paleolithic

Meanings

1. 1
   adj

   relating to the Old Stone Age, the earliest and longest period of human prehistory

   Archaeologists found Paleolithic stone tools near the mouth of the cave.

2. 2
   adj

   figuratively, extremely primitive, crude, or outdated

   The committee dismissed the filing system as practically Paleolithic.

Formed in the nineteenth century from paleo- (from Greek palaios, "ancient, old") + -lithic (from Greek lithos, "stone") + -ic. It literally means "old-stone" and names the earliest major archaeological division of the Stone Age.

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