Paleolithic Switzerland

The Paleolithic in Switzerland encompasses the longest prehistoric period in the region, spanning from the earliest human occupation around 1.5 million years ago until approximately 12,000 years ago (Pleistocene epoch).

The term "Paleolithic," coined in 1865 by British naturalist John Lubbock, originally distinguished the "Old Stone Age" of chipped stone tools from the "New Stone Age" (Neolithic) of polished stone implements. In modern understanding, these periods represent fundamentally different ways of life: Paleolithic peoples were mobile predators who subsisted through hunting, fishing, and gathering, while Neolithic populations adopted sedentary lifestyles based on agriculture and animal husbandry.

The Swiss Paleolithic record is particularly challenging to study due to the region's geological instability during the Quaternary period. The alternation of more than twenty major glacial and interglacial stages caused cyclical accumulation and erosion patterns, especially in mountainous regions, leading to the destruction of most early Paleolithic remains. This climatic conditioning makes Swiss prehistory more fragmentary than in other European regions.