Week 6: The Upper Paleolithic (UP): Overview
>>> Interlude: IPDs with and without language
>>> How do we use language?
| Type | Semantic
Content |
| "Vocal grooming" | Minimal
(formulaic usage) |
| "Gossip" | Social
Information |
| Symbolic language | Literature,
religion, science |
Source: Dunbar, Robin, 1996, On the Evolution of Language and Kinship. In
The Archaeology of Human Ancestry, edited by James Steele and Stephen Shennan,
pp. 380-396. Routledge, London.
>>> Why did language evolve?
To facilitate bonding & coordinate behavior in social
groups whose size is too large to be bonded using
the conventional primate mechanism of social groom-
ing?
>>>When did language evolve?
- more complex call systems (a form of
social grooming) by early Homo times?
- gossip (or social language by earliest
sapiens times (say, 250 kya?);
- fully symbolic language by earliest
Upper Paleolithic (H.s.s.) times 50 kya
I. Climatic Overview: Last Ice Age (80,000-12,000 BP)
A. Except for interstadials, cold in N. hemisphere with
high wind velocities; generally drier; loess depo-
sition.
B. Sahara hyper-arid; "sleeping deserts" from Sudan
to N. Nigeria.
II. Origins
A. In N. Africa, 1st U.P. industry ("Dabban") appears
suddenly 40,000 BP.
B. In Near East, progressive change towards U.P. tool
technology from 47,000-38,000 in Israel at Boker
Tachtit (in context of H.s.s.).
C. In Central Europe, Szelethian leaf-point industry
(Mousterian) grades into UP Aurignacian, 40,000
BP
D. In Western Europe, earliest Aurignacian begins
40,000 BP, & Chatelperronian (= Lower Perigor-
dean) appears 36,000 BP. Sampling of earliest 14C
dates for "Aurignacian" Assemblages
1. Spain: Castillo, ca. 40,000 bp
2. Belgium: Magrite, ca. 41,300 bp
3. Hungary: Istallosko, ca. 44,300 bp
4. Bulgaria: Bacho Kiro >43,000 bp
E. Backed knife & microblade tradition begins in N.
China 30,000 BP.
F. Blade-based industries not common in SE Asia
until 6500 BP; in Australia, not until 4000 BP.
III. The Classic Western European Sequence
A. Aurignacian 40-30 kya; appears earlier in C.
Europe. AmHS affinities; "art," bone tools includ-
ing lance heads, 20-25 people in minimal bands.
1. Blanchard plaque; possible lunar notation
2. Vogelherd horse: generic symbol? (Signs vs.
symbols) Symptoms of symbols:
a. "style" (material patterning but not neces-
sarily intention to communicate)
b. imposition of arbitrary form
c. artifact standardization
3. Personal ornamentation: pierced teeth numer-
ous (esp. carnivores).
4. not much cave art: some chevrons, crosses, &
parallel lines may date to this period. Engraved,
painted stone blocks may depict vulvae &
phalluses.
5. Famous "pseudomorph" burials from Cuevo
Morin, Spain.
B. Chatelperronian/Lower Perigordean 36-30 kya;
Mousterian affinities; Neanderthal associations.
Bone artifacts rarer than in Aurignacian.
C. Gravettian/Upper Perigordean 30-22 kya; Font-
Robert points; backed blades; food storage in pits;
boiling stones.
D. Solutrean 22-18 kya during LGM; laurel-leaf
points; originated in S-C or SW France; projectile
points used on the tips of arrows.
E. Magdalenian 18-11 kya; bone needles, spear
thrower, harpoons; reindeer, red deer; climate
change; population explosion?
Syllabus