Sexual dimorphism in Upper Palaeolithic hand stencils

Antiquity ◽  
2006 ◽  
Vol 80 (308) ◽  
pp. 390-404 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dean R. Snow
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Dimorphism ◽  
Adult Male ◽  
Human Hand ◽  
Upper Palaeolithic ◽  
Men And Women ◽  
Sexual Roles ◽  
Adult Females ◽  
Palaeolithic Art ◽  
Cave Art

Sexual roles in deep prehistory are among the most intriguing puzzles still to solve. Here the author shows how men and women can be distinguished by scientific measurement in the prints and stencils of the human hand that occur widely in Upper Palaeolithic art. Six hand stencils from four French caves are attributed to four adult females, an adult male, and a sub-adult male. Here we take a step closer to showing that both sexes are engaged in cave art and whatever dreams and rituals it implies.

Light, Human Evolution, and the Palaeolithic

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul Pettitt ◽  
Stefanie Leluschko ◽  
Takashi Sakamoto
Keyword(s):  
Western Europe ◽  
Human Perception ◽  
Evolutionary Significance ◽  
Middle Palaeolithic ◽  
Upper Palaeolithic ◽  
Low Light ◽  
Light Production ◽  
Constituent Component ◽  
Palaeolithic Art ◽  
Cave Art

Human light-producing technology (i.e. the controlled use of fire) evolved during the Palaeolithic. Among its more obvious advantages to survival (heat, cooking, protection), fire-provided light in the form of hearths and lamps probably had considerable evolutionary significance. As human symbolic systems spread with the late Middle Palaeolithic and Upper Palaeolithic in Eurasia, it became a constituent component of European cave art. After reviewing the biological basis of human perception in low-light situations, we examine the existing evidence for the evolution of controlled use of fire (light production), and focus on its use in the performance of Upper Palaeolithic art and other activities in the deep caves of Western Europe.

scholarly journals Sexual dimorphism in thyroid function and type 1 iodothyronine deiodinase activity in pre-pubertal and adult rats

2007 ◽  
Vol 192 (1) ◽  
pp. 121-130 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michelle P Marassi ◽  
Rodrigo S Fortunato ◽  
Alba C Matos da Silva ◽  
Valmara S Pereira ◽  
Denise P Carvalho ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Dimorphism ◽  
Adult Male ◽  
Gonadal Hormones ◽  
Adult Males ◽  
Adult Rats ◽  
Iodothyronine Deiodinase ◽  
Adult Females ◽  
Serum T3 ◽  
Serum Tsh

Iodothyronine deiodinase activities are regulated by sex steroids; however, the mechanisms underlying the reported sexual dimorphism are poorly defined. In the present report, we aimed to investigate whether type 1 deiodinase (D1) sexual dimorphism exists early in sexual development by studying pre-pubertal male (Pm) and female (Pf) rats, as well as adult controls (C) and gonadectomized male and females rats. Adult male Wistar rats were studied 21 days after orchiectomy (Tex), and adult females were studied 21 days after ovariectomy (Ovx), and after estradiol benzoate (Eb) replacement. Serum total triiodothyronine (T3) was higher in pre-pubertal (P) rats than in the matching adults, with no difference between genders, although in adult males T3 was significantly lower than in females. There were no sex or age differences in serum total T4. Serum TSH in pre-pubertal (P) rats was within the adult female range, and both were significantly lower than in adult males. D1 activity in liver was greater in Pm than in Pf. In adult females, liver D1 activity was lower, while in adult males it was higher than in P rats. The same pattern of D1 activity was found in kidney. In thyroid and pituitary, D1 activity was similar in Pm, Pf, and adult females, which were all significantly lower than in the adult male. There were no differences in serum T3 and T4 between C and Tex males, but serum TSH was significantly decreased in Tex rats. Hepatic and renal D1 activities were lower in Tex than in C, but no changes were detected in thyroid and pituitary. In Ovx females, T3 was significantly lower than in the C group. Serum T4 was significantly decreased by estradiol replacement therapy in Ovx rats, in both doses used, whereas TSH was unchanged. Eb replacement increased liver and thyroid D1 activity, but in the kidney, only the highest estradiol dose promoted a significant D1 increase. In conclusion, in males, hepatic and renal D1 activity appears to be significantly influenced by gonadal hormones, in contrast to females, in which only exogenous Eb treatment stimulated D1 activity. The comparison between pre-pubertal and adult rats suggests that serum T3 is not the main regulator of D1 activity, and other factors, besides T3 and gonadal hormones, can modulate D1 activity during murine maturation.

