The late Middle Paleolithic and earliest Upper Paleolithic in Central Europe and their relevance for the Out of Africa hypothesis

2001 ◽  
Vol 75 (1) ◽  
pp. 29-40 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Bolus ◽  
Nicholas J Conard
Keyword(s):  
Central Europe ◽  
Upper Paleolithic ◽  
Middle Paleolithic ◽  
Out Of Africa

scholarly journals The Use of Ochre and Painting During the Upper Paleolithic of the Swabian Jura in the Context of the Development of Ochre Use in Africa and Europe

2018 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 185-205 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sibylle Wolf ◽  
Nicholas J. Conard ◽  
Harald Floss ◽  
Rimtautas Dapschauskas ◽  
Elizabeth Velliky ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Central Europe ◽  
Upper Paleolithic ◽  
Archaeological Sites ◽  
Modern Humans ◽  
Anatomically Modern Humans

Abstract While the earliest evidence for ochre use is very sparse, the habitual use of ochre by hominins appeared about 140,000 years ago and accompanied them ever since. Here, we present an overview of archaeological sites in southwestern Germany, which yielded remains of ochre. We focus on the artifacts belonging exclusively to anatomically modern humans who were the inhabitants of the cave sites in the Swabian Jura during the Upper Paleolithic. The painted limestones from the Magdalenian layers of Hohle Fels Cave are a particular focus. We present these artifacts in detail and argue that they represent the beginning of a tradition of painting in Central Europe.

The Rhine During the Middle Paleolithic

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nicholas Conard
Keyword(s):  
Central Europe ◽  
Middle Paleolithic

The Rhine, while separating West and Central Europe, also formed a major corridor not only for the movement of people but also of ideas during the Paleolithic. This volume by a group of researchers working along both sides of the Rhine explores both of these premises.

scholarly journals The absolute chronology of Boker Tachtit (Israel) and implications for the Middle to Upper Paleolithic transition in the Levant

2021 ◽  
Vol 118 (25) ◽  
pp. e2014657118
Author(s):  
Elisabetta Boaretto ◽  
Marion Hernandez ◽  
Mae Goder-Goldberger ◽  
Vera Aldeias ◽  
Lior Regev ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Material Culture ◽  
Late Phase ◽  
Optically Stimulated Luminescence ◽  
Upper Paleolithic ◽  
Middle Paleolithic ◽  
Lithic Assemblage ◽  
Early Upper Paleolithic ◽  
The Absolute ◽  
Dramatic Shift ◽  
Early Upper

The Initial Upper Paleolithic (IUP) is a crucial lithic assemblage type in the archaeology of southwest Asia because it marks a dramatic shift in hominin populations accompanied by technological changes in material culture. This phase is conventionally divided into two chronocultural phases based on the Boker Tachtit site, central Negev, Israel. While lithic technologies at Boker Tachtit are well defined, showing continuity from one phase to another, the absolute chronology is poorly resolved because the radiocarbon method used had a large uncertainty. Nevertheless, Boker Tachtit is considered to be the origin of the succeeding Early Upper Paleolithic Ahmarian tradition that dates in the Negev to ∼42,000 y ago (42 ka). Here, we provide 14C and optically stimulated luminescence dates obtained from a recent excavation of Boker Tachtit. The new dates show that the early phase at Boker Tachtit, the Emirian, dates to 50 through 49 ka, while the late phase dates to 47.3 ka and ends by 44.3 ka. These results show that the IUP started in the Levant during the final stages of the Late Middle Paleolithic some 50,000 y ago. The later IUP phase in the Negev chronologically overlaps with the Early Upper Paleolithic Ahmarian of the Mediterranean woodland region between 47 and 44 ka. We conclude that Boker Tachtit is the earliest manifestation of the IUP in Eurasia. The study shows that distinguishing the chronology of the IUP from the Late Middle Paleolithic, as well as from the Early Upper Paleolithic, is much more complex than previously thought.

The Middle to Upper Paleolithic transition in the southern Levant: New insights from the late Middle Paleolithic site of Far’ah II, Israel

2020 ◽  
Vol 237 ◽  
pp. 106304 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mae Goder-Goldberger ◽  
Onn Crouvi ◽  
Valentina Caracuta ◽  
Liora Kolska Horwitz ◽  
Frank H. Neumann ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Upper Paleolithic ◽  
Middle Paleolithic ◽  
Southern Levant ◽  
Paleolithic Site

The Upper Paleolithic—However It Got Here, It's Here: (Can the Middle Paleolithic Be far behind?)

