The Italians discovered the first traces of Palaeolithic life in Albania, and also some cave-dwellings containing Neolithic deposits. It is only in the last thirty-five years that it has been possible to undertake the disciplined and rewarding task of tracing the prehistoric cultures of Albania, and of discovering and studying the culture of the land and its people in the stages of their evolution. Very little is known of Palaeolithic culture in Albania, because that primitive period has not yet been included in organized schemes of research. The Mesolithic period is almost totally unknown. The evolution of Neolithic civilization can be followed in Albania over three periods: Early, Middle and Late Neolithic. A separate cultural development, called Eneolithic, took place as a transitory stage leading from the Neolithic Age to the Bronze Age. According to the archaeological evidence, Albania experienced in the Neolithic and to an even greater extent in the Eneolithic period, a fairly marked growth in productive capacity.