https://www.deviantart.com/pelycosaur24/gallery/61794595/stone-age-101
https://www.deviantart.com/pelycosaur24/art/Stone-Age-101-Part-2-649353285
I was watching the Croods yesterday – and I thought it was a very entertaining movie, very creative and funny. But it did make me think about the stereotypes many people believe about the Stone Age. And I realized how widespread these misrepresentations of Stone Age Humans are. Now don’t get me wrong, I know that something like the Flintstones or the Croods is not meant to be taken as a serious representation of our prehistoric ancestors. However even shows that are meant to be educational fall into this trap. An example of this would be Horrible Histories – now first of all, I absolutely love this show, it is one of the coolest television programs out there – go watch it! Well that is… except for their Stone Age bits. Boy oh boy do they go of the rail. It’s strange because the Stone Age song is so perfect – it shows that there are different eras of “Stone Age” rather than one homogenous mass. But the rest ranges from basic as sh*t (sharp stone is for cutting – duh) to horribly inaccurate.
So I thought I make a picture contrasting stereotype with reality
On the left you see my stereotypical Stone Age Girl, with her Sabertooth tiger dress and her quite big club, living in a cave with furniture made out of stone – that’s how most shows and movies (including Horrible Histories) depict Stone Age Humans. (Now I have to honour two exceptions: both the first Ice Age movie as well as Disneys Brother Bear 1&2 have fairly realistic Stone Age humans)
The first thing people don’t seem to know about the Stone Age is that it really can’t be summed up in one drawing (again for that check out the Horrible Histories song). So I decided to narrow down to one specific part of the Stone Age – the Eurasian Upper Paleolithic about 25.000 years ago. At that time Europe and Asia were in the grip of the last great glaciation and the Neanderthal had just died out, making the modern Human the only representative of “Homo” on the planet. That’s when my real Stone Age Girl on the right comes from. So in other words she is meant to represent the Eurasian Homo Sapiens of the Ice Age.
First of all – the term “Cavemen” is wrong; they did not live in caves. Stone Age people lived in tents or huts made out of materials like Mammoth bones – dwellings like these have been found in Ukraine.
The clothing of our real Stone Age Girl is based on finds from Sungir in Russia, which showed a great deal of decoration. In fact Stone Age Humans valued art very much as the elaborate Cave Paintings of Lascaux or Altamira or figurines like the famous “Venus of Willendorf” show. They also had music and most likely a complex language and religion.
Also the weaponry during the Ice Age did not consist of clubs. Rather the high tech weapon of the time was the spear thrower. A handle made of wood with a hook made of bone at the end (often in the shape of an animal). It was used to throw long thin spears with fletchings at their ends. Because it worked as a lever the spears would fly with higher velocity and have greater force.
And while we are talking about hunting – Mammoth was not the first choice for a Prehistoric Human. Archaeological record shows that the favorite prey were horses, wild cattle and reindeer.
Part 2 of my Stone Age Stereotypes vs Reality (here is Part 1fav.me/d9m23on )
Since our last entry only dealt with the Stone Age Homo sapiens of the northern hemisphere it is time to address the other species of human roaming the Ice Age.
Most of the time pop culture tends to gloss over the fact, that there were two different species of humans as late as 30.000 BP. Often the Neandertal is presented as our direct ancestor – which he is not, think of him more as an evolutionary cousin. Their body was a bit different from ours; they were shorter, a lot more robust than us and showed the characteristic thick brow.
On the left is again our Stereotypical Neandertal. A primitive creature, who is barely capable of speech and not at all capable of any kind of inventiveness. Basically he just clubs everything to death with his stone. And sometimes he is even a contemporary of Dinosaurs as the stone drawing suggests… which is probably why stereotypical Neanderthals often appear so barely dressed.
On the right our realistic Stone Age girl represents European and Western Asian Neandertals of around 100.000 BP (a time known as Middle Paleolithic or “Mousterien”). As at that time the last glaciation began she is properly dressed for an Ice Age. Since there is no evidence for needles among Neandertals their clothing probably looked cruder than that of the Homo sapiens. There is however evidence for jewelry, for example snail shells or animal claws.
From several sites the usage of red ochre is known – one possible explanation would be some form of body paint.