Gravettian Figurative Art in the Western Pyrenees: Stratigraphy, Cultural Context, and Chronology

2018 ◽  
Vol 22 (2) ◽  
pp. 168-184 ◽  
Author(s):  
Blanca Ochoa ◽  
Marcos García-Diez ◽  
José-Manuel Maíllo-Fernández ◽  
Álvaro Arrizabalaga ◽  
Paul Pettitt
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Context ◽  
Western Europe ◽  
Upper Palaeolithic ◽  
The North ◽  
Figurative Art ◽  
Degree Of Confidence ◽  
North Of Spain ◽  
Palaeolithic Art ◽  
Cave Art ◽  
Portable Art

The timing and nature of the emergence of art in human evolution has been one of the more debated subjects in palaeoanthropology in the last few years, and one of the areas where archaeology has made impressive advances. Here, we discuss the first evidence of figurative art on portable materials in the north of Spain. After analysis of the stratigraphic contexts of all examples potentially of this age, which eliminated those of uncertain provenance, only three examples can be said to be Gravettian with a degree of confidence. We examine their stratigraphic provenance, the integrity of their archaeological contexts, and the absolute dates available for them. We then discuss their thematic and stylistic traits, comparing them to the wider database of material in the adjacent regions of the French Pyrenees and Mediterranean Iberia. We conclude that figurative depictions were scarce in the Gravettian of south-western Europe, in contrast to the relatively abundant examples of cave art assigned to this period in the region. If this is correct, we should nuance our discussions of ‘Palaeolithic art’ by considering that parietal and portable art had their own trajectories and functions, at least in the Early to mid-Upper Palaeolithic.

Salomon Reinach and the religious interpretation of Palaeolithic art

Antiquity ◽  
2010 ◽  
Vol 84 (325) ◽  
pp. 853-863 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eduardo Palacio-Pérez
Keyword(s):  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
Upper Palaeolithic ◽  
Intellectual Movements ◽  
Palaeolithic Art ◽  
Cave Art

When did upper Palaeolithic cave art come to be thought of as religious? The author shows an origin rooted in the intellectual movements of the later nineteenth century, and in particular in the personage and thought of Salomon Reinach.

European Palaeolithic Rock Art and Spatial Structures

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jean Clottes
Keyword(s):  
Rock Art ◽  
Spatial Models ◽  
Upper Palaeolithic ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Spirit World ◽  
Structural Principles ◽  
A Site ◽  
Palaeolithic Art ◽  
Cave Art

This chapter examines the question of spatiality/spatial structure in rock art by focusing on European Upper Palaeolithic art, commonly known as cave art. More specifically, it considers the existence of structural principles, both physical and mental, important in understanding the artists’ ways of thinking. After discussing the role of the landscape in rock art, the chapter explains how Palaeolithic peoples of Europe dealt with a wide range of spatial choices and possibilities: for example, when a site was chosen as appropriate for artworks, or whether people developed one or more spatial models that they would apply or adapt to their chosen sites. It provides evidence showing that Upper Palaeolithic peoples held beliefs and customs that were reflected in the nature and structure of the paintings, engravings, and carvings that they created in hopes of establishing contact with the spirit world and deriving benefits from such connections.

