The Aurignacian Culture

for hundreds of thousands of years the lands of Europe were home to a truly captivating Ice Age World on the Northern Plains endless herds of herbivores traversed the landscape cave lies stocked their young while hyenas and wolves fought over their carcasses in the valleys and lowlands of the South lumbering Bears Gorge themselves while ibck watched from above the solemn neander tals had enjoyed these views for as long as their oipal bun had protruded but their world was changing new slender people with childlike faces and dark skin brought with them an entirely novel approach to Tool making they threw their Spears with levers and adorned themselves with sewn hides and Beads of shell and ivory unbeknown to the neander tals their assimilation into the culture of the newcomers was imminent leading to their eventual disappearance the migrants would go on to revolutionize the way humans lived and expressed themselves welcome to the world of the upper Paleolithic a pivotal era in prehistory that saw our ancestors break through many barriers on their way to dominance the advancements of the upper Paleolithic happened around much of the world but with hundreds of years of research the European upper Paleolithic is by far the most well understood this documentary will cover the first modern human culture of Europe the or Nation it is part of a four-part series I am creating the next videos will cover the gratian the saluton and the magdalenian so without further Ado let us learn about these Fearless Pioneers prior to the late 1800s fossils and artifacts from the Paleolithic were principally interpreted in a creationist model however the growing uniformitarianism movement argued that the natural laws which exist in the present day have always existed at every time in our universe this naturally opened people's minds to the idea that fossil material may represent erors long before the biblical chronology of only a few thousand years suggests the discovery of neander tal remains and the publishing of Darwin's On the Origin of Species open people's minds to the idea that different species or forms of humans existed in the past the various discoveries of modern human remains associated with stone tools and extinct megap supported this hypothesis in 1852 local worker John Baptist bamason was looking through an emban m in front of a cave out of curiosity he had found some Flint tools and got curious about the actual cave he moved a Sandstone slab and entered within the cave here he found 17 human skeletons lying within since this was in a small French town before the Advent of paleoanthropology the bodies were quickly reburied at the local Cemetery at the request of the mayor unfortunately these skeletons were never seen again their graves could never be located and and their age and Origins remain unclear however the first excavations done at the site in the early 1860s revealed a treasure Trove of advanced stone tools worked bones and antlers and fossilized human and animal bones some Mortuary remains did come from the chalcolithic meaning that the Lost skeletons were likely from this period the discovery of Bones of Mammoth willly rhinoceros and Cave Bear alongside the stone tools attested to their Antiquity this was a significant Discovery at the time considering that most people had little to no knowledge about prior periods or of history in general excuse my French but the cave would be named cro dorak or the cave of orak based on the nearby commune of ornac the name orig Nation would then be applied to the entire culture or tool industry these tools represented it would eventually be realized that this culture was the earliest widespread modern human culture in Europe and thus very significant to our understanding of human history the org nation is one of four main European upper Paleolithic cultures it lasted from around 43,000 to as late as 26,000 years ago to understand the orig nation we must first gain an understanding of the original migrations of modern humans into Europe This is a topic of much debate with many unanswered questions firstly we must briefly discuss the history of neandertal and modern human interactions neandertal is developed in Western Eurasia their range extending from Western Europe to Southern Siberia and the Middle East the earliest theander likee remains come from 500 to 400,000 years ago our species however evolved in Africa the earliest Homo sapiens remains recovered is the 315,000 yee old remains from Jebel ear Hood in Morocco an overwhelming amount of evidence proves that Africa is indeed our homeland but even very early on migrations of early Homo sapiens left Africa continent physical remains prove that early modern humans did inhabit some parts of the Middle East particularly the Levant over a 100,000 years ago genetics tell us that most of these populations would subsequently die off prior to a single large expansion of anatomically and behaviorally modern humans which occurred roughly 70,000 years ago this expansion rapidly spread from East Asia all the way to Australia as early as 65,000 years ago though dispersal into Europe took some more time in 2022 a study was published proving that modern humans were present in the area of modern day France between 51 to 56,000 years ago amidst the single tooth of a modern human were distinctive stone tools named neonian tools they featured petite projectile points that could have functioned as Spears atlal points or even arrow heads some researchers claim that they were too small to be used on anything except the tips of arrows if true this would push back the use of the bow and arrow in Europe by around 40,000 years the possibility remains that they were used on atlal darts or even javelins what adds intrigue to this site is the fact that these Hunters were only here for a relatively short period before neander tals with their clunky mous sterian tools moved back in the remains that grow to mandrin may represent an unsuccessful Migration by a population of modern humans perhaps they were ambitious migrants into a hostile world that they were not prepared for but a question remains where did they come from the neronian tools appear to derive from Stone tool Traditions from the near East and North Africa the near East in particular was home to the oldest known upper Paleolithic culture named the emirin this tool industry created fine points with retouched bases large blades Struck from blade cores and large curved knives to understand the upper Paleolithic you must understand lavaa technology versus Blade core technology the lavaa technique utilizes a core that has been prepared and when a flake is taken off it serves as a finished tool with little need for retouching this created large deadly spear points large disc-like Flakes and a variety of other tools this technique originated in Africa about 300,000 years ago but it would spread to neander tals who would refine it into maian technology which for our understanding is more or less the same thing blade core technology on the other hand often utilize cores from which long blades were taken off unlike the random flake blades are defined as twice as long as they were wide these blades were then used straight away as knives or retouched into points scrapers or a variety of other tools the advantages of this technology are many including longer cutting edges long narrow points and more efficient use of stone cores upper Paleolithic technology is also associated with extensive use of bone and antler tools perhaps in combination with atlal and technology this is really what separates it from the older middle Paleolithic Technologies for these reasons upper Paleolithic technology is typically seen as quite a significant advancement the origins of upper Paleolithic technology seem to have developed in the near East around 50,000 years ago from the aforementioned amiran culture this culture utilized both maeran and upper Paleolithic techniques though would eventually entirely adapt the latter this leads us to the first upper Paleolithic culture in Europe the Boh hunian industry this industry appeared at about the same time and seems to be linked with the near East and considering its geographic location this is not very surprising no hominin remains have been found alongside these tools but it is thought that they were made by modern humans if so this would prove that a significant number of modern humans were living in Eastern Europe before we once thought though this culture may also represent a mix of neeral and modern human Technologies some of these upper Paleolithic Technologies may have even spread deep within Europe long before modern humans ever did a to tradition known as the chatle paronian existed between 44,500 and 36,000 years ago and appears to have been in the Eder tall tool tradition with influence from upper Paleolithic technology interestingly it still heavily utilizes the old maeran technology but also includes blade points bone tools and jewelry these implements may have been simply traded to neander tals or perhaps the techniques were directly taught to them a similar phenomenon may explain the uian tool tradition from Italy and Greece what is clear is that upper Paleolithic items appeared at about the same time that anatomically modern humans enter deeper into Europe This brings us to the earliest signs of the orig nation called the Proto org Nation Proto ornation technology is focused on the production of large straight blades their size and shape is indicative of long-distance projectiles possibly as atlal Dart points protal organ first appeared in southern Europe and the Levant though it quickly expands throughout much of the continent it is important to note that an organ culture persisted in the Levant as well during this time neander tals were on the brink of Extinction from 45 to 42,000 years ago many of their communities remained intact with some influence from modern humans though after 42,000 years ago the remains became much more scarce the extinction of the neander TS is a very complicated subject I covered it in depth in my neandertal documentary but I will summarize it here modern humans and neander tals coexisted in Western Europe for around 12200 years our evidence suggests that ass similation and hybridization took place modern human communities may have outcompeted some groups though we do not have evidence of direct violence the TS always