Expansion of early modern humans from Africa

The Aurignacian () is an

archaeological industry In the archaeology of the Stone Age, an industry or technocomplex is a typology (archaeology), typological classification of stone tools. An industry consists of a number of lithic Assemblage (archeology ), assemblages, typically including a ra ...

of the

Upper Paleolithic The Upper Paleolithic (or Upper Palaeolithic) is the third and last subdivision of the Paleolithic or Old Stone Age. Very broadly, it dates to between 50,000 and 12,000 years ago (the beginning of the Holocene), according to some theories ...

associated with Early European modern humans (EEMH) lasting from 43,000 to 26,000 years ago. The Upper Paleolithic developed in Europe some time after the

Levant The Levant ( ) is the subregion that borders the Eastern Mediterranean, Eastern Mediterranean sea to the west, and forms the core of West Asia and the political term, Middle East, ''Middle East''. In its narrowest sense, which is in use toda ...

, where the Emiran period and the Ahmarian period form the first periods of the Upper Paleolithic, corresponding to the first stages of the expansion of ''

Homo sapiens Humans (''Homo sapiens'') or modern humans are the most common and widespread species of primate, and the last surviving species of the genus ''Homo''. They are Hominidae, great apes characterized by their Prehistory of nakedness and clothing ...

'' out of Africa. They then migrated to Europe and created the first European culture of modern humans, the Aurignacian. The Proto-Aurignacian and the Early Aurignacian stages are dated between about 43,000 and 37,000 years ago. The Aurignacian proper lasted from about 37,000 to 33,000 years ago. A Late Aurignacian phase transitional with the

Gravettian The Gravettian is an archaeological industry of the European Upper Paleolithic that succeeded the Aurignacian circa 33,000 years BP. It is archaeologically the last European culture many consider unified, and had mostly disappeared by ...

dates to about 33,000 to 26,000 years ago. The

type site In archaeology, a type site (American English) or type-site (British English) is the site used to define a particular archaeological culture or other typological unit, which is often named after it. For example, discoveries at La Tène and H ...

is the Cave of Aurignac,

Haute-Garonne Haute-Garonne (; , ; ''Upper Garonne'') is a department in the southwestern French region of Occitanie. Named after the river Garonne, which flows through the department. Its prefecture and main city is Toulouse, the country's fourth-largest. ...

, south-west

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

. The main preceding period is the Mousterian of the

Neanderthals Neanderthals ( ; ''Homo neanderthalensis'' or sometimes ''H. sapiens neanderthalensis'') are an extinction, extinct group of archaic humans who inhabited Europe and Western and Central Asia during the Middle Pleistocene, Middle to Late Plei ...

. One of the oldest examples of figurative art, the

Venus of Hohle Fels The Venus of Hohle Fels (also known as the Venus of Schelklingen; in German variously ') is an Upper Paleolithic Venus figurine made of mammoth ivory that was unearthed in 2008 in Hohle Fels, a cave near Schelklingen, Germany, part of the Ca ...

, comes from the Aurignacian or Proto-Gravettian and is dated to between 40,000 and 35,000 years ago (though earlier figurative art may now be known, such as at the Lubang Jeriji Saléh site in Indonesia). It was discovered in September 2008 in a cave at Schelklingen in

Baden-Württemberg Baden-Württemberg ( ; ), commonly shortened to BW or BaWü, is a states of Germany, German state () in Southwest Germany, east of the Rhine, which forms the southern part of Germany's western border with France. With more than 11.07 million i ...

in western Germany. The German

Lion-man The figurine, also called the Lion-man of , is a prehistoric ivory sculpture discovered in Hohlenstein-Stadel, a German cave, part of the Caves and Ice Age Art in the Swabian Jura UNESCO World Heritage Site, in 1939. The German name, , meaning ...

figure is given a similar date range. A Levantine Aurignacian culture is known from the

, with a type of blade technology very similar to the European Aurignacian, following chronologically the Emiran and Early Ahmarian in the same area of the

Near East The Near East () is a transcontinental region around the Eastern Mediterranean encompassing the historical Fertile Crescent, the Levant, Anatolia, Egypt, Mesopotamia, and coastal areas of the Arabian Peninsula. The term was invented in the 20th ...

