Auswahl der wissenschaftlichen Literatur zum Thema „Gravettien – Europe“

AbstractThe Middle Upper Palaeolithic (MUP) in eastern Central Europe (ECE) comprises three variants of Gravettian culture: Early Gravettian, Pavlovian, and Late Gravettian. While Early Gravettian and Pavlovian are merely located in Lower Austria and Moravia, the Late Gravettian occupations occurred over the entire territory of ECE. Compared to the number of sites the radiocarbon dating and the absolute chronology of the Late Gravettian is rather poor. The results presented here bring a new set of radiocarbon (14C) dates for the Late Gravettian period in ECE and propose that this period began and ended earlier than previously suggested.

he designation, under the name of Epigravettian, of all industries in Central and Eastern Europe from the last glacial maximum and up to the end of isotopic stage 2, masks the variety of industries and prevents an understanding of the adaptations of hunter-gatherer societies to climate variations. - For Eastern Europe (Dnieper, Boug and Don basins): Eastern Gravettian, Final Eastern Gravettian, Local Aurignacoid Industries (Muralovkian, Zamiatnine culture and others), Early Epigravettian of the steppe area, gap, Mezinian of the Dnieper Basin, late Epigravettian of the steppe area, - For the northeastern foothills of the Carpathians (Dniester, Prut and Bistrita basins) : Eastern Gravettian, Aurignacoid Industries, gap, Early Epigravettian (Molodovian s.s.), gap, Final Epigravettian, - For Central Europe: Eastern Gravettian, gap, Aurignacoid Industries, gap, Sagvarian, gap, Magdalenian and Late Epigravettian. The typological and technological studies of lithic and bone industries reveal large differences, due to strong changes in human systems during the last glacial maximum. And the mere presence of backed bladelets (which also exist in the Solutrean, Badegoulian and Magdalenian cultures in Western Europe) is not sufficient to cluster these industries under the same name of Epigravettian. So we propose to give different names to these different industries.

Abstract. Eine neue Datierungsmethocle mit dem Beschleuniger - AMS - hat der 14C-Methode zusammen mit der Kalibration weit in das Jungpleistozän hinein neue Möglichkeiten eröffnet. Eine Reihe Proben aus südwestdeutschen jungpaläolithischen Fundstellen, vor allem Geißenklösterle und Hohle Fels wurden damit datiert. Fuldas Aurignacien und das Gravettien stellen sich erhebliche Abweichungen gegenüber den bisherigen Ansätzen heraus, die jedoch anderen neueren Datierungen in Europa entsprechen. Demnach beginnt das ältere Jungpaläolithikum mit dem Protoaurignacien um 40 ka, das „mittlere" Aurignacien mit Geschoßspitzen mit gespaltener Basis ist um 36 ka und das Gravettien ist zwischen 29 und 27 ka anzusetzen. Besiedlungsgeschichtlich und in bezug auf die Quartärchronologie hat das Konsequenzen für die Verbreitung des Homo sapiens sapiens nach Europa. Das Magdalénien hingegen bleibt in dem bisherigen zeitlichen Rahmen. Eine zweite Serie von AMS-Daten soll aber diese Ergebnisse überprüfen.

Předmostí is one of the most famous Gravettian sites in Central Europe. Its fame is based on a unique human assemblage, sadly largely destroyed during the Second World War, a huge mammoth assemblage and a very rich large canid assemblage. It has been shown previously that mammoth played an important role in the subsistence practices of the Gravettian inhabitants of Předmostí. Detailed analyses of the large canid postcranial material were carried out to investigate whether these canid remains can be assigned to different size groups and whether these remains show evidence of being butchered and consumed by humans. Based on defleshing marks and impact traces on the long bones, it is proposed here that large canids were consumed by the Gravettian inhabitants of Předmostí, thus further elucidating the specific human-large canid relationships that existed during the Upper Palaeolithic.

The authors explore the arrival of the earliest Gravettian in north-west Europe, using new high precision radiocarbon dates for bone excavated at Maisières-Canal in Belgium to define a short-lived occupation around 33 000 years ago. The tanged points in that assemblage have parallels in British sites, including Goat's Hole (Paviland). This is the site of the famous ochred burial of a young adult male, confusingly known as the ‘Red Lady’, now dated to around 34 000 BP. The new results demonstrate that this British ‘rich burial’ and the Gravettian with tanged points may belong to two different occupation horizons separated by a cold spell.

The authors have identified starch grains belonging to wild plants on the surface of a stone from the Gravettian hunter-gatherer campsite of Bilancino (Florence, Italy), dated to around 25000bp. The stone can be seen as a grindstone and the starch has been extracted from locally growing edible plants. This evidence can be claimed as implying the making of flour – and presumably some kind of bread – some 15 millennia before the local ‘agricultural revolution’.

