Upper Paleolithic
(50.000 BC to 10.000 BC)
What happened?
The Upper Paleolithic or the Late Stone Age is the last part of the Eurasian Paleolithic. The period started 40.000 BC during the last ice age and ended at the end of that period around 12.000 BC. According to some theories it coincides with the appearance of behavioral modernity in early modern humans and lasted until the advent of the Neolithic Revolution and agriculture.
The Neanderthals in Europe became edged out and disappeared by 33.000 BC. Modern humans began to have the world to themselves. This period coincides with the most common date assigned to expansion of modern humans from Africa throughout Asia and Eurasia, which contributed to the extinction of the Neanderthals.
The Anatomically modern human was first identified in Europe in 36.OOO BC in Romania. About 50.000 BC the diversity of artefacts found associated with modern human remains increased. Stone tools of the Upper Paleolithic were primarily blade-based technology. In addition, bone, antler, shell, and wood were used to a degree for both artistic and working tool types. The first eyed needles presumably for making clothes are dated about 21.000 BC. The cave art, wall paintings and engravings of animals and abstractions at caves such as Altamira and Lascaux are best known. The famous Venus figurines and sculpted batons of antler and bone carved were another development as the art which the humans carried.
The earliest known evidence of organized settlements, in the form of campsites, with or without storage pits were found. More social groupings emerged, supported by more varied and reliable food sources and specialized tools. People lived in houses, some built of mammoth bone, but most huts had semi-subterranean floors, hearths, and windbreaks.
Hunting became specialized, and sophisticated planning is shown by the culling of animals, selective choices by season. Occasional mass animal killings suggest that in some places and at some times, food storage was practiced. The first domesticated animal appears during the Upper Paleolithic. The dog became a companion to humans for over 15.000 years.
The end of the Upper Paleolithic came about because of climate change. Global warming affected humanity’s ability to fend for itself.
Replica. Found: Willendorf, Austria (JN0667)
Venus of Willendorf
± 24.000 yrs. BC to ± 20.000 yrs. BC
This voluptuous female figurine was carved from oolite (= limestone) in the Upper Paleolithic. It was found in 1908 in the Austrian village of Willendorf. The figurine measures 11 cm and the sexual characteristics are very explicit. The breasts are huge, and she also has thick buttocks, thighs, and a clear mound of Venus. The statue is known as the Venus of Willendorf. The name refers to the place where archaeologist Josef Szombathy found the statue. Oolite cannot be found in that area, which suggests that the statue originally came from elsewhere. It is colored with red ocher.
The figurine is a possible fertility symbol, made between 24.000 and 20.000 BC. Possibly a heavily pregnant woman is depicted. The original is kept in the Natural History Museum in Vienna, Austria. In the meantime, many copies have already been made. We own one of those. Little is known about the origin of the statue. The face is not shown. The feet are on the small side in relation to the rest of the body. The arms are folded and barely visible. The head has thick coils of hair, perhaps braids. The image cannot stand upright. More such prehistoric fertility symbols were found afterwards. The Venus of Willendorf is the most famous. The name "Venus statue" is controversial. There is no link with the Roman goddess, Venus. There does not seem to be any connection with "Mother Earth" either. The fertility symbol could also be a symbol of safety and success.
In 1996, the American researcher, LeRoy McDermott, showed with the aid of photographic material that it must be a matter of “personal perspective”. From the point of view of the woman herself who was trying to make a self-image. According to him, this explains the proportions of the present breasts and wide pelvis, flattened navel, short thighs, missing shins, and small feet. There were no mirrors, so that one's own face was not known, except a little from reflective water.