1. The Upper Paleolithic Period
40,000 to  18,000 ya

2. The Upper Paleolithic By 28 kya Neanderthals gone.
Humans expand into most of the world.
Art appears and spreads.
Numerous technological innovations occur.
Domestication of the Dog

3. Summary of Chronology The Upper Paleolithic 40 to 18 kya
Basal Paleolithic
2.5 to 1.8 mya
Time of Homo habilis
Olduwan tools
Lower Paleolithic
1.8 m to 250 kya
Time of Homo erectus
Acheulean hand axes
Middle Paleolithic
250 to 40 kya
Time of H. neanderthalensis
Mousterian tools
The Upper Paleolithic
40 to 18 kya
Chatelperronian
Aurignacian
Gravettian
Solutrean
Magdalenian

4. Two important definitions
Blades = flakes that are at least twice as long as they are wide, with straight edges.
Composite tools = ones formed from multiple materials.
E.g., a spear has a stone point, wooden shaft, bone fore-shaft, sinew hafting, and resins.

5. Making blades during the Upper Paleolithic Period.
Composite tools during the Upper Paleolithic Period.

6. Aurignacian Tools: 40 to 30 kya in Europe
roger/lithic

7. Early Upper Paleolithic Europe
Aurignacian Tools
40 to 30 kya
Early Upper Paleolithic
Europe
roger/lithic

9. Other Features of the Aurignacian
Diverse, efficient, flexible tool kit.
Beads & Jewelry made from mammal bones & teeth.
Bone needles & awls suggesting tailored clothing.
Portable art of engraved bone and ivory
Southern Germany: Vogelherd Cave & Hohlenstein Stadel.
Grotte du Renne, France.

12. Tool Industries
These are tool complexes that are associated and are useful time markers for the UP.
Chatelperronian = intermediate Mousterian to Aurignacian
Aurignacian 36 – 22 kya. Earliest “blade industry.”
Gravettian 33 – 22 kya. Thinner, more finely made blades than Aurignacian.
Solutrean 22 – 18 kya. Extremely refined blade technology.
Magdalenian 18 – 10 kya. Final UP blade industry. ART.

13. Gravettian Tools 30 to 20 kya Mid Upper Paleolithic Europe
roger/lithic

14. Two Important Gravettian Sites
Dolni Vestonice 27 kya (Czech Republic)
Complex campsite.
Kostenki 27 kya (Russia).
Nine pit houses
Hearths in centers of huts
Storage pits cut into permafrost

15. Dolni Vestonice

16. Dolni Vestonice

17. Kostenki

18. Bone-framed house

19. Implications of Sites People becoming a bit more sedentary
Diet, however, still hunting & gathering
Find large herbivore remains
Small mammals remains
Some fish bones

20. Solutrean Tools: 22 to 18 kya in Europe
roger/lithic

22. The Dog
Domestication = an organism relying on humans for survival & reproduction.
Dogs come from wolves, which are pack animals.
Dogs have abilities that humans don’t have.

23. The Venus Figurines
Portable art that appeared during the Upper Paleolithic period.
Female figures carved from soft stone or mammoth bone.
Thought to symbolize fertility.

24. Venus of Willendorf, Austria
Venus of Gagarino, Ukraine

26. Implication of Figurines
Suggest communication and interaction over long distances.
Suggest symbolic thinking.

27. Cave Painting Painters used charcoal & red ochre
Lascaux: (France) emphasis on animal paintings; human renderings are simple.
Altamira: (Spain) use of natural features of the cave to enhance animal art.
Chauvet Cave: (discovered 1994).

28. Chauvet Cave 33 – 20 kya Large cave galleries
Compositional groupings of herbivores & predators.
Find rare species not depicted in other caves: rhino, lion, long-eared owl, & hyena.
Appear to be stylistically unified (same culture).

29. Lascaux 34 – 12 kya

30. Chauvet Cave, France 33 - 20 kya

31. The Magdalenian
20 – 10 kya.
Stone/bone tool industry becomes more diverse.
Microlithic blades.
New weapons (e.g., harpoon).
Large scale climate change occurred (deglaciation).
Sites were occupied for longer than during Gravettian (more sedentary).
Important sites: Madeliene Rockshelter, Laugerie Haute
People lived there for entire seasons, not year round.

32. Magdalenian Tools
20 to 10 kya
Late Upper Paleolithic

33. Mezhirich, Russia
Magdalenian

34. Summary of Upper Paleolithic
Diet became gradually more diverse
People became gradually less mobile
Artwork proliferates
Climate warms, deglaciation during Magdalenian
Sets the stage for more regionalization and diversification during the Mesolithic