, and also closely related to them. The Levantine Aurignacian may have preceded European Aurignacian, but there is a possibility that the Levantine Aurignacian was rather the result of reverse influence from the European Aurignacian; this remains unsettled.

Main characteristics

The Aurignacians are part of the wave of anatomically modern humans thought to have spread from

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent after Asia. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 20% of Earth's land area and 6% of its total surfac ...

through the

into Paleolithic Europe, and became known as European early modern humans, or Cro-Magnons. This wave of anatomically modern humans includes fossils of the Ahmarian, Bohunician, Aurignacian,

, Solutrean and Magdalenian cultures, extending throughout the

Last Glacial Maximum The Last Glacial Maximum (LGM), also referred to as the Last Glacial Coldest Period, was the most recent time during the Last Glacial Period where ice sheets were at their greatest extent between 26,000 and 20,000 years ago. Ice sheets covered m ...

(LGM), covering the period of roughly 48,000 to 15,000 years ago. In terms of population, the Aurignacian cultural complex is chronologically associated with the human remains of Goyet Q116-1, while the subsequent eastern

is associated with the Vestonice cluster. The Aurignacian tool industry is characterized by worked

bone A bone is a rigid organ that constitutes part of the skeleton in most vertebrate animals. Bones protect the various other organs of the body, produce red and white blood cells, store minerals, provide structure and support for the body, ...

antler Antlers are extensions of an animal's skull found in members of the Cervidae (deer) Family (biology), family. Antlers are a single structure composed of bone, cartilage, fibrous tissue, skin, nerves, and blood vessels. They are generally fo ...

points with grooves cut in the bottom. Their flint tools include fine

blade A blade is the Sharpness (cutting), sharp, cutting portion of a tool, weapon, or machine, specifically designed to puncture, chop, slice, or scrape surfaces or materials. Blades are typically made from materials that are harder than those they a ...

s and bladelets struck from prepared cores rather than using crude flakes. The people of this culture also produced some of the earliest known cave art, such as the animal engravings at Trois Freres and the paintings at Chauvet cave in southern France. They also made

pendant A pendant is a loose-hanging piece of jewellery, generally attached by a small loop to a necklace, which may be known as a "pendant necklace". A pendant earring is an earring with a piece hanging down. Its name stems from the Latin word ...

bracelet A bracelet is an article of jewellery that is worn around the wrist. Bracelets may serve different uses, such as being worn as an ornament. When worn as ornaments, bracelets may have a supportive function to hold other items of decoration, ...

s, and

ivory Ivory is a hard, white material from the tusks (traditionally from elephants) and Tooth, teeth of animals, that consists mainly of dentine, one of the physical structures of teeth and tusks. The chemical structure of the teeth and tusks of mamm ...

beads, as well as three-dimensional figurines. Perforated rods, thought to be spear throwers or shaft wrenches, also are found at their sites.

Art

Aurignacian figurines have been found depicting faunal representations of the time period associated with now-extinct

mammal A mammal () is a vertebrate animal of the Class (biology), class Mammalia (). Mammals are characterised by the presence of milk-producing mammary glands for feeding their young, a broad neocortex region of the brain, fur or hair, and three ...

s, including

mammoth A mammoth is any species of the extinct elephantid genus ''Mammuthus.'' They lived from the late Miocene epoch (from around 6.2 million years ago) into the Holocene until about 4,000 years ago, with mammoth species at various times inhabi ...

rhinoceros A rhinoceros ( ; ; ; : rhinoceros or rhinoceroses), commonly abbreviated to rhino, is a member of any of the five extant taxon, extant species (or numerous extinct species) of odd-toed ungulates (perissodactyls) in the family (biology), famil ...

, and

tarpan The tarpan (''Equus ferus ferus'') was a free-ranging horse population of the Eurasian steppe from the 18th to the 20th century. What qualifies as a tarpan is subject to debate; it is unclear whether tarpans were genuine wild horses, feral domest ...

