France Prehistoric Period

1. Chalcolithic Copper Age

1.1. The Late Neolithic and Copper Age of the Iberian Peninsula lasted from 4500 to 2200 b.c.

2. Middle/Mesolithic stone period

2.1. Excavation of some megalithic monuments in Britain, Ireland, Scandinavia, and France has revealed evidence of ritual activity, sometimes involving architecture, during the Mesolithic Period. The Mesolithic Period | Boundless Art History

3. Megalithic/big stone period

3.1. France has been occupied for a long time, and megalithic structures and monuments were built by those occupants starting back in the Neolithic (late Stone Age) and Chalcolithic (or Copper Age) over the period 4800-1200 BC. Some of these can be visited today in the lower Loire river valley near Saumur. Megalithic structures take a variety of forms. The dolmen is a common one — a large flat capstone forming a roof over an enclosed space. The capstone may be supported by large orthostats, upright stone pillars or panels. The result is a structure, sometimes as large as a house, built from these large stone slabs.

4. Iron Age

4.1. THE LATE BRONZE AGE (C. 1000–750 b.c.) The Late Bronze Age in France, as elsewhere in central and western Europe, presents two disparate images.

5. New/Neolithic stone age

5.1. To be in the exact same place as our ancestors once lived, hunted, and painted the walls of their caves can be an almost overwhelming experience, and most of us are fascinated by our ancestors when we visit a place where prehistoric man was known to live. Prehistoric France and a timeline of prehistory in France

6. Old/paleolithic stone period

6.1. Paleolithic or Old Stone Age: from the first production of stone artefacts, about 2.5 million years ago, to the end of the last Ice Age, about 9,600 BCE. Stone Age

7. Bronze Age

7.1. THE LATE BRONZE AGE (C. 1000–750 b.c.) The Late Bronze Age in France, as elsewhere in central and western Europe, presents two disparate images.