Welcome back to the Explora Natura blog. This time, we're presenting a post about the traditions of early humans. We're currently exploring new activities related to our early human camps, and in this case, we'd like to introduce you to some of their main customs.
The traditions of primitive man in the Paleolithic.
The first ones Homo sapiens Modern humans in Africa and Southwest Asia, 100,000 years ago, made tools similar to those of Neanderthals and other late archaic humans. These were mostly simple flake and Levallois core tools similar to those from Mousteria. However, 90,000–75,000 years ago, some modern humans began producing new types of artifacts that were revolutionary enough to warrant placing them in a different stage of the Paleolithic—the Upper Paleolithic. This was the pinnacle of technical sophistication during the Old Stone Age. These groundbreaking developments are best 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 at least 75,000 years ago in West-Central Africa. 70,000 years ago in South Africa, stone was prepared for flaking through heat treatment. This facilitated the shattering and formation of finer cutting and drilling tools. These innovations were apparently unknown to Neanderthals and other archaic human populations.
Ultimately, there were a number of different regional Upper Paleolithic tool traditions around the world. The most sophisticated may have been the Magdalenian tradition of Western Europe. It began around 17,000 years ago and lasted until the end of the last ice age, around 10,000 years ago.
The diverse tool traditions of the Upper Paleolithic were successful cultural adaptations to diverse environments around the world. In the temperate and subarctic regions of the Northern Hemisphere, specialized big-game hunting was the most common subsistence strategy. However, even among societies that focused their hunting efforts on reindeer, horses, and other large mammals, there was exploitation of plant foods, fish, and other small animals.
The exploitation of small game and plant foods became increasingly important for Cro-Magnons and most other peoples of the Northern Hemisphere after 15,000 years ago. This was a necessity because most of their populations were growing and the climate was changing as the ice began to melt near the end of the last ice age. During the approximately 5,000 years of the last glacial melt, large game animals became progressively scarce in the Northern Hemisphere. As a result, successful human hunts would have been less frequent. The combined effect of rapid climate change and increased hunting by humans with more effective weapons contributed significantly to the extinction of at least 50 genera of large animals (mostly mammals) during this period. It was also during this later period, after 15,000 years ago, that fishing spears, hooks, and nets became increasingly common. In Europe, the main target of fishing appears to have been salmon migrating upstream to spawn and the seals that hunted them. These climate-related changes in subsistence patterns began even earlier in southwest Asia and other relatively warm and dry regions.
The Cro-Magnon people increased their food supply by developing coordinated group hunting techniques for killing large herds of 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) around 17,000–15,000 years ago. This was a wooden or bone shaft with a hook at one end that fit into a socket at the base of the spear. This device was used as a spear-throwing aid. It increased the range and impact force of the projectiles by essentially increasing the length of the thrower's arm. The net effect was that hunters did not need to get as close to their prey before throwing their spears. Spinning-headed harpoons were also invented around this time. The bow and arrow were invented 12,000 years ago or slightly earlier. This further increased the range of the projectiles. The fact that these weapon systems were developed toward the end of the last ice age is probably not a coincidence. They were technological solutions to the growing difficulty of obtaining meat.
The basis of many Upper Paleolithic stone tools was the flake blade. This is a thin, parallel-sided flake that is at least twice as long as it is wide. The cross-section is generally triangular or trapezoidal. They were made from brittle rock materials such as flint, slate, and obsidian. Flakes served as preforms for the manufacture of many different types of tools, including knives, leather scrapers, spear points, drills, awls, burins, and so on.
Upper Paleolithic in Europe
tools made of flakes
The flakes from the leaf were nearly standardized shapes removed from the assembly line from a prepared core, usually by punching. This method uses indirect percussion to better control the direction and force of the shock wave entering a core. This facilitated the repeated production of long, delicate flakes. The flakes were hammered around a prepared core much like the careful unwinding and sectioning of a roll of paper. It is possible to hammer the flakes with direct percussion using a hammerstone instead of a punch, but it is more difficult.
Tools made from blade flakes were far more efficient than the core and flake tools made by earlier peoples when compared in terms of maximizing the use of precious brittle rock materials. This increased efficiency can be roughly measured in terms of the amount of cutting edge that can be produced from the same amount of stone.
Sources: Watson, W. (1968) Flint Implements: An Account of Stone Age Techniques and Cultures; and
Hester, J. and J. Grady (1982) Introduction to Archaeology.
It is now known that the knowledge of how to make blade flakes predated Upper Paleolithic toolmaking traditions. However, it was not until the last Ice Age cultures of the Cro-Magnon people and some of their contemporaries outside Europe that long, thin, and delicate blade flakes were commonly produced and used.
Upper Paleolithic toolmakers also frequently employed greater refinement in stoneworking. After preliminary percussion shaping, they often finished a tool with pressure flaking. They literally pushed flakes off the edge with the tip of a deer's antler 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 the thin edges of spear points and knives. Pressure flaking was apparently first used during the Middle Paleolithic in Africa around 75,000 years ago.