, along with anthropomorphized depictions that may be interpreted as some of the earliest evidence of religion. Many 35,000-year-old animal figurines were discovered in the Vogelherd Cave in Germany. One of the horses, amongst six tiny mammoth and horse ivory figures found previously at Vogelherd, was sculpted as skillfully as any piece found throughout the Upper Paleolithic. The production of ivory beads for body ornamentation was also important during the Aurignacian. The famous paintings in Chauvet cave date from this period. Typical statuettes consist of women that are called

Venus figurines A Venus figurine is any Upper Palaeolithic statue portraying a woman, usually carved in the round.Fagan, Brian M., Beck, Charlotte, "Venus Figurines", beliefs '' The Oxford Companion to Archaeology'', 1996, Oxford University Press, pp. 740– ...

. They emphasize the hips, breasts, and other body parts associated with fertility. Feet and arms are lacking or minimized. One of the most ancient figurines is the

, discovered in 2008 in the Hohle Fels cave in Germany. The figurine has been dated to 35,000 years ago and is the earliest known, undisputed example of a depiction of a human being in prehistoric art. The Lion-man of Hohlenstein-Stadel, found in the Hohlenstein-Stadel cave of Germany's Swabian Alb and dated to 40,000 years ago, is the oldest known anthropomorphic animal figurine in the world. Aurignacian finds include bone

flutes The flute is a member of a family of musical instruments in the woodwind group. Like all woodwinds, flutes are aerophones, producing sound with a vibrating column of air. Flutes produce sound when the player's air flows across an opening. In th ...

. The oldest undisputed musical instrument was the Hohle Fels Flute discovered in the Hohle Fels cave in Germany's Swabian Alb in 2008. The flute is made from a vulture's wing bone perforated with five finger holes, and dates to approximately 35,000-40,000 years ago. A flute was also found at the Abri Blanchard in southwestern France.

Gallery

File:A 41,500 year-old decorated ivory pendant from Stajnia Cave (Poland) 1.png, Decorated ivory pendant from Stajnia Cave, Poland, c. 41,500 BP File:Floete Schwanenknochen Geissenkloesterle Blaubeuren.jpg, Bone flute, 35,000-40,000 years old File:Adorant, Geisenklösterle, Blaubeuren-Weiler, Alb-Donau-Kreis, Aurignacian culture, 35,000 to 45,000 years old, ivory - Landesmuseum Württemberg - Stuttgart, Germany - DSC02709.jpg, The Adorant of Geissenklösterle, Germany File:Geissenklösterle ivory 1.jpg, The Adorant of Geissenklösterle, reverse side with notches File:Venus of Hohle Fels URMU.jpg, The

figurine (height 6 cm), 35,000 BP File:MUT-9846.jpg, Horse figurine from Vogelherd Cave, Germany File:MUT127054.jpg, Animal figurine from Vogelherd Cave File:Chauvet´s cave horses.jpg, Chauvet Cave painting, France File:Aurignacian musical bow.jpg, Possible musical bow from Geisenklösterle, Germany File:Vogelherd cave lion 3.jpg, Lion head sculpture, Vogelherd cave File:MUT Löwe.JPG, Lion sculpture, Vogelherd cave File:Vogelherd Mammut 2006.jpg, Mammoth sculpture, Vogelherd cave File:Venus vom Galgenberg.JPG, Venus of Galgenberg, Austria File:Paleolithic ivory 1.jpg, Carved ivory from Brillenhöhle cave File:Engraved plaque from Lartet.jpg, Engraved plaque from Abri Lartet, France File:Blanchard plaque.jpg, Engraved plaque from Abri Blanchard, France File:Worlds Oldest Necklace (NBY 415421).jpg, Necklace from Castel Merle, France File:Pendants, Aurignacian culture, 31000-24000 BC, various materials - Cinquantenaire Museum - Brussels, Belgium - DSC08704.jpg, Aurignacian jewellery, Belgium File:Grotte d'Aurignac-Main en réserve-1962.jpg, A painting of a hand in the Cave of Aurignac, France File:Stone Age Jewelry, Fazael, Upper Paleolithic, The Israel Museum, Jerusalem.jpg, Jewelry, Fazael,

Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...

