Paleolithic Europe, or Old Stone Age Europe, encompasses the
Paleolithic or Old Stone Age in
Europe from the arrival of the first
archaic humans, about 1.4 million years ago until the beginning of the
Mesolithic (also
Epipaleolithic) around 10,000 years ago. This period thus covers over 99% of the total human presence on the European continent.[1] The early arrival and disappearance of Homo erectus and Homo heidelbergensis, the appearance, complete evolution and eventual demise of Homo neanderthalensis and the immigration and successful settlement of Homo sapiens all have taken place during the European Paleolithic.[2][3]
the
Mesolithic or Epipaleolithic, beginning about 14,000 years ago and extending until as late as 4,000 years ago in northern Europe. The Mesolithic may or may not be included as the final phase of the Upper Paleolithic.[2]
Paleolithic
Lower Paleolithic: 1.4 mya – 300,000 BP
The oldest evidence of human occupation in Eastern Europe comes from the
Kozarnika cave in
Bulgaria where a single human tooth and flint artifacts have been dated to at least 1.4 million years ago. In Western Europe at
Atapuerca in Spain, human remains have been found that are from 1.2 million years ago.[6][7] Five Homo erectus skulls were discovered at an excavation site in
Dmanisi,
Georgia. Unearthed in 2005 and described in a publication in 2013, the
Dmanisi skull 5 is estimated to be about 1.8 million years old.[8]
The earliest evidence for the use of the more advanced Mode 2-type assemblagesAcheulean tools are 900,000 year-old flint hand axes found in
Iberia and at a 700,000 year-old site in central France. Notable human fossils from this period were found in
Kozarnika in
Bulgaria (1.4 mya), at
Atapuerca in
Spain (1.2 mya), in
Mauer in Germany (500k), at
Eartham Pit, Boxgrove England (478k), at
Swanscombe in England (400k), and
Tautavel in France (400k).[9]
The oldest complete
hunting weapons ever found anywhere in the world were discovered in 1995 in a coal mine near the town
Schöningen, Germany, where the
Schöningen spears, eight 380,000-year-old wooden
javelins were unearthed.[10]
Middle Paleolithic: 300,000–50,000 BP
Elements of the European and African Homo erectus populations evolved between 800,000 and 400,000 years ago through a series of intermediate speciations towards Homo antecessor and Homo heidelbergensis.[11] Fossils of the species Homo neanderthalensis are only to be found in
Eurasia.[12][13][14][15] Neanderthal fossil record ranges from Western Europe to the
Altai Mountains in Central Asia and the
Ural Mountains in the North to the
Levant in the South. Unlike its predecessors they were biologically and culturally adapted to survival in cold environments and successfully extended their range to the glacial environments of central Europe and the Russian plains. The great number and in some cases exceptional state of preservation of Neanderthal fossils and cultural
assemblages enables researchers to provide a detailed and accurate data on behavior and culture.[16][17] Neanderthals are associated with the
Mousterian culture (Mode 3), stone tools that first appeared approximately 160,000 years ago.[18][19]
Experts debate over whether the "
Divje Babe flute" from the
Divje Babe I cave is evidence—based on if the object is an actual flute—that the Middle Paleolithic Neanderthal inhabitants of Europe may have made and used musical instruments.[20]
Upper Paleolithic: 50,000–10,000 BP
The earliest modern human which have been directly dated are from 46,000 to 44,000 years ago in the
Bacho Kiro cave, located in present-day
Bulgaria. They are associated with the Initial Upper Paleolithic (IUP), the earliest culture of modern humans in Europe.[21][22] These people do not appear to have been the ancestors of later Europeans as the very few
ancient DNA (aDNA) samples recovered from this period are not related to later samples.[23]
The IUP was followed by the
Aurignacian. The origins of this culture can be located in
Eastern Europe, in what is now
Bulgaria (proto-Aurignacian) and
Hungary (first full Aurignacian). By 35,000 BCE, the Aurignacian culture and its technology had extended through most of Europe.[24][25] Studies of aDNA have found an association between 35,000 year old Aurignacian remains in the
Goyet Cave system in Belgium and Mesolithic hunter-gatherers in Western Europe. The same aDNA signature is found in the intervening period in Iberia, suggesting that the area was a refuge for hunter-gatherers at the height of the
Last Glacial Maximum.[23]
Around 32,000 BCE, the
Gravettian culture appears in the
Crimean Mountains (southern Ukraine).[26][27] Around 22,000 BCE, the
Solutrean and Gravettian cultures reach the southwestern region of Europe. The Gravettian technology/culture has been theorized to have come with migrations of people from the
Middle East,
Anatolia, and the
Balkans. The cultures might be linked with the transitional cultures mentioned before, because their techniques have some similarities and are both very different from Aurignacian ones but this issue is thus far very obscure. The Gravettian soon disappears from southwestern Europe, with the notable exception of the Mediterranean coasts of Iberia. The Gravettian culture also appears in the
Caucasus and the
Zagros Mountains.
