Paleolithic Europe, orOld Stone Age Europe, encompasses thePaleolithic or Old Stone Age inEurope from the arrival of the firstarchaic humans, about 1.4 million years ago until the beginning of theMesolithic (alsoEpipaleolithic) around 10,000 years ago. This period thus covers over 99% of the total human presence on the European continent.[1] The early arrival and disappearance ofHomo erectus andHomo heidelbergensis, the appearance, complete evolution and eventual demise ofHomo neanderthalensis and the immigration and successful settlement ofHomo sapiens all have taken place during the European Paleolithic.[2][3]
theMesolithic or Epipaleolithic, beginning about 14,000 years ago and extending until as late as 4,000 years ago in northern Europe. The Mesolithic may or may not be included as the final phase of the Upper Paleolithic.[2]
An artist's rendering of a temporary wood house, based on evidence found atTerra Amata (inNice,France) and dated to the Lower Paleolithic (c. 400,000 BP)[5]
The oldest evidence of human occupation in Eastern Europe comes from theKozarnika cave inBulgaria where a single human tooth and flint artifacts have been dated to at least 1.4 million years ago. In Western Europe atAtapuerca in Spain, human remains have been found that are from 1.2 million years ago.[6][7] FiveHomo erectus skulls were discovered at an excavation site inDmanisi,Georgia. Unearthed in 2005 and described in a publication in 2013, theDmanisi skull 5 is estimated to be about 1.8 million years old.[8]
The earliest evidence for the use of the more advancedMode 2-type assemblagesAcheulean tools are 900,000 year-old flint hand axes found inIberia and at a 700,000 year-old site in central France. Notable human fossils from this period were found inKozarnika inBulgaria (1.4 mya), atAtapuerca inSpain (1.2 mya), inMauer in Germany (500k), atEartham Pit, Boxgrove England (478k), atSwanscombe in England (400k), andTautavel in France (400k).[9]
The oldest completehunting weapons ever found anywhere in the world were discovered in 1995 in a coal mine near the townSchöningen, Germany, where theSchöningen spears, eight 380,000-year-old woodenjavelins were unearthed.[10]
Approximate ranges of pre-Neanderthal (H. heidelbergensis) and early Neanderthal (purple) and of classical and late Neanderthal (blue).
Elements of the European and AfricanHomo erectus populations evolved between 800,000 and 400,000 years ago through a series of intermediate speciations towardsHomo antecessor andHomo heidelbergensis.[11] Fossils of the speciesHomo neanderthalensis are only to be found inEurasia.[12][13][14][15] Neanderthal fossil record ranges from Western Europe to theAltai Mountains in Central Asia and theUral Mountains in the North to theLevant in the South. Unlike its predecessors they were biologically and culturally adapted to survival in cold environments and successfully extended their range to the glacial environments of central Europe and the Russian plains. The great number and in some cases exceptional state of preservation of Neanderthal fossils and culturalassemblages enables researchers to provide a detailed and accurate data on behavior and culture.[16][17] Neanderthals are associated with theMousterian culture (Mode 3), stone tools that first appeared approximately 160,000 years ago.[18][19]
The "Divje Babe flute" from theDivje Babe I cave is a perforated bone, believed by some to be a musical instrument. If so, it would be evidence that the Middle Paleolithic Neanderthal inhabitants of Europe may have made and used musical instruments.[20]
The earliest modern human remains which have been directly dated are from 46,000 to 44,000 years ago in theBacho Kiro cave, located in present-dayBulgaria. They are associated with theInitial Upper Paleolithic (IUP), the earliest culture of modern humans in Europe.[21][22] These people do not appear to have been the ancestors of later Europeans as the very fewancient DNA (aDNA) samples recovered from this period are not related to later samples.[23]
The IUP was followed by theAurignacian. The origins of this culture can be located inEastern Europe, in what is nowBulgaria (proto-Aurignacian) andHungary (first full Aurignacian). By 35,000 BCE, the Aurignacian culture and its technology had extended through most of Europe.[24][25] Studies of aDNA have found an association between 35,000 year old Aurignacian remains in theGoyet Cave system in Belgium and Mesolithic hunter-gatherers in Western Europe. The same aDNA signature is found in the intervening period in Iberia, suggesting that the area was a refuge for hunter-gatherers at the height of theLast Glacial Maximum.[23]
Around 32,000 BCE, theGravettian culture appears in theCrimean Mountains (southern Ukraine).[26][27] Around 22,000 BCE, theSolutrean and Gravettian cultures reach the southwestern region of Europe. The Gravettian technology/culture has been theorized to have come with migrations of people from theMiddle East,Anatolia, and theBalkans. The cultures might be linked with the transitional cultures mentioned before, because their techniques have some similarities and are both very different from Aurignacian ones but this issue is thus far very obscure. The Gravettian soon disappears from southwestern Europe, with the notable exception of the Mediterranean coasts of Iberia. The Gravettian culture also appears in theCaucasus and theZagros Mountains.