, Upper Paleolithic. File:Stone Age Animal Carving, Hayonim Cave, 28000 BP.jpg, A carving of a running horse, Hayonim Cave,

Tools

Stone tools from the Aurignacian culture are known as Mode 4, characterized by blades (rather than flakes, typical of mode 2 Acheulean and mode 3 Mousterian) from prepared cores. Also seen throughout the

is a greater degree of tool standardization and the use of

and

for tools. Based on the research of scraper reduction and paleoenvironment, the early Aurignacian group moved seasonally over greater distances to procure reindeer herds within cold and open environments than those of the earlier tool cultures. Image:Sagaie base fendue.jpg, A bone point Image:Grattoir à museau plat sur lame LARTET.jpg, A scraper from Aurignac (France) Image:Lames aurignaciennes.jpg, Aurignacian blades Image:Pointe à dos MHNT.PRE.2009.0.227.4 (2).jpg, Dufour bladelet File:Aurignacian Culture Bone Tools, Hayonim Cave, 30000 BP.jpg, Bone tools, Hayonim Cave, 30000 BP. File:Aurignacien - Feuersteingeräte. Fundstücke aus der Göpfelsteinhöhle in Veringenstadt.jpg, Aurignacian

microlith A microlith is a small Rock (geology), stone tool usually made of flint or chert and typically a centimetre or so in length and half a centimetre wide. They were made by humans from around 60,000 years ago, across Europe, Africa, Asia and Austral ...

Population

Sculptural reconstruction of Homo Sapiens from the Kostenki 14 site by M

A 2019 demographic analysis estimated a mean population of 1,500 persons (upper limit: 3,300; lower limit: 800) for western and central Europe during the Aurignacian period (~42,000 to 33,000 y cal BP). A 2005 study estimated the population of Upper Palaeolithic Europe from 40 to 30 thousand years ago was 1,738–28,359 (average 4,424).

Association with modern humans

The sophistication and self-awareness demonstrated in the work led archaeologists to consider the makers of Aurignacian artifacts the first

modern humans Humans (''Homo sapiens'') or modern humans are the most common and widespread species of primate, and the last surviving species of the genus ''Homo''. They are great apes characterized by their hairlessness, bipedalism, and high intelligen ...

in Europe. Human remains and Late Aurignacian artifacts found in juxtaposition support this inference. Although finds of human skeletal remains in direct association with Proto-Aurignacian technologies are scarce in Europe, the few available are also probably modern human. The best dated association between Aurignacian industries and human remains are those of at least five individuals from the Mladeč caves in the

Czech Republic The Czech Republic, also known as Czechia, and historically known as Bohemia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the south ...

, dated by direct radiocarbon measurements of the skeletal remains to at least 31,000–32,000 years old. At least three robust, but typically anatomically modern, individuals from the Peștera cu Oase cave in

Romania Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern and Southeast Europe. It borders Ukraine to the north and east, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Bulgaria to the south, Moldova to ...

, were dated directly from the bones to ca. 35,000–36,000 BP. Although not associated directly with archaeological material, these finds are within the chronological and geographical range of the Early Aurignacian in southeastern Europe. On genetic evidence it has been argued that both Aurignacian and the Dabba culture of North Africa came from an earlier

big game hunting Big-game hunting is the hunting of large game animals for Trophy hunting, trophies, taxidermy, meat, and commercially valuable animal product, animal by-products (such as horn (anatomy), horns, antlers, tusks, bones, fur, body fat, or special o ...

Levantine Aurignacian culture of the

Genetics

In a genetic study published in ''

Nature Nature is an inherent character or constitution, particularly of the Ecosphere (planetary), ecosphere or the universe as a whole. In this general sense nature refers to the Scientific law, laws, elements and phenomenon, phenomena of the physic ...

'' in May 2016, the remains of an early Aurignacian individual, Goyet Q116-1 from modern-day

Belgium Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. Situated in a coastal lowland region known as the Low Countries, it is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeas ...

, were examined. He belonged to the paternal haplogroup C1a and the maternal haplogroup M.

