epipalaeolithicadj.

1921 R. A. S. Macalister Text-bk. European Archæol. I. x. 549 The ‘Epipalaeolithic’ Azilian.

1924 C. D. Matthew tr. H. Obermaier Fossil Man in Spain x. 323 The final phase of the Capsian, the Tardenoisian, the Azilian, and the northern Maglemose industries are the posthumous descendants of the Palæolithic, on which account we have adopted for the group the name of ‘Epipalæolithic’.

1928 V. G. Childe Most Anc. East ii. 33 Others [sc. rock-paintings] belong to the immediately succeeding epipalæolithic period.

1936 Discovery Aug. 262/2 Some would regard it [sc. the period between the Old and New Stone Ages] as a continuation in attenuated form of activities fundamentally developed by palaeolithic man. They, therefore, prefer to term it ‘epi-palaeolithic’. Others regard it as essentially transitional, and call it ‘mesolithic’.

1970 D. A. Roe Prehist. iii. 91 Between the fully Upper Palaeolithic Cultures..and the fully Mesolithic ones..there are cultures which are not clearly either one or the other, and the sensible name of ‘epi-palaeolithic’ is sometimes given to them.

1970 D. A. Roe Prehist. iii. 95 The various epi-palaeolithic cultures may be regarded as ending with the close of Late Glacial conditions and the beginning of the Pre-Boreal phase.