Les modèles proposés pour rendre compte de l’émergence du Gravettien reposent traditionnellement sur les données issues d’Europe centrale et du Sud-ouest français. Souvent perçu comme se situant aux confins des territoires gravettiens, le Nord-Ouest européen demeure généralement à l’écart de ces discussions. Cet espace dispose pourtant aujourd’hui d’une documentation permettant d’investiguer un tel sujet. A partir d’une analyse technologique des ensembles lithiques mis au jour dans les sites d’Ormesson - Les Bossats (Seine-et-Marne, France), Flagy - Belle Fontaine (Seine-et-Marne, France), Maisières-Canal (Province de Hainaut, Belgique) et de la Station de l’Hermitage (Province de Liège, Belgique), nous examinerons l’évolution du système technique lithique dans cet espace entre environ 28 000 et 26 000 BP. La reconnaissance d’une entité technique originale, antérieure aux premiers ensembles gravettiens et se développant exclusivement au sein du Nord-Ouest européen, permettra de jeter un éclairage régional particulier sur les modalités par lesquelles fut opérée l’adoption des traditions techniques rapportées au Gravettien. Ce faisant, nous tenterons de reconstituer quelques fragments de la paléohistoire des sociétés s’inscrivant dans cette période particulière, au cours de laquelle ces dernières connaissent de profonds changements enregistrés à travers tout l’espace européen
The models proposed to account for the emergence of the Gravettian are traditionally based on data from Central Europe and south-western France. Often perceived as being located on the edge of Gravettian territories, north-western Europe does not generally contribute to these debates. However, this geographical area now offers documentation for investing such a topic. Based on a technological analysis of lithic assemblages from the sites of Ormesson - Les Bossats (Seine-et-Marne, France), Flagy - Belle Fontaine (Seine-et-Marne, France), Maisières-Canal (Province of Hainaut, Belgium) and Station de Hermitage (Province of Liege, Belgium), we will examine the evolution of the lithic technical system in this region between approximately 28,000 and 26,000 BP. The recognition of an original technical entity, that preceded the first Gravettian assemblages and developed exclusively in north-western Europe, will throw a particular light on the way the technical traditions related to the Gravettian were acquired in this region. In doing so, we will try to reconstruct some fragments of the paleohistory of the societies belonging to this particular period, during which they experienced profound changes recorded throughout Europe
Modellen over de opkomst van het Gravettian zijn traditioneel gebaseerd op gegevens afkomstig van Midden-en Zuidwest-Frankrijk, waarbij de gevens uit Noordwest-Europa over het algemeen achterwege blijven, gezien deze regio wordt beschouwd al een grensgebied van het Gravettian. De regio beschikt tegenwoordig over gegevens die wel toelaten om dit onderwerp te onderzoeken. Hier onderzoeken we de evolutie van het lithische technische systeem in deze regio tussen ongeveer 28.000 en 26.000 BP op basis van een technologische analyse van lithische assemblages afkomstig van de sites van Ormesson - Les Bossats (Seine-et-Marne, Frankrijk), Flagy - Belle Fontaine (Seine-et-Marne, Frankrijk), Maisières-Canal (Provincie Henegouwen, België) en het Hermitage Station (Provincie de Luik, België). De identificatie van een originele technische entiteit, voorafgaand aan de eerste gravettische ensembles en dewelke zich uitsluitend ontwikkeld in het noordwesten van Europa, laten ons toe om een specifiek regionaal licht te werpen op de adoptie van de technische tradities gerelateerd aan het Gravettian. Op basis hiervan proberen we enkele fragmenten uit de paleogeschiedenis van deze samenlevingen te reconstrueren, een periode waarbij ingrijpende veranderingen hebben plaatsgevonden op schaal van het gehele Europese grondgebied
Bestehende Modelle zur Entwicklung des Gravettiens beruhen traditionellerweise auf Angaben aus Zentraleuropa und dem Südwesten Frankreichs. Der Nordwesten Europas wurde im Vergleich eher als ein Randgebiet des Gravettiens wahrgenommen und erhielt folglich nur geringe Aufmerksamkeit. Heute verfügt dieses Gebiet allerdings über umfassendes Untersuchungsmaterial, das eine Studie dieses Themenfeldes ermöglicht. Mittels einer technologischen Untersuchung lithischer Inventare der Fundplätze von Ormesson - Les Bossats (Seine-et-Marne, Frankreich), Flagy - Belle Fontaine (Seine-et-Marne, Frankreich), Maisières-Canal (Provinz Hennegau, Belgien) und der Station de l‘Hermitage (Provinz de Lüttich, Belgien), untersuchen wir die technologische Entwicklung der Steinartefakte in diesem Gebiet zwischen 28 000 und 26 000 v. Chr. Die Erkennung eines technisch einheitlichen Ursprungs, der sich vor den ersten Gravettien-Beständen und innerhalb des Nordwestens Europas entwickelt hat, bietet einen besonderen regionalen Blickwinkel auf die Übernahme der technologischen Traditionen, die dem Gravettien zugeordnet werden. So werden wir versuchen einzelne Fragmente paläohistorischer Gesellschaften aus einem Zeitraum zu rekonstruieren, in dem im gesamten europäischen Gebiet tiefgreifende Veränderungen aufgezeichnet wurden

