Evolution of Modern Humans: Early Modern Human Culture

Early modern Homo sapiens in Africa and southwest Asia 100,000 years ago made tools that were similar to those of the Neandertals and other late archaic Homo sapiens. Around 75,000 years ago, these were mostly simple Mousterian-like Levallois flake and core tools. However, by 40,000 years ago, modern humans began producing new kinds of artifacts that were revolutionary enough to warrant their being placed into a different Paleolithic stage--the Upper Paleolithic. This was the height of technical sophistication during the Old Stone Age. These innovative developments are most well known from European sites, but similar advances were occurring elsewhere in the Old World and later in the New World as well. Foreshadowing these new technologies were harpoon-like bone projectile points in use by at least 75,000 years ago in Central Africa. Ultimately, there were a number of different regional Upper Paleolithic tool traditions. The most sophisticated may have been the Magdalenian Tradition of Western Europe. It began about 17,000 years ago and lasted until the end of the last ice age around 10,000 B.P.

Paleolithic Tool Traditions in Europe

	Beginning (years ago)	Cultural Tradition

Upper Paleolithic	17,000	Magdalenian
	21,000	Solutrean
	27,000	Gravettian
	33,000	Aurignacian/Chatelperronian

Middle Paleolithic	75,000	Mousterian

Lower Paleolithic	700,000+ ?	Acheulian

(The Acheulean Tool Tradition began by at least 1.4 million years ago in Africa. However, it did not reach Europe until much later when the first humans arrived.)

The various Upper Paleolithic tool traditions were successful cultural adaptations to diverse environments. In temperate and sub-arctic regions of the Northern Hemisphere, specialized big game hunting was the most common subsistence strategy. However, even among the societies that focused their hunting efforts on reindeer, horses, and other large mammals, there was exploitation of vegetable foods, fish, and other small animals. Upper Paleolithic peoples, such as the Cro-Magnon of Europe, became progressively more efficient at acquiring food. Small game and plant food exploitation became increasingly important after 15,000 B.P. This was a necessity since their populations apparently were growing rapidly and the climate was changing as the ice began to melt at the end of the last ice age.

The Cro-Magnon people increased their food supply by developing coordinated group hunting techniques for the killing of large herd animals, especially in the river valleys of Western Europe and the plains of Central and Eastern Europe. They also developed new specialized hunting weapons. The art of spear hunting was revolutionized by the invention of the spear thrower (or atlatl ) about 17,000-15,000 years ago. This was a wood or bone rod with a hook on one end that fit into a socket at the base of a spear. This implement increased the range and force of impact of projectiles by essentially increasing the length of the spear thrower's arm. The net effect was that hunters did not have to get as close to prey before throwing their spears. Toggle-head harpoons were invented about this time as well. The bow and arrow were invented by 12,000 years ago or a bit earlier. This further increased the range of projectiles. The fact that these weapon systems were developed towards the end of the last ice age is probably not a coincidence.

During the roughly 5,000 years of final glacial melt, large game animals became progressively scarce. As a result, human hunting success would have been rarer. The combined effect of rapidly changing climates and increased hunting by humans heavily contributed to the extinction of at least 50 genera of large animals (mostly mammals) at that time. It also was in this late period after 15,000 years ago that fishing spears, hooks, and nets became increasingly more common. In Europe, the main focus of fishing appears to have been salmon going up streams to spawn and seals that were pursuing them.

The basis of many Upper Paleolithic stone tool forms was the blade flake . This is a thin, roughly parallel-sided flake that is at least twice as long and it is wide. The cross-section is usually either triangular or trapezoidal. They were made out of brittle breaking materials such as flint , chert , and obsidian . Blade flakes were preforms for the manufacture of many different kinds of tools--e.g., knives, hide scrapers, spear tips, drills, awls, burins, etc.

Photos of tools made from blade flakes

European Upper Paleolithic tools made from blade flakes

Blade flakes were nearly standardized shapes that were struck off assembly line fashion from a prepared core usually by punch flaking . This method uses indirect percussion to control the direction of the shock wave entering a core. This facilitated the repeated production of long, delicate flakes. Blades were struck off around the core like the careful unwinding and sectioning of a roll of paper.

Tools made from blade flakes were much more efficient than core and flake tools made by earlier peoples when compared in terms of maximizing the use of precious brittle-flaking rock materials. This increased efficiency can be measured roughly in terms of the amount of cutting edge that can be produced from the same amount of stone.

