaeology: Cultures and Sites: North Africa, Egypt, Southwest Asia, Mediterranean, Northwest Europe, Northern Europe, ..., Volume 1, 1996, Paul Astroms Forlag, or as locally constituting at least a part of it. Other authors treat the Epipalaeolithic as part of the Late Palaeolithic;referring to the Azilian: Jones, Emily Lena, In Search of the Broad Spectrum Revolution in Paleolithic Southwest Europe, pp. 5–6, 2015, Springer, , google books the culture in southern Portugal between about 10,500 to 8,500 years ago is "variously labelled as 'Terminal Magdalenian' and 'Epipalaeolithic.Straus, Lawrence Guy, p. 310 in Bailey and Spikins The different usages often reflect the degree of innovation and "economic intensification in the direction of domestication, sedentism or environmental modification" seen in the culture. If the Palaeolithic way of life continues with only adaptation to reflect changes in the types of wild food available, the culture may be called Epipalaeolithic. Encyclopedia of Human Evolution and Prehistory (2nd Edition), eds. Eric Delson, Ian Tattersall, et al., p. 236. 2004, Routledge, , google books (quoted); Bailey and Spikins, 4 One writer, talking of Azilian in Vasco-Cantabria talks of "some exceptions that seem to herald the coming of 'true' Mesolithic technologies a few centuries later".Straus, Lawrence Guy, in Bailey and Spikins, 312 The paleoanthropologist Trenton Holliday refers to a short Epipaleolithic phase in some areas of Europe after the end of the Younger Dryas 11,700 years ago, when in some areas of Europe most stone tools were small versions of Upper Paleolithic ones, before the introduction of Mesolithic technology around 10,000 years ago.
With Epipaleolithic I mean the period during the early days that followed the age of the reindeer, the one that retained Paleolithic customs. This period has two stages in Scandinavia, that of Maglemose and that of Kunda. ( Par époque épipaléolithique j'entends la période qui, pendant les premiers temps qui ont suivi l'âge du Renne, conserve les coutumes paléolithiques. Cette période présente deux étapes en Scandinavie, celle de Maglemose et de Kunda.)
Stjerna made no mention of the Mesolithic, and it is unclear if he intended his terms to replace that. His new terms were soon adopted by the German Hugo Obermaier, who in 1916 used them in El Hombre fósil (translated into English in 1924) as part of an attack on the concept of the Mesolithic, which he insisted was a period of "transition" and an "interim" rather than "transformation":
But in my opinion this term is not justified, as it would be if these phases presented a natural evolutionary development – a progressive transformation from Paleolithic to Neolithic. In reality, the final phase of the Capsian, the Tardenoisian, the Azilian and the northern Maglemosian industries are the posthumous descendants of the Palaeolithic ...
This early history of the term introduced the ambiguity and degree of confusion which has continued to surround its use, at least as relates to the archaeology of Europe.
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