The Solutrean culture, extended from northern Spain to southeastern France, includes not only an advanced
stone technology but also the first significant development of cave painting, the use of the needle and possibly that of the bow and arrow.
The more widespread Gravettian culture is no less advanced, at least in artistic terms: sculpture (mainly venuses) is the most outstanding form of creative expression of these peoples.[4]
Around 17,000 BCE, Europe witnesses the appearance of a new culture, known as
Magdalenian, possibly rooted in the old Aurignacian one. This culture soon supersedes the Solutrean area and also the Gravettian of
Central Europe. However, in Mediterranean Iberia, the
Italian Peninsula, and Eastern Europe,
epi-Gravettian cultures continue evolving locally.
With the Magdalenian culture, Paleolithic development in Europe reaches its peak and this is reflected in the advanced art, owing to the previous traditions of painting in the West and sculpture in Central Europe.[28]
Around 10,500 BCE, the
Würm Glacial age ends. Slowly, through the following millennia, temperatures and sea levels rise, changing the environment of prehistoric people. Nevertheless, Magdalenian culture persists until circa 8000 BCE, when it quickly evolves into two microlithist cultures:
Azilian, in northern Spain and southern France, and
Sauveterrian, in northern France and Central Europe, which are described as either
Epipaleolithic or Mesolithic. Though there are some differences, both cultures share several traits: the creation of very small stone tools called
microliths and the scarcity of figurative art, which seems to have vanished almost completely, being replaced by abstract decoration of tools, and in the Azilian,
pebbles.
In the late phase of this
Epipaleolithic period, the Sauveterrian culture evolves into the so-called
Tardenoisian and influences strongly its southern neighbour, clearly replacing it in Mediterranean Spain and Portugal. The recession of the glaciers allows human colonization in
Northern Europe for the first time. The
Maglemosian culture, derived from the Sauveterre-Tardenois culture but with a strong personality, colonizes
Denmark and the nearby regions, including parts of
Great Britain.[29][30][31]
^Musée de Préhistoire Terra Amata.
"Le site acheuléen de Terra Amata" [The Acheulean site of Terra Amata]. Musée de Préhistoire Terra Amata (in French). Retrieved 10 June 2022.
^Lordkipanidze, David; Ponce de León, Marcia S.; Margvelashvili, Ann; Rak, Yoel; Rightmire, G. Philip; Vekua, Abesalom (18 October 2013). "A Complete Skull from Dmanisi, Georgia, and the Evolutionary Biology of Early Homo". Science. 342 (6156). American Association for the Advancement of Science: 326–331.
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^"Homo neanderthalensis". Smithsonian Institution. September 22, 2016. Retrieved September 26, 2016. ...The Mousterian stone tool industry of Neanderthals is characterized by…
^Nelson, D.E. (1997). "Radiocarbon dating of bone and charcoal from Divje babe I cave". In Turk, Ivan (ed.). Mousterian 'Bone Flute' and other finds from Divje babe I cave site in Slovenia. pp. 51–64.
ISBN978-961-6182-29-4.
^Milisauskas, Sarunas (2011).
European Prehistory: A Survey.
Springer. p. 74.
ISBN978-1-4419-6633-9. Retrieved 22 January 2019. One of the earliest dates for an Aurignacian assemblage is greater than 43,000 BP from Bacho Kiro cave in Bulgaria ...
^Prat, Sandrine; Péan, Stéphane C.; Crépin, Laurent; Drucker, Dorothée G.; Puaud, Simon J.; Valladas, Hélène; Lázničková-Galetová, Martina; van der Plicht, Johannes; Yanevich, Alexander (17 June 2011). "The Oldest Anatomically Modern Humans from Far Southeast Europe: Direct Dating, Culture and Behavior".
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