#stone age 101

[prehistoric-archive]

Stone Age 101 - Part 4 by Pelycosaur24

From Pelycosaur24’s description:

The fourth installment of Stone Age 101 takes us to what is probably the first thing that comes to most people’s mind when they hear “stone age”. Around 40.000 BP Homo sapiens made his way out of Africa; coinciding with the last (and worst) glaciation of the northern hemisphere with glaciers as far south as modern day London (the ice maximum was at 20.000 BP). This resulted in the dominant landscape being tundra and steppes with very little trees for most of Europe and Asia. These were home to the favorite prey of our ancestors – horses, bison and reindeer, as well as some of the more intimidating animals like Mammoth and Wholly Rhino.

Our representative couple this time around comes from France because southern France and northern Spain are the hot spots for Upper Paleolithic sites. The names of many of these sites actually became eponymous for the stages of this time in Europe. Generally there are three of these: the Aurignacien, the Gravettien and the Magdalenien, with a number of different stages for other areas. And once again stone tools provided this classification (the 8-shaped tool on the right for example is characteristic for the Aurignacien) The modern humans of the Ice age also brought an innovation for the stone industry. Long blades made the production even more resourceful than the Levallois technique. However additionally to stones modern humans used a variety of materials like bone, ivory and antler to make their weapons, tools and art. The woman in the picture (whom you might recognize from the Stone Age Stereotypes drawing ;) ) is using a technique to prepare mammoth tusks for further processing that was observed at a site in Austria.

An important invention of the upper Paleolithic was the spear thrower – like the one the man in our picture is sporting. A long wooden handle with a hook at the end made from ivory or bone often shaped like an animal. These devices could be used to throw long light spears with a lot of force.

But modern humans did not only decorate their weapons.

We know that they also had ivory beads sown to their clothing and shoes. In the Upper Paleolithic a variety of Art shows up – the two oldest known humanoid statues are from Austria (Venus vom Galgenberg) and Germany (Venus von Hohlefels) and date to around 37.000 BP. Most famous however are the cave paintings. Over 200 have been discovered in France alone, 170 in nearby Spain. The oldest were made up to 40.000 years ago, however it is suggested that these caves were regularly visited and new paintings added throughout the following millennia. We don’t really have an idea what they mean so feel free to make up your own explanation!

[prehistoric-archive]

Stone Age 101 - Austria by Pelycosaur24

From Pelycosaur24’s description:

After I drew “the dancing Venus” I decided I wanted to draw the woman in that picture again and give her an outfit based on actual findings. Once I was done I thought: why not turn it into a Stone Age 101 drawing focusing on Austria? For this drawing I choose two famous sites from the Aurignacien and Gravettien as inspiration for the clothing and background. Humans have lived in Austria for at least 100.000 years and there are countless sites where Neanderthal tools have been found (most notably the Repolust Cave were also Neanderthal jewelry has been found).

However as a fining place Austria reached its greatest importance in the Upper Paleolithic. Lower Austria – along the valley of the Danube – is one of the densest areas for Paleolithic findings period. Some of the most notable sites are of course Willendorf where the famous Venus was discovered in 1908 and Krems-Wachtberg where the burial of two twin babies was found in 2005 alongside clay figurines that – together with the findings of Dolni Vestonice – are the oldest pottery artifacts in the world. For my drawing however I choose the sites of Stratzing (Aurignacien) and Grub-Kranawetberg (Gravettien).

The former is famous for the discovery of the Venus vom Galgenberg which – together with the Venus von Holefels – is considered the oldest humanoid figurine in the world. The hut depicted in the background of the drawing is also based on the findings of Stratzing. It consisted of four posts and had a fireplace and a separate pit used for cooking next to it.

