

Paleolithic Europe

Venus of Moravany, dating back to 22,800 BC, discovered in Slovakia early in the 20th century

Paleolithic Europe, the Lower or Old Stone Age in Europe encompasses the era from the arrival of the first humans, of which the earliest known indices are around 1.8 million years old until the beginning of the Middle Stone Age, the Mesolithic, (also Epipaleolithic) around 50,000 years ago. This period covers over 90% of human technological history on the European continent.[1]

Analysis of the combined archaeological record allows us to conclude that Homo neanderthalensis had evolved from Homo heidelbergensis in Paleolithic Europe between 600,000 and 500,000 years ago before being replaced by modern humans migrating out of Africa approximately 50,000 years ago. 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.[2][3]


Lower Paleolithic : 1.8 mya - 300,000 BP

An artist's rendering of a temporary wood house, based on evidence found at Terra Amata (in Nice, France) and dated to the Lower Paleolithic (c. 400,000 BP)

The earliest inhabitants of Europe from 1.8 million years ago used Oldowan pebble tool technology. The earliest evidence for the use of the more advanced Acheulean technology are 900,000-year-old flint hand axes found in Iberia. Notable human fossils from this most ancient period of European prehistory are Kozarnika in Bulgaria 1.4 mya, Atapuerca in Spain 1.2 mya, Mauer 1 from Germany 500k, Eartham Pit, Boxgrove England 478k, Swanscombe Man from England 400k, and Tautavel Man from France 400k.

The oldest complete hunting weapons ever found anywhere in the world were discovered in 1995 in a coal mine in Schoningen, Germany, where three 380,000-year-old wooden javelins 6-7.5 feet long were unearthed.[4]

Middle Paleolithic : 300,000 BP - 50,000 BP

Eventually these European Homo erectus evolved through a series of intermediate speciations including Homo antecessor and Homo heidelbergensis into the species Homo neanderthalensis (since c. 200,000 BP) associated with the Mousterian technologies. Early Homo sapiens also participated in this tool-making technique for a long time and they may have first settled Europe while this Mid-Paleolithic technique was still in use, though the issue is still unclear.

A possible flute from the Divje Babe I cave reveals that the Middle Paleolithic Neanderthal inhabitants of Europe may have made and used musical instruments.[5]

Upper Paleolithic : 50,000 BP - 10,000 BP

Ancient Upper Paleolithic

Modern human remains dating to 43-45,000 years ago have been discovered in Italy at Grotta di Fumane and Grotta del Cavallo[6] and in Britain.[7] The bearers of most or all Upper Paleolithic technologies were H. sapiens. Some locally developed transitional cultures (Szletian in Central Europe and Chatelperronian in the Southwest) use clearly Upper Paleolithic technologies at very early dates and there are doubts about who were their carriers: H. sapiens, Neanderthal or the interbred population.


The first works of art appear during this phase.

Middle Upper Paleolithic

Burins of the Gravettian culture.

Around 32,000 BCE, the Gravettian culture appears in the Crimean Mountains (southern Ukraine).[8][9] 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 SE 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.


Late Upper Paleolithic


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.


Azilian points, microliths from epipaleolithic northern Spain and southern France.


In the late phase of this Epipaleolithic period, the Sauveterrean culture evolves into the so-called Tardenoisian and influences strongly its southern neighbour, clearly replacing it in Mediterranean Spain and Portugal.


See also


  1. ^ Nicholas Toth & Kathy Schick (2007). Handbook of Paleoanthropology. Springer Berlin Heidelberg. p. 1963. ISBN 978-3-540-32474-4. 
  2. ^ "'Fossil find is oldest European yet'". Nature News. 2008-03-26. 
  3. ^ Trinkaus, E; Moldovan, O; Milota, S; Bîlgăr, A; Sarcina, L; Athreya, S; Bailey, Se; Rodrigo, R; Mircea, G; Higham, T; Ramsey, Cb; Van, Der, Plicht, J; Moldovan; Milota; Bîlgar; Sarcina; Athreya; Bailey; Rodrigo; Mircea; Higham; Bronk Ramsey; Van Der Plicht (Sep 2003). "An early modern human from the Peştera cu Oase, Romania" (Free full text). Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. 100 (20): 11231–6. Bibcode:2003PNAS..10011231T. doi:10.1073/pnas.2035108100. ISSN 0027-8424. PMC 208740Freely accessible. PMID 14504393. 
  4. ^ []
  5. ^ Nelson, D.E., Radiocarbon dating of bone and charcoal from Divje babe I cave, cited by Morley, p. 47
  6. ^ Benazzi, S.; Douka, K.; Fornai, C.; Bauer, C. C.; Kullmer, O.; Svoboda, J. Í.; Pap, I.; Mallegni, F.; Bayle, P.; Coquerelle, M.; Condemi, S.; Ronchitelli, A.; Harvati, K.; Weber, G. W. (2011). "Early dispersal of modern humans in Europe and implications for Neanderthal behaviour". Nature. 479 (7374): 525–8. doi:10.1038/nature10617. PMID 22048311. 
  7. ^ Higham, T.; Compton, T.; Stringer, C.; Jacobi, R.; Shapiro, B.; Trinkaus, E.; Chandler, B.; Gröning, F.; Collins, C.; Hillson, S.; o’Higgins, P.; Fitzgerald, C.; Fagan, M. (2011). "The earliest evidence for anatomically modern humans in northwestern Europe". Nature. 479 (7374): 521–4. doi:10.1038/nature10484. PMID 22048314. 
  8. ^ 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". plosone. Retrieved 21 June 2011. 

External links

Paleolithic sites in France