The People Who Conquered Ice Age Europe: The Aurignacians

Try your first Odoo app for free: https://www.odoo.com/r/C19I The Aurignacians were the first modern humans to establish a lasting presence across Ice Age Europe. They hunted horse and reindeer, crafted sophisticated stone, bone and ivory tools, and created some of humanity's earliest known works of art, including the oldest figurative cave paintings, the oldest carved human figurines, and the world's oldest known musical instruments. What can archaeology, ancient DNA, and palaeoanthropology, and the incredible discoveries from Chauvet Cave, Vogelherd, Hohle Fels, Kostenki tell us about them? How did these remarkable people live, what did they look like, and how did they shape the future of Europe during the Upper Palaeolithic? *If you enjoy my videos please consider supporting the channel* Become a YouTube Channel Member: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCUVwT8zcS5Z_rYXnpomlbfg/join Support me on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/dandavisauthor All my books on Amazon: https://amzn.to/3xngwz5 *Sources* Slimak L (2023) The three waves: Rethinking the structure of the first Upper Paleolithic in Western Eurasia. PLoS ONE 18(5): e0277444. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0277444 Posth, C., Yu, H., Ghalichi, A. et al. Palaeogenomics of Upper Palaeolithic to Neolithic European hunter-gatherers. Nature 615, 117–126 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-023-05726-0 Céline Bemilli, Grégory Bayle. Aurignacian animal exploitation at Solutré (Saône-et-Loire, France). In search of total animal exploitation by Upper Palaeolithic and Mesolithic hunter-gathered societies. 2006 Hublin et al. Initial Upper Palaeolithic Homo sapiens from Bacho Kiro Cave, Bulgaria. Nature. 2020 May;581(7808):299-302. doi: 10.1038/s41586-020-2259-z. C. Bentz, & E. Dutkiewicz, Humans 40,000 y ago developed a system of conventional signs, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 123 (9) e2520385123, https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2520385123 (2026). Bacon et al. An Upper Palaeolithic Proto-writing System and Phenological Calendar. Cambridge Archaeological Journal. 2023;33(3):371-389. doi:10.1017/S0959774322000415 García-Bustos et al: “An Upper Palaeolithic Proto-writing System and Phenological Calendar” by Bennett Bacon et al. (2023). J Paleo Arch 6, 32 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s41982-023-00158-8 Fu Q et al. An early modern human from Romania with a recent Neanderthal ancestor. Nature. 2015 doi: 10.1038/nature14558 Prüfer, K., Posth, C., Yu, H. et al. A genome sequence from a modern human skull over 45,000 years old from Zlatý kůň in Czechia. (2021). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-021-01443-x Palaeolithic Europe: A Demographic and Social Prehistory by Jennifer C. French https://amzn.to/4dCRRf8 Thank you to Don Hitchcock for his fantastic resources at https://donsmaps.com/ The above includes affiliate links so we may make a small commission from your purchases at no additional cost to you which is a way to support the channel. *Thank you to the artists* Ancient Europeans for use of artwork https://www.instagram.com/ancienteuropeans2/ Maps by Tatsuya Yamashita https://x.com/Tatsuya9JP *Video Chapters* 00:00 The Aurignacians 01:25 Sponsorship 02:26 Before the Aurignacians 09:51 The coming of the Aurignacians 12:07 Where did Aurignacians live? 16:36 What did Aurignacians eat? 20:35 Aurignacian remains 23:23 Aurignacian DNA 26:46 What did Aurignacians look like? 32:10 Aurignacian tools 34:46 Aurignacian cave art 38:43 Aurignacian personal ornaments 40:48 Aurignacian music 41:41 Aurignacian figurines 45:53 Aurignacian writing 49:43 The End of the Aurignacian