The second finding spot at Grub-Kranawetberg is known as the largest deposit of Ice Age jewelry found in Austria, consisting of over 250 ivory and bone pearls and 100 pierced shells and mollusks. These where most likely sewn to the clothing the way I depicted it here. Additionally the use of color can be observed at this spot, especially graphite, red ocher and hematite. Based on this I decided to draw what could be a ceremonial dress – since I doubt she wants to crawl through the mud dressed like this ;)

For the spear I decided to give her a Lautscher tip which is typical for the Aurignacien and has been found at several sites throughout Austria. I did not give her a spear thrower since none have been found in Austria yet (although it can of course be assumed that they did exist).

As for climate and animals: We know from pollen analysis and from mollusks that the climate was extremely dry and the landscape of the Danube Valley was an open steppe with the occasional appearance of conifers. There were lots of mammoths and they appear at almost every site, additionally the people hunted wholly rhino, reindeer, horses but also carnivores like foxes and wolves.

[prehistoric-archive]

Stone Age 101 - Clovis by Pelycosaur24

From Pelycosaur24’s description:

For this drawing I choose to focus on the Clovis culture. Today the Clovis people are no longer seen as the first inhabitants in America but they are the first large scale culture with a good defined stone tool typology - which makes them ideal for this series!

The Clovis culture appears around 14.000 BP and in very short time spread over most of North and Central America. The stone tools made by the Clovis are very characteristic and the long bladed "clovis tips" made from semi-precious stones are often found at the sites.

Almost all Clovis sites are “Kill sites”, which gives us a good understanding of what they hunted. Their main prey consisted of Bison, Deer, Pronghorn and Bighorn sheep. Mammoths and Mastodon are only present in some kill sites.

As for settlements there is one site that suggests that Clovis people lived in hut or tent like structures.

There is only one burial site in Anzick, Montana, where the ceremonial use of red ocher is documented. That is also the spot I choose for my representative woman.

As far as I know (please correct me if I am wrong) there is no evidence of any form of art (save for a few geometric scratched stones found at Gault Site in Texas) in the Clovis Culture.

What is interesting is that the Clovis culture is very well represented in the Disney movies Brother bear 1 and 2. They use some pretty accurate Clovis tips in the movie, the clothing looks good and in the second movie you can even see a settlement with accurate Stone Age huts. So thumbs up for Disney for making what is probably the most accurate animated movie set in the Stone Age.

[prehistoric-archive]

Stone Age 101 - Africa by Pelycosaur24

From Pelycosaur24’s description:

I decided to draw another entry for Stone Age 101 yet again, this time we will go back to the Middle Paleolithic while the Neanderthal ruled Europe and Asia and we will travel south to see what the first modern humans were up to meanwhile.

In African prehistoric Archaeology the Paleolithic is divided in “Early Stone Age”, “Middle Stone Age” and “Late Stone Age” – these stages pretty much coincide with Lower, Middle and Upper Paleolithic both chronologically as well as in many of the technological developments. Today we will take a look at the Middle Stone Age. Just like in Europe it started around 300kya with the introduction of the Levallois technology which is especially well documented in modern day Kenia and Ethiopia. Around this time anatomically modern humans show up in the fossil record so it is very likely they were the bearers of the individual cultures. Just like in Europe or Asia there are many sub-stages in different areas for different times. For the Spear shown in the picture I went with the Lupemban of central and southern Africa. The tools are usually leaf shaped and bear great resemblance to Mousterien tools. So far the inventory of this stone industry includes knives, spear tips, harpoons and well as axes. Findings from several caves (for example Broken Hill in South Africa) suggest that our early relatives hunted and butchered the local megafauna.

It is little surprising that also the human love for art and decoration can be traced to our early ancestors. At the Porc-Epic Site in Ethiopia large quantities of red and yellow ocher were found that show signs of grinding indicating that it was used as paint. A very common form of adornment in Paleolithic Africa were beads made from the shells of Ostrich eggs, like the necklace depicted here. Such beads have been found in Border Cave in South Africa as well as Mumba Cave in Tanzania.