Tool Category	Length of Cutting Edge Per Pound of Stone	Increase in Efficiency Over Previous Technology
Oldowan choppers (Homo habilis)	1/4 feet	------
Acheulian hand axes (Homo erectus)	1 feet	400%
Mousterian flake tools (Neandertal)	2 1/2 feet	250%
Upper Paleolithic blade flake tools (modern humans)	10-40 feet	400-1600%

Upper Paleolithic tool makers also invented a further refinement in working with stone. After preliminary shaping by percussion flaking, they often finished a tool with pressure flaking . They literally pushed off the edge flakes with an antler tine in the final shaping and thinning process. This resulted in small, regular flake scars and much greater control in determining the shape of the final product. Pressure flaking was also used to retouch, or sharpen, sharp edges.

During the Upper Paleolithic, we see the first abundant evidence of tools for making other tools. Such things as narrow gouging chisels, known as burins , were used to make and shape a host of other implements out of bone, tusks, and antler. Additional tools created for the purpose of working on other implements included punches and pressure flakers. The Upper Paleolithic also saw a heavy dependence on compound tools, such as intentionally detachable harpoon points and spear foreshafts of hard wood attached to spears. Compound tools have the advantage that they can be repaired. When one part breaks, it can be replaced rather than replacing the entire tool.

Compound tools and tools designed to work on other implements are not just new kinds of tools but rather new kinds of tool-using principles. This was a giant intellectual leap forward. It also extended the range of raw materials that could be used for tool making. Bone and antler especially came into more common use. They had been used occasionally in the earlier Mousterian Tool Tradition, but were only modified clumsily by hammering, scraping, and burning. Among the Cro-Magnon people, bone and antler replaced wood and stone for many functions. Bone and antler are more durable than wood and more flexible than stone so they do not break as easily and yet can be used to make relatively sharp cutting edges. The amount of time that they are still usable can be extended by resharpening when they become dull. These materials were now being employed to make long thin knives, awls, sewing needles clothing fasteners, harpoons with barbs, and many other useful artifacts. One result was that tailored clothing and tents were easier to make. The first known sewing needle came from southwestern France and dates to about 23,000 years ago. Residues of animal skin pants, shirts, and shoes have been found in a 22,000 year old grave near Moscow in Russia.

The Cro-Magnon people of Europe regularly decorated their tools and sculpted small pieces of stone, bone, antler, and tusks. Necklaces, bracelets, and decorative pendants were made of bone, teeth, and shell. Cave walls were often painted with naturalistic scenes of animals. Clay was also modeled occasionally. From our culture's perspective, these symbolic and naturalistic representations would be referred to as art. However, that is an ethnocentric projection. For the Cro-Magnon who made this art, it was very likely thought of as being something different, or at least much more, than we think of as art. For instance, it may have had magical and/or religious functions.

Upper Paleolithic European art began by at least 32,000 years ago and became intense 15,000-10,000 years ago. Perhaps, the most prominent portable art was in the form that has become known as Venus figurines . These were small carvings of women that could fit into the hand. They were not portraits but rather faceless idealized representations of well fed, healthy, usually pregnant women with large buttocks and breasts. Because of these exaggerated sexual characteristics, they are thought by most paleoanthropologists to be ritual objects symbolizing female fertility. Many of these stylized carvings are reminiscent of modern abstract art. Venus figurines were made from 27,000 years ago down to the end of the last ice age 10,000 years ago, from Western Europe all of the way to Siberia.


Venus of Willendorf (Austria)		Venus of Laussel (France)		Venus of Gagarino, Ukraine

Not all of the portable art was Venus figurines. Many small carvings have been found that depict animals and people, including men.

drawings of two carved bear teeth

Carved bear teeth (from Duruthy Cave, France)

The Cro-Magnon people are, perhaps, most well known for their paintings on the walls of caves. Although, this cave art is most abundant in southwest France and northern Spain, it was made elsewhere as well. With the cave art, we see the first large scale, concrete symbols of human thoughts, feelings, and perhaps even beliefs about the supernatural. Over 150 Western European caves have been found with these ice age paintings on their walls.

