Civilization is an expression Man's mental accomplishments either in verbal, written or material form.

Mental acquisitions of Palaeolithic man have come to light wholly from archaeological finds, mobile or still: habitations or internments and objects used (eg. tools). The material remains have also given researchers clues on nature, climate, animal behaviour and the ways Palaeolithic man managed to survive through the harsh conditions of the Ice Age.

The choice of temporary refuge (eg. cave, shelter made from mammoth bones), the discovery of fire (ca. 700,000 years BP), selecting appropriate rocks for the manufacture of resistant weapons and tools, continuous improvements in tool producing techniques and hunting methods, the internment of the dead and art are the earliest accomplishments in human history.

Man's instinct to survive is an element of Palaeolithic art on our planet. Thus, tools and weapons comprised the first type of art. In Greece numerous tools made of stone, bone and antler (handaxes, arrowheads, endscrapers, blades, needles, spatula etc.) have been unearthed.

After the Final Upper Palaeolithic (25,000-11,000 BP) evidence shows that there was more respect towards man and his internment (Theopetra) than earlier, whereas the extraction of red ochre from the mine of Thasos suggests its use for the adornment of the dead. In all likelihood body adornment for the living was popular as well, since this colouring substance -the"gold" of the Palaeolithic- was kept in deerhorn cases immediately after its extraction.

The first jewellery from bear and deer teeth as well as from pierced marine shells, representing social symbols come also from this period. Among the representative samples of Palaeolithic art in Greece, we have unearthed an animal bone with nine incised parallel lines found at Cave Theopetra. At Sarakino Cave on Pelion, two schist stone slabs with incised decorations of human figures, huts, animals (a goat and a reptile) and a harpoon. A polished object with an incised design of a wild horse also originates from Pelion. Monuments of Palaeolithic art, such as rock carvings and mobiliary art similar to western and central Europe have not been discovered so far in Greece.