Upper Paleolithic
The Upper Paleolithic is the later phase of the Old Stone Age, associated with anatomically modern humans, blade technologies, the first abundant art, and a marked acceleration of cultural change.
Definition
The final phase of the Paleolithic, characterized by blade-based lithic technology, worked bone and antler, ornament and art, and the cultures of anatomically modern humans in Eurasia.
Scope
This topic covers the period from roughly 50,000 to 12,000 years ago in Eurasia, defined by blade and bladelet industries, bone and antler tools, personal ornaments, and the named cultural sequences such as Aurignacian, Gravettian, Solutrean, and Magdalenian. It examines the technological, subsistence, and symbolic innovations of modern human foragers and the question of how their behaviour differed from that of earlier hominins.
Core questions
- What technological and cultural changes define the Upper Paleolithic?
- How did Upper Paleolithic foragers organize subsistence and settlement?
- What role did art and ornament play in these societies?
- How abruptly did the suite of Upper Paleolithic behaviours appear?
Key theories
- Human revolution
- The proposal, debated by Mellars and others, that the start of the Upper Paleolithic marks a relatively rapid emergence of fully modern behaviour, including art, ornament, and complex technology, in Europe.
- Cultural sequence of named industries
- The framework that divides the European Upper Paleolithic into successive techno-cultural complexes—Aurignacian, Gravettian, Solutrean, Magdalenian—used to chart change in tools, art, and adaptation through the period.
History
The Upper Paleolithic was first subdivided in 19th-century France by Édouard Lartet and Gabriel de Mortillet, who named industries after type-sites. Twentieth-century work refined the chronology with radiocarbon dating and broadened the focus from typology to subsistence, demography, and symbolism, with the 'human revolution' framing prompting extensive debate about whether the African Middle Stone Age record undercuts a sudden European transition.
Debates
- Sudden revolution versus African gradualism
- Scholars dispute whether the Upper Paleolithic represents an abrupt cognitive or cultural revolution in Eurasia or the late expression of behaviours that accumulated earlier in Africa, a debate central to defining modern human behaviour.
Key figures
- Paul Mellars
- Olga Soffer
- Randall White
- Richard G. Klein
Related topics
Seminal works
- klein2009
- mellars2007
Frequently asked questions
- Who lived during the Upper Paleolithic?
- The Upper Paleolithic is associated with anatomically modern humans, who in Europe overlapped with and then replaced the Neanderthals.
- Why is the Upper Paleolithic important?
- It saw the first abundant art, ornaments, and specialized blade and bone technologies, and is often used as a benchmark for the appearance of fully modern human behaviour.