Le complexe gravettien se développe en Europe centrale entre la fin de l'Interpléniglaciaire würmien (vers 30 000 BP) et la fin du Pléniglaciaire supérieur (vers 13 000 BP). La rigueur croissante du climat, qui culmine au maximum glaciaire (vers 19 000 BP), s'accompagne d'une réduction des territoires, du développement d'un permafrost et d'une épaisse sédimentation lœssique. Nos analyses ont porté sur des assemblages osseux de grands mammifères, associés à différents faciès du complexe gravettien, et provenant de diverses régions de la partie est de l'Europe centrale. D'après l'analyse des associations de grands mammifères de ces sites, complétée de l'étude isotopique ( 1 3C, 1 5N) du collagène osseux de deux assemblages, les environnements apparaissent ouverts et arides, mais présentent aussi des forêts-galeries le long des vallées, selon le modèle de la steppe à mammouth. D'après l'analyse archéozoologique, les modes d'activité cynégétique se révèlent variés, utilisant les ressources en gibier local. La chasse au renne et au lièvre, complétée d'une acquisition diversifiée d'herbivores, assure la base de l'alimentation carnée. Une chasse aux petits carnivores permet l'acquisition des fourrures nécessaires dans le contexte climatique rigoureux. Les matières dures animales sont exploitées localement, avec, en outre, une circulation de l'ivoire. D'après les saisons d'occupation et l'origine des matières premières lithiques, les groupes gravettiens opèrent de grands déplacements saisonniers, en liaison avec les migrations de rennes (et peut-être de mammouths). Dans la période précédant le maximum glaciaire, la Moravie semble accueillir des centres d'agrégation saisonnière des groupes gravettiens d'Europe centrale. Par une stratégie cynégétique particulière, utilisant la formation de pièges naturels lors de la débâcle de la fin du printemps, ces regroupements des gravettiens pourraient alors permettre la pratique exceptionnelle d'une chasse collective au mammouth