Most of this cave art was made deep inside caves, in hard to get to dark areas with good acoustical qualities. It is assumed that because of the locations, these areas were very likely sacred and that the art was inspired by concerns with the supernatural. The majority of the figures are herd animals, many of which are shown either wounded or pregnant. A number of paleoanthropologists have suggested that the artists were most likely performing imitative (or sympathetic) hunting and fertility magic. This would have been particularly important when this art was at its peak in sophistication since at that time (ca. 15,000-10,000 B.P.) the last ice age was winding down and the herds of game animals were dying out and moving away to the north. Some of the animals depicted in the caves were predators rather than prey--e.g., cave bears and lions. Drawing and painting them may have been a way of obtaining protection from these dangerous creatures or even a way of taking on their ferociousness and skill to increase human hunting success.

Human representations are rare among the cave paintings. Those that do exist usually are simple stick figures of men hunting. They often are shown with erect penises (as shown in the photo below). There are also several bearded adult male heads. One is life size. The largest is 6 1/2 feet tall with a cap. There have also been found geometric patterns in some of the caves that have been interpreted as female genitalia.

The European cave art seems to have been associated with ceremonies. These ceremonies may have been accompanied by music. Drum sticks, flutes, and bull-roarers were found near the paintings in Lascaux Cave. The art very likely reflects the Cro-Magnon world view. Some researchers have suggested that they were, in part, depicting their spirit world. The fact that footprints of both adults and children have been found in some of the caves near the paintings has also suggested that the art was connected with initiation ceremonies.

Cro-Magnon lunar calendar

Some cave walls and bone artifacts have sequences of incised marks or ticks that strike one as being strictly utilitarian--they look like tallies. Such marks appear on bone artifacts made by late Neandertals, but they did not become common until the Cro-Magnon people developed their Upper Paleolithic Tool Traditions. Some Cro-Magnon bone artifacts dating to as early as 25,000 years ago have what appear to be carefully incised lineal sequences of circular to crescent shaped ticks. These are thought by some researchers to be lunar calendars of sorts.

Antler bone plaque incised with possible Cro-Magnon lunar calendar from southwestern France (length 4¼ inches)

If calendars were being made, it implies that some people were recognizing the cyclical nature of the seasons. To people dependent on seasonally available foods and migrating herds, a calendar would have allowed accurate predictions that would make the food quest more efficient. Also of great value to Upper Paleolithic hunter and gatherers would have been maps. The earliest possible map was scratched into a 16,000 year old bone found at Mezhirich in Ukraine. It apparently shows the countryside around a Cro-Magnon settlement.

The Cro-Magnon art changed through time. In the period 35,000-25,000 years ago, personal decorative ornaments such as bracelets, pendants, flutes, and figurines began to appear. The first Venus figurines were made about 27,000 years ago. There may not have been any cave art during the early part of this period, though this is not certain. In the mid 1990's, the French cave of Grotte Chauvet was discovered to have many very early paintings. While the cave was occupied for about 30,000 years, it is still not known when the painting first began there.

The second period of Cro-Magnon art was 25,000-18,000 years ago. Cave art apparently became relatively common in southern France and northern Spain at this time, however, it mostly consists of rough animal outlines, abstract forms, and genitals. This was a cold phase of the last ice age. The Cro-Magnon people probably created these paintings while wintering over in the caves.

In the period 18,000-15,000 years ago, more elaborate animal depictions were being painted. Shading was now used to indicate muscles and hair. In addition, animals were depicted moving.

The greatest period of cave art was in the period 15,000-11,000 years ago. This phase coincided with the final melt of the last ice age. Large sanctuaries were created which had polychrome bison, horses, deer, cattle, etc. The cave art at this time was likely the product of a burst of ceremonial activities. Many tools were carved decoratively at this time. Likewise, personal decoration made of bone, teeth, and shell was very common. This was the period of the most elaborate Venus figurines. The tradition of making these stylized female representations lasted about 17,000 years. As such it represents a remarkably long lasting belief system. The duration is even more remarkable when considering that Islam has existed for only about 1400 years, Christianity for 2000 years, and Judaism (in its current form) for less than 2500 years.

It is important to remember that Europe was not the only part of the world in which late ice age Homo sapiens sapiens produced art. Depictions of animals were being painted in southern African rock shelters possibly as early as 28,000 years ago and beads made from ostrich shells were being made there by 38,000 years ago. Rock art also has considerable antiquity in Siberia and Australia.


Avdeevo, Russia 20,000 B.P	Brno, Czechoslavakia Around 26000 years BP