Cro-Magnon

Initial Upper Palaeolithic When early modern humans (Homo sapiens) migrated onto the European continent, they interacted with the indigenous Neandertals (Homo neanderthalensis) that had already inhabited Europe for hundreds of thousands of years. In 2019, Greek palaeoanthropologist Katerina Harvati and colleagues argued that two 210,000-year-old skulls from Apidima Cave, Greece, represent modern humans rather than Neanderthals, indicating these populations have an unexpectedly deep history—but this was disputed in 2020 by French paleoanthropologist Marie-Antoinette de Lumley and colleagues. In marine isotope stage 3, beginning about 60,000 years ago, there were rapid fluctuations between forestland and open steppeland. Beyond this there is the Balkan Bohunician industry beginning 48,000 years ago, likely deriving from the Levantine Emiran industry; the remains found in the cave in Ranis, Germany, up to 47,500 years old; and the next-oldest fossils date to roughly 44,000 years ago in Bulgaria, Italy, and Britain. It is unclear, while migrating westward, if they followed the Danubian corridor or went along the Mediterranean coast. Initial Upper Paleolithic specimens such as those found at the Bacho Kiro cave and the Peștera cu Oase sites were closer related to Ancient East Eurasians. Those ancestors expanded from a population hub on the Persian plateau 48,000 to 46,000 years ago, correlating with the dispersal of IUP-affiliated material culture. In Europe, the IUP-affiliated groups got largely absorbed by later expanding "West Eurasian" populations (>38,000 years ago) with UP-affiliated material culture, resulting in the formation of the Aurignacian material culture. Beginning about 38,000 years ago, the Proto-Aurignacian culture, the first widely recognised European Upper Palaeolithic culture, spread out across Europe, probably descending from the Near Eastern Ahmarian. The Aurignacian culture rapidly replaced others across the continent. as well as IUP-affiliated cultures such as the Châtelperronian culture. In the Danube Valley, Aurignacian sites are few and far between, compared to later traditions, until 35,000 years ago. From here, the "Typical Aurignacian" becomes quite prevalent, and extends until 29,000 years ago. It is also unclear where the Gravettian originated from as it diverges strongly from the Aurignacian (and therefore may not have descended from it). It is further debated where the earliest occurrence is identified, with the former hypothesis arguing for Germany about 37,500 years ago, and the latter III rockshelter in Crimea about 36,000 to 38,000 years ago. In either case, the appearance of the Gravettian coincides with a significant temperature drop. The glaciers began retreating about 20,000 years ago, and the Solutrean evolved into the Magdalenian, which would recolonise Western and Central Europe over the next couple thousand years. During the Bølling–Allerød warming, Near Eastern genes began showing up in the indigenous Europeans, indicating the end of Europe's genetic isolation. Mesolithic Europe was repeopled entirely during the Holocene climatic optimum from 5-9000 years ago. Mesolithic Western hunter-gatherers (WHG) contributed significantly to the current European genome, alongside Ancient North Eurasians (ANE), who descended from the Siberian Mal'ta–Buret' culture The Eastern hunter-gatherers (EHG) population identified around the steppes of the Urals also dispersed, and the Scandinavian hunter-gatherers appear to be a mix of WHG and EHG. Around 4500 years ago, the immigration of the Yamnaya and Corded Ware cultures from the eastern steppes brought about Bronze Age Europe, the Proto-Indo-European language, and more or less the present-day genetic makeup of Europeans. == Cro-Magnon rock shelter ==

In 1863, a railway was constructed leading to Les Eyzies, a hamlet in the commune of Les Eyzies-de-Tayac-Sireuil, Dordogne, southwestern France. In 1868, M. François Berthoumeyrou, a contractor, was commissioned to make a road along the railway connecting the new Les Eyzies train station. In March, the road workers dug up a rock shelter, around deep, on the left bank of the Vézère river. They found flint stone tools, animal bones, and human remains. Berthoumeyrou ordered his men to halt the work and informed the government officials of the discovery. He also informed a local geologist, Abel Laganne, who recovered ornaments, more flints, and two human skulls. He deliberated the discovery before the meeting of the Society of Anthropology of Paris on 21 May, the proceedings published in its journal ''Bulletins et Mémoires de la Société d'Anthropologie de Paris. He described the site as a cemetery and identified the humans as cave dwellers. The site is called Abri de Cro-Magnon (Cro-Magnon rock shelter), now recognised as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Abri means "shelter" in French, cro'' means "hole" in Occitan, and Magnon was the landowner. The original human remains were brought to and preserved at the National Museum of Natural History in Paris. The number of individuals at the Cro-Magnon rock shelter has eluded scientists for over a century. The original workers reported that they found 15 skeletons. After complete analyses of individual bones by the early 2000s, it became generally agreed that the rock shelter contained 140 human remains from at least eight individuals: four adults and four infants. == Classification ==