had a small population less than 10,000 of them lived across Europe and much of Western Asia the modern human migrants likely had plenty of room to grow and with their differing technology they probably even hunted and gathered differently than maeran communities whatever ultimately was the fate of the neander tals they left behind their genetic Legacy in these populations of sapiens Homo Sapien remains from the Levant prior to migration to Europe do not show neandertal features this can be seen in the 50 to 40,000 year-old juvenile named Eggbert from casar ail Lebanon the child shows quite grile modern human features with no significant brow rid and he has a chin Homo sapiens are the only human species to have a chin theander TS lacked such a feature entirely after populations from the Levant would move into Europe as we previously mentioned it would display many of the features that are reminiscent of neander tals a few sites throughout Central and Western Europe have shed light on the Persistence of neeral features in these populations these remains all show characteristics of modern human war phology from the middle Paleolithic and the late upper Paleolithic though all of them have morphology associated with neander tals as well they all have globular-shaped skulls in contrast with neander tals who had elongated skulls with a large oipal area at the back of the skull called the occipital bun they also had small brow ridges and protruding chins which are anatomically modern human traits however the 40,000 year-old oac1 differs from the others the cranium exhibits a large face and large dentition with exceptionally big molers which contrast with modern human characteristics and Associates oac1 with neandertals even more interestingly genetic testing found oac1 to have between 6 to 9% neeral DNA this suggests that he had a neeral ancestor only four to six Generations earlier OAS 2 another individual from the same cave had about 6% neandertal DNA both of these individuals belong to similar but not identical populations OAS 1 is related to ice AG Europeans while OAS 2 has an affinity to Native American and Asian populations OAS 2 is most closely related to OAS 1 but after that he is most closely related to the 40,000 year-old remains of tnu and man from northern China this is because both both of these populations all descend from basil Eurasian ancestors originating in the Middle East this is in support of our current understanding of human dispersal Out of Africa neither OAS 1 or two are genetically close to any modern human populations and are rather indicative of this highly diverse time in modern human genetics cranial remains from the other two caves in Romania had globular craniums but also oipal buns a neander tal characteristic The Remains from oazi and additional sites such as Baku Cairo usim and tun Yuan are indicative of Basil East Asians that moved into Europe and interbred with neander tals though these populations appear to have died out and been replaced by additional waves of modern humans the high level of neeral DNA in some of these populations may have been detrimental to their success and could have been the reason they were replaced this is possibly why most neeral genes were bred out of populations throughout the upper paleo lithic the populations that replace them are principally known from the goad caves of Belgium but also from two sites in Russia known as keni and sunir these people descended from a single wave had less theer tal ancestry and have some genetic Affinity with all later Europeans they first appeared around 37,000 years ago and are the oldest contributors to Modern European genomes they still had some neandertal ancestry and skeletal remains from the madc caves of Czech Republic ATT tested to this but they certainly had less than earlier expansions though this explanation may be complicated what you should take away from this is that the people of the oration industry are anything but homogeneous genetically and vastly change over time this is why the Proto and early oration are said to have been between 43,000 and 37,000 years ago while the ornation proper extends from 37,000 years ago until the culture declines some of you may be wondering why I've not yet used the term chromag this is because the term is not often used in Academia anymore crom magnan is the name of one rock shelter in France where remains were found dating to only 27,000 years ago long after humans had already been in Europe instead of this term the term early European modern humans is used or E MH these populations not only differed vastly from Modern Europeans they would have looked noticeably different genetic studies indicate that these humans had Darkly pigmented skin hair and eyes as well as unique bone structures the genetic changes which produce lighter pigmentation started to rise only after around 30,000 years ago and the alals responsible for lighter pigmentation occurred only within the past 11 to 19,000 years this is interesting as neander tal Gene sequencing showed that many populations of neandertals had a gene which produced lighter skin and red hair however during interbreeding with modern humans we did not acquire this Gene the genetic component which gives modern humans lighter skin in Europe evolved independently in our own lineage these modern humans had dark irises too as genetic analysis shows that selection for blue eye color is also less than 20,000 years old skeletal analysis also indicates that they were taller and more robust compared to later modern humans though they were still much more slender than the very stocky neander tals their facial features are similar but not entirely like modern Europeans some especially earlier populations had crano facial features similar to neander tals even crom magnan 1 from 27,000 years ago had some of these neander talik features and so do some Modern Europeans Crow magnan 1 skull is relatively similar to Modern Europeans but also features very unique traits including rectangular eye sockets a feature more akin to Modern Africans than the circular eye sockets of modern Europeans this is of course not to say that this individual would resemble modern Africans but that he had a variety of traits unlike modern populations entirely this is an important point to stress many of the modern facial features we might associate with someone from a specific place or population were not yet developed at this time in the Paleolithic overall or naan people were tall slender built dark skinned and Dark Eyed they were more robust than later modern humans both in terms of physical build height and Cranium but more slender than neander tals they had a combination of morphological traits which are clearly anatomically modern human and aligned them with earlier middle paleo with the homo sapiens in Africa such as the small brow ridges globular skull and Chin however they retained neander tal traits to varying degrees due to their mixture with neander tal populations in the near East as well as in Europe during their dispersal the world these people inherited from their neandertal forbears was Far different than the Europe of today during the organ the environment was cold dry and mostly open much of Europe was part of the larger Mammoth step the mammoth step also known as step Tundra was once the world's most extensive biome the landscape was relatively featureless and became a grassland in warmer months much of this area was immediately available for habitation by organ bands though the colder fringes near glaciers were usually less populated during the organ culture from 43,000 to 26,000 years ago the climate varied quite widely and the glaciers moved accordingly during most of the existence of this culture large glaciers dominated the elps much of the British Isles all of Scandinavia and a good amount of Northern Europe in general various climate fluctuations would cause populations to increase or decrease in these colder areas while populations in warmer areas such as the Mediterranean would have stayed relatively the same though along with glacial growth the sea level would decline and more land would become available near the coast some massive areas of land which were available to the orc Nation people now lie under the waves these areas include dogger land the English Chanel much of the Adriatic Sea and the northern regions of the Black Sea the lands of Europe and Western Asia were very sparsely populated During the ornation period a 2005 study found that the population of Europe between 40 to 30,00 years ago was between 1700 and 28,000 people with an average of 4,400 a 2019 demographic analysis found that mean population would have only been about 1500 people for Western and Central Europe between 42 and 33,000 years ago that is an extremely small amount of people for such an expansive area it just keeps making me think how amazing it would be to see the lands of Europe without any evidence of civilization on the landscape very few trees and shrubs exist did on the step during this time but the high volume of grass allowed many animals to thrive reindeer musk Sega Antelope horse step bison wooly rhinoceros and woolly mammoth thrived in large herds and smaller bands stalking these animals were cave Lions Scimitar cats cave hyenas wolves and other animals such as brown bears and Cave Bears though much of Europe was dominated by the step the many mountains and more temperate Mediterranean contained more ecosystems Ibex Shamy orox straight tuss elephants deer megal Aeris Lepard giant jaguar and bore found home in the mountains and lowlands of southern Europe in such a competitive environment oreg Nation Hunters had to rely on their ingenious array of tools to survive as touched upon previously the upper Paleolithic was characterized by a focus of Blade technology long thin flakes were struck off of a prepared core to create a huge array of tools a Long Blade could be used as a knife right away after being struck from a core once dull small flakes could be taken off of the edge to restore it this blade could also be turned into a useful end scraper simply by taking off a few flakes from its tip microliths were another important Stone technology utilized by these people microliths are just small flakes of stone struck off from a core they then can be retouched into a variety of shapes for different tasks some undoubtedly formed composite weapons and tools many could