30 Questions
Which archaeological culture is associated with the earliest evidence for art and musical instruments in Europe?
Aurignacian
Where is Altamira located?
Spain
Which site in Canada is considered to be the earliest in eastern Beringia, dating to around 22,000 cal BC?
Bluefish Caves
What is the significance of Blackwater Draw Locality 1?
Source for Clovis culture and Clovis points
Which land bridge connected Siberia to Alaska during the Pleistocene?
Beringia
What do ochre, hematite, and ostrich eggshell fragments at a site suggest?
Artistic endeavors
Where is Buang Merabak, one of the earliest archaeological sites documenting the colonization of Sahul, located?
New Guinea
What does Human Behavioral Ecology (HBE) explore?
Costs and benefits of behavioral strategies
What is suggested about Later Stone Age hunter-gatherer-foragers in terms of mobility?
They flexibly shifted between highly mobile foraging and sedentary collecting
What does the presence of small flaked stone artifacts at Grotte des Contrabandiers suggest about the area?
Scarcity of good tool stone
When did the technologies of the Later Stone Age spread out of Africa?
Prior to 50,000 cal BC
What period do we assign tools and behaviors that spread throughout Eurasia starting around 45,000 cal BC?
Upper Paleolithic
What sets the Aurignacian culture apart from the Neandertals?
Presence of modern behavior like art and music
Where are the earliest modern humans in Europe found?
Russia
What type of cultural expressions became commonplace throughout Europe after 40,000 cal BC?
Use of ivory for tools and art
Which site yielded a tiny female human figurine ('Venus') dating back to more than 33,000 cal BC?
Hohle Fels Cave
What is hinted at by the presence of eyed bone needles in Russia dating to 32,000 cal BC?
Tailored clothing
Which cave contains stunning Upper Paleolithic animal depictions like cave bears, horses, and rhinoceros?
Chauvet Cave
What is one of the proposed functions of cave art mentioned in the text?
Serving as territorial markers
During the late Pleistocene, how much lower were sea levels compared to today according to the text?
120 - 140 meters (390–460 feet)
What was the land mass that united Myanmar, Thailand, Malaysia, Cambodia, Vietnam, and parts of Indonesia called during the late Pleistocene?
Sunda
How were New Guinea, Australia, and Tasmania connected during the late Pleistocene?
As a land mass called Sahul
What does genetic evidence support regarding the initial peopling of Sahul?
A coastal route from the Horn of Africa
Where is the earliest archaeological evidence in Sahul located according to the text?
Madjebebe in northern Australia at 65,000 years ago
What is implied by the fact that hatchets have not been found in the areas where colonizing populations for Sahul originated?
Hatchets were invented after colonization.
What is the significance of the Carpenters Gap site dating back to 47,000 cal BC?
It demonstrates the migration of humans into more arid inland areas.
Based on genetic evidence, what does the Berengian Standstill hypothesis propose?
The isolated Siberians reached Alaska around 25,000 cal BP.
What event marked the beginning of the worldwide climate rebound from the Last Glacial Maximum?
Climate change after 19,000 cal BC.
Which area was occupied as early as 45,000 cal BP according to the text?
Southern Siberia
What is the most widely accepted route into the Americas during the late Pleistocene?
Land bridge connecting Siberia and Alaska
Study Notes
Territorial Markers and Symbolic Communication
- Cave art could have served as a method of symbolically communicating identity and marking territories of ethnic groups.
Worldwide Expansion and Sea Levels
- During the late Pleistocene, sea levels were 120-140 meters (390-460 feet) lower than today, exposing land areas and enabling expansion into new regions.
Australia/New Guinea and the Land Masses
- At 50,000 cal BC, Myanmar, Thailand, Malaysia, Cambodia, Vietnam, and parts of Indonesia formed a single land mass called Sunda.
- New Guinea, Australia, and Tasmania were connected as a land mass called Sahul, separated from Sunda by a 50-100 kilometer water gap.
- Genetic evidence supports a coastal route from the Horn of Africa, along Sunda, and into Sahul.
- The earliest archaeological evidence in Sahul is Madjebebe in northern Australia, dating to 65,000 years ago.
Key Archaeological Sites
- Altamira: a painted cave site in Spain with Magdalenian Upper Paleolithic images.
- Apollo 11 Cave: a Later Stone Age site in Namibia, Africa, containing the oldest known African rock art (30,000-28,000 cal BC).
- Blackwater Draw Locality 1: a Paleoamerican Clovis kill and butchery site in New Mexico, USA.
- Bluefish Caves: the earliest site in eastern Beringia (Canada), dating to 22,000 cal BC.
- Buang Merabak: one of the earliest archaeological sites in New Guinea, documenting the colonization of Sahul at least 43,000-42,000 cal BC.
- Carpenters Gap: an archaeological site in western Australia, dating to 47,000 cal BC.
- Caverna de Pedra Pintada: a Paleoamerican site in the Amazon region of Brazil.
Human Behavioral Ecology
- Human behavioral ecology (HBE) explores the costs and benefits of behavioral strategies in hunter-gatherer-foragers.
Upper Paleolithic Europe
- The Aurignacian culture dates to between 43,000 and 33,000 cal BC and is associated with modern humans.
- The earliest modern humans in Europe are found in Russia, Italy, and England.
- The art and hunting sophistication of Aurignacian peoples illustrate how they differ from previous groups.
The Americas
- The first people to reach the Americas originated in Siberia (Russia), specifically the Altai Mountains.
- Southern Siberia was occupied as early as 45,000 cal BP, and northeastern Siberia as early as 30,000 cal BP.
- The "Berengian Standstill" hypothesis suggests that some of these people reached the Alaskan area by 25,000 cal BP.
- After 19,000 cal BC, populations migrated east into the Americas through the Beringia land bridge.
Explore the characteristics and differences of the Aurignacian culture of Central and Western Europe, which dates back to between 43,000 and 33,000 cal BC. Discover how these people's settlement patterns compared to Neanderthals and the emergence of modern behavior like art and music in the Aurignacian period.
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