Final answer:
One of the most impactful events that changed the culture in the Stone Age was the transition to the Early Farming Phase around 12,000 years ago, leading to settled agriculture and the acceleration of human cultural evolution.
Step-by-step explanation:
One of the most impactful events that changed culture during the Stone Age was the transition to the Early Farming Phase, which occurred around 12,000 years ago. This cultural revolution marked a transition from nomadic hunter-gatherer societies to settled agricultural communities. It allowed for the establishment of permanent settlements, leading to the development of more complex social structures and technologies. The Neolithic Revolution, as it is often called, greatly accelerated cultural evolution and paved the way for further advances in human history, such as the creation of cities, the invention of writing, and the rise of civilizations.
During the Neolithic period, people still used stone tools, but they were more sophisticated, making grinding tools for agriculture and cooperating to move large stones for construction. This period followed the Paleolithic, or Old Stone Age, which ranged from 30,000 BCE to 10,000 BCE, known for the earliest forms of human creativity like cave paintings found in Europe. In addition, the advent of fire use is another technological milestone in the Stone Age, significantly impacting human culture by enhancing our capacity for creative and organized social structures.
The Middle Stone Age in southern Africa also saw behaviorally modern humans who could engage in symbolic thought, as evidenced by artworks like the Apollo 11 cave stones. These early societies possessed the technological know-how to transport raw materials over long distances and produce stone tools such as blades and scrapers, as well as symbolic artifacts like the ostrich eggshells used for pigment containers or ornamental purposes.