Le Gravettien (34-24 ka) est largement considéré comme le dernier technocomplexe paneuropéen avant la fragmentation régionale de la population à la suite du dernier maxima glaciaire. Il a été démontré que les ornements personnels sont de puissants indicateurs du statut social et de l'appartenance culturelle. Jusqu'à présent, les ornements personnels omniprésents dans les sites d'occupation et de sépulture caractérisant le Gravettien n'ont pas encore fait l'objet d'une étude approfondie. L'objectif principal de la thèse était de documenter la variabilité des associations de types de perles et d'identifier les mécanismes à l'origine de cette diversité à l'échelle régionale et européenne au cours du Gravettien. La réalisation de cet objectif a ouvert la voie au second objectif : l'étude de la géographie culturelle des communautés gravettiennes. Dans un premier temps, nous proposons une analyse approfondie des nombreuses parures provenant d'un site funéraire clé du Gravettien, Cro-Magnon (Dordogne, France). Ensuite, nous avons créé une base de données géoréférencée représentative des parures du Gravettien, comprenant 164 types provenant de plus de 130 sites à travers l'Europe, et nous l'avons analysée à l'aide de méthodes statistiques multivariées et spatiales, telles que l'analyse des coordonnées principales (PCoA), le Neighbour-joining, le Neighbour-net, la sériation et les corrélations et corrélogrammes de Mantel. Nous avons ensuite comparé et mis en contraste les parures du Gravettien avec celles de l'Aurignacien précédent en utilisant des analyses similaires afin d'étudier s'il existait une continuité entre ces deux technocomplexes. L'analyse des parures trouvées à Cro-Magnon a révélé l'existence de vastes réseaux d'échange à travers le continent. Malgré des similitudes avec les parures d'autres groupes voisins de Dordogne, les parures de Cro-Magnon présentent un caractère distinctif, c'est-à-dire peu, plutôt que beaucoup, de pendentifs en ivoire décorés et beaucoup, plutôt que peu, d'ornements en coquillages, ce qui souligne le désir de ce peuple d'affirmer son identité unique dans un contexte symbolique plus large. Le recalibrage de la seule date radiocarbone disponible pour ce site suggère qu'une campagne de datation plus étendue est nécessaire pour attribuer chronologiquement ce site emblématique avec précision. L'analyse de la base de données du Gravettien européenne révèle que ce technocomplexe était divisé en neuf groupes qui portaient des associations de types de perles différentes, organisées d'ouest en est. Alors que les groupes gravettiens de l'est de l'Europe 10 portaient des parures principalement en ivoire, en pierre et en dents de mammifères carnivores, les groupes de l'ouest avaient tendance à porter des perles fabriquées à partir de coquillages marins et de dents de mammifères herbivores. Il a été démontré que les différences observées dans les associations de types de perles n'étaient pas uniquement dues à l'isolement par la distance. Nous en avons conclu qu'un sentiment d'appartenance culturelle dictait les types de parures portés par les différents groupes de Gravettiens. Les sites d'inhumation et d'occupation se caractérisent par des schémas distincts d'associations de parures. La différence observée entre les groupes d'inhumation était plus importante que la différence entre les groupes d'occupation. La comparaison des parures du Gravettien et de l'Aurignacien a révélé des similitudes frappantes entre les deux technocomplexes en termes de choix de parures. Le Gravettien se caractérise par des régions d'associations de parures similaires, dont la surface est plus de dix fois supérieure à celle de l'Aurignacien et qui sont plus interconnectées que ces dernières. Les types de parures entièrement sculptés dans des matériaux osseux et lithiques marquent mieux le fossé culturel entre ces deux technocomplexes que ceux produits à partir de formes naturelles minimalement modifiées
The Gravettian (34–24 ka) is widely considered as the final Pan-European technocomplex before the regional fragmentation of the population following the Last Glacial Maxima. Personal ornaments have been shown to be powerful indicators of social status and cultural affiliation. Hitherto, the ubiquitous personal ornaments found in occupation and burial sites characterising the Gravettian have yet to be the subject of a comprehensive study. The primary aim of the PhD was to document the variability in bead-type associations and identify the mechanisms driving this diversity at both regional and European scales during the Gravettian period. Achieving this paved the way for the second aim: investigating the cultural geography of Gravettian communities. We first provide an in-depth analysis of the numerous personal ornaments coming from a key Gravettian funerary site, Cro-Magnon (Dordogne, France). Subsequently, we created a representative georeferenced bead database of Gravettian personal ornaments encompassing 164 types coming from over 130 sites across Europe and analyse it using multivariate and spatial statistical methods, such as principal coordinates analysis (PCoA), Neighbour-joining, Neighbour-net, seriation and Mantel correlations and correlograms. We then proceeded to compare and contrast the Gravettian personal ornaments with those coming from the preceding Aurignacian using similar analyses in addition to k-means clustering, perMANOVA and Archaeological Similarity Networks to investigate whether continuity existed between these two technocomplexes. Analysis of the personal ornaments found at Cro-Magnon revealed the existence of extensive exchange networks across the continent. Despite sharing similarities with ornaments from other nearby groups in Dordogne, the Cro-Magnon ornaments exhibit a distinctiveness, i.e., a small, rather than large, number of decorated ivory pendants and a large, rather than small, number of shell ornaments, that highlights this people’s desire to assert their unique identity within a broader symbolic context. The recalibration of the only available radiocarbon date for this site suggests that a more extensive dating campaign is necessary to chronologically attribute this iconic site accurately. The analysis of the European-scale Gravettian database reveals that this technocomplex was split into nine groups who wore different bead-type associations which were organized in an east-west cline across Europe. Whereas Gravettian groups from the east of Europe wore personal ornaments predominantly fashioned from ivory, stone and mammal carnivore teeth, groups from the west tended to wear beads made from 8 marine shells and mammal herbivore teeth. The observed differences in bead-type associations were shown to not be solely due to Isolation-by-Distance. From this we concluded that a sense of cultural belonging dictated the personal ornament types different groups of Gravettian people wore. Burial and occupation sites were characterised by distinct patterns of personal ornament associations. The observed difference between burial groups was higher than the difference between occupation groups. The comparison of the Gravettian and Aurignacian databases unveiled stark similarities in terms of personal ornament choices between the two technocomplexes. The Gravettian was characterised by regions of similar personal ornament associations which had over ten times the surface area and which were more interconnected than those of the Aurignacian. Personal ornaments types fully carved out of osseous and lithic material better marked the cultural divide between these two technocomplexes than those produced from minimally modified natural forms