be inserted into the edge of a half to form a knife when the blades become dull they could simply be replaced altogether spear tips made of bone or Ivory may have been lined with these sharp blades smaller projectiles such as darts or arrows would have been perfect for microliths other miscellaneous tasks such as woodworking plant collection and meat processing could have also been accomplished with these these tools even just halting one microlith to a small wooden half would have created a little Paleolithic Swiss arming knife another advantage of microliths is that they are very small and weigh very little they can be transported in larger numbers or you can just carry around a core and take off a few whenever you need a sharp edge it really is an ingenious way to utilize stone tools another aspect about microliths is that they are quite easy to nap which means people can be taught how to nap them much quicker than say a large bifacial blade or even just large Stone blades one of the most important Tools in their Stone tool kit was their Burns a Buren is a stone tool with a steep Edge this is perfect for working dense materials such as wood bone Ivory and especially antler with a steady stroke The Edge can grave off small ribbons of material the orign nation was one of the first cultures in the world to widely utilize bone antler and iery tools with it they made many Fantastic weapons tools and even artwork working bone is not an easy task even with a burn bone must first be cut from its source or collected antler was especially used by ornation people likely because they were shed every year in Mass numbers by their prey reindeer it of course could also be collected directly from the reindeer when hunted once obtained the Aus materials were typically split to further divide them up this can be done by soaking them in water before making an incision and driving a splitting wedge into it these wedges were also made from bone and are found at ornation sites this section could then be ground down on an abrasive stone or shaped with the help of a burn the most famous ocus tools made during the organization are their bone points many of these especially in Western Europe were long and narrow with a split base this is a very peculiar design not seen anywhere else in the world typically when you are have a point you create a notch in the wood but these people created a notch in the point carving oous materials is difficult in the first place but making a notch in the bottom is especially difficult so what could the reason be for all this trouble well the climate of Europe was much different during the upper Paleolithic as mentioned previously it was dominated by the mammoth step this environment was essentially a grassland with very few trees and frigid Winters with few trees to go around orign Nation Hunters would have had little access to good raw material for their spear shafts this may have been the reason that led to the invention of split based points cutting a notch into a wooden spear shaft is an easy way to split it in two many people do not realize how difficult it is to find a straight tree in the woods cut it down and then shape it into a spear all with stone tools by creating a notch in the bone point the half could simply be a pointed stick when thrown or thrust into an animal the point may break but the chance of the shaft breaking is very unlikely in a landscape where antler was plenty and wood was scarce the design makes perfect sense in Southern and Eastern Europe split-based points are not as common and conical based points are prevalent this is of course because these regions were relatively warmer and trees were more common other studies on both bone points and stone blades are diagnostic of high velocity impact this is consistent with using projectile weapons possibly javelins darts or even arrows this brings up interesting questions about these Hunters what weapons did they use they likely use thrusting Spears for self-defense or to finish off animals what was propelling their smaller Stone and Bone points though some are quite small and may have been arrowheads many are too large for this role little evidence of atlal usage has been discovered this early on but it is Cly possible that they were using them one study found that the impact fractures on 32 points from France from 31,000 years ago were likely propelled on at lateral darts even if this technology was widespread it is still likely that they employed a wide array of other weapons such as spear fishing implements thrusting Spears throwing sticks or even the bow and arrow a cash of 125 points from 31,000 years ago from slania May attest to this the points were quite a bit smaller than other oration bone points and some only measured 4 cm or 1.5 in in length experiments on reconstructions of these points support the idea that they could have functioned as arrowheads evidence for bow technology from 45,000 years ago was found in Sri Lanka and evidence from South Africa is around 60 to 70,000 years old it is certainly possible that the technology was being used in Europe at the time though atlal may have been more common atlos do have the benefit of heavier projectiles easier creation and maintenance we may find more evidence for the use of atlal from strange bone tools with holes in them these so-called batons were originally thought to have been some kind of personal decoration for powerful individuals maybe since many of them had very interesting Engravings however the hole present in many of these tools may have been used to straighten out lateral Dart shafts relatively similar artifacts are common in cultures that use at ladles though the we marks on these artifacts doesn't necessarily support this conclusion one so-called baton discovered in whole F's cave had three holes in it this device would have been perfect for creating Rope Rope would have opened a world of possibilities for these people fishing nets snares traps bows clothing and Equipment rope or cordage was even made by neater talls and there's almost no doubt that the these people made it too some of these batons may have been used for rope making While others could have been used to straighten darts or even as tent pegs another interesting aspect of these artifacts is the holes drilled in them this was likely done with a stone drill perhaps by hand or with a bow or pump drill other bone artifacts made by these people are centered around the creation of clothing long bone Le swaf or smoothing out leather are prominently found at their sites these tools are used to rub against leather making it more flexible and water resistant bone alls found at many of their sites were used to make holes in leather which allowed cordage to be pushed through though eyed bone needles are much better at this task and can push cordage through an already existing hole or make a whole new one ey bone needles are a significant invention which allow tightly fitted clothing to be made it appears that neander talls lack this technology which would have limited their resistance to the cold to be clear they still certainly use clothing and it may have covered their entire body though without being fitted these clothes would have been less efficient especially for Mobility the invention of the needle allowed for the creation of much better Footwear garments and the creation of pockets and segmented bags for carrying stuff though we do not know exactly what organ clothing would have looked like it was certainly wellmade and may have utilized an array of different animal Furs their clothing may have resembled some of the clothing made by indigenous people throughout Northern Eurasia and North America some some of which are heavily decorated and quite fashionable their clothes may have been extremely insulating and elaborately decorated speaking of clothing I want to take a break from this video to talk about my new website nor2 I'm really excited to announce that I will be selling clothing and eventually handmade products from my shop all of the clothing is of high quality and printed and embroidered professionally I recommend the chave merch embroidered or printed both look great I will be making more design for the other entries to the series and other designs you may like in the future I will even sell handmade artifacts like this Recreation of UT's famous axe if you want to directly support the channel this is about the best way to do it I have waited a long time to sell merchandise for this channel until I could do it right and I'm really proud of the final product so now let's get back to the video it is clear from the organization remains that they were able to exploit their environment in many ways their technology could be altered or adapted to complete specific tasks even seasonally there is no such thing as a typical ornation lifestyle some bands may have focused on orox in the spring and fish in the fall others followed herds of rain deer and occasionally took a mammoth with this in mind we must look to a smaller scale to understand what some of these bands were doing over 30,000 years ago oreg Nation people appear to have typically targeted medium and small game before anatomically modern humans arrived in Europe Neals mainly targeted large ulet such as rhinoceros bison and orox but once modern humans arrived these assemblages skewed heavily towards reindeer and other medium-sized game this was typically seen as the result of different hunting Strategies employed by modern humans as opposed to neander TS however we now realize that this change was largely due to the global cooling which occurred as the oration culture spread and eventually dominated Europe it appears that reindeer were typically targeted because they were the most common animals on the landscape at 177% of French organ sites reindeer make up over 90% of the funnel remains reindeer would have been abundant in the growing step environment of much of Western Europe in more mountainous and hilly areas species such as Red Deer Road deer and wild boar appear to have been replaced by Mountain species such as Ibex and Shamy at c fumani located in the foothills of the Italian elps excavations have shown what animals these Proto oration Hunters were eating the most abundant remains were Ibex at 39% Red Deer at 21% and Shamy at 17% Ro deer orox and megaloceros made up about 8% of their remains though orox and megaloceros are not as common their