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ANTH 1003 Dr. Susan Johnston Class Notes for March 23 The Upper Paleolithic  Time of anatomically modern humans  One of the first examples of an Upper Paleolithic site found at Cro Magnon, France (not the earliest dated site)  Took place at the end of the Pleistocene (Ice Age), which lasted 1.8 mya – 10,000 BP o Paleolithic is an archaeological time period, Pleistocene is a geological time period o Much colder than it is today o There were fluctuations that caused changes in the environment o Maximum glacial extent caused much of Europe and North America to be covered by ice, which pushed populations of people closer together  Upper Paleolithic stone tool industry: o Beginning of true archaeological cultures, increasing regionalism (groups and styles of tools go together with certain times and places) o Humans of the Upper Paleolithic make specific kinds of tools that are limited in time and space --> more analogous to modern cultures o Introduction of blade technology, more efficient way to use resources and make tools o Non-stone tools appear; made of ivory, bone, and sometimes wood  Major changes in stone tools: o Started as cores with no real shape --> handaxes --> shift to flake tools --> increasingly intentional tool types limited in time and space and made from different materials o Cognitive change was happening (intentional tool types indicate more planning) o Why  Increasing complexity of activities and mental connection between a specific task and a specific tool type  Biology: different brain structures enable and prompt modern humans to think about the world differently and therefore behave differently  The “material explosion” could just be because of preservation, especially wood, which was used before but just didn’t preserve at sites before the Upper Paleolithic Upper Paleolithic Life  Hunter-gatherer lifestyle o Tend to be mobile to exploit resources that are seasonal (plants) or moving (animals)  Very knowledgeable about the environment o Tend to be egalitarian: no institutionalized positions of power  Social influence based more on age, experience, etc. o Relatively low population density makes it easier to move around o Examples:  Hundreds of plant species recovered at El Juyo, Portugal (c. 14,000 BP) indicates varied plant diet  Extensive use of coastal resources and hunting of baby seals, elands, buffalo, and bushpigs at Nelson Bay Cave, South Africa (19,000 – 12,000 BP)  Hunting strategies used a considerable amount of thought o Seasonal hunting: being at a certain place at a particular time of year to take advantage of game that is predictably available then  Verberie, France (18,000 – 11,000 BP): both sexes and all ages of faunal remains of reindeer found suggests that people preyed on entire herds, available in August o Encounter hunting: taking what you can get from encounters with small groups of animals  Le Flagolet, France (18,000 – 11,000 BP): primarily adult female reindeer remains found, which are in peak condition in winter as they prepare for spring pregnancies and live in small groups o Mass hunting strategies: herding animals together so many can be killed at one time  Stellmoor, Germany (11,000 BP): tons of arrowheads and faunal remains found in an extinct lakebed  First structures in the archaeological record come from the Upper Paleolithic o Earliest site with structures: Ohalo, Israel has huts and hearths o Mezhirich, Ukraine (15,000 BP): structures made out of mammoth bones specifically stacked together  Symbolic behavior explodes, much of it is portable art including figurines of fat women  Formal burial becomes more common o Over 100 known burials, versus around 30 for Neanderthals o Burial was the norm in some places o Goat’s Hole Cave, Paviland (Wales) c. 28,000 – 30,000 BP: “red lady” was actually a male burial, covered in red ochre o Sungir, Russia (c. 28,000 – 20,000 BP): hundreds of ivory beads, possibly sewn into clothing, found in burial of adult male and two children o Dolni Vestonice (Czech Republich) c. 27,000 – 26,000 BP: one burial includes a woman between two men; woman suffers from numerous pathologies, both trauma-related and congenital, and may be related to the two men based on similar unusual dental traits Upper Paleolithic Recap:  All modern humans  Tools – more, more varied materials, blade technology  Hunting  First evidence of structures  Consistent evidence of burial  Lots of symbolic repesentations General changes throughout the Paleolithic:  Biological: began with Australopithecines in the Lower Paleolithic --> genus Homo --> Neanderthals --> modern humans only after c. 40,000 BP  Earliest tools were simply expedient cutting edges --> more tool types, more complex technology and assemblages  Living sites: accumulations of stone and bones --> structures emerge in the Upper Paleolithic  Slow emergence of ritual: Maybe Dinaledi (Lower Paleolithic), more common in the Middle Paleolithic, explodes in Upper Paleolithic with anatomically modern humans