Final answer:
The Mesolithic Period, part of the Stone Age, served as a transitional period between the Paleolithic and Neolithic ages, marked by changes in toolmaking and the beginnings of agriculture.
Step-by-step explanation:
The Mesolithic Period, sometimes known as the Middle Stone Age, is the intermediate period between the Paleolithic (Old Stone Age) and Neolithic (New Stone Age). It marks a transitional phase in prehistoric development when humans shifted from hunting in groups of large herd animals using large chipped stone tools, to a hunter-gatherer culture employing smaller chipped stone tools known as microliths. This period is characterized by significant changes in human behavior and technology, corresponding to a time when the climate began to warm and glaciers receded, particularly in regions such as Northern Europe.
During the Mesolithic age, people also began to plant food crops and live with animals, which paved the way for more settled lifestyles and the advent of agriculture in the subsequent Neolithic age, a period when farming spread and monumental stone architecture emerged. Archaeologists divide the Stone Age into three distinct periods: Paleolithic, Mesolithic, and Neolithic, with the Mesolithic acting as the bridge between the nomadic ways of the Old Stone Age and the agricultural communities of the New Stone Age.