palæolithic, a. (n.) Archæol.
(ˌpæliːəʊˈlɪθɪk, ˌpeɪliː-)
Also (chiefly U.S.) paleo-.
[f. palæo-, paleo- + Gr. λίθ-ος stone + -ic.]
Characterized by the use of primitive stone implements; applied to the earlier part of the prehistoric ‘stone age’; also to things belonging to this period. Opp. to neolithic.
| 1865 Lubbock Preh. Times 2 Firstly, that of the Drift, when men shared the possession of Europe with the Mammoth, the Cave bear..and other extinct animals. This we may call the ‘Palaeolithic’ period. 1873 Geikie Gt. Ice Age Pref. 10 He considers that a glacial period had intervened since the disappearance of paleolithic man. |
B. n. A palæolithic implement.
| 1888 Amer. Antiquarian Mar. 123 Information as to the discovery of rude relics resembling paleolithics. Ibid. 124 (heading) Paleolithics and neolithics. |
So ˈpalæolith, a primitive stone implement; palæoˈlithical a. = palæolithic; palæoˈlithoid a. [see -oid], resembling, or having the character of, what is palæolithic.
| 1879 Webster Suppl., Paleolith, a relic of the paleolithic era. 1887 Boban Collect. Antiq. II. 8 (Cent.) Paleolithical. 1895 Folk-Lore Mar. 76 From underground palæolith to exquisitely-shaped barbed arrow-head. 1896 Sir A. Mitchell in Proc. Soc. Antiq. Scotl. Ser. iii. VI. 357 Other things show that [this] palæolithoid weapon is found in the hands of a palæolithoid man. |