En Europe centrale et, en particulier en Moravie et en Silésie, se forment entre 28.000 - 25.500 BP non calibré des concentrations des sites situés le long d'un corridor naturel, le seul passage reliant l'Europe du Nord et du Sud. Le terme de «Pavlovien» fut créé pour englober ces sites qui avec leur richesse matérielle, sociale, culturelle et symbolique représentent un témoignage extraordinaire de ce que furent les sociétés du Paléolithique supérieur. Afin de revisiter la définition du Pavlovien, nous proposons une nouvelle lecture de leurs industries lithiques. Un examen approfondi réalisé sur des sites classiques mais également sur des sites nouvellement fouillés nous a conduit à proposer une tripartition des ensembles selon leurs caractéristiques éco-typo-technologique (Groupe à microscies, Groupe à microlithes géométriques et Groupe à pointes de Milovice ). Les populations d'au moins de deux de ces groupes semblent être porteuses d'une tradition lithique particulière et d'une culture matérielle riche et révélatrice de comportements sociaux structurés et récurrents qui semble plaider en faveur d'un fort degré d'homogénéité culturelle
In central Europe, and in particular in Moravia and in Silesia, some concentrations of archaeological sites, dated from 28.000 to 25.500 BP, appeared all way long a natural corridor, which is the only passageway between Northern and Southern Europe. These sites have provided a wide range of artifacts, bringing many data about social, cultural and symbolic aspects of the Upper Paleolithic societies. They are now known as the «Pavlovian complex». In order to refine the definition of the « Pavlovian », this thesis seeks to renew the reading of lithic industries. This study includes both the classical sites and the ones recently excavated. It leads t subdivide the Pavlovian into three mains groups according to their eco-typo-technologica characteristics (the group with microsaws, the group with geometric microliths and the group wit the point of Milovice ). At least two of these groups present specific lithic tradition and an abundan material culture that reveals some social behaviors, both well structured and recurring, which plead in favour of a high level of cultural homogeneity

This thesis examines the Mid Upper Palaeolithic (MUP) of Russia (ca. 30,000-20,000 14C BP). During this time, as in the rest of Europe, the principal archaeological industry is known as the Gravettian. However, in Russia two other industries, the Streletskayan and the Gorodtsovian, are also known from the beginning of the MUP. Historically, there have been significant problems integrating the Russian MUP record with that from the rest of Europe. The research described in this thesis concentrates on backed lithic assemblages (including Gravette points, microgravettes, other backed points and backed bladelets) from five Russian Gravettian sites: Kostenki 8 Layer 2, Kostenki 4, Kostenki 9, Khotylevo 2 and Kostenki 21 Layer 3. These are studied from an explicitly Western European theoretical perspective, using standard techno-typological methods to construct typological groupings and describe the variation between and within sites. Alongside this, new radiocarbon dates from several sites Kostenki 8 Layer 2, Kostenki 4 and Borshchevo 5) were obtained. These radiocarbon dates are critically analysed alongside published dates and unpublished dates made available to this research. The results of the research constitute a new culture history for the Russian MUP. Each stage of the MUP is dated and described, and the uncertainties in our knowledge outlined. One new lithic index fossil is defined and two others are re-assessed. The Russian record is compared with the contemporary archaeological record elsewhere in Europe, in order to describe large-scale synchronic variation and changes through time in the homogeneity and regionalisation of material culture. The relationship between these dynamics and climate change are discussed.

Since their initial discovery in the nineteenth century, human figurines have formed a noticeable part of the artistic record of the 30,000 years of the European Upper Palaeolithic. Some figurines—particularly the ‘Venuses’ of the Mid-Upper Palaeolithic (Gravettian sensu lato)—have long served as icons of Upper Palaeolithic cultural achievement. This chapter reviews our current understanding of figurines of western and North Central Europe. Their first manifestation is with a few enigmatic examples during the Early Upper Palaeolithic (Aurignacian) of southwest Germany. A far more visible and geographically widespread manifestation comes with the Mid-Upper Palaeolithic Venus figurines, and a similarly widespread occurrence comes with the highly schematic side-profile outlines of the Gönnersdorf type, which belong to the Middle and Late Magdalenian. The history of interpretation and current thinking of these figurine horizons is discussed in this chapter, which should be read in conjunction with Chapter 30 (Farbstein).

