Expanding Intellectual Horizons: Art and Ideas in the Upper Paleolithic and Late Stone Age

Question 1

When was the Upper Paleolithic/Late Stone Age?

Answer 1

45 000 - 10 000 BP

Question 2

What is important about the Chauvet Cave in France?

Answer 2

A site discovered in 1994 dating to 30 000 BP, contains cave art. Has the Panel of Lions, The Red Bears, and Red Dots Panel. It contained a lot of pictures of predators, which is uncommon. Usually cave art is about animals that would be hunted.

Question 3

What is important about the Lascaux Cave, France?

Answer 3

Dated to 20 000 BP, contained images of large animals native to the region. Preservation has been an issue due to fungi growth and it is closed to the public. Contains the Red Cow, Chinese Horse, Great Black Bull. Scene of the Dead Man, a human figure (very unusual - beak like head).

Question 4

What is important about the Cave of Altamira, Spain?

Answer 4

One of the first caves where paintings were discovered (1880), great preservation (rocks enclosed it 13 000 BP), paintings on the ceiling.

Question 5

What is important about the Maros-Pankeep Caves, Indonesia?

Answer 5

Island of Sulawesi, it shows that cave art did not happen just in one location of the world. Dates to 40 000 BP.

Question 6

What is important about Blombos Cave, South Africa?

Answer 6

Dated to 77,000 BP, there are artifacts that look like they’ve been incised in precise patterns - in rocks used for pigment. Might be evidence for art, symbolic thinking.

Question 7

What were the ten differences that occurred in the Upper Paleolithic age?

Answer 7

1. New and Improved Stone-Tool Technology
2. New Hunting and Weapon Technologies
3. Broadening the Subsistence Base
4. Branching out in Raw Materials and Developing New Technologies
5. New Uses for Plant Materials
6. The Acquisition of Raw Materials from a Great Distance
7. Larger Sites of Population Aggregation
8. Abundance of Nonutilitarian Objects
9. More Elaborate Burials
10. Symbolic Expression through the Production of Art

Question 8

What is the Aurignacian Culture?

Answer 8

Stone tool technology in Europe, 34,000-27,000 BP. Long, narrow blade tools. “Lay tools”. Created using indirect percussion, needed something between the core and the hammer stone.

Question 9

What is the Gravettian Culture?

Answer 9

27,000-21,000 BP, smaller blades. Used for big-game hunting. During this period there were also the Venus Figures.

Question 10

What is a Venus Figure?

Answer 10

Figure representing the female form. Comes in many shapes and sizes representing a variety of women, mainly found in Europe but have been found in Siberia.

Question 11

What is the Solutrean Culture?

Answer 11

21,000-16,000 BP, leaf-shaped projectile points. Similar to North American arrow heads.

Question 12

What is the Magdalenian Culture?

Answer 12

16,000-11,000 BP. Microblades, made of stone, antler, bone. Shows use of different materials.

Question 13

Who is the Magdalenian Woman?

Answer 13

Recovered in France, early 1800s. Dated to 12,000-15,000 BP, had impacted wisdom teeth - this trend is thought to have been associated with dietary changes over time.

Question 14

What is important about Sibudu Cave, South Africa?

Answer 14

Dated to 64,000 B - an early version of the bow and arrow? Very tiny projectile points with arrow-like head; hunting technology.

Question 15

What is the Atlatl?

Answer 15

Attached to a spear; would add extra range of motion. Might have decorative ends.

Question 16

The Upper Paleolithic has evidence of the extinction of what?

Answer 16

Megafauna, such as the cave bear or mammoth.

Question 17

What is important about the Kostenki site?

Answer 17

Early Upper Paleolithic site on the central East European Plain, materials were found that could only have been gathered from 200-300 km away. Ash layer dated to be 40 000 BP, looking at evidence of trade routes and interactions of different populations.

Question 18

What is important about Sungir, Russia?

Answer 18

UP, 28 000 BP. Nine burial sites (not from the same time), with decorative burials that included mammoth ivory beads and bracelets. Significance - high status? Clothing?

Question 19

Where is pottery usually found?

Answer 19

On the plains, it is a fairly recent technique. Animal art was found before functional pots.

Question 20

What is important about Xianrendong Cave, China?

Answer 20

Earliest example of pottery, dated to 20 000 BP. Could have been used as a cooking device.