When did the stone age start?

The stone age is not a single entity. It is broken into several periods with a considerable overlapas different cultures moved from one phase to another at different rates:


Paleolithic Period: About 2.6 million years ago to 10,000 BCE

• Lower Palaeolithic: 1.5 million years BCE,
• Middle Palaeolithic: 120,000-24,000 BCE
• Upper Palaeolithic: From 35,000 to 10,000 BCE (the end of the last ice age) modern

Epipalaeolithic or Mesolithic: 10,000 years ago, to around 6,000 years ago

Neolithic (New Stone Age): 7000 BCE to the start of the Bronze Age about 3,00 BCE