Jump to content

Aurignacian

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by 216.69.223.249 (talk) at 20:57, 28 June 2012 (→Art). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

Map of Aurignacian culture[citation needed]

The Aurignacian culture (/[invalid input: 'icon']ɔːrɪɡˈneɪʃən/ or /ɔːrɪnˈjeɪʃən/) is an archaeological culture of the Upper Palaeolithic, located in Europe and southwest Asia. It lasted broadly within the period from ca. 45,000 to 35,000 years ago (about 37,000 to 27,000 years ago on the uncalibrated radiocarbon timescale; between ca. 47,000 and 41,000 years ago in terms of the most recent calibration of the radiocarbon timescale[1]). The name originates from the type site of Aurignac in the Haute-Garonne area of France.

The oldest known example of figurative art, the Venus of Hohle Fels, comes from this culture. It was discovered in September 2008 in a cave at Schelklingen in Baden-Württemberg in southern Germany.

Main characteristics

The "Lion Man", found in the Hohlenstein-Stadel cave of Germany's Swabian Alb and dated at 32,000 years old, is associated with the Aurignacian culture and is the oldest known anthropomorphic animal figurine in the world.
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 by Srečko Brodar in the 1920s and 1930s. This was the first discovered high-altitude Aurignacian site and significantly influenced the knowledge of it.[2]

The Aurignacian tool industry is characterized by worked bone or antler points with grooves cut in the bottom. Their flint tools include fine blades and bladelets struck from prepared cores rather than using crude flakes.[1] The people of this culture also produced some of the earliest known cave art, such as the animal engravings at Aldène and the paintings at Chauvet cave in southern France. They also made pendants, bracelets and ivory beads, and three-dimensional figurines. Bâtons de commandement are also found at their sites.

Association with modern humans

This sophistication and self-awareness led archaeologists to consider the makers of Aurignacian artifacts the first modern humans in Europe. Human remains and Late Aurignacian artifacts found in juxtaposition support this inference. The most critical single discovery is that of the so called Egbert skeleton from Ksar Akil, embedded in deposits overlain by Levantine Aurignacian industries. This is a fully modern human in both cranial and postcranial terms, between 40,000 and 45,000 years old. Although finds of human skeletal remains in direct association with Early 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 Mladec cave in the Czech Republic, dated by direct radiocarbon measurements on the skeletal remains themselves to at least 31,000–32,000 years old. At least three robust but typically anatomically modern individuals from the Pestera cu Oase cave in Romania, were dated directly on the bones to ca. 35,000–36,000 BP. Although not associated directly with archeological material, these finds are within the chronological and geographical range of the earlier Aurignacian in southeastern Europe.[1]

Art

Aurignacian figurines have been found depicting faunal representations of the time period associated with now-extinct mammals, including mammoths, rhinoceros, and Tarpan, along with anthropomorphized depictions that could be inferred as some of the earliest evidence of religion.

In June 2007, a 35,000 year old figurine of a mammoth was discovered in the Vogelherd cave.[3] Currently being studied by the University of Tübingen, the figurine embodies the intricate and complex artistic characteristics of Aurignacian culture.

One of the most ancient Venus figurines was discovered in 2008 in Germany. The figurine has been dated to 35,000 years ago.[4][5]

A flute (~22 cm long and 2.2 cm in diameter; from the hollow wing-bone of a giant vulture) along with fragments of ivory flutes found at the same Hohle Fels Cave in 2009 are the oldest undisputed musical instruments.[6]

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 Upper Paleolithic is a greater degree of tool standardization and the use of bone and antler for tools.

  • Scraper from Aurignac (France)
    Scraper from Aurignac (France)
  • Aurignacian blades
    Aurignacian blades
  • Dufour bladelet
    Dufour bladelet
  • Bone point
    Bone point

See also


Preceded by Aurignacian
40,000–26,000 BP 		Succeeded by

References

  1. ^ a b c P.Mellars, Archeology and the Dispersal of Modern Humans in Europe: Deconstructing the Aurignacian, Evolutionary Anthropology, vol. 15 (2006), pp. 167–182.
  2. ^ Debeljak, Irena; Turk, Matija. "Potočka zijalka". Enciklopedija naravne in kulturne dediščine na Slovenskem – DEDI (in Slovene). Retrieved 12 March 2012. {{cite encyclopedia}}: Unknown parameter |editors= ignored (|editor= suggested) (help)CS1 maint: unrecognized language (link)
  3. ^ Finds from the Vogelherd cave
  4. ^ Conard, Nicholas (2009). "A female figurine from the basal Aurignacian of Hohle Fels Cave in southwestern Germany" (PDF). Nature. 459 (7244): 248–52. doi:10.1038/nature07995. PMID 19444215.
  5. ^ Henderson, Mark (2009-05-14). "Prehistoric female figure 'earliest piece of erotic art uncovered'". London: The Times Online.
  6. ^ Marlowe Hood, AFP (2009-06-24). "35,000-year-old flute oldest instrument ever found". Yahoo!.
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Aurignacian.
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Aurignacian&oldid=499811268"