1981 ◽  
Vol 46 (4) ◽  
pp. 926-928 ◽  
Author(s):  
John L. Cotter
Keyword(s):  
New World ◽  
Upper Paleolithic ◽  
Middle Paleolithic ◽  
Old World

Morphological similarities in bone technology between Old World and New World Pleistocene epoch assemblages are noted, and their implications are explored.

scholarly journals Lower and Middle Paleolithic of Kazakhstan: Morphological, Technological and Typological Aspect of the Study of Bifacial Artefacts on the example of Handaxes from the Aral Sea Region and the Mugalzhar Mountains

2020 ◽  
Vol 32 ◽  
pp. 3-14
Author(s):  
E. A. Osipova ◽  
◽  
O. A. Artyukhova ◽  
T. B. Mamirov ◽  
◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Far East ◽  
Great Majority ◽  
Geographic Area ◽  
Aral Sea ◽  
Middle Paleolithic ◽  
Comparison Study ◽  
Middle Phase ◽  
Arid Conditions ◽  
Out Of Africa ◽  
Early Human

Situated at the crossroads of Europe and Asia, actual Kazakhstan represents a strong scientific interest in understanding of the early human migrations “Out-of-Africa” to the Far East. During the whole Pleistocene, the arid conditions of this geographic area hindered the sediment accumulative deposits and the formation of stratified Paleolithic sites. Only studies of lithic industries from the sites with a surface cultural horizon seem possible. These analyses are based on a deflation degree of artefacts and on their technological and typological study followed by a comparison with other lithic collections from stratified and dated sites from surrounding grounds. This paper presents the morphological, technological and typological study of handaxes from the surface sites discovered in the Mugalzhar mountains and in the Aral Sea region. The goal of the study is to reconstitute the operational procedure (chaîne opératoire) in handaxe manufacture with the following comparison study between the handaxe samples. The lithic collection (20 artifacts) is housed at the A. Kh. Margulan Institute of Archaeology (Almaty, Kazakhstan). The analysis of data allows seeing the stark technological difference in the handaxe manufacture from the Mugalzhary mountains and from the Aral Sea region sites. As regards the typological analysis, the great majority of these handaxes from the Mugalzhary sites are characterized by fairly elongated and massive forms. Only on is of discoidal morphology and rather thin in thickness. The other are represented by one amygdaloidal, seven ovate, two lanceolate and two naviform (spear-shaped) handaxes. Any cordiform or triangular handanxes are not determined. Between the handaxes from the Aral Sea region sites, the majority is caracterised by elongated and rather thickened forms. Only one cordiform handaxe from the sample is thin. The elongated handaxes are represented by one amygdaloidal and by three lanceolate objects. It is expected that the handaxes from the Mugalzhary sites belong to more ancient period than the collection from the Aral Sea region sites. The predominance of both lanceolate handaxes and limandes is a typical dance of the Acheulean period, in particular, of its middle phase. The knapping technology used for handaxe manufacturing processes from the Aral Sea region sites and their typology (cordiform handaxes) are representative of the Middle Paleolithic.

scholarly journals The châtelperronian Neandertals of Cova Foradada (Calafell, Spain) used Iberian imperial eagle phalanges for symbolic purposes

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Antonio Rodríguez-Hidalgo ◽  
Juan Ignacio Morales ◽  
Artur Cebriá ◽  
Lloyd A. Courtenay ◽  
Juan L. Fernández-Marchena ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Time Scale ◽  
Homo Sapiens ◽  
Specific Area ◽  
Upper Paleolithic ◽  
Middle Paleolithic ◽  
Modern Humans ◽  
Cultural Elements ◽  
Mediterranean Europe ◽  
Anatomically Modern Humans ◽  
Imperial Eagle

The use of personal ornaments by Neandertals is one of the scarce evidence of their symbolic behaviour. Among them stand up the eagle talons used presumably as pendants, in an analogous way than anatomically Modern Humans (Homo sapiens) did. Considering the broad range and time scale of Neandertals distribution across Eurasia, this phenomenon seems to be concentrated in a very specific area of Southwestern-Mediterranean Europe during a span of ca. 80 ka. Here we present the analysis of one pedal phalange of a large eagle recovered in Foradada cave site, Spain. Our research confirms the use of eagle talons as symbolic elements in Iberia, expanding geographically and temporally one of the most common evidence of symbolic behaviour among western European Neandertals. The convergence in use of large raptor talons as symbolic elements by one of the last Neandertal populations raises the survival of some cultural elements of the Middle Paleolithic into beginnings of the Upper Paleolithic.

scholarly journals Symmetry and Middle Paleolithic Points: A Case Study of Iran's Middle Paleolithic Points

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nasim Feizi ◽  
Hamed Vahdati Nasab
Keyword(s):  
Long Range ◽  
Critical Factor ◽  
Upper Paleolithic ◽  
Middle Paleolithic ◽  
Sectional Area ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Projectile Points ◽  
Projectile Motion ◽  
Length Width

Abstract The throwing capacity of Middle Paleolithic points has been an important issue since the discovery of the Neanderthals toolbox. In the Middle Paleolithic, hominins (Neanderthals or H. sapiens) made trusting points with limited or no throwing capability. Projectile points as a long-range weapon were replaced the trusting and guaranteed the survival of modern humans. Several attempts have been made to recognize the aerodynamic differences between Middle and Upper Paleolithic Points. However, up to now, far too little attention has been paid to the symmetry and projectile motion rules related to it. In this paper, symmetry and other morphological features, including length, width, weight, cross-sectional area, flatting, and elongation, have been measured on 280 points collected from five Iranian Middle Paleolithic sites. In addition, the Iranian Middle Paleolithic data is compared with several Middle, Upper, and Neolithic sites outside of Iran. The results indicate that the evolution of symmetry alongside increased elongation and proportionality in measurable characteristics was a critical factor in creating projectile points.

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