THINKING ABOUT ORIGINS OF MAN AND CULTURE PART III HUMAN EVOLUTION THINKING ABOUT ORIGINS OF MAN AND CULTURE Belén Pena

HUMAN EVOLUTION REVIEW

CULTURAL TRENDS & HUMAN EVOLUTION

PALAEOLITHIC THE OLD STONE AGE

SOCIAL ORGANIZATION Hunter-gatherer analogy Migration Small group, low population density, nomadism, kinship groups Migration North America was the last colonized by hominids. Beringia (land bridge) between Russia and Alaska Asian origin of Native Americans 30,000 to 12,000 years B.P. was first migration

UPPER PALAEOLITHIC, Hotbed of Culture Top: Straw Hut Left: Mammoth bone hut Bottom: Tool progression 40 – 10k yBP Shelters 15,000 yBP Ukraine Some made with mammoth bones Wood, leather working; carpentry Tools From cores to blades Specialization Composite tools Bow and arrow Domestication of dogs Gathering rather than hunting became the mainstay of human economies.

EUROPEAN UPPER PALEOLITHIC Chatelperronian 40-35 kya mix of Middle & Upper Paleolithic Aurignacian 34-30 kya split-based points Perigorian 32-22 kya blades Solutrian 22-18 kya bi-facial points on blades Magdalenian 18-11 kya harpoons with barbs

ARCHAIC H. sapiens ART Cave Art Traces of art found in beads, carvings, and paintings Cave paintings in Spain and southern France showed a marked degree of skill Mobiliar Art . Female figurines 27,000 to 22,000 years B.P. Called “venuses,” these figurines depicted women with large breasts and broad hips Perhaps it was an example of an ideal type, or perhaps an expression of a desire for fertility

CAVE PAINTINGS ARCHAIC H. sapiens CULTURE Cave paintings from 20,000 years ago at Vallon-Pont-d’Arc in southern France (left) and from Lascaux, in southwest France Cave paintings Mostly animals on bare walls Subjects were animals favored for their meat and skins Human figures were rarely drawn due to taboos and fears that it would somehow harm others

ALTAMIRA CAVE SPAIN 1st discovered 1868 1st Paleolithic rupestrian (made of/written on rock) art “discovery” Gallery of Bulls found in 1879 (left) Gallery of Bison at Spain’s Altamira Cave 20+ kya (N.G. July 2000:91).

1868 – a hunter followed his dog along a hill (near Altamira) on the northern Spanish Coast…

daughter of Marcelino Sanz de Sautola Maria de Sautuola, 1879 daughter of Marcelino Sanz de Sautola http://www.hominids.com/donsmaps/images/mariaaltimira.jpg “¡Toros pintados!”

“Brief notes about some prehistoric objects of the Santander province” Marcelino Sanz de Sautola 1880 "Breves apuntes sobre algunos objetos prehistóricos de la provincia de Santander" “Brief notes about some prehistoric objects of the Santander province”

The Sistine Chapel of Prehistory, 15 kya ALTAMIRA CAVE, SPAIN The Sistine Chapel of Prehistory, 15 kya UNESCO World Heritage List: Bison from http://www.turcantabria.com/Datos/Historia-Arte/Cuevas/Cuevas%20Altamira/altamira-i.htm While Aurignacian cultural period is represented, most Altamira paintings represent the later, Solutrean and Magdalenian periods.

Altamira Cave, Spain The Sistine Chapel of Prehistory, 15 kya

More discoveries later led to professional apologies Critics of de Sautola’s interpretations: Altamira paintings were, “the expression of a mediocre student of the modern school…” More discoveries later led to professional apologies

LASCAUX CAVE 17 kya One of the World’s Artistic Archaeological Wonders Cave art first appeared in Europe 30 kya; aurochs Lascaux Cave, from Guilaine 1991: 62-63.

Lascaux Cave Landscape southwestern France near the Vézère River Lascaux area landscape; http://www.culture.gouv.fr/culture/arcnat/lascaux/en/Located on the left bank of the river Vézère, Lascaux is set a little apart from the traditional prehistoric sites further downstream, between Moustier and Bugue. The excellent state of conservation of our prehistoric heritage is due to the numerous rock-shelters and natural caves in limestone, which dot the landscape; map shows distribution of caves in the area, including Lascaux.

Lascaux Cave A Teenage Discovery in 1940 http://www.culture.gouv.fr/culture/arcnat/lascaux/en/ -- 4 teenage boys discovered Lascaux Cave

Painted Gallery Lascaux Cave painted gallery frescoe - http://www.culture.gouv.fr/culture/arcnat/lascaux/en/

Painted Gallery Entrance (stag) Painted Gallery back wall (bison) Lascaux Cave painted gallery entrance has stag and back has bison - http://www.culture.gouv.fr/culture/arcnat/lascaux/en/

Great Hall of the Bulls lascaux cave great hall of bulls small stags painted in ochre; http://www.culture.gouv.fr/culture/arcnat/lascaux/en/

Great Hall of the Bulls lascaux cave great hall of bulls small stags painted in ochre; inset are horse and red bull from great hall of the bulls; http://www.culture.gouv.fr/culture/arcnat/lascaux/en/

Black Cow Panel & quadrangular signs Main Gallery Black Cow Panel & quadrangular signs http://www.culture.gouv.fr/culture/arcnat/lascaux/en/; MAIN GALLERY Black Cow Panel, more fragmented than the Panel of the Imprint which is composed of horses, bison and quadrangular signs.

Main Gallery’s end & shaft lascaux cave main gallery end and shaft; http://www.culture.gouv.fr/culture/arcnat/lascaux/en/

Scene of Dead Man, Shaft of the Dead Man http://www.culture.gouv.fr/culture/arcnat/lascaux/en/ lascaux cave scene of dead man in shaft of dead man

Painting techniques Sandstone oil lamp Rendition of cave painting scene - Augustus & Burian 1960: plate 45 (left); and sandstone oil lamp - Prehistory The World of Early Man, Jean Guilaine 1991:60 (right).

Painting techniques

MOBILIARY ART A l g e r i a

MOBILIARY ART Modelling, carving, engraving

MOBILIARY ART

Algeria Tassili N'Ajjer mountain range in the Sahara Desert http://www.hp.uab.edu/image_archive/ta/tad.html; map from Met Museum Tassili N'Ajjer mountain range in the Sahara Desert

Also, panels with extinct giant buffalo… Algeria “Crying Cows” Sandstone rock Shelter (may be 6 kyold) Also, panels with extinct giant buffalo… Guilaine 1991:75.

Namibia 26-28 kya Apollo Cave, Hun Mountains, Among the oldest dated paintings in the world ROCK ART SITES in the southern part of Africa; maps from the Metropolitan Museum of Art -- http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/apol/hd_apol.htm

Namibia 26-28 kya Rock Art,

Rock art sites in southern and sub-Saharan Africa Metropolitan Museum of Art -- http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/apol/hd_apol.htm approx 1 meter long 6 ky-old rock engraving extinct giant buffalo) central South Africa