Abstract Recent research in the Central Balkans is discovering multiple human occupations previously unknown from the region, revealing its strategical location within Europe for human populations dispersing towards Central and Western Europe during the Pleistocene. Šalitrena Pećina (Serbia) contains evidence of late Neanderthal and early anatomically modern human (AMH) presence during the mid-to-late MIS 3. A Bayesian model of the radiocarbon dates, combined with the zooarchaeological and stable isotope analyses of the macromammals and technological analysis of the bone tools, provides new insight into subsistence strategies achieved by late Neanderthals and Aurignacian and Gravettian groups at the site. The results reveal diverse residential and short-temporal use of the cave by both human species. Bone tools show intensive use of the carcasses consumed for daily tools. The first evidence of Aurignacian and Gravettian bone industries in Serbia are presented here. Carnivores played a significant role after humans left the site. Radiocarbon dates indicate a millennium’s gap between Neanderthal and early AMH groups, and a few millennia between the Aurignacian and the Gravettian groups. Bone collagen δ13C and δ15N isotope values are indicative of a mixed forest and open landscapes near the cave, reflecting a more forested and humid condition during the Mousterian and colder environments during the Gravettian with open landscapes.

Abstract Recent research in the Central Balkans is discovering multiple human occupations previously unknown from the region, revealing its strategical location within Europe for human populations dispersing towards Central and Western Europe during the Pleistocene. Šalitrena Pećina (Serbia) contains evidence of late Neanderthal and early anatomically modern human (AMH) presence during the mid-to-late MIS 3. A Bayesian model of the radiocarbon dates, combined with the zooarchaeological and stable isotope analyses of the macromammals and technological analysis of the bone tools, provides new insight into subsistence strategies achieved by late Neanderthals and Aurignacian and Gravettian groups at the site. The results reveal diverse residential and short-temporal use of the cave by both human species. Bone tools show intensive use of the carcasses consumed for daily tools. The first evidence of Aurignacian and Gravettian bone industries in Serbia are presented here. Carnivores played a significant role after humans left the site. Radiocarbon dates indicate a millennium’s gap between Neanderthal and early AMH groups, and a few millennia between the Aurignacian and the Gravettian groups. Bone collagen δ13C and δ15N isotope values are indicative of a mixed forest and open landscapes near the cave, reflecting a more forested and humid condition during the Mousterian and colder environments during the Gravettian with open landscapes.

Abstract These paleoanthropological considerations of the human remains from the sites of Dolní Věstonice I and II and Pavlov I, in their archeological and taphonomic contexts, provide a modest window into the biocultural patterns of these Pavlovian or central European early Gravettian human populations. Even though the sample size remains small and a number of the elements sustained significant postmortem modification, their detailed analysis and the ongoing analyses of their associated archeological re- mains make it possible to make a few observations concerning these populations. Given their proximity in time and, especially, space, it is likely that these human remains are a sampling of a regional lineage of early Gravettian human populations occupying and exploiting the central European landscape between approximately 27,000 and 25,000 radiocarbon years b.p., with the majority of the more complete remains from burials dating to between 26,000 and 25,000 years b.p. (Chapter 3). Only the direct date on the isolated and unprovenienced Dolní Věstonice 35 femur falls outside of these ranges, and it remains uncertain to what extent that later date is due to contamination. The populations were generally very mobile but, as the evidence of large settlements shows, were also suited to periods of sedentary life.

Abstract Ceramic technologies are widely associated with Holocene-aged archaeological technocomplexes, and the term ‘ceramic’ is sometimes used interchangeably with ‘pottery’. However, thousands of ceramic artefacts excavated from early Gravettian (‘Pavlovian’) sites in Czech Republic demonstrate that ceramic technologies are more than 30,000 years old. Moreover, these earliest iterations were used to make symbolic material culture, rather than functional pottery. The discovery of a large assemblage of ceramic figurines in late Palaeolithic contexts at Vela Spila, Croatia, along with smaller, isolated ceramic assemblages from Eastern Europe and northern Africa, demonstrates the wide geographic scope of Palaeolithic symbolic ceramics. This chapter compares the ceramic records from Croatia to those found elsewhere in Eurasia, with special focus on the Pavlovian figurines. We consider both the technologies of production and the aesthetics of the ‘finished’ artefacts. Can these two geographically and chronologically disparate iterations be interpreted as the result of cultural continuity? What are the implications of these assemblages for our broader understanding of the scope of Upper Palaeolithic artistic and technological repertoires across Europe?

Abstract Ceramic technologies are widely associated with Holocene-aged archaeological technocomplexes, and the term ‘ceramic’ is sometimes used interchangeably with ‘pottery’. However, thousands of ceramic artefacts excavated from early Gravettian (‘Pavlovian’) sites in Czech Republic demonstrate that ceramic technologies are more than 30,000 years old. Moreover, these earliest iterations were used to make symbolic material culture, rather than functional pottery. The discovery of a large assemblage of ceramic figurines in late Palaeolithic contexts at Vela Spila, Croatia, along with smaller, isolated ceramic assemblages from Eastern Europe and northern Africa, demonstrates the wide geographic scope of Palaeolithic symbolic ceramics. This chapter compares the ceramic records from Croatia to those found elsewhere in Eurasia, with special focus on the Pavlovian figurines. We consider both the technologies of production and the aesthetics of the ‘finished’ artefacts. Can these two geographically and chronologically disparate iterations be interpreted as the result of cultural continuity? What are the implications of these assemblages for our broader understanding of the scope of Upper Palaeolithic artistic and technological repertoires across Europe?