Fossils and artifacts from the Palaeolithic had actually been known for decades, but these were interpreted in a creationist model (as the concept of evolution had not yet been conceived). For example, the Aurignacian Red Lady of Paviland (actually a young man) from South Wales was described by geologist Reverend William Buckland in 1822 as a citizen of Roman Britain. Subsequent authors contended the skeleton was either evidence of antediluvian (before the Great Flood) people in Britain, or was swept far from the inhabited lands farther south by the powerful floodwaters. Buckland assumed the specimen was a woman because he was adorned with jewellery (shells, ivory rods and rings, and a wolf-bone skewer), and Buckland also stated (possibly in jest) the jewellery was evidence of witchcraft. Around this time, the uniformitarianism movement was gaining traction, headed principally by Charles Lyell, arguing that fossil materials well predated the biblical chronology. Following Charles Darwin's 1859 On the Origin of Species, racial anthropologists and raciologists began splitting off putative species and subspecies of present-day humans based on unreliable and pseudoscientific metrics gathered from anthropometry, physiognomy, and phrenology continuing into the 20th century. The racial classification system was quickly extended to fossil specimens, including both Cro-Magnons and the Neanderthals, after the true extent of their antiquity was recognised. Other supposed fossil human species included (among many others): "H. pre-aethiopicus" for a skull from Dordogne which had "Ethiopic affinities"; "H. predmosti" or "H. predmostensis" for a series of skulls from Brno, Czech Republic, purportedly transitional between Neanderthals and Cro-Magnons; These fossil races, alongside Ernst Haeckel's idea of there being backwards races which require further evolution (social darwinism), popularised the view in European thought that the civilised white man had descended from primitive, low browed ape ancestors through a series of savage races. Prominent brow-ridges were classified as an ape-like trait; consequently, Neanderthals (as well as Aboriginal Australians) were considered a lowly race. Among the earliest attempts to classify Cro-Magnons was done by racial anthropologists Joseph Deniker and William Z. Ripley in 1900, who characterised them as tall and intelligent proto-Aryans, superior to other races, who descended from Scandinavia and Germany. Further race theories revolved around progressively lighter, blonder, and superior races evolving in Central Europe and spreading out in waves to replace their darker ancestors, culminating in the "Nordic race". These aligned well with Nordicism and Pan-Germanism (that is, Aryan supremacy), which gained popularity just before World War I, and was notably used by the Nazis to justify the conquest of Europe and the supremacy of the German people in World War II. Stature was among the characteristics used to distinguish these sub-races, so taller Cro-Magnons such as specimens from the French Cro-Magnon, Paviland, and Grimaldi sites were classified as ancestral to the "Nordic race", and smaller ones such as Combe-Capelle and Chancelade man (both also from France) were considered the forerunners of either the "Mediterranean race" or "Eskimoids". The Venus figurines—sculptures of pregnant women with exaggerated breasts and thighs—were used as evidence of the presence of the "Negroid race" in Palaeolithic Europe, because they were interpreted as having been based on real women with steatopygia (a condition which causes thicker thighs, common in the women of the San people of Southern Africa) and the hairdos of some are supposedly similar to some seen in Ancient Egypt. By the 1940s, the positivism movement—which fought to remove political and cultural bias from science and had begun about a century earlier—had gained popular support in European anthropology. Due to this movement and raciology's associations with Nazism, raciology fell out of practice. ==Demographics==

The beginning of the Upper Palaeolithic is thought to have been characterised by a major population increase in Europe, with the human population of western Europe possibly increasing by a factor of 10 in the Neanderthal/modern human transition. The archaeological record indicates that the overwhelming majority of Palaeolithic people (both Neanderthals and modern humans) died before reaching the age of 40, with few elderly individuals recorded. It is possible the population boom was caused by a significant increase in fertility rates. A 2005 study estimated the population of Upper Palaeolithic Europe by calculating the total geographic area which was inhabited based on the archaeological record; averaged the population density of Chipewyan, Hän, Hill people, and Naskapi Native Americans which live in cold climates and applied to this to Cro-Magnons; and assumed that population density continually increased with time calculated by the change in the number of total sites per time period. The study calculated that: from 30,000 to 40,000 years ago the population was roughly 1,700–28,400 (average 4,400); from 22,000 to 30,000 years ago roughly 1,900–30,600 (average 4,800); from 16,500 years to 22,000 ago roughly 2,300–37,700 (average 5,900); and 11,500 to 16,500 years ago roughly 11,300–72,600 (average 28,700). Following the LGM, Cro-Magnons are thought to have been much less mobile and featured a higher population density, indicated by seemingly shorter trade routes as well as symptoms of nutritional stress. ==Biology==