much larger biomass make them a significant part of the ornation diet at the this cave these animals either whole or quartered were brought to the cave where they were then consumed from an economic point of view hunting large animals or groups of animals makes more sense than targeting small or medium game at two major organization sites in France and Southern Germany there is evidence of the butchering and killing of small herds of horses these sites are similar to two other sites found far to the east in Russia one site known as ceni provides evidence that the killing of entire herds or may bands may have been an important form of food procurement perhaps analogous to the hunting of Bison herds on the North American Plains May bands can have around 20 individuals in them possibly providing an organization band with more than a month's worth of food the killing of an entire band of horses in one event would have been a considerable challenge including complex strategy and communication though we have only discovered four sites displaying this kind of hunting strategy this is a significant number due to the incompleteness of the fossil record Mammoth remains are found at some oration sites and one site even preserves evidence that they were directly hunted at the site of costen 14 in modern Russia an ivory point was found embedded in a mammoth rib it has been dated to around 35,000 years ago the way the projectile broke once it hit the rib suggests that it was propelled by a spear thrower the oldest evidence we have of Mammoth hunting by our species is from around 45,000 years ago in Siberia though this evidence is not from the org Nation it demonstrates that people with upper Paleolithic technology would have been capable of hunting mammoths during the later gravettian period the descendants of the org Nation would go on to exploit these animals and other cultures further east also targeted them mammoths and other large animals such as woy Rhino or straight tus elephant would have provided these people with an immense amount of raw materials and sustenance in a world where fat is the keyy to survival mammoths would have been certainly sought after whether scavenged or directly hunted their skins could provide entire shelters and their tusks and Bones could be turned into tools make sure to watch the next video in this series where we will talk more in depth about Mammoth hunting though these Hunters may have salivated over the thought of a mammoth smaller animals found at many organization sites tell us that they may have hunted these animals fairly frequently grous and rabbit dark common prey items along with an array of other furry Critters these animals may have been trapped with snares or deadfalls though throwing sticks may have also worked these animals may have even been hunted by women and children these Critters may have been useful for their raw materials such as bird bones for needles raccoon skins for mittens and beer for hats evidence of marine resource exploitation has been found dating to the organ period as well at the site of riparo moi on the leguan coast 500 remains of muscles and limpets have been found 200 shells were found at a site in Greece and many were found at goram's Cave in jalar in the Atlantic region sites from Northern Spain show an abundance of shellfish remains ELO Rock shelter has a total of 237 Marine mollusk remains and the remains of a variety of other species in El Castillo cave a sperm wheell tooth was found but no signs of anthropogenic handle have been found on it the object may have simply washed up on shore and been brought back to the shelter because they found it to be interesting they could have also been part of a washed up whale carcass which they exploited it is interesting that they may have saw the similarities between this tooth and the teeth of other Maman carnivores at the Castanet Rock shelter the manable of a harp seal was found seabird and sea urchin remains were also found at some Mediterranean sites though some organization groups may have never even seen the sea others may have been quite familiar with it especially in the Mediterranean or Nation people appear to have spent a lot of time in constructed shelters rather than at the mouths of caves like many neander TS caves were undoubtedly very important to their people and were used as shelter but these were highly mobile people who had to bring shelter with them as they traveled since expansive caves are not everywhere from some of their remains we can see how far they were brought from their place of origin shells and quality Flint were often brought over 100 km away from their Source while obsidian from the Carpathian Mountains in Hungary made it all the way to the danu river 300 km to the West like the Neer tals before them they would have spent relatively little time at each site no more than 2 months and often only a few days or a week they had to transport all of their equipment with them including Food Supplies sleeping bags and shelter or shelter building materials post holes have been found at their SES but they appear to have only supported structures to block the wind instead of an entire shelter still relatively simple shelters wouldn't leave much of a trace in the fossil record and it can be assumed that we have only found the smallest fraction of these sites evidence of hearths have allowed us to reconstruct some of their open air sites hearths were often made in a triangle formation sometimes certain activities were focused around certain hearths Flint napping would be done at one Hearth bone would be ground at another and cooking was done at the third some fires were surrounded with Limestone blocks to retain heat and some were dug into the ground While others were lined with Clay around these fires game was heavily processed many bones were smashed to get to the marrow and senu and antler were extensively collected it was around these fires that the teeth of fox and deer would have been turned into jewelry and items may have been painted with red ochre just having a fire today is a Time to bond cook food and work on crafts the same would have been true for the oration people just imagine a star-filled night in the pristine Wilderness of the Ice Age elves these people certainly had the opportunity to see amazing things shelters capable of surviving the coldest parts of winter may have been constructed though caves may have been favored for this purpose walls covering cave entrances may have been used along with a fire to keep the cave warm campsites may have been more common towards the warmer months when simple sleeping bags or tents would have been sufficient for open air living floors and dwelling areas as well as hards are often covered with red ochre the reasoning is unknown it may have been for an aesthetic purpose or due to the use of the substance for other purposes Rock shelters which are not caves but typically just overhanging rocks were often utilized to block the wind rain and snow game was preferably brought back coal or in pieces to the shelter though when large animals or whole herds were slaughtered temporary butchering camps would have been constructed one can only imagine how terrifying it would have been to defend a carcass from the beasts of the Ice Age we should briefly mention what predators lived in their environment and what prey they targeted homo theum also known as the simitar cat had lived alongside our species since our humble origin in the heart of Africa they appear to have been adapted to endurance running in open environments such as the mammoth step they primarily targeted the vulnerable young of large mammals such as mammoths cave hyenas an animal which has snacked on many species from erectus to the Ander tals mainly targeted horses and occasionally step bison but they were typically outcompeted for bison and other large herbivores by the most fearsome creatures of the European Ice Age the cave lion cave lions were massive beasts that weighed more than some of the biggest tigers that around 340 kg or 750 lb they prayed on almost anything they could get their claws around and their teeth sunk into Deer orox bison and musx were common prey as well as young mammoths woolly Rhino and even Cave Bear Cubs they also frequently ate reindeer meaning that they were in direct competition with ornation Hunters oreg Nai culture often made depictions of lions as we will later discuss leopards and jaguars also lived in Europe during the upper isine but were less common than other Predators Cave Bears were perhaps the most dominant carnivore of the European Ice Age weighing up to a, kg or 2200 lb though fearsome and certainly deadly they appear to have mainly been aerous but humans may have had frightening encounters with these animals while venturing into caves or wandering in the wilderness some Hunters may have even gone into caves to Target these animals a cave bear skull from 35,000 years ago from Siberia was found with a puncture likely from a stone spear point though these Hunters were not ornation similar strategies may have been used other Bears such as huraan brown bear and step bear would have also ran into these people during warmer months the ancestors of modern Grey Wolves were larger and would have been efficient pack Hunters on the step some of these wolves may have been pretty friendly to human Hunters During the ornation period wolves may have begun the process of domestication over 30,000 years ago placing this friendship well within ornation times though the extent of this relationship is unknown wolves and humans would have hunted and spent time together but full-time codependency may have taken longer to develop some physical remains of early dogs May overlap with the organ period though this is heavily debated a dog like Cranium was found in the goyet caves dating to 31,6 180 years ago it was initially thought to have been a domesticated dog though the mitochondrial DNA suggests that it was part of an extinct Side branch this dog may represent an unsuccessful attempt to domesticate a dog like canid population genetics of modern and ancient dogs suggest that actual domesticated dogs did not appear until around 20,000 years ago though this should likely be extended when considering how long domestication may have taken I will save the topic of the domestication of the dog for the next video in the series about the gratian one of the reasons the oration