Closely Observed Animals, Hunter-Gatherers, and Visual Imagery in Upper Paleolithic Art

2017 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 59
Author(s):  
Derek Hodgson
Keyword(s):  
Visual Imagery ◽  
Upper Paleolithic ◽  
Hunter Gatherers ◽  
Paleolithic Art

The Hidden Shaman

2013 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Wengrow
Keyword(s):  
Near East ◽  
Upper Paleolithic ◽  
Ice Age ◽  
Southern Europe ◽  
Hunter Gatherers ◽  
Last Ice Age ◽  
Paleolithic Art ◽  
Predynastic Egypt

This chapter considers the case for a much earlier beginning to the composite's story, among the hunter-gatherers and villagers of remote prehistory. It has been suggested that “imaginary animals,” “monsters,” and composite figures are found throughout the Upper Paleolithic art tradition that flourished among hunter-gatherers of the last Ice Age, between around 40,000 and 10,000 years ago. That tradition, or better complex of traditions, is most richly documented across a broad swath of southern Europe, on what were then the fringes of a vast steppe bordering the zone of maximum glaciation. The chapter first examines the frequency of composites among the surviving corpus of Paleolithic art, along with the significance of such images in the ritual life of prehistoric societies, before discussing the development of pictorial art in the later Neolithic of the Near East. It also describes animal figures in predynastic Egypt.

At the crossroad: A new approach to the Upper Paleolithic art in the Western Pyrenees

2015 ◽  
Vol 364 ◽  
pp. 283-293 ◽  
Author(s):  
Diego Garate ◽  
Olivia Rivero ◽  
Aitor Ruiz-Redondo ◽  
Joseba Rios-Garaizar
Keyword(s):  
Upper Paleolithic ◽  
New Approach ◽  
Paleolithic Art ◽  
Western Pyrenees

Mental Imagery and Iconic Imagery: The Art of the Origins between Neuropsychology and Shamanism

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gabriella Brusa-Zappellini
Keyword(s):  
Mental Imagery ◽  
Upper Paleolithic ◽  
Grand Nombre ◽  
Il Y A ◽  
Paleolithic Art ◽  
Current Anthropology ◽  
Paléolithique Supérieur ◽  
Iconic Imagery

L’art pariétal du Paléolithique supérieur présente, à côté d’un extraordinaire répertoire animalier bien diversifié, un grand nombre de signes qui ne trouvent pas d’équivalents dans la perception de la réalité sensible. Tandis que les images des humains ou des créatures mi-humaines mi-animales sont très rares, ces formes aniconiques, souvent géométrisantes et aisément classifiables, sont globalement plus nombreuses que les animaux. Si saisir l’intentionnalité qui a poussé les premiers artistes à peindre sur les parois représente un défi pour nos compétences interprétatives, les « signes » constituent l’aspect le plus énigmatique de ce défi. Il y a trente ans, en 1988, dans la revue Current Anthropology, a été publié un article de James D. Lewis-Williams et Thomas A. Dowson, « The Signs of All Times. Entoptic Phenomena in Upper Paleolithic Art », ouvrant une nouvelle perspective sur l’origine des signes. En appliquant le modèle neuropsychologique à l’imagerie bidimensionnelle de l’art des grottes, il est possible d’identifier à des signes à valeur universelle, selon les auteurs, les apparitions entoptiques présentes, avec leurs diverses modalités combinatoires, dans l’art rupestre de « tous les temps ». Cette interprétation de l’art des sociétés préhistoriques, qui resitue la naissance des images dans les territoires visionnaires des cultures chamaniques, a soulevé en France des perplexités et des polémiques innombrables, parfois acerbes. Il est prioritaire alors de voir si le modèle neuropsychologique est effectivement en mesure d’offrir un cadre explicatif des données archéologiques des grottes ornées et de ses « constructions symboliques », en mesure d’intégrer tous les indices disponibles dans une construction théorique cohérente.

Paleolithic Hunter-Gatherers of Nubia

2021 ◽  
pp. 79-100
Author(s):  
Mirosław Masojć
Keyword(s):  
Middle Stone Age ◽  
Upper Paleolithic ◽  
Early Pleistocene ◽  
Middle Pleistocene ◽  
Nile Valley ◽  
Stone Age ◽  
Human Settlement ◽  
Hunter Gatherers ◽  
Lower Paleolithic ◽  
Upper Egypt

The chapter is devoted to the earliest human settlement in Nubia, which took place in the Pleistocene, with numerous references to neighboring areas, especially Upper Egypt. Paleolithic groups of humans probably appeared in Nubia in the Early Pleistocene, but well-documented sites—connected with Lower Paleolithic-Acheulean complex industries—are dated only to Middle Pleistocene (MIS 9-7). Some of the oldest Middle Stone Age (MSA) assemblages in Africa were discovered in Nubia (ca. 220 ka, MIS 7). Numerous MSA sites (ca. 220–40 ka, MIS 7-3) with predominating Levallois technology are situated within the Nile valley and the neighboring deserts, mainly in oases. The onset of Upper Paleolithic (ca. 40–20 ka, MIS 3-2) blade technology was recorded together with the oldest mining. Late Paleolithic groups of humans (20–11 ka, MIS 2), characterized by considerable diversity in the hyper-arid period, lived only in the Nile valley. Local examples of rock paintings come from that period. Pleistocene human remains from Nubia are extremely rare; they all represent H. sapiens. Cemeteries with numerous burials, some of which display evidence of violence, were also discovered in this area.