Abstract Over the last two decades, the study of the body proportions of Late Pleistocene humans has taken on new significance. Specifically, because of their observed relationship with climate among recent humans (New- man, 1953; Roberts, 1978) and the fact that, whereas they exhibit some phenotypic plasticity, there nonetheless appears to be a strong genetic component (Tanner et al., 1982: 419–420; Katzmarzyk & Leonard, 1998; but see Bogin & Rios, 2003), body proportions have been used as phylogenetic markers to study evolutionarily short-term events, such as the emergence of anatomically modern humans in Europe (Trinkaus, 1981; Ruff, 1994; Holliday, 1997a, 2000a,b). However, with few exceptions (e.g., relative femoral head diameter), the study of body proportions requires relatively complete associated skeletons—a rarity in the human fossil record. Yet the Gravettian hu- man skeletons from Dolní Věstonice and Pavlov include the remains of six individuals (Dolní Věstonice 3 and 13– 16, and Pavlov 1) who provide data from more than one limb bone, allowing the examination of body shape.

Abstract IN the previous chapter we saw how people sought refuge from the Ice Age in the south of Europe. They were descendants of the Gravettian people that had spread right across the Eurasian steppe– tundra at a time when increasingly cold and dry conditions were opening up many areas formerly taken up by woodland. The genetic mutations that allowed us to trace the spread of these people from Central Asia also show that an offshoot of these people penetrated southwards across the great mountain ranges of the Caucasus, Zagros, and Hindu Kush into India and western Asia, including the Middle East, some time around 30 thousand years ago. These people who settled south of the mid-latitude belt of mountains had a common heritage with those of the steppe–tundra to the north of these ranges. In the Middle East they may have met the descendants of the early pioneers that had made tentative incursions into Europe but by this time the Neanderthals were long gone. The Middle East between 30 thousand years ago and the height of the Ice Age around 22 thousand years ago was a junction between peoples from different regions, although the picture provided by the archaeology is far from clear. The people who had been making the Aurignacian in Europe appear to have entered the region too around this time but we cannot be certain who they were or what they looked like; and then there may have been others who had been living there since the early incursions from the expansion that led people to Australia.

The archaeological record of Italy is long and complex, suggesting continuous peopling since the Middle Pleistocene (Mussi 2001; Mussi et al. in press). The evidence of Palaeolithic art, however, is rather restricted: Early Upper Palaeolithic (EUP) art is close to nil, including just a few notched implements; the Middle Upper Palaeolithic (MUP), admittedly, is much richer, with some twenty Gravettian Wgurines, the largest such sample in Western Europe (Mussi et al. 2000; Mussi 2004); parietal art is also documented at Grotta Paglicci, where painted horses and positive handprints were discovered (Boscato and Palma di Cesnola 2000; Zorzi 1962); when Late Upper Palaeolithic (LUP) lithic industries were produced which belong to the Epigravettian, portable and parietal art is known at a number of sites. In the late 1980s, Zampetti (1987) reviewed twenty-one Epigravettian cave sites, and a single open-air site, all of them with zoomorphic art. Three more have been discovered since: Riparo Dalmeri, Riparo di Villabruna, and Grotta di Settecannelle. I will examine below the artistic record of Sicily and Sardinia, both of them at the periphery of Italy, which, in turn, is secluded from Europe by the Alps. My aim is to contrast the effects of geographic isolation, with the circulation of people and ideas, if any, as documented by portable and cave art. Sicily, currently an island of 25; 700km² and the largest in the Mediterranean, lies 140 km from Africa, and a few kilometres off southern Italy. The strait of Messina is 3 to 25 km wide, but is far from easy to cross, because of violent tidal currents, and whirlpool, also known as ‘Charybdis’ by Greeks and Romans. The depth is just 72 m at the Sill of Peloro. Because of intense neotectonic activity, however, any palaeogeographic reconstruction is highly speculative. Analysis of the faunal assemblages, which during oxygen isotope stage (OIS) 2 include a limited number of species, none of which is endemic, suggests that intermittent connection with the mainland possibly existed around the Last Glacial Maximum (Mussi et al. in press). The large mammals, found in varying percentages, are the deer, Cervus elaphus, the aurochs, Bos primigenius, the small steppe horse, Equus hydruntinus, and Sus scrofa, the wild boar.

