The earliest art objects in Europe also date from this period. There are small figurines of animals and humans made from finely carved bone or ivory. Among the most striking are the so-called Venus figurines, stylized representations of females with large breasts and buttocks, which show a marked degree of similarity from France to Russia. There are also thousands of small stone plaques engraved with representations of humans and animals.
Venus of WillendorfLate Paleolithic figure found at Willendorf, Lower Austria, and known as the Venus of Willendorf, limestone figurine originally coloured with red ochre, 30,000–25,000 bce; in the Natural History Museum, Vienna. © Martin Urbanek—Viewpointmediaat/Dreamstime.com
Art is also found in caves, particularly in France and Spain, in caves such as Lascaux and Altamira, though there is one cave at Kapova in the Urals with decoration in a similar style. In some cases, reliefs of humans or animals are carved on rock walls, but the most spectacular artworks are the paintings, dominated by large animals such as mammoth, horse, or bison; human figures are rare, but there are many other signs and symbols. The precise meaning of this art is impossible to recover, but it appears to have played a significant part in group ceremonial activity; much of it is in almost inaccessible depths of caves and may have been important for rituals of hunting or initiation.
Cave painting of a bull and a horse; in Lascaux Grotto, near Montignac, France.Hans Hinz, Basel
The similarity in style over great distances—seen most clearly in the case of the Venus figurines—is evidence for the existence of extensive social networks throughout Europe. Material items also were transmitted over long distances, especially particular types of flint, fossil shell, and marine mollusks. Such networks were most extensive at the height of the last glaciation and were an important social solution to the problem of surviving in extreme climates; they provided alliances to supply food and other material resources as well as information about a far-flung environment. Human developments during this so-called Ice Age thus included not only technological, economic, and social solutions to the problems of adaptation and survival but also an increased awareness of individual and group identity and a new field of symbolic and artistic activity.
Venus of VěstoniceVenus of Věstonice, clay statuette from Dolní Věstonice, Mikulov, Czech Republic, attributed to the Aurignacian culture, Upper Paleolithic Period; in the Moravian Museum, Brno, Czech Republic.Werner Forman Archive
Mesolithic adaptations
The extreme conditions of the last Pleistocene glaciation began to improve about 13,000 bce as temperatures slowly rose. The Scandinavian Ice Sheet itself started to retreat northward about 8300 bce, and the period between then and the origins of agriculture (at various times in the 7th to 4th millennia, depending on location) was one of great environmental and cultural change. It is termed the Mesolithic Period (Middle Stone Age) to emphasize its transitional importance, but the alternative term Epipaleolithic, used mostly in eastern Europe, stresses the continuity with processes begun earlier.
As the ice sheets retreated, vast areas of new land in northern Europe were opened up for human occupation. Resettlement began in some short warmer episodes at the end of the last glaciation. In the longer term, the melting of the Arctic glaciers produced a rise in sea levels, though this was to some extent offset by a rise in land levels as the weight of the overlying ice was removed. The combined effect of these processes was to flood large areas of land in the Mediterranean and especially in the North Sea basin. Britain was isolated from the continent during the 7th millennium, and the modern coastline was broadly established by the 4th.
The changes in physical landforms were accompanied by similarly major changes in the environment. The rising temperature and humidity led to the increased growth of plant life, including birch and pine as well as smaller trees and bushes that produced nuts and fruit. Continued climatic amelioration meant further environmental change, and the initial open forest progressively gave way to climax forest dominated by oak and elm, which crowded out many of the smaller species. There were similar changes among animals. The large animals of the Ice Age such as bison and mammoth disappeared, either because of climatic change or from overhunting, and reindeer herds moved northward in search of colder conditions. The European forests were dominated by smaller animals, such as wild cattle, pigs, and deer, with ibex in the south.
The evidence for human exploitation of these changing environments varies considerably, depending on the precise range of regionally available resources. As the reindeer moved north, so did some human groups. Others adapted to the new animal and plant resources available. Wild cattle, deer, and pigs were widely hunted, as well as many types of bird. Fish were also caught, including river species such as salmon and carp and many sea species. On the western coasts, shellfish also were exploited. The role of plant foods is difficult to estimate, but there is evidence for the use of many species, including hazelnuts and various berries.
These new patterns of economy needed new technologies. Stone tools increasingly took the form of small blades for tipping or hafting in arrows and spears. Where conditions allow their survival, it is possible to see many new tools and equipment made of organic materials, though some, such as the bow and arrow, may have been made in earlier periods. Hooks, nets, and traps for fishing; birch bark containers; and textiles made from plant fibres are all known. Canoes and paddles also have been found.
Though subsistence was dependent on hunting and gathering seasonally available resources, those resources could be managed in elementary ways. Hunting strategies concentrated on taking adult males, preserving the young and female animals needed to maintain the herds. Dogs were a source of meat and fur, but they may also have been used in hunting. It may have been possible to control the movement of herds by making clearances in the forest, thus attracting animals to the new growth; the evidence for fire and repeated small-scale clearances supports this theory. Plants may have been husbanded. In these ways, human control was exercised over the environment and its resources.
Human occupation expanded throughout Europe, and many areas show a pattern of settlement with base camps occupied by all members of the group for some part of the year and small sites used for the exploitation of some particular resource. Wide social networks continued to exist, as shown by the long-distance exchange of some raw materials such as special types of rock. Mobility may have been important for ensuring an adequate annual subsistence, but some environments, such as the coastal regions of the Baltic and the west, may have allowed the possibility of more permanent settlement. Reliance on fish and shellfish there might be thought a last resort; alternatively, it could have been a purposive choice of resources that would allow permanent residence. Denmark and western France have traditions of deliberate human burial that support this theory.
Thus, the environmental changes were met with a variety of social, economic, and technological responses, but human society did not adapt passively. Opportunities existed to manage the environment more actively and to make choices for social rather than purely survival purposes. The Neolithic Period The adoption of farming