The Creative Explosion

2013 ◽  
Author(s):  
T. Douglas Price
Keyword(s):  
Homo Sapiens ◽  
Raw Materials ◽  
Upper Paleolithic ◽  
Hunter Gatherers ◽  
Iron Mineral ◽  
Cape Of Good Hope ◽  
Pinnacle Point ◽  
Anatomically Modern Humans ◽  
Small Stone ◽  
Almost All

Two related phenomena characterize the last 30,000 years or so of the Pleistocene and the Old Stone Age in Europe, a period known as the Upper Paleolithic. The first of these is the arrival of a version of ourselves, Homo sapiens, around 40,000 years ago. The second is the creative explosion in technology, equipment, raw materials, art, and decoration that took place in this period. There appears to have been a substantial upgrade in human abilities and the variety of activities taking place. The first part of this chapter examines some of the sites and places that tell this story. At the end of the Pleistocene and the Paleolithic, 10,000 years ago, hunter-gatherers continued to thrive in a warmer, “postglacial” Europe, but their time was coming to an end. Agriculture had been invented in the Near East and was spreading toward the continent, arriving in the southeast by 7000 BC and reaching the northeast by 4000 BC. This period of post-Pleistocene hunter-gatherers in Europe is known as the Mesolithic and is the focus of the second part of this chapter. By the end of the Pleistocene, Homo sapiens had created art, invented many new tools, made tailored clothing, started counting, and spread to almost all parts of the world. As noted earlier, the oldest known representatives of anatomically modern humans have been found in East Africa, from almost 200,000 years ago. Further evidence of the activities of these individuals comes from caves around Pinnacle Point on the Cape of Good Hope in South Africa and dates to 165,000 years ago. This evidence is not in the form of fossil skeletons, but artifacts. Several finds—small stone blades, pieces of red ochre (an iron mineral used as a pigment), the earliest known collection and consumption of shellfish—point to new kinds of food, new tools that probably required hafting, and the use of powdered mineral as a pigment or preservative. These are firsts in the archaeological record and likely document the beginnings ative explosion witnessed more fully after 50,000 years ago.

Social Landscapes of the Late Palaeolithic: Marking Meaning in the Magdalenian

2015 ◽  
Vol 18 (3) ◽  
pp. 380-401 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kathleen Sterling
Keyword(s):  
Early Modern ◽  
Modern Human ◽  
Upper Paleolithic ◽  
Raw Material ◽  
Hunter Gatherers ◽  
Cultural Importance ◽  
Lithic Tools ◽  
The World ◽  
Social Landscapes ◽  
Late Palaeolithic

Landscape archaeologies that pay attention to cultural importance of place have become increasingly common in recent years in many parts of the world. However, these approaches have largely failed to make inroads into Pleistocene European hunter–gatherer archaeology. This is partly due to a focus on economics, survival, and neo-liberal assumptions of ‘efficiency’ in early modern human behaviour. With evidence of lithic use drawn from cave sites, survey, and open-air excavation, I argue that Upper Paleolithic hunter–gatherers left clues to the importance of certain places in the landscape. Lithic tools in particular have been undervalued for their symbolic meaning, which goes well beyond style and ethnicity models. Raw material has been seen as evidence of mobility and trade, but possible cultural motives behind material choices have been downplayed or ignored.

scholarly journals The conquest of the dark spaces: An experimental approach to lighting systems in Paleolithic caves

PLoS ONE ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 16 (6) ◽  
pp. e0250497
Author(s):  
Mª Ángeles Medina-Alcaide ◽  
Diego Garate ◽  
Iñaki Intxaurbe ◽  
José L. Sanchidrián ◽  
Olivia Rivero ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Experimental Approach ◽  
Economic Behavior ◽  
Upper Paleolithic ◽  
Archaeological Record ◽  
Gis Technology ◽  
Northern Spain ◽  
Artificial Lighting ◽  
Paleolithic Art ◽  
Lighting Systems ◽  
Experimental Archeology

Artificial lighting was a crucial physical resource for expanding complex social and economic behavior in Paleolithic groups. Furthermore, the control of fire allowed the development of the first symbolic behavior in deep caves, around 176 ky BP. These activities would increase during the Upper Paleolithic, when lighting residues proliferated at these sites. The physical peculiarities of Paleolithic lighting resources are very poorly understood, although this is a key aspect for the study of human activity within caves and other dark contexts. In this work, we characterize the main Paleolithic lighting systems (e.g., wooden torches, portable fat lamps, and fireplaces) through empirical observations and experimental archeology in an endokarstic context. Furthermore, each lighting system’s characteristic combustion residues were identified to achieve a better identification for the archaeological record. The experiments are based on an exhaustive review of archaeological information about this topic. Besides, we apply the estimated luminous data of a Paleolithic cave with Paleolithic art (Atxurra in northern Spain) in 3D through GIS technology to delve into the archeologic implications of illumination in Paleolithic underground activities.

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