The Solutrean culture, extended from northern Spain to southeastern France, includes not only an advancedstone technology but also the first significant development of cave painting, the use of the needle and possibly that of the bow and arrow.
The more widespread Gravettian culture is no less advanced, at least in artistic terms: sculpture (mainlyvenuses) is the most outstanding form of creative expression of these peoples.[4]
Around 17,000 BCE, Europe witnesses the appearance of a new culture, known asMagdalenian, possibly rooted in the old Aurignacian one. This culture soon supersedes the Solutrean area and also the Gravettian ofCentral Europe. However, in Mediterranean Iberia, theItalian Peninsula, and Eastern Europe,epi-Gravettian cultures continue evolving locally.
With the Magdalenian culture, Paleolithic development in Europe reaches its peak and this is reflected in the advanced art, owing to the previous traditions of painting in the West and sculpture in Central Europe.[28]
Azilian points,microliths from epipaleolithic northern Spain and southern France.
Around 10,500 BCE, theWürm Glacial age ends. Slowly, through the following millennia, temperatures and sea levels rise, changing the environment of prehistoric people. Nevertheless, Magdalenian culture persists until circa 8000 BCE, when it quickly evolves into twomicrolithist cultures:Azilian, in northern Spain and southern France, andSauveterrian, in northern France and Central Europe, which are described as eitherEpipaleolithic or Mesolithic. Though there are some differences, both cultures share several traits: the creation of very small stone tools calledmicroliths and the scarcity of figurative art, which seems to have vanished almost completely, being replaced by abstract decoration of tools, and in the Azilian,pebbles.
In the late phase of thisEpipaleolithic period, the Sauveterrian culture evolves into the so-calledTardenoisian and influences strongly its southern neighbour, clearly replacing it in Mediterranean Spain and Portugal. The recession of the glaciers allows human colonization inNorthern Europe for the first time. TheMaglemosian culture, derived from the Sauveterre-Tardenois culture but with a strong personality, colonizesDenmark and the nearby regions, including parts ofGreat Britain.[29][30][31]
^Musée de Préhistoire Terra Amata."Le site acheuléen de Terra Amata" [The Acheulean site of Terra Amata].Musée de Préhistoire Terra Amata (in French). Retrieved10 June 2022.
^Lordkipanidze, David; Ponce de León, Marcia S.; Margvelashvili, Ann; Rak, Yoel; Rightmire, G. Philip; Vekua, Abesalom (18 October 2013). "A Complete Skull from Dmanisi, Georgia, and the Evolutionary Biology of Early Homo".Science.342 (6156). American Association for the Advancement of Science:326–331.Bibcode:2013Sci...342..326L.doi:10.1126/science.1238484.PMID24136960.S2CID20435482.
^"Homo neanderthalensis". Smithsonian Institution. September 22, 2016. RetrievedSeptember 26, 2016....The Mousterian stone tool industry of Neanderthals is characterized by…
^Nelson, D.E. (1997). "Radiocarbon dating of bone and charcoal from Divje babe I cave". In Turk, Ivan (ed.).Mousterian 'Bone Flute' and other finds from Divje babe I cave site in Slovenia. Znanstvenoraziskovalni center SAZU. pp. 51–64.ISBN978-961-6182-29-4.
^Milisauskas, Sarunas (2011).European Prehistory: A Survey.Springer. p. 74.ISBN978-1-4419-6633-9. Retrieved22 January 2019.One of the earliest dates for an Aurignacian assemblage is greater than 43,000 BP from Bacho Kiro cave in Bulgaria ...
.jpg)