Physical attributes woman , Gravettian, 26,000 BP Cro-Magnons are physically similar to present-day humans, with a globular braincase, completely flat face, gracile brow ridge, and defined chin. However, the bones of Cro-Magnons are somewhat thicker and more robust. The earliest Cro-Magnons often display features that are reminiscent of those seen in Neanderthals. Aurignacians in particular featured a higher proportion of traits somewhat reminiscent of Neanderthals, such as (though not limited to) a slightly flattened skullcap and consequent occipital bun protruding from the back of the skull (the latter could be quite defined). Their frequency significantly diminished in Gravettians, and in 2007, palaeoanthropologist Erik Trinkaus concluded these were remnants of Neanderthal introgression which were eventually bred out of the gene pool in his review of the relevant morphology. For 28 modern human specimens from 25,000 to 190,000 years ago, average brain volume was estimated to have been about , and for 13 Cro-Magnons about . In comparison, present-day humans average , which is notably smaller. This is because the Cro-Magnon brain, though within the variation for present-day humans, exhibits longer average frontal lobe length and taller occipital lobe height. The parietal lobes, however, are shorter in Cro-Magnons. It is unclear if this could equate to any functional differences between present-day and early modern humans. In early Upper Palaeolithic western Europe (before the LGM), 20 men and 10 women were estimated to have averaged and , respectively. This is similar to post-industrial modern northern Europeans. In contrast, in a sample of 21 and 15 late Upper Palaeolithic western European men and women (after the LGM), the averages were and , similar to pre-industrial modern humans. It is unclear why earlier Cro-Magnons were taller, especially considering that cold-climate creatures are short-limbed and thus short-statured to better retain body heat (Allen's rule). This has variously been explained as: retention of a hypothetically tall ancestral condition; higher-quality diet and nutrition due to the hunting of megafauna which later became uncommon or extinct; functional adaptation to increase stride length and movement efficiency while running during a hunt; increasing territorialism among later Cro-Magnons reducing gene flow between communities and increasing inbreeding rate; or statistical bias due to small sample size or because taller people were more likely to achieve higher status in a group before the LGM and thus were more likely to be buried and preserved. Prior to genetic analysis, it was generally assumed that Cro-Magnons, like present-day Europeans, were light skinned as an adaptation to better generate vitamin D from the less luminous sun farther north. However, of the three predominant genes responsible for lighter skin in present-day Europeans—KITLG, SLC24A5, and SLC45A2—the latter two, as well as the TYRP1 gene associated with lighter hair and eye colour, experienced positive selection as late as 11,000 to 19,000 years ago during the Mesolithic transition. Genetics While anatomically modern humans have been present outside of Africa during some isolated time intervals potentially as early as 250,000 years ago, present-day non-Africans descend from the out of Africa expansion which occurred around 55,000 to 65,000 years ago. This movement was an offshoot of the rapid expansion within East Africa associated with mtDNA haplogroup L3. Mitochondrial DNA analysis places Cro-Magnons as the sister group to Upper Palaeolithic East Asian groups, divergence occurring roughly 50,000 years ago. Initial genomic studies on the earliest Cro-Magnons in 2014, namely on the 37,000-year-old Kostenki-14 individual, identified three major lineages which are also present in present-day Europeans: one related to all later Cro-Magnons; a "Basal Eurasian" lineage which split from the common ancestor of present-day Europeans and East Asians before they split from each other; and another related to a 24,000-year-old individual from the Siberian Mal'ta–Buret' culture (near Lake Baikal). Contrary to this, Fu et al. (2016), evaluating much earlier European specimens, including Ust'-Ishim and Oase-1 from 45,000 years ago, found no evidence of a "Basal Eurasian" component to the genome, nor did they find evidence of Mal'ta–Buret' introgression when looking at a wider range of Cro-Magnons from the entire Upper Palaeolithic. The study instead concluded that such a genetic makeup in present-day Europeans stemmed from Near Eastern and Siberian introgression occurring predominantly in the Neolithic and the Bronze Age (though beginning by 14,000 years ago), but all Cro-Magnons specimens including and following Kostenki-14 contributed to the present-day European genome and were more closely related to present-day Europeans than East Asians. Earlier Cro-Magnons (10 tested in total), on the other hand, did not seem to be ancestral to any present-day population, nor did they form any cohesive group in and of themselves, each representing either completely distinct genetic lineages, admixture between major lineages, or have highly divergent ancestry. Because of these, the study also concluded that, beginning roughly 37,000 years ago, Cro-Magnons descended from a single founder population and were reproductively isolated from the rest of the world. The study reported that an Aurignacian individual from Grottes de Goyet, Belgium, has more genetic affinities to the Magdalenian inhabitants of Cueva de El Mirón, Spain, than to more or less contemporaneous eastern European Gravettians. and matrilineal (from mother to child) mt-DNA haplogroup N, R, and U. Y-haplogroup IJ descended from Southwest Asia. Haplogroup I emerged about 30,000 to 35,000 years ago, either in Europe or West Asia. Mt-haplogroup U5 arose in Europe just prior to the LGM, between 25,000 and 35,000 years ago. In 2015, the 40,000-year-old modern human Oase 1 was found to have had 6–9% (point estimate 7.3%) Neanderthal DNA, indicating a Neanderthal ancestor up to four to six generations earlier, but this hybrid Romanian population does not appear to have made a substantial contribution to the genomes of later Europeans. Therefore, it is possible that interbreeding was common between Neanderthals and Cro-Magnons which did not contribute to the present-day genome. The percentage of Neanderthal genes gradually decreased with time, which could indicate they were maladaptive and were selected out of the gene pool. fossil with an age of at least ~40,000 years, that yielded genome-wide data Vallini et al. 2022 found that Europe was populated by three distinct lineages. The earliest inhabitants (represented by Zlaty Kun ~50kya) split from the common Eurasian lineage before the divergence of Western and Eastern Eurasians, but after the divergence of the hypothetical Basal Eurasians. This earliest sample did not cluster with any modern human population, including Africans, and died out without leaving ancestry to modern peoples. The second wave associated with the Initial Upper Paleolithic wave (represented by Bacho Kiro ~45kya) appeared to be more closely related to modern East Asians and Australasians compared to Europeans, suggesting that this lineage split initially after the formation of Eastern Eurasians, and migrated instead northwestwards into Europe. The third wave associated with Ancient West Eurasians (represented by Kostenki14 and GoyetQ116-1 ~38kya) absorbed the preceding population of the second wave. Villalba-Mouco et al. (2023) noted that this IUP-affiliated ancestry is either affiliated with East Asians or a "pan-Eurasian" population which pre-dated the split between European and Asian populations, but contributed significantly to the Tianyuan man, and less to GoyetQ116-1. The IUP-affiliated ancestry among GoyetQ116-1 can also be explained by Tianyuan-like geneflow, evident by "excess shared ancestry between Tianyuan and MLZ/Goyet Q116-1". Another West Eurasian-affiliated Upper Paleolithic culture was the Gravettian industry, represented by the Sungir, the Vestonice, and the Fournol clusters, with less or no IUP-affiliated ancestry (0–14%), possibly mediated indirectly via Aurignacian (Goyet-like) geneflow. The Gravettian and Aurignacian as well as the Solutrean cultures would later give rise to the Magdalenian material culture, which subsequently became absorbed by the Epigravettian wave from Western Asia (Anatolia). In a genetic study published in Nature in March 2023, the authors found that the ancestors of the Western Hunter-Gatherers (WHGs) were populations associated with the Epigravettian culture, which largely replaced populations associated with the Magdalenian culture about 14,000 years ago. ==Culture==

There is a notable technological complexification coinciding with the replacement of Neanderthals with Cro-Magnons in the archaeological record, and so the terms "Middle Palaeolithic" and "Upper Palaeolithic" were created to distinguish between these two time periods. Largely based on western European archaeology, the transition was dubbed the "Upper Palaeolithic Revolution," (extended to be a worldwide phenomenon) and the idea of "behavioural modernity" became associated with this event and early modern cultures. It is largely agreed that the Upper Palaeolithic seems to feature a higher rate of technological and cultural evolution than the Middle Palaeolithic, but it is debated if behavioural modernity was truly an abrupt development or was a slow progression initiating far earlier than the Upper Paleolithic, especially when considering the non-European archaeological record. Practices considered modern include: the production of microliths, the common use of bone and antler, the common use of grinding and pounding tools, high quality evidence of body decoration and figurine production, long-distance trade networks, and improved hunting technology. In regard to art, the Magdalenian produced some of the most intricate Palaeolithic pieces, and they even elaborately decorated normal, everyday objects. The LGM extirpated most European megafauna (Quaternary extinction event), and similarly post-LGM peoples tend to have a higher rate of nutrient-deficiency-related ailments, including a reduction in average height. Probably due to the contraction of habitable territory, these bands were subsisting on a much broader food range of plants, smaller animals, and aquatic resources (broad spectrum revolution). Prey items It has typically been assumed that Cro-Magnons closely studied prey habits in order to maximise return depending on the season. For example, large mammals (including red deer, horses, and ibex) congregate seasonally, and reindeer were possibly seasonally plagued by insects rendering fur sometimes unsuitable for hideworking. Epi-Gravettian communities, especially, generally focused on hunting one species of large game, most commonly horse or bison. Game drive systems became especially popular following the LGM, possibly an extension of increasing food return. Nonetheless, Magdalenian peoples appear to have had a greater dependence on small animals, aquatic resources, and plants than predecessors, probably due to the relative scarcity of European big game following the LGM (Quaternary extinction event). It is possible that human activity, in addition to the rapid retreat of favourable steppeland, inhibited recolonisation of most of Europe by megafauna following the LGM (such as mammoths, woolly rhinoceroses, Irish elk, and cave lions), in part contributing to their extinction which occurred by the beginning of or well into the Holocene depending on the species. Plant items Most archaeobotanical studies on Pleistocene plant gathering and processing techniques focus on the end of the Paleolithic as precursors to agriculture in the Neolithic. While isotopic studies indicate nearly all nutritional requirements of Palaeolithic populations may have been mostly satisfied by meat, similar to Inuit cuisine, the issue of offsetting protein poisoning (nitrogen overloading) by eating fatty foods (blubber most especially in the Inuit diet) becomes problematic in more temperate climates with leaner prey. The isotopic score for Palaeolithic peoples are comparable to Inuit with a diet comprising 1–4% plant components, but also to Onge from the tropical Andaman Islands, Paraguayan Aché, Arnhem Land Aboriginals, and Venezuelan Hiwi whose diets comprise up to 25% plant components. Thus, the importance of plants may have varied greatly depending on local climatic conditions. The Palaeolithic archaeobotanical record outside