Age can, for our purposes, be considered to run from about 250,000 to 10,000 BCE . Human beings during this time were physically the parallel of modern humans. They can be distinguished from earlier, prehuman forms by their rationality. They made tools, controlled fire, probably communicated with one another, and probably had some form of mythic-religious belief. To survive, Paleolithic human beings were migratory, hunting and gathering for food and living in shelter offered naturally.
Age is immediately discernable by archelogists, for Neolithic peoples practiced agriculture.
All of these gave Neolithic peoples far more control over their circumstances than Paleolithic humans had enjoyed.