is seen as such an important time in human history is because of the elements of of culture we have found at their sites organization sites were some of the first that made us realize that these people were not simply brutish cave people but individuals of compassion and a capacity for aesthetic appreciation it was originally thought that art and symbolism emerged in Europe prior to anywhere else but we now know this is false sites in Africa dating to nearly 100,000 years ago show that these people were experimenting with pigments and making abstract carvings other sites similar in time to the great orc Nation Works display that the wave that left Africa around 70,000 years ago was already capable of modern human behaviors including art this notion is supported by even older rock art from suoi Indonesia and contemporary dated artwork in Namibia the basic ability and understanding of representational arch was already present in our species long ago but the organization was a time that this Behavior was encouraged and flourished some often overlooked evidence we must acknowledge in regards to their symbolic Behavior was the use of pigments pigments can be made of any number of things but the most common were red ochre charcoal and maganese oxide these pigments have been found at many of their sites and of course were used to make their paintings but beyond this more enigmatic uses may have been important red ochre is often seen as a medicine in contemporary indigenous societies it may have also functioned as insects repellent sunscreen body paint or die for clothing though body paint may seem trivial or pointless to us many indigenous societies regard it as sacred regardless of the Aboriginal tribe in Australia individuals are not allowed to paint themselves without reason or simply paint their own designs the painting of the body is a strict process which follows many guidelines this is due to the belief that the paintings represent the spirits of their ancestors which of course they hold in high regard hopefully this example can get the point across that something as simple as a lump of red ochre in a European cave could have functioned as a very important aspect of ornation society and from their direct remains we can see that many items were indeed painted we will cover some of them later jewelry is another aspect of material culture that is often underappreciated in the Paleolithic to anthropologists it is seen as a very important indicator of Social and spiritual cultural elements to ancient and even modern people jewelry can have a very significant effect on their lives in modern times think of how significant wedding rings are between two individuals even the act of giving your significant other a piece of jewelry on certain occasions can be very important for bonding historically many forms of amulets bracelets earrings and more have even had spiritual or quite practical Powers jewelry was said to give wearers protection against evil forces or to give them enhanced strength wit or other characteristics when discussing jewelry from prehistoric periods we must acknowledge that these objects may have held a very significant and serious meaning organ sites are littered with jewelry of many kinds bones antler Ivory Stone and shell were commonly used to make beads or pendants shell beads were common among Mediterranean sites various shells were often brought far inland from the coast a large variety of shells were used and holes were drilled or broken into them presumably to allow some kind of cordage to string them together bone was another common material animal teeth are found at numerous sites typically holes were drilled in the root to produce a bead or pendant many different animal teeth were utilized particularly carnivore teeth the canine teeth of wolf and fox were commonly used while bear and Cave lion were also used from time to time the use of the weapons of such powerful animals can immediately make you imagine their significance perhaps the tooth of a wolf was believed to provide a hunter with stamina while that of a Cave Bear could impart strength large herbivore teeth such as horse or Bice were also used to some extent and reindeer canines were often utilized on rare occasions human teeth were even used Pier human teeth have been found at four French sites it is unknown if these teeth may be fell out naturally though it is likely that they were taken from dead individuals since they made jewelry out of teeth and of a variety of animals it is not surprising that the remains of humans were sometimes chosen in southern Europe jewelry made of teeth was less common as shells were used more often instead though some artists went out of their way to create imitation horse teeth from antler and bone this may suggest that these artists were willing to go far out of their way to create these very significant items in swabia a small region in southern Germany many Ivory objects have been found four caves in the area may have served as mammoth ivory workshops beads were more or less mass-produced in a systematic manner tusks were split shaped in into rods then cut into similar sized blanks a hole was then cut and it was finely polished into a bead many of them were double perforated they may have functioned as some sort of cord Fastener to tighten clothing or just perhaps as jewelry these kinds of beads are relatively unique to the region in France Ivory basket-shaped beads were used while in Belgium Rings were common this may suggests different cultural or even linguistic groups within the wider oration culture in modern hun gatherer societies different ornamentation styles are associated with unique linguistic groups in the swabian region of Southern Germany many masterfully crafted figurines have been found across six caves many statuettes jewelry and even musical instruments have been discovered the excavation of the Vogal herd cave recovered over a dozen Ivory figurines all of the forms are unique and a good amount of them clearly represent known animals about about six of them depict mammoths five appear to be felids one elegant horse a bear bison and what may be a human most of these animals are quite dangerous animals and certainly physically powerful some of the objects appear to have been carried around for a long time and handled often this may support that they were relatively practical items rather than only used for ceremonies as some have speculated most of them are handheld and would have been easy to carry around they show a high degree of forms with accurate anatomical aspects as well as seemingly stylized aspects hatch marks and lines and a variety of figures may have had a symbolic meaning or they're just simply part of the design these markings could even tell us about how these animals may have looked in life the marks on this lion head could represent a Mane while the dots on this cat seem like they could have been spotted fur the felids from Vogal herd are unique to other figurines as they show distinct behaviors their FA are tense some of their mouths are open and all of their ears are erect these animals appear to be alert and wary possibly aggressive fed examples are in contrast to the other animals found at the cave particularly mammoths the mammoths appear quite neutral in expression furthermore the mammoth always appears to be reserved in closed postures while the felids are depicted open with elongated body and long limbs this is a theme seen across many of these figurines herbivores are typically seen as closed off and neutral while carnivores are more open and displaying distinct behaviors the horse being an herbivore is the only animal which breaks this trend its long neck and outstretched limbs display quite an extroverted form the behavior demonstrated closely resembles intros specific aggression possibly a stallion impressing females this behavior is common in the modern presolski horse one of the last truly Wild Horse species and the closest living representation of Ice Age horses the depictions of these animals in differing positions suggest that ornation people viewed certain animals in their environment beyond their economic value their world was not solely an assemblage of various resources which could be used for their survival rather their perception of their environment was one full of complex relationships between the living and the symbolic this idea is affirmed when we look at artwork of human animal hybrids various figures which appear appear to have human and animal traits have been found but none more significant than the lven mench figurine or in English the lion man figurine this figurine was also found in the region of suabia and maybe the oldest oration figurine it was carved from a mammoth tusk with Flint tools compared to other ornation figurines it is just as skillfully made considering it may be one of the older figurines it is interesting that this level of skill was present so early on since B bone projectile points were already commonly used at this time it may be that bone working skills were widespread but the artistic skill was what was being developed The Lion Man is quite large compared to other figurines and is fairly well preserved after it was reconstructed with additional material in 2013 all of the limbs and facial elements can clearly be seen even though pieces are still missing material around the pelvis is fairly incomplete leading to debates over whether the figurine was actually a lion woman European and Cave Lions appear to have had little to no Mains so no determination could really be made with the relatively complete lion head there was also the possibility that the human part of the figurine could be male while the head could be of a lioness regardless it is currently impossible to determine the sex a similar but less complete and smaller figurine was discovered in the nearby Cave of whole Fels suggesting that these people were part of a relatively homogeneous culture the presence of theanthropic depictions of humans felids is extremely significant especially considering these are some of the oldest known examples of portable art interpreting such a figurine is quite difficult though many hypothesis can be suggested a popular interpretation of the figurine is that it is evidence of shamanism Shamanism is a widespread religious practice especially among hunter gatherer societies one study which tested 33 contemporary Hunter gather of