During the Upper Paleolithic, we see the first abundant evidence of tools being used to make other tools. Things such as narrow crunching chisels, known as burins, were used to make and shape a host of other implements from bone, horn, and ivory. Additional tools were created for the purpose of working on other implements, such as pressure flakes, awls, and arrow straighteners. The Upper Paleolithic also saw a heavy reliance on composite tools, such as intentionally detachable harpoon points and interchangeable hardwood spear shafts attached to spears. Composite tools have the advantage that they can be repaired. When a part breaks, it can be replaced instead of the entire tool.
Composite tools and tools designed to work with other implements are not just new types of stone tools, but rather new kinds of principles for tool use. This was a great intellectual leap forward. It also broadened the range of raw materials that could be used for toolmaking. Bone and antler, in particular, became more commonly used. They had been used occasionally in the earlier Mousterian tool tradition, but only clumsily modified by hammering, scraping, and burning. Among the Cro-Magnons, bone and antler gradually replaced wood and stone for many functions. Dense 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 and penetrating projectile points. The amount of time they remain usable can be extended by resharpening them through rock grinding when they become dull.
The Cro-Magnon people of Europe regularly decorated their tools and carved small pieces of stone, bone, horn, and ivory. Necklaces, bracelets, and decorative pendants were made of bone, teeth, and shells. Cave walls were often painted with naturalistic scenes of animals. Clay was also occasionally modeled. From our cultural perspective, these symbolic and naturalistic representations would be called art. However, that is an ethnocentric projection. For the Cro-Magnon who created this art, it was very likely thought of as something different, or at least much more, than what we think of as art or ornamentation. For example, it may have had magical and/or religious functions.
Representational art in Upper Paleolithic Europe began 40,000 years ago and became intense between 15,000 and 10,000 years ago. Perhaps the most prominent portable art was in the form known as Venus figurines. These are sculptures of women. They are not portraits but idealized, faceless representations of well-fed, healthy, often pregnant, nude women with exceptionally large breasts and buttocks. Because of these exaggerated sexual characteristics, most paleoanthropologists believe they are ritual objects symbolizing female fertility. Many of these stylized carvings are reminiscent of modern abstract art. Venus figurines were made from about 35,000 years ago until the end of the last Ice Age, 10,000 years ago. They have been found from Western Europe to Siberia. Most were small enough to be easily handled. The Venus of Laussel, shown below right, is a rare exception.
The Cro-Magnon people are perhaps best known for their cave paintings. Although this cave art is most abundant in southwestern France and northern Spain, it was also created elsewhere by other modern humans. Through cave art, we see the first large-scale, concrete symbols of human thoughts and feelings, and perhaps even beliefs about the supernatural. More than 150 caves in Western Europe have been found with these Ice Age paintings on their walls.
The cave art of Lascaux, France (left and right) and Altamira, Spain (center)
Most of this cave art was created deep within caves, in areas difficult to access due to the darkness. It is assumed that, given their locations, these areas were most likely sacred or special in some way, and that the art was inspired by concerns with the supernatural. Most of the figures are realistic-looking herd animals, many of which are shown wounded or pregnant. Several paleoanthropologists have suggested that the artists most likely practiced sympathetic hunting (or imitation hunting) and fertility magic. This would have been particularly important when this art was at its height of sophistication (15,000–10,000 years ago) because at that time the last ice age was ending and herds of game animals were dying out or moving north. Some of the animals depicted in the caves were predators, such as cave bears and lions, rather than prey. Drawing and painting these creatures may have been a way to gain protection from them, or even a way to emulate their ferocity and skill to increase the success of human hunts. Because of the subjects depicted, it has been suggested that this rock art was primarily the focus of male attention and was subsequently produced by male artists. In contrast, the Venus figurines suggest predominantly female interests. However, because we know so little about the living cultures of the Cro-Magnon people, we must always be cautious in interpreting their art. We may not understand the intended function and meaning.
Human figures are rare among European cave paintings. Those that do exist are usually simple stick figures of men hunting. They are often shown with erect penises (as pictured below). There are also several depictions of bearded adult male heads. One is life-size. The largest is 6 1/2 feet (2 m) tall with a hood. Geometric patterns have also been found in some caves and have been interpreted as female genitalia.
Some European cave art appears to have been associated with ceremonies. These ceremonies may have been accompanied by music. The areas of caves where the paintings were made and used often have good acoustic qualities. Drumsticks, flutes, and spindles have been found near the paintings in Lascaux Cave. The art most likely reflects the Cro-Magnon worldview. Some researchers have suggested that it was, in part, depicting their spiritual world. The fact that footprints of adults and children have been found in some of the caves near the paintings also suggests that the art was related to male initiation ceremonies for boys becoming men.
