Mesolithic

adjective

Me·​so·​lith·​ic ˌme-zə-ˈli-thik 

: of, relating to, or being a transitional period of the Stone Age between the Paleolithic and the Neolithic

Word History

Etymology

meso- + -lithic

Note: The term was introduced by the Irish archaeologist Hodder Michael Stoughton (1820-85) in a paper read to the Anthropological Society of London on May 15, 1866, "On the Analogous Forms of Implements among Early and Primitive Races," summarized in the Journal of the Anthropological Society of London, vol. 4 (1866), p. 184. The published form of the paper, in Stoughton's book Pre-historic Phases; or, Introductory Essays on Pre-historic Archaeology (London, 1872) does not contain the term, though it does appear in another essay in the book, "On the Sequence of Flint, Stone, Copper and Bronze Implements in All Countries" (p. 65).

First Known Use

1866, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for Mesolithic

• chalcolithic
• megalithic
• monolithic
• neolithic
• lithic
• mythic
• paleolithic