[prehistoric-archive]

Stone Age 101 - Part 3 by Pelycosaur24

From Pelycosaur24’s description:

The third installment of the Stone Age 101 series represents the Middle Paleolithic from around 200.000 until 40.000 years ago. In Europa and western Asia it was dominated by the "Mousterien" a culture associated with the Neanderthal. Meanwhile in Africa early Homo Sapiens appeared. Nearing the end of the Middle Paleolithic he migrated to the Middle East and Europe.

The Beginning of the middle Paleolithic was defined using the appearance of a special flint napping technique invented by Neanderthals - the Levallois technique. It is characterized by the innovation of preparing a core of flint first in order to produce more defined flakes. This technique was more efficient and economical than the ones used during the Acheulean. Defining tools of the Middle Paleolithic are so called "scrapers" as well as tear drop shaped projectiles.

Our representative couple comes from modern day Iraq where I used the caves of Shanidar as my exemplary location. This site is important because it gives clues about Neanderthal social life as several skeletons of old individuals show deformations that would have made survival without help impossible. One famous burial contained pollen of medicinal plants and was long cited as evidence for Neanderthal burial ceremonies - however recent research suggests there may be natural explanations for the pollen samples.

[prehistoric-archive]

Stone Age 101 - Germany by Pelycosaur24

From Pelycosaur24’s description:

This time we travel back to the lower Paleolithic and visit two extraordinary sites in Germany.

400.000 years ago Germany looked very different it had a Flora rich in forest and Grassland and a Fauna reminiscent of modern savanna. Rhinoceros, deer, horses and forest elephants dominated the landscape. Feeding on this variety were predators like lions, hyenas and humans. In fact the oldest proof that humans were indeed predators comes from Germany. At Schöningen 8 carefully crafted javelins have been discovered which stand tall as the oldest known weapons. However an even more remarkable site is the settlement of Bilzingsleben.

It consisted of three large round huts 4-5 meters in diameter with a foundation of rocks and fireplaces at the entrance. There was a very busy production of tools at this site and over 140.000 flint artifacts have been recovered as well as engraved bones. There is also what has been described as a “paved” round workplace consisting of non-native rocks that had been carefully placed in the mud. This area was apparently “cleaned” as bone fragments were discovered in the grooved between the rocks, almost as if it had been swept clean regularly.

This gives us an extraordinary insight in the cognitive abilities of these early humans. The people who built this settlement were most likely homo heidelbergensis – the direct ancestors of European Neanderthals. It is estimated that they already had a religion and complex speech.

[prehistoric-archive]

Stone Age 101 - Part 2 by Pelycosaur24

From Pelycosaur24’s description:

The second installment of the Stone Age 101 series takes us to China around 700.000 years ago. Homo erectus was the first human who left his home in Africa and settled all across Europe and as Far East as China. There the caves of Zhoukoudian near Beijing are an important site where teeth of Homo erectus were found as early as the 1920s. Subsequently the finds were referred to as Homo erectus pekinensis – or Peking man.

In Africa Homo erectus had a very sophisticated stone tool industry associated with the Acheulean, however this is mostly absent from the sites in Asia. One theory to why this is revolves around the possible extensive use of bamboo. Furthermore archeological evidence suggests that Homo erectus already was able to control fire and was an active hunter.

[prehistoric-archive]

Ice Age Home by Pelycosaur24

From Pelyxosaur24’s description:

The drawing is based on the findings of Stratzing in Lower Austria that date to around 36.000 BP.

The dwelling found there consisted of a tent supported by four wooden posts and further stabilized with rocks. There was a fireplace (that ironically I forgot to depict) and a seperate pit used for cooking (which I did depict).

Additionally to lots of stone tools the most spectacular find of the site was a small figurine made from Serpentine. Nicknamed "Fanny" or the Venus vom Galgenberg it is (together with the Venus von Hohlefels) considered to be the oldest humanoid figurine. The much more famous - but also 6000 years younger - Venus von Willendorf was discovered just 25 km east of Stratzing.