thinking about origins of man and culture part iii belén pena
TRANSCRIPT
THINKING ABOUT ORIGINS THINKING ABOUT ORIGINS OF MAN AND CULTUREOF MAN AND CULTURE
PART IIIPART III
Belén Pena
HUMAN EVOLUTIONHUMAN EVOLUTION REVIEWREVIEW
CULTURAL TRENDS & CULTURAL TRENDS & HUMAN EVOLUTIONHUMAN EVOLUTION
PALAEOLITHICPALAEOLITHICTHE OLD STONE AGETHE OLD STONE AGE
SOCIAL ORGANIZATIONSOCIAL ORGANIZATION
• Hunter-gatherer analogy– Small group, low population density,
nomadism, kinship groups
• Migration– North America was the last colonized by
hominids.– Beringia (land bridge) between Russia and
Alaska– Asian origin of Native Americans– 30,000 to 12,000 years B.P. was first migration
UPPER PALAEOLITHIC, UPPER PALAEOLITHIC, Hotbed of CultureHotbed of Culture
• 40 – 10k yBP
• Shelters– 15,000 yBP Ukraine– Some made with mammoth bones– Wood, leather working; carpentry
• Tools– From cores to blades– Specialization– Composite tools– Bow and arrow
• Domestication of dogs
• Gathering rather than hunting became the mainstay of human economies.
Top: Straw Hut
Left: Mammoth bone hut
Bottom: Tool progression
EUROPEAN UPPER EUROPEAN UPPER PALEOLITHICPALEOLITHIC
Chatelperronian 40-35 kya mix of Middle & Upper Paleolithic
Aurignacian 34-30 kya split-based points
Solutrian 22-18 kya bi-facial points on blades
Magdalenian 18-11 kya harpoons with barbs
Perigorian 32-22 kya blades
ARCHAIC ARCHAIC H. sapiensH. sapiens ART ART
• Cave Art
– Traces of art found in beads, carvings, and paintings
– Cave paintings in Spain and southern France showed a marked degree of skill
• Mobiliar Art . Female figurines
– 27,000 to 22,000 years B.P.
– Called “venuses,” these figurines depicted women with large breasts and broad hips
• Perhaps it was an example of an ideal type, or perhaps an expression of a desire for fertility
CAVE PAINTINGSCAVE PAINTINGSARCHAIC ARCHAIC H. sapiensH. sapiens CULTURE CULTURE
• Cave paintings– Mostly animals on bare walls– Subjects were animals favored for
their meat and skins– Human figures were rarely drawn
due to taboos and fears that it would somehow harm others
Cave paintings from 20,000 years ago at Vallon-Pont-d’Arc in southern France (left) and from Lascaux, in southwest France
ALTAMIRA ALTAMIRA CAVECAVE
SPAINSPAIN
1st discovered 1868 1st Paleolithic
rupestrian (made of/written
on rock) art “discovery”
Gallery of Bulls found in 1879 (left)
1868 – a hunter followed his dog along a hill (near Altamira) on the northern Spanish Coast…
Maria de Sautuola, 1879daughter of Marcelino Sanz de Sautola
“¡Toros pintados!”
Marcelino Sanz de SautolaMarcelino Sanz de Sautola
1880
"Breves apuntes sobre algunos objetos prehistóricos de la provincia de
Santander"
“Brief notes about some prehistoric objects of the Santander province”
ALTAMIRA CAVE, SPAINALTAMIRA CAVE, SPAIN The Sistine Chapel of Prehistory, 15 kyaThe Sistine Chapel of Prehistory, 15 kya
While Aurignacian cultural period is represented, most Altamira paintings represent the later, Solutrean and Magdalenian periods.
Altamira Cave, Spain Altamira Cave, Spain The Sistine Chapel of Prehistory, 15 kyaThe Sistine Chapel of Prehistory, 15 kya
Critics of de Sautola’s interpretations:
Altamira paintings were,
“the expression of a mediocre student of the modern school…”
More discoveries later
led to professional apologies
One of the
World’s Artistic
Archaeological
Wonders
17 kya
LASCAUX CAVELASCAUX CAVE
Lascaux Cave Landscape
southwestern France
near the Vézère River
Lascaux CaveLascaux Cave
A Teenage Discovery in 1940
Painted GalleryPainted Gallery
Painted Gallery
Entrance (stag)
Painted Gallery
back wall (bison)
Great Hall of the BullsGreat Hall of the Bulls
Great Hall of the BullsGreat Hall of the Bulls
Main GalleryMain Gallery
Black Cow Panel & quadrangular signs
Main Gallery’s end & shaftMain Gallery’s end & shaft
Scene of Dead Man, Scene of Dead Man,
Shaft of the Dead ManShaft of the Dead Man
Sandstone oil lamp
Painting techniquesPainting techniques
Painting techniquesPainting techniques
A l g e r i a
MOBILIARY ARTMOBILIARY ART
• Modelling, carving, engraving
MOBILIARY ARTMOBILIARY ART
MOBILIARY ARTMOBILIARY ART
Algeria Algeria
Tassili N'Ajjer mountain range in the Sahara Desert
“Crying Cows”
Sandstone rock
Shelter
(may be 6 kyold)
Also, panels with extinct giant buffalo…
AlgeriaAlgeria
Apollo Cave, Hun
Mountains,
26-28 kyaAmong the oldest dated paintings in
the world
NamibiaNamibia
26-28 kya
Rock Art,
Namibia
Rock art sites in southern and Rock art sites in southern and sub-Saharan Africasub-Saharan Africa
6 ky-old rock engraving extinct giant buffalo) central South
Africa
approx 1 meter long