Some cave walls and bone artifacts have sequences of incised lines and short marks or ticks that do not appear to be representational art. Some of these incisions seem to be strictly utilitarian. However, their actual purpose is unknown. These marks have been found on bone artifacts made by the last Neanderthals, but they did not become common until the Cro-Magnon people developed their Upper Paleolithic toolmaking traditions. A few Cro-Magnon bone artifacts dating back 25,000 years have what appear to be carefully incised linear sequences of circular or crescent-shaped ticks. Alexander Marshack believes that at least one of these bones (shown below) was made to be used as a kind of lunar calendar.
The existence of calendars implies that some people recognized the cyclical nature of the seasons. For people who depended on seasonal food availability and migratory herds, a calendar would have allowed for more accurate predictions, making foraging more efficient. Maps would also have been invaluable to Upper Paleolithic hunter-gatherers. The oldest known map was scraped from a 16,000-year-old bone found in Mezhirich, Ukraine. It clearly depicts the countryside surrounding a Cro-Magnon settlement.
Cro-Magnon art changed over time. Between 40,000 and 25,000 years ago, bone flutes, carved figures, and personal decorative ornaments such as bracelets and pendants began to appear. Until recently, the oldest known cave art consisted of charcoal drawings of bison and rhinoceroses dating back 31,000 ± 1,300 years in the French cave of Grotte Chauvet. Recent dating of red handprints in the Spanish cave of El Castillo indicates they were made at least 40,800 years ago.
The second Cro-Magnon art period was 25,000–18,000 years ago. Cave art apparently became relatively common in southern France and northern Spain during this time; however, it consisted mainly of crude animal outlines, abstract forms, and genitalia. This was a very cold phase of the last Ice Age. The Cro-Magnon people likely created these paintings while overwintering in caves.
Between 18,000 and 15,000 years ago, more elaborate depictions of animals were being painted. Shading was now used to indicate muscles and fur. In addition, animals were depicted in motion.
The greatest period of European rock art was 15,000–11,000 years ago. This phase coincided with the final melting of the last Ice Age and the height of the Magdalenian Tool Tradition. Large shrines were created featuring realistically colored bison, horses, deer, cattle, and other large animals. Rock art at this time was likely the product of a surge in ceremonial activity. Many tools were also decoratively carved during this terminal period. Personal decoration made from bone, teeth, and shell was also very common. This was the period of the most elaborate Venus figurines. The tradition of making these stylized female representations lasted for about 25,000 years. As such, it represents a remarkably persistent belief system. The duration is even more remarkable when one considers that Islam has existed for only about 1,400 years, Christianity for 2,000 years, and Judaism (in its current form) for less than 2,500 years.
It is important to remember that Europe was not the only part of the world where early modern humans produced art. The earliest known art object was found in South Africa. It is a 77,000-year-old hematite nodule engraved with geometric designs. Animal representations were being painted in rock shelters in southern Africa possibly 28,000 years ago, and beads made from ostrich shells were being produced there 38,000 years ago. Cave and rock shelter paintings also date back to Siberia and Australia. However, Upper Paleolithic art was especially abundant in Western Europe and is best known from there.
Social changes of the Upper Paleolithic
The extraordinary advances in Upper Paleolithic technology and art did not occur in a vacuum. They developed during a time of remarkable social change. These changes created the necessary environment for cultural innovations to take place. The ultimate driving force was probably a combination of population growth, larger communities, more efficient subsistence patterns, and increased life expectancy. From the time of the earliest humans 2.5 million years ago until about 50,000–40,000 years ago, the global human population experienced very modest growth. People evidently lived in small bands of hunters, gatherers, and scavengers that rarely exceeded a few dozen individuals. Life expectancy was typically 30 years or less, often much less. Recent analyses by Rachel Caspari and Sang-Hee Lee of human teeth from Upper Paleolithic sites have shown that from about 30,000 years ago onward, there was a sharp increase in the number of people over 30 years old. They lived significantly longer on average. Caspari and Lee calculated that there was likely a fourfold increase in the number of grandparents, as generation times were probably around 15 years. In most past societies, grandparents fulfilled the valuable role of caring for and educating grandchildren, thus allowing their own adult children to become more involved in food acquisition and other activities. This may have been a major contributor to the creative explosion of culture in Upper Paleolithic societies. Grandparents raising their children perform the critical task of passing on the accumulated skills and knowledge of their society to the young. This was likely the case in Upper Paleolithic societies as well. Another consequence of increased longevity is that women had more reproductive years. As a result, increased family size and population growth were almost inevitable. Caspari and Lee suggest that the rapid cultural evolution, evidenced by new technology and art during the Upper Paleolithic, was largely a consequence of these demographic transformations. Likewise, the cultural developments of the Upper Paleolithic undoubtedly contributed to increased longevity, which in turn fueled the population boom.