Palaeolithic Cave Art at Creswell Crags in European Context

2007 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Late Pleistocene ◽  
Rock Art ◽  
Ice Age ◽  
Upper Palaeolithic ◽  
Southern France ◽  
European Context ◽  
The World ◽  
Cave Art ◽  
Illustrated Book

Cave art is a subject of perennial interest among archaeologists. Until recently it was assumed that it was largely restricted to southern France and northern Iberia, although in recent years new discoveries have demonstrated that it originally had a much wider distribution. The discovery in 2003 of the UK's first examples of cave art, in two caves at Creswell Crags on the Derbyshire/Nottinghamshire border, was the most surprising illustration of this. The discoverers (the editors of the book) brought together in 2004 a number of Palaeolithic archaeologists and rock art specialists from across the world to study the Creswell art and debate its significance, and its similarities and contrasts with contemporary Late Pleistocene ("Ice Age") art on the Continent. This comprehensively illustrated book presents the Creswell art itself, the archaeology of the caves and the region, and the wider context of the Upper Palaeolithic era in Britain, as well as a number of up-to-date studies of Palaeolithic cave art in Spain, Portugal, France, and Italy which serve to contextualize the British examples.

Significance of wounding to female reproductive success in Hawaiian monk seals (Monachus schauinslandi) at Laysan Island

1993 ◽  
Vol 71 (3) ◽  
pp. 469-474 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lisa M. Hiruki ◽  
Ian Stirling ◽  
William G. Gilmartin ◽  
Thea C. Johanos ◽  
Brenda L. Becker
Keyword(s):  
Reproductive Success ◽  
Adult Male ◽  
Reproductive Rate ◽  
Lactation Period ◽  
Female Reproductive Success ◽  
Monachus Schauinslandi ◽  
Lower Survival Rate ◽  
Adult Females ◽  
Pup Survival ◽  
Monk Seals

We studied reproductive rate, length of lactation period, pup survival, and mortality of injured and uninjured female Hawaiian monk seals (Monachus schauinslandi) on Laysan Island, northwestern Hawaiian Islands, in 1983 – 1989. The severity and timing of nonfatal injuries were influential in determining their effect on female reproductive success. There was a tendency towards a shorter mean lactation period and lower survival rate of pups for females with major injuries than for uninjured females. Females with minor injuries were similar to uninjured females in terms of reproductive rate, length of lactation, and pup survival. For females injured shortly before the birth of their pup or during lactation, pup survival was lower than for uninjured females, whereas for females injured during the year prior to pupping, measures of reproductive success were not significantly different from those for uninjured females. Immature (aged 4 – 8 years) females entering the reproductive population were injured by adult male seals significantly more often than females aged 0 – 3 years, but at a similar rate to adult females. The major effect of injuries on female reproductive success is an increase in female mortality: 87.5 % of the adult females (n = 16) that died on Laysan Island in 1983 – 1989 sustained injuries from adult male seals.

Thematic changes in Upper Palaeolithic art: a view from the Grotte Chauvet

Antiquity ◽  
1996 ◽  
Vol 70 (268) ◽  
pp. 276-288 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jean Clottes
Keyword(s):  
Upper Palaeolithic ◽  
Palaeolithic Art

Trustworthy dates on charcoal from the classic European painted caves have given a sharper view of images and their making in the later Palaeolithic. The new Grotte Chauvet has its own original themes, revealing a striking and an unexpected Aurignacian art with — again — dates from charcoal in which one can have confidence.

Altered States of Consciousness and Palaeoart: an Alternative Neurovisual Explanation

2006 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
pp. 27-37 ◽  
Author(s):  
Derek Hodgson
Keyword(s):  
Alternative Explanation ◽  
Altered States Of Consciousness ◽  
Viable Alternative ◽  
Altered States ◽  
Upper Palaeolithic ◽  
States Of Consciousness ◽  
Palaeolithic Art

There has been much controversy recently regarding Lewis-Williams's assertion that altered states of consciousness and shamanism can explain Palaeolithic art. Evidence now seems to be accumulating that this account is unable to provide a sustainable explanation for Upper Palaeolithic depictions. This proposition will be explored and substantiated by examining further weaknesses contained therein. Additionally, in response to claims by those defending altered states that no alternative explanation for palaeoart has been proposed as a viable alternative, it will be shown that such a description does exist but has not been given the attention it deserves because of a misplaced concern for shamanism.

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