In addition to their undeniable aesthetic value, ornaments are the element that may differentiate the various social groups or individuals belonging to certain groups. More specifically, body decoration is closely related to social identity. The ornament, as a form of communication, has a certain advantage over other means of communication because, once displayed, perhaps even more than language itself, the individual wearing it need not make any effort to deliver his/her message, social sta-tus, their belonging to a group etc. The first adornments used during the Paleolithic are beads, while perforated shells are among the earliest examples of this sort. In a few cases, the perforated shells come from species rarely used in the Paleolithic, brought from long distances, in terms of the settlements in which they were found so, apart from individualizing and characterizing a certain group, they may represent important documents regarding migrations over wide areas and even regarding the origin of a culture. This is shown by new discoveries made in an early Gravettian layer at the Poiana Cireului site (Piatra Neam, north-eastern Romania), dated between 30 ka and 31 ka BP (Niu et al., 2019). The ornaments discovered here include a unique association of perforat-ed shells represented by three species of mollusks: Lithoglyphus naticoide, Litho-glyphus apertus and Homalopoma sanguineum (an exclusively Mediterranean spe-cies). This occupation differs from Central and Eastern European Gravettian tradi-tions through the symbolic behavior of the communities, defined by the use of perfo-rated shells of freshwater and marine (Mediterranean origin) mollusk belonging to species very rarely used in the Palaeolithic. Poiana Cireului is one of the very few Gravettian sites where perforated Homalopoma sanguineum shells were found and is the only Gravettian settlement where Lithoglyphus naticoides shells were used. We present the ornaments discovered and the results of analysis performed to identify the perforation methods and the use-wear traces. The presence of a Mediterranean species at the Poiana Cireului settlement located more than 900 km from the nearest source suggests the connection of communities here with the Mediterranean area. In the light of these new findings, the origin and diffusion of the Gravettian from the Mediterranean to the east of the Carpathians are a hypothesis that should be considered. Niu, E.-C., Crciumaru, M., Nicolae, A., Crstina, O., Lupu, F. I., Leu, M. (2019). Mobility and social identity in the Early Upper Palaeolithic: new personal ornaments from Poiana Cireului site (Piatra Neam, Romania). PLOS ONE, 14 (4), e0214932. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0214932

In addition to their undeniable aesthetic value, ornaments are the element that may differentiate the various social groups or individuals belonging to certain groups. More specifically, body decoration is closely related to social identity. The ornament, as a form of communication, has a certain advantage over other means of communication because, once displayed, perhaps even more than language itself, the individual wearing it need not make any effort to deliver his/her message, social sta-tus, their belonging to a group etc. The first adornments used during the Paleolithic are beads, while perforated shells are among the earliest examples of this sort. In a few cases, the perforated shells come from species rarely used in the Paleolithic, brought from long distances, in terms of the settlements in which they were found so, apart from individualizing and characterizing a certain group, they may represent important documents regarding migrations over wide areas and even regarding the origin of a culture. This is shown by new discoveries made in an early Gravettian layer at the Poiana Cireului site (Piatra Neam, north-eastern Romania), dated between 30 ka and 31 ka BP (Niu et al., 2019). The ornaments discovered here include a unique association of perforat-ed shells represented by three species of mollusks: Lithoglyphus naticoide, Litho-glyphus apertus and Homalopoma sanguineum (an exclusively Mediterranean spe-cies). This occupation differs from Central and Eastern European Gravettian tradi-tions through the symbolic behavior of the communities, defined by the use of perfo-rated shells of freshwater and marine (Mediterranean origin) mollusk belonging to species very rarely used in the Palaeolithic. Poiana Cireului is one of the very few Gravettian sites where perforated Homalopoma sanguineum shells were found and is the only Gravettian settlement where Lithoglyphus naticoides shells were used. We present the ornaments discovered and the results of analysis performed to identify the perforation methods and the use-wear traces. The presence of a Mediterranean species at the Poiana Cireului settlement located more than 900 km from the nearest source suggests the connection of communities here with the Mediterranean area. In the light of these new findings, the origin and diffusion of the Gravettian from the Mediterranean to the east of the Carpathians are a hypothesis that should be considered. Niu, E.-C., Crciumaru, M., Nicolae, A., Crstina, O., Lupu, F. I., Leu, M. (2019). Mobility and social identity in the Early Upper Palaeolithic: new personal ornaments from Poiana Cireului site (Piatra Neam, Romania). PLOS ONE, 14 (4), e0214932. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0214932