Europe (especially in the Middle East) shows these peoples were capable of processing an ample range of plant resources, in the 20,000-year-old Israeli Ohalo II site as many as 150 types of seeds, fruits, nuts, and starches. There are several European Mediterranean cave sites dating to near the end of the Palaeolithic which suggest the inhabitants were harvesting acorn, almond, pistacia, hawthorn, wild pear, blackthorn, rosehip, sorbus, and grape. Multiple German sites bear evidence of wild cherry, blackberry, dewberry, and raspberry consumption. The Palaeolithic archaeobotanical record becomes sparser farther north, but water caltrop and water lily tubers are consumed at least in the northern European Mesolithic. It is unclear to what extent they would process or pretreat otherwise inedible plants which require multiple steps (such as a combination of fermenting, grinding, boiling, etc.). Aurignacian craftsmen produced lozenge-shaped (diamond-like) spearheads. By 30,000 years ago, spearheads were manufactured with a more rounded-off base, and by 28,000 years ago spindle-shaped heads were introduced. A possible boomerang made of mammoth tusk was identified in Poland (though it may have been unable to return to the thrower), and dating to 23,000 years ago, it would be the oldest known boomerang. Stone spearheads with leaf- and shouldered-points become more prevalent in the Solutrean. Both large and small spearheads were produced in great quantity, and the smaller ones may have been attached to projectile darts. Archery was possibly invented in the Solutrean, though less ambiguous bow technology is first reported in the Mesolithic. The Palaeolithic matriarchy model was adapted by prominent communist Friedrich Engels, who instead argued that women were robbed of power by men due to economic changes which could only be undone with the adoption of communism (Marxist feminism). The former sentiment was adopted by the first-wave feminism movement, who attacked the patriarchy by making Darwinist arguments of a supposed natural egalitarian or matrifocal state of human society instead of patriarchal, as well as interpreting the Venuses as evidence of mother goddess worship as part of some matriarchal religion. Consequently, by the mid-20th century, the Venuses were primarily interpreted as evidence of some Palaeolithic fertility cult. Such claims died down in the 1970s as archaeologists moved away from the highly speculative models produced by the previous generation. Through the second-wave feminism movement, the prehistoric matriarchal religion hypothesis was primarily propelled by Lithuanian-American archaeologist Marija Gimbutas. Her interpretations of the Palaeolithic were notably involved in the Goddess movement. Equally ardent arguments against the matriarchy hypothesis have also been prominent, such as American religious scholar Cynthia Eller's 2000 The Myth of Matriarchal Prehistory. Such interlinkage may have been an important survival tool, with the steadily deteriorating climate. Given low estimated population density, this may have required a rather complex, cross-continental social organisation system. At Ekain, Basque Country, the inhabitants were using the locally rare manganese mineral groutite in their paintings, which they possibly mined out of the cave itself. Nonetheless, there is some evidence of long-distance Magdalenian trade routes. For example, at Lascaux, a painting of a bull had remnants of the manganese mineral hausmannite, which can only be manufactured in heat in excess of , which was probably impossible for Cro-Magnons; this means they likely encountered natural hausmannite which is known to be found away in the Pyrenees. Unless there was a hausmannite source much closer to Lascaux which has since been depleted, this could mean that there was a local economy based on manganese ores. Based on the distribution of Mediterranean and Atlantic seashell jewellery even well inland, there may have been a network during the Late Glacial Interstadial (14 to 12,000 years ago) along the rivers Rhine and Rhône in France, Germany, and Switzerland. In the Magdalenian, stone lined rectangular areas typically were interpreted as having been the foundations or flooring of huts. At Magdalenian Pincevent, France, small, circular dwellings were speculated to have existed based on the spacing of stone tools and bones; these sometimes featured an indoor hearth, work area, or sleeping space (but not all at the same time). A 23,000-year-old hut from the Israeli Ohalo II was identified as having used grasses as flooring or possibly bedding, but it is unclear if Cro-Magnons also lined their huts with grass or instead used animal pelts. A 13,800-year-old slab from Molí del Salt, Spain, has 7 dome-shaped figures engraved onto it, which are postulated to represent temporary dome-shaped huts. , Ukraine Over 70 dwellings constructed by Cro-Magnons out of mammoth bones have been identified, primarily from the Russian Plain, They seem to have built tipis and yarangas. Typically, these huts measured in diameter, or if oval shaped. Huts could get as small as . Some huts have burned bones, which has typically been interpreted as bones used as fuel for fireplaces due to the scarcity of firewood, and/or disposal of waste. A few huts, however, have evidence of wood burning, or mixed wood/bone burning. and the interior sealed up by loess dug out of pits. Some architectural decisions seem to have been purely for aesthetics, best seen in the 4 Epi-Gravettian huts from Mezhyrich, Mezine, Ukraine, where jaws were stacked to create a chevron or zigzag pattern in 2 huts, and long bones were stacked to create horizontal or vertical lines in respectively 1 and 2 huts. The chevron was a commonly used symbol on the Russian Plain, painted or engraved on bones, tools, figurines, and mammoth skulls. Dogs from Siberia; it is not ancestral to any modern dog. These "dogs" had