cultures across four continents found that 70% of the people believed in shamanism the practice involves Shaman interacting with the spiritual World often through Altered States Of Consciousness the goal of shamanism is typically to get ancestral Spirits or spiritual energies to interact with the physical world and to gain access to Shared knowledge they can be used to heal individuals offer advice give answers or Aid humans in any way imaginable Shamanism often acts as a mechanism to reinforce social norms and social bonding Shaman themselves act both as spiritual Healers ERS and social workers they may have offered these groups physical and emotional healing which in turn helped the survival of the entire group Shamanism is typically heavily rooted in the natural world with plants and animals often being a common theme shamans from cultures across the world often dressed in animal skins and with animal heads to gain spiritual power from these beings The Lion Man figurine could depict a shaman dressed as a lion or an actual idealized human lion hybrid it stands in a relatively neutral manner though it may be on the tips of its toes suggesting it might have been dancing as Shaman do the figurine could also be connected to animism the belief that animals places objects and even words possess a spiritual Essence everything possesses some degree of this Essence and there may be no distinction from the spiritual or physical world some Studies have suggested that animism may be the oldest trait of religion since religion is such a widespread phenomenon in human societies these early Notions of animism were likely present in our ancestors before they left Africa belief in an afterlife May likely have emerged after this and Shamanism naturally followed the lon man figurine may have not been directly tied to Shamanism but it is fairly likely that it was connected to animism the creation of this figurine would have taken many hours of careful carving Ivory is a very dense material and the size of this figurine does not make it any easier a modern replica was created and it was found that just removing the Tusk from the probac cidian skull took about 10 hours with stone tools the basic shaping took around 200 hours while the entire creation was around 320 hours of skilled work the work put into this figurine is an important aspect of its significance it was not some little toy made on a lazy afternoon it took weeks if not months to complete why would hunter gatherers who seemingly had difficult busy lives of finding food set so much time apart to carve a seemingly pointless figurine clearly this forearm sized figurine was so much more than a representation of a lion it was a connection to a world unreachable by day a bridge to a spiritual land which governed all to these people this object might have been as essential as the points which TI their Spears or the clothes that kept them warm another figurine which deserves equal attention to that of lion man would be the Venus of whole Fels this figurine or maybe better referred to as a necklace was also discovered discovered in suabia it is the oldest true Venus figurine discovered and is the only one from the or Nation period it is also the earliest Undisputed example of a human in figurative art Venus figurines typically depict heavy set women often with large breasts and distinct volvas while their other features are mostly absent many of these figurines are found in subsequent European periods and undoubtedly had significant meaning to these cultures in figurines from the later periods a correlation has even been established between the Obesity of these figurines in relation to glacial fronts the closer to glacial fronts the more obese the figurines were made this perhaps indicates that obesity could have been valued in some of these Ice Age cultures being obese in any hunter gather of society is difficult and it may have been important to build up some fat before a harsh winter other figurines of ivory were found in whole Fells as well a small water fowl figurine is very unique for the Paleolithic another figurine the head of an animal that was often considered to be a horse has turned out to be a bear with the recent discovery of its matching body another rather phallic object was also found at whole Fels but we will get to that later continuing with the topic of venuses the one at H Fels is not the only one from the period another figurine discovered in Austria is also considered a Venus the Venus of galgenberg dated to around 36,000 years ago making it contemporary with the work at whole FS this small female statue is quite elegant in form and is made of a shiny Green Serpentine Rock I was fortunate enough to get to see this figurine along with the famous Venus of Willendorf in the museum of natural history in Vienna though quite tiny I consider to be one of the most beautiful works of the upper Paleolithic the female depicted stands in an erect posture with one hand on her hip and one Towards the Sky the posture could indicate a dancing motion a trans-like state or even a female worshiping the protruding breast May indicate that this depiction is in the nude if so it affirms its namesake of a Venus the Venus of galgenberg can be compared to another possibly older piece of portable art also discovered in swabia in the cave of G and clo a small rectangular plate of mammoth ivory was carved into a strange form due to the apparent outstretched arms it has been named the worshipper or the adorent unfortunately the plate is preserved quite poorly though a humanoid figure can be seen it is possible the figurine was actually a human animal hybrid though we cannot tell either way it has some similarities with the Venus of galgenberg on the back of the relief there are a total of 88 notches arranged in various groups this number does correlate with the number of days in three lunar cycles and also around the same amount of days when the star Beetle Jews disappeared from view each year the 9month period when Orion was visible in the sky does match up to the duration of human pregnancy timing conception to the reappearance of the constellation could have been a method to ensure a newborn could survive a harsh winner though this interpretation very well may be researchers looking into it a little too much it is not absurd to suggest that these people had a connection to the constellations that bright into their Ice Age nights the evidence is in no way a matter of fact but these kinds of interpretations are worth exploring pivoting back to whole Fels a polished phallic stone with an etched ring around its tip is among the oldest representations of male genitalia ever discovered the object does have some wear associated with napping Flint though its life size and shape also indicates that it may have been used for other purposes similar objects from later periods do not show signs of napping Flint so it is likely that it had multiple uses it was dated around 28,000 years ago which is around 10,000 years younger than the Venus of whole Fels could these objects have some kind of cultural connection it is hard to say other f objects have been found in organ layers and they do appear more often in subsequent cultures a Fus from the Blanchard Rock shelter was made with an orox orbis and horncore another tip of a Fus made of linstone was also found in France it is possible that these objects were related to a fertility cult present in their culture it is also possible that they had a simpler and more utilitarian function though such items are typically kept out of sight and not often spoke about publicly in the modern day this kind of modesty is a pretty recent cultural development if you are familiar with Roman art or culture you may know that fallaces are a very common symbol I was able to visit Pompei last year and I was surprised to find that fallaces are literally everywhere on roads walls above doorways and on bread ovens the fallaces found in ornation layers appear that they may possibly be depicting circumcised subjects though many May perceive this procedure as a relatively recent invention it was practiced by many unconnected ancient societies including the Incas Aztecs ancient Egyptians Southeast Islanders and Australian aboriginals in a film by Australian filmmaker Malcolm Douglas he documented a ritual carried out by an Aboriginal tribe for years the young boys are taught about the many myths and beliefs of their tribe they are then painted in ritual design and after hours of singing and dancing are held down by their relatives while their procedure is performed luckily in this example it was done with a razor blade but years ago it was done with a sharp shell after the procedure which only men can view they made to go to the men's camp and many taboos are placed upon them for weeks after it is all said and done their former status which was the same as a woman is now upgraded to that of a much more dominant position as a man circumcision is clearly used in this society as a Coming of Age ceremony we know that it has been practiced in various Hunter gather societies for similar reasons and is widespread in the modern world some depictions in the oration and in subsequent periods suggest that this procedure may have been done in Upper Paleolithic Europe though our evidence is circumstantial bone flutes are another form of evidence that these people had a developed culture eight flutes have been found in three different caves in Germany and France alongside ornation tools most were made of bird bones which are already Hollow two were made of much harder Ivory these flutes were split hollowed and rejoined and then finger holes were carved the most complete flute discovered was made of a vulture bone and was 20 cm long with five finger holes these instruments could have been used in a variety of ways simple Tunes to pass the time around the fire or more elaborate interpretations like AIDS and rituals to put individuals in a trans-like state I really wish I could go back in time and see how and when they were used objects which appear to have been bone whistles have also been found at grow to De orak they are made of deer finger bones and have a hole pierced in them they could have been whistles used for hunting but interestingly Inuit people created identical purce fanges but for the creation of small Effigies or dolls a few other strange objects have been found that may be interpreted