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 A105 Human Origins and Prehistory
Lecture 14, 17 April 2000: Evolution of Modern Humans and the Upper Palaeolithic

The Upper Palaeolithic: Modern Humans and Modern Behavior
                    Review
AMH  first appear ~100,000 years ago in Africa.
But modern behavior appears 40-50 kya.
Then, basic culture rapidly spreads over Europe and the Near East.

Upper Palaeolithic Elements
Fully modern language.
Elaborate burials.
Differences in subsistence practices.
Art: cave paintings, figurines, personal ornamentation, incised bones.
Stone tools: more standardized, more types, more efficient technology; development of regional styles.

Physical Changes
Reduced robusticity
Teeth continue to reduce
Cranial bones not so reinforced
Postcranial skeleton also less robust
But, brains do not become larger

The Middle to Upper Palaeolithic Transition in Stone Tools
New features do not appear all at once in every region, as in W. Europe.
Still looking for sites that will show just how the shift took place.
Some Near East sites may have transitional industries.

Tool type transition may not be synchronous with transition in technology.
Upper Paleolithic types with Middle Paleolithic techniques.
Transition even less clear in other cultural elements.

Upper Palaeolithic Tool Kit
Mousterian/Middle Paleolithic: flake tools, Levallois technique.
Upper Palaeolithic: specialized blade production (blades are flakes twice as long as they are wide).
Much more efficient use of raw material.

Tool type changes:
Many more end scrapers and burins
Points become very refined
Bone tools begin to appear. 
By around 20 kya, bow and arrow.
Spear thrower at 22 kya.
Recognizable fishing tackle ~12 kya.

More Upper Paleolithic Culture
Art and personal adornments.
Sculptures, figurines, beads, engravings,  cave paintings.
Graves much more elaborate, including grave goods.

Cave Art
Earliest known is at Chauvet Cave, dated to around 32 kya (the Aurignacian).
Other famous sites include Lascaux, Altamira.
Animals most often pictured; only rarely are human forms seen.
Animals tend to be horses, bison; carnivores are rare. Chauvet is an exception.
Explanation: Hunting magic? Totemism? Rite of passage?

Burials
Middle Paleolithic burials: usually no grave goods.
Upper Paleolithic burials: personal adornments, stone tools.
Some multiple burials appear.
Dolni Vestonice-- three young people buried together
Sungir -- older man near grave with two young people buried head to head.

Another hallmark of the period: striking variation in tool industries in different areas, especially after the Aurignacian period.

Aurignacian: large blades, burins, bone points. Then, in W. Europe:
Gravettian: 27 kya; small blades, bone awls.
Solutrean: 21 kya; leaf points
Magdalenian:16.5 kya; carved bone points.

Raw material transport: longer distances.
Hunters: take advantage of prey seasonality.
More extensive use of water resources and, eventually, birds.

Mesolithic
12-6 kya (exact time frame differs by region)
Gathering intensive; tending towards farming
Nets, traps, etc.
Barbed points, microliths.

Neolithic
11-9 kya up to quite recent.
Animal domestication
Farming
Pottery
Textiles
Larger settlements, including walled cities (Jericho)

Effects of Culture Change
With all these innovations, no longer necessary to have big face and teeth, big muscles.
Can even be a disadvantage: energy
Big teeth can be selected against. Reduction is apparent.
Bow and arrow: can kill from further away. Bones need less robusticity.
Shift to farming also pushed in this direction, eventually enabled cities to develop.