The Lower Paleolithic or Palaeolithic refers to the earliest period of human existence, the first of the three Paleolithic (Stone Age) periods. It spans the time from around 4 million years ago when the first hominids appear in the archaeological record, to around 120,000 years ago when important evolutionary and technological changes ushered in the Middle Palaeolithic.

The earliest hominids, known as australopithecines personified by the famous find of Lucy in Ethiopia were not advanced tool users and were likely to have been common prey for larger animals. Sometime before 3,000,000 years ago the first fossils that can be called Homo appear in the archaeological record. They may have evolved from the australopithecines or come from another genetic branch of the primates

Homo habilis remains, such as those from at Olduvai Gorge, are much more recognisable as humans. Stone tool use was developed by these people around 2.5 million years ago before they were replaced by homo erectus about 1.5 million years ago. Homo habilis used Oldowan tools and had learnt to control fire to support the hunter gatherer method of subsistence.