a wide size range, from over in height in eastern Europe to less than 30–45 cm (1 ft–1 ft 6 in) in central and western Europe, and in all of Europe. These "dogs" are identified by having a shorter snout and skull, and wider palate and braincase than contemporary wolves. Nonetheless, an Aurignacian origin for domestication is controversial. The 14,500-year-old Bonn-Oberkassel dog from Germany was found buried alongside a 40-year-old man and a 25-year-old woman, as well as traces of red hematite, and is genetically placed as an ancestor to present-day dogs. It was diagnosed with canine distemper virus and probably died between 19 and 23 weeks of age. It would have required extensive human care to survive without being able to contribute anything, suggesting that, at this point, humans and dogs were connected by emotional or symbolic ties rather than purely materialistic personal gain. The exact utility of these proto-dogs is unclear, but they may have played a vital role in hunting, as well as domestic services such as transporting items or guarding camp or carcasses. Art When examples of Upper Palaeolithic art were first discovered in the 19th century in the form of engraved objects, they were assumed to have been "art for art's sake" as Palaeolithic peoples were widely conceived as having been uncultured savages. This model was primarily championed by French archaeologist Louis Laurent Gabriel de Mortillet. Then, detailed paintings found deep within caves were discovered, the first being Cueva de Altamira, Spain, in 1879. The "art for art's sake" model came apart by the turn of the century as more examples of cave art were found in hard-to-reach places in western Europe such as Combarelles and Font-de-Gaume, for which the idea of it being simply a leisure activity became increasingly untenable. Landscapes were never depicted, with the exception of a supposed depiction of a volcanic eruption at Chauvet-Pont d'Arc, France, dating to 36,000 years ago. Cave art is found in dark cave recesses, and the artists either lit a fire on the cave floor or used portable stone lamps to see. Drawing materials include black charcoal and red and yellow ochre crayons, but they, along with a variety of other minerals, could also be ground into powder and mixed with water to create paint. Large, flat rocks may have been used as palettes, and brushes may have included reeds, bristles, and twigs, and possibly a blowgun was used to spray paint over less accessible areas. Hand stencils could either be made by holding the hand to the wall and spitting paint over it (leaving a negative image) or by applying paint to the hand and then sticking it to the wall. Some hand stencils are missing fingers, but it is unclear if the artist was actually missing the finger or simply excluded it from the stencil. It has generally been assumed that the larger prints were left by men and the smaller ones by boys, but the exclusion of women entirely may be improbable. Though many hypotheses have been proposed for the symbolism of cave art, it is still debated why these works were created in the first place. Portable art Venus figurines are commonly found associated with Cro-Magnons and are the earliest well-acknowledged representation of human figures. These are most frequently found in the Gravettian (notably in the French Upper Périgordian, the Czech Pavlovian, and West Russian Kostenkian) most dating from 23,000 to 29,000 years ago. Almost all Venuses depict naked women, and are generally hand-held sized. They feature a downturned head, no face, thin arms which end at or cross over voluminous breasts, rotund buttocks, a distended abdomen (interpreted as pregnancy), tiny and bent legs, and pegged or unnaturally short feet. Venuses vary in proportions which may represent limitations using certain materials over others, or intentional design choices. Cro-Magnons also carved perforated batons out of horn, bone, or stone, most commonly through the Solutrean and Magdalenian. Such batons disappear from the archaeological record at the Magdalenian's close. Some batons seem phallic in nature. By 2010, about 60 batons had been hypothesised to be representations of penises (all with erections), of which 30 show decoration, and 23 are perforated. Several phallic batons are depicted as circumcised and seemingly bearing some ornamentation such as piercings, scarification, or tattooing. The purpose of perforated batons has been debated, which suggestions for spiritual or religious purposes, ornamentation or status symbol, currency, drumsticks, tent holders, weaving tools, spear straighteners, spear throwers, or dildos. Unperforated phallic batons, measuring just a few centimetres long to up to , were interpreted as sex toys quite early on. Depictions of animals were commonly produced by Cro-Magnons. As of 2015, as many as 50 Aurignacian ivory figurines and fragments have been recovered from the German Swabian Jura. Of the discernible figures, most represent mammoths and lions, and a few horses, bison, possibly a rhino, waterfowl, fish, and small mammals. These sculptures are hand-sized and would have been portable works, and some figurines were made into wearable pendants. Some figurines also featured enigmatic engravings, dots, marks, lines, hooks, and criss-cross patterns. Cro-Magnons also made purely symbolic engravings. There are several plaques of bone or antler (referred to as polishers, spatulas, palettes, or knives) which feature series of equidistantly placed notches, most notably the well-preserved 32,000-year-old Blanchard plaque from L'Abri Blanchard, France, which features 24 markings in a seemingly serpentine pattern. The discoverer, British palaeontologist Thomas Rupert Jones, speculated in 1875 this was an early counting system for tallying items such as animals killed, or some other notation system. In 1957, Czech archaeologist Karel Absolon suggested they represent