symbolically fossils from the time of the dinosaurs from Bellon knes have been found at their sights these conical objects do not seem to have had a very practical purpose though neandertals also had them at their sites for some reason a well-preserved bison skull from an open air site in France may have symbolic or ritual connotations the skull once belonged to a prime-aged male that was killed by ornation hunters the strange preservations suggest that the skull may have been kept and preserved as some sort of trophy the abundance of bison in organ art May testify to the usage of this item as symbolic the context of the deposition suggests that it may have been hung up on a stick of some sort which has now integrated we have covered basically all of the evidence of portable art we have found dating to the organ period but luckily it is just the tip of their symbolic Iceberg communal monuments as we know were not present in the European upper Paleolithic rather caves were the center of gatherings and communal projects caves undoubtedly had significant meaning to these people they were holes in the Earth itself which could save lives or or end them humans were not the only animals to utilize caves Cave Bear cave hyena and Cave lion all found shelter within their protective walls but these animals could be hunted as we know humans across various times did the connection these animals had to these shared spaces may have contributed to their significance to or Nation people the mighty bear was susceptible to cold winds just as the human Hunter the prideful Lions desired to clue usion to devour their prey in a world of wandering Nomads caves would have been important checkpoints among what would have seemed like an Endless Sea of tundra distinct family groups may have incidentally stayed in the same cave when their Roots crossed these chance meetings may have been the origin of new births the trading of tools and the developments of new cultural elements these revus may have been planned between multiple bands to celebrate cultural or spiritual events these fruitful times times may have been when elaborate paintings were made on the walls of these holy places the magnum opus of org Nation art comes from the chave cave of Southern France before even entering the cave ice AG Hunters would have seen the comb to Arc a natural Arc 160 ft or 49 M High which would have looked similar over 40,000 years ago only a short walk away lies the entrance to the gred shave the cave is about 820 ft or 250 M long at some points it is 56 M or 17 ft high and some Chambers are 230 ft or 70 M wide throughout the expansive cave 420 images have been discovered before we cover the content of these images let's first enjoy these Works without interpretation [Music] [Music] [Music] the talent displayed in some of these depictions is truly extraordinary the most beautiful paintings such as the Lions or the horses were almost certainly made by Specialists these artists may have held powerful roles in their culture perhaps being Shaman or medicine men though do not let those terms give you the notion that we know which sex made these paintings it may have in fact been both sexes working in the firit cave a 2013 study of finger length ra and upper Paleolithic hand stencils found in France and Spain determined that the majority were female hands overturning the previous widely held belief that this art Forum was primarily a male activity charcoal fragments suggest that torches and actual fires were lit near the panels relatively smokeless sap filed wood such as Pine was used in order to not produce much smoke a variety of pigments were used in the caves such as ochre and charcoal out of the 420 images over 70 lions and 70 mammoths can be found 12 other species are found on the cave walls including horses rhinoceros bison Bears orox leopards an owl megaloceros and ibeck of the animal depictions the lions are some of the most notable 16 lions are depicted next to each other in what appears to be a hunting scene the lions are alert and painted with exceptional anatomical detail the artist must have seen Lions relatively close up quite frequently to paint such a scene the lions are facing seven bison and more herbivores including a mammoth with large feet to the left of this panel are the depictions of many rhinoceros strangely many long horns are painted next to each other this may have been to show a herd standing next to each other or to show some kind of movement these rhinoceroses also have a black band around their midsection other such examples have been found in the cave possibly suggesting this strange pattern adorned their fur and life to the left of them are a few lions and a reindeer facing away from the Rhinos all the way to the right of this entire panel is a very interesting venuses depiction the painting of a human female lower half sits next to a bison and a lion on a hanging Stone formation the pubic triangle is clearly depicted with a clear Volva and legs very reminiscent of Venus figurines The Lion and bison above it may depict a hybrid creature or possibly the connction between a human and symbolic Spirit whatever the case it is fascinating that no human depiction can be found in the entire cave except for the lower half of a woman's body this example attests to the importance of symbolism in their culture another amazing panel consists of horses Oro and two rhinos fighting not only are these horses some of the most beautiful in cave art but this depiction of rhinoceroses is extremely unique dotted around the cave are very I other artworks this depiction of two lions May depict a male and female lion mating a cave bear and a small fielded painting and red ochre stand next to one another the spots on the panther likely suggest that this is what its coat looked like in Life or the spots on this animal which may be a bear or hyena may just represent thicker fur let me know in the comments down below do you guys think this is a bear or a hyena I'm not quite sure two bear outlines likely Cave Bears based on the incline of their forehead are quite aesthetically pleasing a large panel of dots found on a wall were painted by one person's Palm the pattern suggests that it may depict a mammoth though it is hard to tell an owl and horse were scratched into the cave wall in a unique technique but still similar to the other depictions one drawing that was later overlaid with a sketch of a deer looks like a volcano spewing lava volcanoes were active in the region at the time this could be the earliest known work we have of a volan volcano or an eruption handprints found in the cave are the only signatures of individuals this handprint in particular stands out it was made by placing the hand down and blowing pigment over it it was blown over the black outline of a mammoth what could be the meaning of this Mark a sign of worship to the mighty Mammoth a wish to gain powers from the mammoth Spirit we will never know when cave art is typically depicted in pop culture hunting scenes are often the first things that come to mind Hunters surrounding a beast full of Spears in reality art from most prehistoric periods lacked any actual scenes of humans hunting animals even on the other side of the world where cave and rock art was being made around 40,000 years ago the first things depicted were animals but still no hunting scenes the lack of depictions of such an important aspect of these people's lives is possibly because hunting was sacred and depicting it may have been against social tabos I think people vastly underestimate how strict many of these hunter gatherer societies really are almost everything is governed by taboo and tradition the practice of hunting may have followed strict Norms this wouldn't be surprising considering hunting often requires a fair bit of luck which allows Superstition to run rampant just as you may wear a specific shirt so that your team will win on Sunday these people may have made social precautions which had to be followed in order for their prey to give themselves up this was in fact a belief held by some Native American tribes that the animals would actually give themselves up instead of the hunter taking them this may open your mind to the truly complex relationships humans had with the animals of the past they were not simply resources to be exploited nor entirely symbolic creatures hardly any deer or reindeer are found in chave despite the making up a significant part of their diet in instead powerful animals were predominantly featured that were not necessarily even hunted often or at all the last thing found in this cave that I find particularly fascinating was this bare skull seated upon a pedestal located in a dark chamber the white skull quickly catches your eye this very skull sat here for over 27,000 years possibly over 32,000 the most significant events of our own history have occurred as this Relic sat sealed behind Rock and soil around 50 other skulls and a variety of animal remains are found in the cave their origin unknown overall shave cave is a testament to the human imagination even nearly 40,000 years ago these people felt the need to venture deep within the Earth to unleash their unrelenting thoughts of stealthy lions and graceful horses upon cave walls in my opinion shave is some of the most beautiful art ever created by our species and almost certainly some of the best art of the upper Paleolithic though other oration cave art sides do exist at a cave in France only about 200 mi from chave an engraving of a Volva older than 37,000 years has been found it is part of a block that fell out of a ceiling at this time meaning it is older than this date but it likely dates to the oration due to the subject portray at gr to fumane stone slabs with Imes of what essentially our stick figurines have been found they are in very bad condition but one does appear to depict a halfman half animal figure possibly with a mask on another is a strange circle symbol While others may be animals at El Castillo cave some of the oldest paintings in the world have been found in 2012 a red disc was dat to 40,800 years old while a handprint was stated to around 37,000 years old other paintings from this cave such as this bison may also belong to subsequent years of organ occupation at kib booya cave in Romania we find some of the oldest paintings from Central Europe the cave had various black outline drawings of horses bison bears and