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MittelsteinzeitMiddle Stone Age (Mesolithic Period - 8000-6000/5000 B.C.), the period following the terminal part of the Paleolithic Period (Prehistory, Old Stone Age). It constituted the transition to the Neolithic Period (New Stone Age). The Mesolithic Period is characterised by microliths, small geometrically shaped tools crafted from flint, which had shafts or handles of wood or bone. The earliest documented domesticated animal was the dog. Research into the period has been scarce. In Austria, finds have been made on Bisamberg hill (Vienna), Horn, Kamegg and Limberg (all Lower Austria), Hirschbichl in the Defereggen valley in East Tirol, Koblach (Vorarlberg) and the Zigeunerhöhle cave near Gratkorn (Styria). Literature: W. Antl-Weiser, Spätpaläolithikum und Mesolithikum, 1993.
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