arithmetic. In 1972, Marshack postulated they may be calendars. Also in 1972, Marshack identified 13,000 to 15,000 year old Magdalenian plaques bearing small, abstract symbols seemingly into organised blocks or sets, which he interpreted as representing an early writing system. Czech archaeologist Bohuslav Klíma speculated a complex engraving on a mammoth tusk he discovered in the Gravettian Pavlov site, Czech Republic, as being a map, showing a meandering river centre-left, a mountain centre-right, and a living grounds at the centre indicated by a double circle. A few similar engravings have been identified across Europe (in particular the Russian Plain), which he also postulated were maps, plans, or stories. Body art Cro-Magnons are commonly associated with large pieces of pigments ("crayons"), namely made of red ochre. For Cro-Magnons, it is typically assumed that ochre was used for some symbolic purposes, most notably for cosmetics such as body paint. This is because ochre in some sites had to be imported from very long distances, and it is also associated with burials. It is unclear why they specifically chose red ochre instead of other colours. In terms of colour psychology, popular hypotheses include the putative "female cosmetic coalitions" hypothesis and the "red dress effect". It is also possible that ochre was chosen for its utility, such as an ingredient for adhesives, hide tanning agent, insect repellent, sunscreen, medicinal properties, dietary supplement, or as a soft hammer. Cro-Magnons appear to have been using grinding and crushing tools to process ochre before applying it to the skin. Hypothesised depictions of penises from most commonly the Magdalenian (though a few dating back to the Aurignacian) appear to be decorated with tattoos, scarification, and piercings. Designs include lines, plaques, dots or holes, and human or animal figures. For example, Mediterranean communities used specific types of marine shells to make beads and pendants for more than 20,000 years; and central and western European communities often used pierced animal (and less commonly human) teeth. The distribution of ornaments on buried Gravettian individuals, and the likeliness that most of the buried were dressed with whatever they were wearing upon death, indicates that jewellery was primarily worn on the head as opposed to the neck or the torso. The emergence of textiles in the European archaeological record also coincides with the proliferation of the sewing needle in European sites. Ivory needles are found in most late Upper Palaeolithic sites, which could correlate to frequent sewing, and the predominance of small needles (too small to tailor clothes out of hide and leather) could indicate work on softer woven fabrics or accessory stitching and embroidery of leather products. Some Venuses depict hairdos and clothing worn by Gravettian women. The Venus of Willendorf seems to be wearing a cap, possibly woven fabric or made from shells, featuring at least seven rows and an additional two half-rows covering the nape of the neck. It may have been made starting at a knotted centre and spiraling downward from right to left, and then backstitching all the rows to each other. The Kostenki-1 Venus seems to be wearing a similar cap, though each row seems to overlap the other. The Venus of Brassempouy seems to be wearing some nondescript open, twined hair cover. The engraved Venus of Laussel from France seems to be wearing some headwear with rectangular gridding, and could potentially represent a snood. Most East European Venuses with headwear also display notching and checkwork on the upper body which are suggestive of bandeaux (a strip of cloth bordering around the tops of the breasts) with some even featuring straps connecting it to around the neck; these seem to be absent in western European Venuses. Some also wear belts: in eastern Europe, these are seen on the waist; whereas in central and western Europe they are worn on the low hip. The Venus of Lespugue seems to be wearing a plant fibre string skirt comprising 11 cords running behind the legs. One probable bullroarer is identified at Lalinde, France, dating to 12,000 to 14,000 years ago, measuring long and decorated with geometric incisions. In the mammoth-bone houses at Mezine, Ukraine, an thigh-bone, a jawbone, a shoulder blade, and a pelvis of a mammoth bear evidence of paint and repeated percussion. These were first proposed by archaeologist Sergei Bibikov to have served as drums, with either a reindeer antler or mammoth tusk fragment also found at the site being used as a drum stick, though this is contested. Other European sites have yielded potential percussion mallets made of mammoth bone or reindeer antler. It is speculated that some Cro-Magnons marked certain sections of caves with red paint which could be struck to produce a note that would resonate throughout the cave chamber, somewhat like a xylophone. Language The early modern human vocal apparatus is generally thought to have been the same as that in present-day humans, as the present-day variation of the FOXP2 gene associated with the neurological prerequisites for speech and language ability seems to have evolved within the last 100,000 years, These indicate Upper Palaeolithic humans had the anatomical basis for language and the same range of potential phonemes (sounds) as present-day humans. Though Cro-Magnon languages likely contributed to present-day languages, it is unclear what early languages would have sounded like because words denature and are replaced by entirely original words quite rapidly, making it difficult to identity language cognates (a word in multiple different languages which descended from a common ancestor) which originated before 5,000 to 9,000 years ago. Nonetheless, it has been controversially hypothesised that Eurasian languages are all related and form the "Nostratic languages" with an early common