rhinoceros one point I want to mention about some of these relatively simple drawings is how difficult it actually is to make one they may have practiced in sand on bark as the aboriginals often used or possibly hides moving on to the cave of alamira many beautiful images made by the magdalenian culture have been found but a 2012 study found that some of the images actually dated to over 36,000 years ago an outline of a horse and a club like symbol both dated to this period this is interesting because it means that the future artists of the magdalenian nearly 20,000 years later would paint next to the much older works it makes you wonder if these people had any idea how much older these organization Works were it blows my mind to think that some Hunter painted a horse in this cave and 20,000 years later another group of hunter gatherers with a relatively similar lifestyle decided to create some of their own art we live in such a different world than these people in only 66 years we went from the first powered flight to Landing men on the moon we are so used to Innovation that many cannot even comprehend how long we depended on the sharp edges of stone to keep us fed I often hear people online argue that if human beings have been around for 300,000 years then how come no Advanced civilization has existed in the Deep past this is a reasonable question but it is one born out of our own ethnocentrism meaning that we are applying our own values and worldview to people who did not know such thing as getting a better product every year most of the technology of these people was strictly taught to them by adults things worked how they should and innovation was often unnecessary larger breakthroughs happened like the development of new Flint napping techniques or the introduction of the bow and arrow but these inventions were objects of chance people usually didn't venture outside of tradition with such few people and many focused on subsistence these chances were rare and Innovation moved at a snail's pace still these people lived extraordinary lives of tradition Vigor and expressing human nature to its fullest extent [Music] another important aspect about this culture was the possible ceremonies or Gatherings they had both the German region of suabia and the French region of dorone appear to have had aggregation sites multiple bands may have come together on a yearly basis to celebrate important events or to just enjoy each other's company hunter gatherer groups typically only consist of a few families or about two dozen individuals these groups are usually bound with more distant relatives to make a larger population of around 100 people at sites in suabia and dorone it appears that this amount of people would visit occasionally these events may have been an important time to socialize share knowledge teach each other's skills and reinforce cultural understandings the existence of many artistic elements such as figurines musical instruments and other shamanistic items May indicate that ceremonies or rituals were carried out it may have been tied to the seasons some animal deity or the passing of important members during the oration bario was not a common ferary practice the one site is an exception at the site of qua Morin in Spain a complex burial ritual was documented the site contains four burials though instead of skeletal remains positive casts of the bodies were preserved this makes the evidence a little enigmatic though it should still be looked into more in one was the best preserved of these burials he was laying on his side in an extended position his head and feet were completely removed from his body a curled up small ulich was placed over the Torso and the head perhaps a r deer or Red Deer other unidentifiable organic grave goods were also placed by the head as well as a Quartzsite blade a smaller animal was placed over the legs the pit was then filled in and spread with red ochre and then set on fire such a particular burial is interesting considering this is some of the only evidence of burial from the oration it is also important to note that this is from the end of the oration suggesting that the practice of burial originated near the transition to the gravettian culture which would thoroughly developed the practice this site May support the idea that burial developed at the end of the oration during this time most individuals were probably not buried and for most of the oration burial may have been entirely absent this is not to say these people did not engage in ferary activities only that the Customs that they might have followed didn't leave evidence in the archaeological record Sky burials are still common in Tibet which is the practice of leaving human corpses in the open to let scavengers and the elements do away with the body similar ferary practices may have been performed by these people another aspect of humanity that cannot be overlooked is our violent tendencies stereotypical Notions of Stone Age times often include incessant violence between bands of starving hunter gatherers similarly biased Notions often depict Hunter gathered tribes as being entirely peaceful and egalitarian of course neither of these ideas are entirely true and every indigenous Society exists on a spectrum between constant violence and Lasting peace from our direct evidence it does appear that Hunter gather Societies in the upper Paleolithic were quite a bit more peaceful than the later violent Neolithic societies this may be adequately explained by population size upper Paleolithic hunter gatherers in general had very small population sizes as mentioned earlier what was limiting these populations was not competition between groups but rather with the struggle for survival in the first place there were undoubtedly many animals to go around though conflicts over prime hunting grounds may have occasionally occurred there's also no evidence of any conflict like this we only have one example of violence at all a skull from SE cavina cave in Romania was clearly struck with a club likee instrument multiple times which led to the death of a victim the fractures of the skull are inconsistent with a fall or an injury due to roof debris the location of the fractures suggests that the blow came from a face-to-face confrontation or perhaps the victim was kneeling in an execution like fashion overall the evidence is consistent with severe inter personal violence meaning that these individuals likely knew each other and belong to the same group of course we cannot rule out intrapersonal violence the authors of the paper state that an interpersonal conflict is the best supported hypothesis whatever the case this evidence displays that homicide was among the behavioral repertoire of or Nation people this is not too surprising due to the existence of this Behavior throughout human history including deeper into the middle and even lower Paleolithic violence certainly occurred in oration times though we do not know the context of this violence or the extent whatever the case we should remember that they were people just like us and they had a conscience violence would have been a traumatic experience though it may have had a place in the OR Nation world the people of the org Nation were highly specialized hunter gatherers like many others of the time they followed highly mobile animals and gathered what they could all while making captive ating art along the way as the Millennia continued the changing environment allowed people of the middle or Nation to become less mobile as flora and fauna became more locally available this worked out well until the decline in climatic and environmental conditions caused Europe to become much colder and drier from around 33,000 years ago onward the organ culture would decline in population and range in the East a new culture was forming the graet this culture was able to adapt to the new challenging conditions the coldest Europe had been since modern humans arrived the orgn culture would survive in isolated regions for another few thousand years but the gratian mostly replaced them by around 30,000 years ago the gravettian people themselves were genetically descended from the people of the org Nation but mainly from Eastern populations the end of the oration culture would mean the end of many lineages of populations living through throughout western and southern Europe as well as a decrease in the anderol DNA though it is unfortunate we lost these populations some of their descendants would go on to thrive and modern Europeans do have faint reminders of these people in their DNA the oration culture emerged and thrived in an extremely challenging world full of change with their new Innovative technology and imaginative symbolic elements they were able to spread wide and replace the long venerated neander TS they were the pioneers of the European upper Paleolithic and should be remembered as very significant this is only the first episode of a series I am doing on the entire European upper Paleolithic next we will cover the even more Innovative gravettian culture that learned to thrive during an extremely cold period afterward we will cover the saluton and epigravettian culture and finally the magdalenian if you enjoy long documentaries on Ancient people check out videos on the fome people the Clovis people or any of the videos I made on Ancient human species don't forget to check out n2. for some sweet clothing I have a good amount of options on there and I'm sure you will love them I myself will be wearing the embroidered chave shirt all the time once again this is about the best way you can support the channel thanks so much for watching please make sure to like comment something and maybe even share to someone that may be interested in these topics this has been your host north2 and hope to see you again sooni [Music]

Channel: NORTH 02

Views: 370,230

Keywords: ancient animal, documentary, north 02, animal, fossil, evolution, paleoanthropology, human evolution, science, discovery, Proof of evolution, full documentary, history, fossils, videos, family friendly, learn, anthropology, paleo, paleonotology, ancient human, homo erectus, neanderthal, denisovan, human, humanoid, hominin, hominid, human history, prehistory, archaeology, education, human origins, aurignacian, upper paleolithic, ancient world, european upper Paleolithic

Id: AjL8sZ7_tL4

Length: 86min 39sec (5199 seconds)

Published: Mon Apr 29 2024