Lithic stage

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For flint tool working see Lithic analysis

In the sequence of North American prehistoric cultural stages first proposed by Gordon Willey and Philip Phillips in 1958, the Lithic stage was the earliest period of human occupation in the Americas, covering the earliest, Pleistocene period. The name is derived from the first appearance of stone tools.

It was followed by the Archaic stage.

Its use has now been replaced by more specific regional terms such as the Arctic Tradition or the Paleo-Indian.