Catalonia's prehistory is divided into three main periods:
Paleolithic:
- Man was hunter and picker.
- He made tools of cutted stone, bone or even animal horns.
- It lived in little groups, mainly in caves.
- He was a nomad. Therefore he travelled to get some food. He was a hunter.

Prehistory men painted some walls and ceilings of the caves where they lived.
These particular kind of pictures are called “cave paintings”.
Some engraved stones, drawings and pictures have also been found.
The most important Paleolithic paintings are in the South of France and in the north of the Iberian Peninsula, in Cantabria region.
In Catalonia the most popular cave paintings are located in Cogul and Ulldecona.

Neolithic:
Man leaves hunting for agriculture and farming.
- Improvement on stone weapons and its technique to polish them.
- Villages start growing.
- Man becomes sedentary and settles down in villages.
- Man learns how to make his own utensils in pottery and mud.

Metals Age
Metals Age begins on the fourth century B.C. and it is considered the last period in our prehistory.
- The first metal used was copper. Nevertheless, copper is too soft and it was useless for making weapons or other utensils.
- Copper foundry was at the same time as silver, gold, tin and lead.

• After thousands of years, many megalithic monuments have appeared underneath our land.
• There are more than 300 dolmens spread within Catalonia, like those in Empordà region (Arqueta’s hut and Espolla).
Megalithysm
• Some communities from the last period of Neolithic and Metals age built many religious and funeral monuments. These monuments are called magalithics. These mean that they are built with huge rocks. There are several kinds of them but the most popular are called menhirs, dolmens and cromlechs.
A menhir is a huge rock fixed into the ground and in an upright position. Sometimes menhirs are found one next to the other like lining up.
Dolmen is a two big blocks of stone fixed, as well, on an upright position and a third one placed horizontally on top.
Cromlech is a monoliths circle. In Catalonia, rocks are not polished, they are not very big and they are often surrounded by dolmen and megalithic tombs.

Archaeological sites
• La sierra d'Atapuerca, is one of the most famous arqueological sites around the world. It is situated in Burgos region and it has been recently declared a World Heritage Monument by UNESCO. Among the most interesting objects found there is a cranium which belongs to “Homo intercessor”. This is considered the most ancient human ever found in Europe, 800.000 years ago. It is considered an ancestor of (Homo neanderthalensis) and of our own specie (Homo sapiens).
2004.Pierolapithecus catalanicus "Pau". (Catalonia, 2004 )
Nowadays Palaeontologists have been looking for the answer.
• At what stage our specie separated from primates and turned into human beings? Some important findings in Catalonia and Indonesia might have the information needed to complete all our evolution chain.
TOWARDS HUMAN BEING
• Pierolapithecus catalanicus
• It is the clue which has been found in Catalonia.
• This discovery seems to prove that monkeys and human beings separated his evolution 13 million years ago.