Upper Paleolithic (SW France and N Spain)

Homo sapiens sapiens ….had “grown into” a wide variety of local habitats throughout the Old World by cultural adaptation. Upper Paleolithic Sequence in Southwestern France and Northern Spain Magdalenian 15,000-10,000BC Chatelperronian 38,000-28,500BC Aurignacian 28,500-22,000BC Gravettian 22,000-18,000BC Solutrean 18,000-15,000BC By 40,000 Years Ago…. Altamira Lascaux Solutrian Laurel-leaf Points “Venus” figurines Burins Backed blades Venus of Willendorf Chatelperronian tools

Lascaux - southwestern France In this panel of Back-to Back Bison, reserves around the limbs in the background, distortion of shapes, choice of surface, symmetrical composition, are all used to create a three dimensional effect... Upper Paleolithic Art (ca. 12, 000 BP)

Altamira - northern Spain Upper Paleolithic Art (ca. 12, 000 BP) In this representation of a horse, red is ocher, black charcoal. Undulations in cave wall and ceiling were incorporated in the composition of the paintings.

Summary of Early Fossil Evidence This chart shows rough sequence of fossil hominids. 10,000BP Homo sapiens (full culture, worldwide distribution) 100,000BP Homo sapiens (Neandertal, et al.) 1mBP Homo erectus (Radiation thru Old World) 2mBP Homo habilis (Earliest Culture?) 3mBP Australopithecus var. (Fully bipedal) 4mBP Ardipithecus ramidus (Earliest hominines?) 5mBP

Paleoindians : Early Human Occupation of the New World

Early Human Occupation of the New World Earliest Evidence LewisvilleInitial radiocarbon dates >27000BP Now thought to be more recent, date was partly contaminated by lignite. Meadowcroft ShelterSouthwestern Pennsylvania13,500 – 17,500BP Monte VerdeDated over 14,000BPSouthern Chile

Early Human Occupation of the New World Paleoindian Period Earliest Well Documented Evidence Clovis Complex Throughout the New World, best known in SW United States. Clovis Fluted Points Mammoth remains Carbon dated at ca. 11,500BP Folsom Complex Folsom Fluted Points Carbon dated at ca. 10,000 BP Associated with now extinct bison

Red jasper Clovis specimen from the Fenn Cache, (Utah agate, provenience unknown)

CLOVIS POINTS EAST WENATCHEE CLOVIS SITE---WASHINGTON STATE

Excavations at Cactus Hill, which lies along the Nottoway River 45 miles south of Richmond, VA, began in The upper level, radiocarbon dated to 10,920 years ago, contained Clovis-style spear points. The lower level, radiocarbon dated to 15,070 years ago, yielded stone points and other implements without Clovis features.

Early Human Occupation of the New World Conventional archeology has held to the Bering theory. But according to a new theory first proposed by Dennis Stanford and Bruce Bradley, the continent's first inhabitants may have crossed the Atlantic slightly more than 18,000 years ago from the Iberian Peninsula - the area that encompasses Spain, Portugal and southwestern France. Belonging to a group known as the Solutreans, the pre-modern explorers are believed to have originally settled along the U.S. Eastern Seaboard, according to the researchers. Over the next six millennia, their hunting and gathering culture may have spread as far as the American deserts and Canadian tundra, and perhaps into South America.

Evidence suggesting a Solutrean origin of Clovis Lithic technology…bifacial flaking, exotic material, caches w/red ochre Solutrean Laurel-leaf PointClovis Fluted Point Possible maritime route Physical characteristics… i.e. Kennewick DNA…?

Early Human Occupation of the New World Kennewick Man - ???????? On July 28, 1996, two men watching the annual hydro boat races at Columbia Park in Kennewick, Washington, accidentally found part of a human skull on the bottom of the Columbia River about ten feet from shore. Later, deliberate searches turned up a nearly complete male skeleton that is now known as Kennewick Man.