Haplogroup A haplotype is a group of alleles in an organism that are inherited together from a single parent, and a haplogroup (haploid from the , ''haploûs'', "onefold, simple" and ) is a group of similar haplotypes that share a common ancestor with a sing ...

s identified in other Aurignacian samples are the paternal haplogroups C1b and K2a; and mt-DNA haplogroup N, R, and U. The Aurignacian material culture is associated with the expansion of "early West Eurasians" during the Upper Paleolithic (UP), replacing or merging with previous Initial Upper Paleolithic (IUP) cultures to which possibly relates the European Châtelperronian. Evidence for at least some IUP legacy among later UP Europeans is the presence of Ancient East Eurasian ancestry (c. 17–23%) among the GoyetQ116-1 specimen, possibly represented by the preceding Bacho Kiro cave specimen, who, together with the Oase specimens, are closer to ancient and modern East Eurasian populations. The 38kya Kostenki-14 specimen from eastern Europe did not display evidence for IUP-affilated admixture. A 2023 study found that the Aurignacians are closely related to the

s, Solutreans and later Magdalenians. Gravettian-producing peoples belonged to two genetically distinct clusters. Fournol in the west (France and Spain) and Věstonice in the east (Czech Republic, Poland, Austria, and Italy), both tracing their descent from producers of the earlier Aurignacian culture. The Aurignacian, Gravettian, and Solutrean cultures would merge and give rise to the Magdalenian culture. The genes of seven Magdalenians, the El Miron Cluster in Iberia, showed a close relationship to the Aurignacian population that lived in northern Europe some 20,000 years earlier. The analyses suggested that 70-80% of the ancestry of these individuals was from the population represented by Goyet Q116-1, associated with the Aurignacian culture. The Upper Paleolithic Aurignacian, Gravettian, Solutrean and Magdalenian cultures, became subsequently absorbed by the Epigravettian wave from Western Asia (Anatolia). In a genetic study published in ''

'' in March 2023, the authors found that the ancestors of the Western Hunter-Gatherers (WHGs) were populations associated with the Epigravettian culture, which largely replaced populations associated with the Magdalenian culture about 14,000 years ago, and which were more closely related to ancient and modern peoples in the Middle East and the Caucasus than earlier European Cro-Magnons. ROCEEH
" longitude="16.3" latitude="41.5" zoom="3" width="450", height="350">

Location

Europe

* Cave of Aurignac * Bacho Kiro cave * Chauvet Cave * Hohle Fels * Potok Cave

Near-East

* Ksar Akil * HaYonim Cave

Asia

Lebanon/Palestine/Israel region *Contained within a stratigraphic column, along with other cultures.

Siberia Siberia ( ; , ) is an extensive geographical region comprising all of North Asia, from the Ural Mountains in the west to the Pacific Ocean in the east. It has formed a part of the sovereign territory of Russia and its predecessor states ...

*Many sites in Siberia including around

Lake Baikal Lake Baikal is a rift lake and the deepest lake in the world. It is situated in southern Siberia, Russia between the Federal subjects of Russia, federal subjects of Irkutsk Oblast, Irkutsk Oblasts of Russia, Oblast to the northwest and the Repu ...

, the Ob River valley, and

Minusinsk Minusinsk (; ) is a historical types of inhabited localities in Russia, town in Krasnoyarsk Krai, Russia. Population: 44,500 (1973). History "About 330-200 B.C. the iron age triumphed at Minusinsk, producing spiked axes, partly bronze and ...

. Potok Cave - Potočka zijalka (Slovenia).JPG, The entrance to the Potočka Zijalka, a cave in the Eastern Karavanke, where the remains of a human residence dated to the Aurignacian (40,000 to 30,000 BP) were found Aurignac-grotte-01.JPG, Entrance porch of the Cave of Aurignac File:מערת יונים.jpg, Hayonim Cave Bacho Kiro Cave.jpg, Interior of Bacho Kiro cave

Notes

References

Sources

External links

Picture Gallery of the Paleolithic (reconstructional palaeoethnology)
Libor Balák at the Czech Academy of Sciences, the Institute of Archaeology in Brno, the Center for Paleolithic and Paleoethnological Research {{Authority control Upper Paleolithic cultures of Europe Peopling of Europe Industries (archaeology) Early European modern humans