The Upper Paleolithic Period 40,000 to  18,000 ya

The Upper Paleolithic By 28 kya Neanderthals gone. Humans expand into most of the world. Art appears and spreads. Numerous technological innovations occur. Domestication of the Dog

Summary of Chronology The Upper Paleolithic 40 to 18 kya Basal Paleolithic 2.5 to 1.8 mya Time of Homo habilis Olduwan tools Lower Paleolithic 1.8 m to 250 kya Time of Homo erectus Acheulean hand axes Middle Paleolithic 250 to 40 kya Time of H. neanderthalensis Mousterian tools The Upper Paleolithic 40 to 18 kya Chatelperronian Aurignacian Gravettian Solutrean Magdalenian

Two important definitions Blades = flakes that are at least twice as long as they are wide, with straight edges. Composite tools = ones formed from multiple materials. E.g., a spear has a stone point, wooden shaft, bone fore-shaft, sinew hafting, and resins.

Making blades during the Upper Paleolithic Period. Composite tools during the Upper Paleolithic Period.

Aurignacian Tools: 40 to 30 kya in Europe www.hf.uio.no/iakk/ roger/lithic

Early Upper Paleolithic Europe Aurignacian Tools 40 to 30 kya Early Upper Paleolithic Europe www.hf.uio.no/iakk/ roger/lithic

Other Features of the Aurignacian Diverse, efficient, flexible tool kit. Beads & Jewelry made from mammal bones & teeth. Bone needles & awls suggesting tailored clothing. Portable art of engraved bone and ivory Southern Germany: Vogelherd Cave & Hohlenstein Stadel. Grotte du Renne, France.

Tool Industries These are tool complexes that are associated and are useful time markers for the UP. Chatelperronian = intermediate Mousterian to Aurignacian Aurignacian 36 – 22 kya. Earliest “blade industry.” Gravettian 33 – 22 kya. Thinner, more finely made blades than Aurignacian. Solutrean 22 – 18 kya. Extremely refined blade technology. Magdalenian 18 – 10 kya. Final UP blade industry. ART.

Gravettian Tools 30 to 20 kya Mid Upper Paleolithic Europe www.hf.uio.no/iakk/ roger/lithic

Two Important Gravettian Sites Dolni Vestonice 27 kya (Czech Republic) Complex campsite. Kostenki 27 kya (Russia). Nine pit houses Hearths in centers of huts Storage pits cut into permafrost

Dolni Vestonice

Dolni Vestonice

Kostenki

Bone-framed house

Implications of Sites People becoming a bit more sedentary Diet, however, still hunting & gathering Find large herbivore remains Small mammals remains Some fish bones

Solutrean Tools: 22 to 18 kya in Europe www.hf.uio.no/iakk/ roger/lithic

The Dog Domestication = an organism relying on humans for survival & reproduction. Dogs come from wolves, which are pack animals. Dogs have abilities that humans don’t have.

The Venus Figurines Portable art that appeared during the Upper Paleolithic period. Female figures carved from soft stone or mammoth bone. Thought to symbolize fertility.

Venus of Willendorf, Austria Venus of Gagarino, Ukraine

Implication of Figurines Suggest communication and interaction over long distances. Suggest symbolic thinking.

Cave Painting Painters used charcoal & red ochre Lascaux: (France) emphasis on animal paintings; human renderings are simple. Altamira: (Spain) use of natural features of the cave to enhance animal art. Chauvet Cave: (discovered 1994).

Chauvet Cave 33 – 20 kya Large cave galleries Compositional groupings of herbivores & predators. Find rare species not depicted in other caves: rhino, lion, long-eared owl, & hyena. Appear to be stylistically unified (same culture).

Lascaux 34 – 12 kya

Chauvet Cave, France 33 - 20 kya

The Magdalenian 20 – 10 kya. Stone/bone tool industry becomes more diverse. Microlithic blades. New weapons (e.g., harpoon). Large scale climate change occurred (deglaciation). Sites were occupied for longer than during Gravettian (more sedentary). Important sites: Madeliene Rockshelter, Laugerie Haute People lived there for entire seasons, not year round.

Magdalenian Tools 20 to 10 kya Late Upper Paleolithic

Mezhirich, Russia Magdalenian

Summary of Upper Paleolithic Diet became gradually more diverse People became gradually less mobile Artwork proliferates Climate warms, deglaciation during Magdalenian Sets the stage for more regionalization and diversification during the Mesolithic