旧石器时代(Paleolithic period)，亦称Old Stone Age。
古代技术或文化阶段，以使用原始的打制石器为特徵。在旧石器时代早期（约距今2,500,000～200,000年前），人类最早的祖先制作简单的鹅卵石工具和粗糙的石斧。大约700,000年前，第一支粗糙的手斧出现，後来在阿舍尔文化期工艺时期加以改进并与其他工具一起使用。制作轻薄工具的传统始於旧石器时代中期，以穆斯特文化期工艺时期为例。旧石器时代後期（西元前40,000～10,000年），更多复杂的、专门的和不同地区的石器工艺出现了，如奥瑞纳文化、梭鲁特文化期工艺和马格德林文化。旧石器文化的两种主要形式包括小型雕塑，如所谓的维纳斯像、各种各样的雕刻的或是塑造的动物和其他人物的像、纪念碑油画和雕刻设计，以及岩洞内墙上的浮雕，如阿尔塔米拉洞窟和拉斯科洞穴。旧石器时代的结束以出现新石器时代定居的农村为标志。
English version：
Paleolithic period
(“Old Stone Age”) Ancient technological or cultural stage characterized by the use of rudimentary chipped stone tools. During the Lower Paleolithic (c. 2.5 million-200,000 years ago), simple pebble tools and crude stone choppers were made by the earliest human ancestors. About 700,000 years ago, the first rough hand ax appeared, later refined and used with other tools in the Acheulian industry. A flake-tool tradition emerged in the Middle Paleolithic, as exemplified by implements of the Mousterian industry. The Upper Paleolithic (40,000-10,000 BC) saw the emergence of more complex, specialized, and diverse regional stone-tool industries, such as the Aurignacian, Solutrean, and Magdalenian. The two principal forms of Paleolithic art are small sculptures, such as the so-called Venus figurines and various carved or shaped animal and other figures, and monumental paintings, incised designs, and reliefs on the walls of caves such as Altamira and Lascaux. The end of the Paleolithic is marked by the emergence of the settled agricultural villages of the Neolithic period.