ancestor existing just after the end of the LGM. In 2013, evolutionary biologist Mark Pagel and colleagues postulated that among "Nostratic languages", frequently used words more often have speculated cognates, and that this was evidence that 23 identified words were "ultraconserved" and supposedly changed very little in use and pronunciation, descending from a common ancestor about 15,000 years ago at the end of the LGM. Archaeologist Paul Heggarty said that Pagel's data was subjective interpretation of supposed cognates, and the extreme volatility of sound and pronunciation of words (for example, Latin [ˈakʷã] (aquam) "water" → French [o] (eau) in just 2,000 years) makes it unclear if cognates can even be identified that far back if they do indeed exist. Religion Shamanism Several Upper Palaeolithic caves feature depictions of seemingly part-human, part-animal chimaeras (typically part bison, reindeer, or deer), variously termed "anthropozoomorphs", "therianthropes", or "sorcerers". These have typically been interpreted as being the centre of some shamanistic ritual, and to represent some cultural revolution and the origins of subjectivity. The oldest such cave drawing has been identified at the 30,000-year-old Chauvet Cave, where a figure with a bison upper body and human lower body was drawn onto a stalactite, facing a depiction of a vulva with two tapering legs. The 17,000-year-old Grotte de Lascaux, France, has a seemingly dead bird-human hybrid between a rhino and a charging bison, with a bird on top of a pole placed near the figure's right hand. Some caves featured "vanquished men", lying presumably dead at the foot of generally a bull or bear. A 14,000-year-old large stone from Cueva del Juyo, Spain, seems to have been carved to be the conjoined face of a man on the right and a big cat on the left (when facing it). The man half seems to feature a moustache and a beard. The cat half (either a leopard or a lion) has slanting eyes, a snout, a fang, and spots on the muzzle suggestive of whiskers. Mortuary practices Cro-Magnons buried their dead, commonly with a variety of symbolic grave goods as well as red ochre, and multiple people were often buried in the same grave. The most lavish Palaeolithic burial is a grave from the Gravettian of Sungir, Russia, where a boy and a girl were placed crown-to-crown in a long, shallow grave, and adorned with thousands of perforated ivory beads, hundreds of perforated arctic fox canines, ivory pins, disc pendants, ivory animal figurines, and mammoth tusk spears. The beads were a third the size of those found with a man from the same site, which could indicate these small beads were specifically designed for the children. Only two other Upper Palaeolithic graves were found with grave goods other than personal adornment (one from Arene Candide, Italy, and Brno, Czech Republic), and the grave of these two children is unique in bearing any functional implements (the spears) as well as a bone from another individual (a partial femur). The 5 other buried individuals from Sungir did not receive nearly as many grave goods, with one seemingly given no formal treatment whatsoever. However, most Gravettian graves feature few ornaments, and the buried were probably wearing them before death. Cannibalism The earliest evidence of skull cups, and thus ritual cannibalism, comes from the Magdalenian of Gough's Cave, England. Further concrete evidence of such rituals does not appear until after the Palaeolithic. The Gough's Cave cup seems to have followed a similar method of scalping as those from Neolithic Europe, with incisions being made along the midline of the skull (whereas the Native American method of scalping involved a circular incision around the crown). Earlier examples of non-ritual cannibalism in Europe do not seem to have followed the same method of defleshing. At least 1 skull cup was transported from a different site. In addition, Gough's Cave also yielded a human radius with a zig-zag engraving. Compared to other artefacts in the cave or common to the Magdalenian period, the radius was modified quite little, with the engraving probably quickly etched on (indicated by scrape marks not recorded on any other Magdalenian engraving), and the bone broken and discarded soon thereafter. This may indicate the bone's only function was as a tool in some cannibalistic and/or funerary ritual, rather than being prepared to be carried around by the group as an ornament or tool. ==In media==

' The Grisly Folk The "caveman" archetype is quite popular in both literature and visual media and can be portrayed as highly muscular, hairy, or monstrous, and to represent a wild and animalistic character, drawing on the characteristics of a wild man. Cavemen are often represented in front of a cave or fighting a dangerous animal; wielding stone, bone, or wooden tools usually for combat; and dressed in an exposing fur cloak. Men often are depicted with unkempt, unstyled, shoulder-length or longer hair, usually with a beard. Cavemen first appeared in visual media in D. W. Griffith's 1912 ''Man's Genesis'', and among the first appearances in fictional literature were Stanley Waterloo's 1897 The Story of Ab and Jack London's 1907 Before Adam. Cavemen have also been popularly portrayed (inaccurately) as confronting dinosaurs, first done in Griffith's 1914 Brute Force (the sequel to ''Man's Genesis) featuring a Ceratosaurus''. Cro-Magnons are also portrayed interacting with Neanderthals, such as in J.-H. Rosny's 1911 Quest for Fire, H. G. Wells' 1927 The Grisly Folk, William Golding's 1955 The Inheritors, Björn Kurtén's 1978 Dance of the Tiger, Jean M. Auel's 1980 Clan of the Cave Bear and her ''Earth's Children'' series, and Elizabeth Marshall Thomas' 1987 Reindeer Moon and its 1990 sequel The Animal Wife. Cro-Magnons are generally portrayed as superior in some way to Neanderthals which allowed them to take Europe. ==See also==