The Upper Paleolithic (or Upper Palaeolithic, and also in some contexts Late Stone Age) is the third and last subdivision of the Paleolithic or Old Stone Age as it is understood in Europe, Africa and Asia. Very broadly it dates to between 40,000 and 10,000 years ago, roughly coinciding with the appearance of "high" culture ( behavioral modernity) and before the advent of agriculture. The terms " Late Stone Age" and "Upper Paleolithic" refer to the same periods. For historical reasons, "Stone Age" usually refers to the period in Africa, whereas "Upper Paleolithic" is generally used when referring to the period in Europe. In 19th century archaeology, the Upper Paleolithic was also known as the "Reindeer Age". OverviewModern humans ( i.e. Homo sapiens) are believed to have emerged at least 250,000 years ago in Africa. Though these humans were modern in anatomy, their lifestyle changed very little from their contemporaries such as Homo erectus and the Neanderthals. They used the same crude stone tools. Archaeologist Richard G. Klein, who has worked extensively on ancient stone tools, describes the stone tool kit of archaic hominids as impossible to categorize. It was as if when the Neanderthals went to make a stone tool they weren't really concerned about its final form. He argues that almost everywhere, whether Asia or Africa or Europe, before 50,000 years ago all the stone tools are very much alike and unsophisticated. However after 50,000 years ago there is sharp increase in the diversity of artifacts. For the first time bone artifacts, and the first art appear in the fossil record in Africa. The first evidence of human fishing is also noted from artifact in places like Blombos cave in South Africa. After 50,000 years ago, firstly in Africa, it was found that human artifacts could be placed into many different categories, such as projectile points, engraving tools, knife blades, and drilling and piercing tools. These new stone tool types have been described as being distinctly differentiated from each other as if each tool had a specific purpose. 3000 to 4000 years later this technology spread to Europe resulting in a population explosion of modern humans and also the extinction of the Neanderthals. The invaders commonly referred to as the Cro-Magnons left many sophisticated stone tools, cave art and Venus figurines. This shift from Middle to Upper Paleolithic is called the Upper Paleolithic Revolution. The Neanderthals continued to use Mousterian stone tool technology. The earliest remains of organized settlements in the form of campsites, some with storage pits, are encountered in this period. These were often located in narrow valley bottoms, possibly in order to make hunting passing herds of animals easier. Some sites may have been occupied year round though more generally they seem to have been used seasonally with peoples moving between them to exploit different food sources at different times of the year. Hunting played an important role, and caribou/wild reindeer "may well be the species of single greatest importance in the entire anthropological literature on hunting." ["In North America and Eurasia the species has long been an important resource--in many areas the most important resource--for peoples inhabiting the northern boreal forest and tundra regions. Known human dependence on caribou/wild reindeer has a long history, beginning in the Middle Pleistocene (Banfield 1961:170; Kurtén 1968:170) and continuing to the present....The caribou/wild reindeer is thus an animal that has been a major resource for humans throughout a tremendous geographic area and across a time span of tens of thousands of years." Ernest S. Burch, Jr. American Antiquity, Vol. 37, No. 3 (Jul., 1972), pp. 339–368.] Upper Paleolithic people used caves and tents like this one (reconstruction) for dwelling, this form might be ancestral to the Native American tipi s included significant developments in flint tool manufacturing with industries based on fine blades rather than simpler and shorter flakes. Burins and racloirs attest to the working of bone, antler and hides. Advanced darts and harpoons also appear in this period, along with the fish hook, the oil lamp, rope, and the eyed needle. Artistic work also blossomed with Venus figurines, cave painting, petroglyphs and exotic raw materials found far from their sources suggest emergent trading links. More complex social groupings emerged, supported by more varied and reliable food sources and specialized tool types. This probably contributed to increasing group identification or ethnicity. These group identities produced distinctive symbols and rituals which are an important part of modern human behavior. The reasons for these changes in human behavior have been attributed to the changes in climate during the period which encompasses a number of global temperature drops, meaning a worsening of the already bitter climate of the last ice age. These may have reduced the supply of usable timber and forced people to look at other materials while flint becomes brittle at low temperatures and may not have functioned as a tool. It has also been argued that the appearance of (complex or abstract) language made these behavioral changes possible. The complexity of the new human capabilities hints that humans were less capable of planning or foresight before 40,000 years, whilst the emergence of cooperative and coherent communication marked a new era of cultural developnment. This suggestion has no wide acceptance, since human phylogenetic separation dates to the Middle Paleolithic (see Pre-language). Still, it must be remembered that while the latter view is better supported by phylogenetic inference, the material evidence is hard to explain thus. Events Map of findings of Upper Paleolithic art in Europe 50,000–40,000 BC- 43,000–41,000 At Ksar Akil in Lebanon, ornaments and skeletal remains of modern humans are dated to this period.
40,000–30,000 BC- 35000 BC: Zar, Yataghyeri, Damjili and Taghlar caves.
- c. 32000 BC: Europeans understand how to harden clay figures by firing them in an oven at high temperatures.
- 30000 BC: Invention of the bow and arrow.
- c. 30000 BC: end of the Mousterian Pluvial in North Africa
30,000–20,000 BC- c. 22000 BC: Neanderthals believed to have become extinct in Europe.
- c. 20000 BC: end of the second Mousterian Pluvial in North Africa.
20,000–15,000 BC>Sea level data from main article: Cosquer cave>, with the direct implication that many coastal and lower riverine valley archaeological sites of interest are today under water. - c. 17000 BC–15000 BC: Hall of Bulls, Lascaux caves, is painted. Discovered in 1940. Closed to the public in 1963.
- c. 17000 BC–15000 BC: Bird-Headed man with bison and Rhinoceros, Lascaux caves, is painted.
16,000–12,000 BC- c. 14000 BC: Bison, on the ceiling of a cave at Altamira, Spain, is painted. Discovered in 1879. Accepted as authentic in 1902.
12,000–11,000 BC- 11500 BC: Oldest temple complex of the world (Göbekli Tepe).
- 11000 BC: First evidence of human settlement in Argentina.
- 11000 BC: Human remains deposited in caves which are now located off the coast of Yucatan
Cultures Reindeer Age articles  Reindeer Age (Aurignacian) Engravings & Carvings The Upper Paleolithic in the Franco-Cantabrian region: - The Châtelperronian culture was located around central and south western France, and northern Spain. It appears to be derived from the earlier Mousterian culture, and represents the period of overlap between Neanderthals and Homo sapiens. This culture lasted from approximately 33000 BC to 27000 BC.
- The Aurignacian culture was located in Europe and south west Asia, and flourished between 32000 BC and 21000 BC. It may have been contemporary with the Périgordian (a contested grouping of the earlier Châtelperronian and later Gravettian cultures).
- The Gravettian culture was located around France, though evidence of Gravettian products have been found across central Europe and Russia. Gravettian sites date between 26000 BC to 20000 BC.
- The Solutrean culture was located in eastern France, Spain, and England. Solutrean artifacts have been dated to around 19000 BC before mysteriously disappearing around 15000 BC.
- The Magdalenian culture left evidence from Portugal to Poland during the period from 16000 BC to 8000 BC.
From the Synoptic table of the principal old world prehistoric cultures: - *20000 BC, Pavlovian, Aurignacian cultures
- north and west Africa, and Sahara:
- central, south, and east Africa:
- *3000 BC, beginning of hunter-gatherer art in southern Africa
- West Asia (including Middle East):
- south, central and northern Asia:
- *10000 BC, pre-Jōmon ceramic culture
See also
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