Also Neandertals were far from uninventive as the revolutionized the stone industry, introducing the so called “Levallois technique”. The typical stone tool would be in a leaf or teardrop shape and could be attached to a lance with birch tar.
As for hunting, bone analysis has shown that the Neandertal was almost exclusively a carnivore and the scars and injuries found on the skeletons suggest that they would hunt larger prey with short range weapons.
The image of the Neandertal as a savage brute is also not correct – skeletons of disabled or injured individuals show they lived to quite a high age, suggesting that Neandertals cared for the members of their groups who could not survive on their own.
The most complicated question remaining is that, whether the Neandertal was capable of abstract thought. There is no evidence of any form of art comparable to that of the Homo sapiens; however there is evidence for a possible religion. We know of burials suggesting a belief in some form of afterlife. In a cave in Switzerland the discovery of several cave bear skulls lead to the belief some kind of Cave Bear cult existed among Neandertals – this however could not be proven.
So finally my Stone Age girl has a name. I drew a picture of her using a spear thrower some time ago, and since then she has appeared in both my Stone Age - Stereotype vs Reality drawing as well as the Stone Age 101 series. So I thought I should give her a name: Kya. The name is an homage to the abbreviation for “kilo years ago” that is used in prehistoric archeology to specify age.
Kya is a character from my Time-Travel Science Fiction story – that I am actually writing, Episode 1 is already finished 
(and turned out a lot longer than planned).
Since she will appear quite late on in the story I have not yet written too much about her personality or role in the narrative. This is what I have so far:
She is a native of Doggerland from around 35.000 BP (or 35kya 
) and the chief tool maker of her tribe. She is very skilled with various materials and known for her artistic skill and inventiveness. While she is obviously highly intelligent (even by modern standards) she never speaks and within the story it remains unknown whether she can’t speak or does not want to. She has the habit of making small animal figures for people she cares about. When threatened she is more defensive than offensive and often chooses to hide or run rather than fight. She is very agile and a master of stealth. However she does know how to use a spear thrower and shows great skill with it too. Her favorite animal seems to be the wholly mammoth; since that is the animal she most often carves statues of or draws on everything she has space to draw on (also her spear thrower is shaped like a mammoth).
And this is also the second time ever that I drew a landscape, so hooray for that! Although I suspect Doggerland would have been even flatter than this.
As you all know the Stone Age means a lot to me and I am quite upset with how badly it is often represented both in popular culture but also educational media.
For anyone who is interested in Prehistory and wants to quickly brush up on the general framework of the Stone Age I made this handy diagram. 
For a more in depth look check out the Stone Age 101 series here www.deviantart.com/pelycosaur2…
A few words from left to right:
The Lower Paleolithic is the part of the stone age where human ancestors in Africa first started walking upright and using tools. Typical for this stage are tear drop shaped hand axes - the so called Acheullean tools. This is represented by a Homo Habilis. Later in the lower Paleolithic humans moved out of Africa and started settling Asia and Europe. Homo erectus, who reached east Asia, represents this stage in human prehistory.
Next the Middle Paleolithic is the time of the so called "Levallois technology". In Europe and Asia the Neandertal (who represents the Middle Paleolithic here) hunted the megafauna of the last Ice Age while in Africa the first modern humans emerged and started moving out of Africa at the end of this stage.
The Upper Paleolithic might be called "the classical Stone Age". Neandertals died out and modern humans spread to almost every corner of the world. Modern humans revolutionized stone industry but also used other materials like bone and antler. Art and Music also got big in the upper paleolithic with cave paintings and sculptures making their debut.
The Mesolithic is a phenomenon that is tied to the end of the Ice Age and the change in Fauna and landscape that came with it. Humans learned to live without the herds of Megafauna by inventing archery for smaller game and focusing on fishing and foraging. Primitive agriculture emerged in some places around this time.
The Neolithic revolution started in the middle east but quickly spread to the rest of the old world. Agriculture, stock farming and the use of pottery changed human life like nothing before. Permanent settlements allowed for a change in human society and the first cities emerged.
At the end of the Neolithic the discovery of metal once more revolutionized human life. Once again starting in the middle east the new technologies spread quickly both east and west marking the beginning of the Chalcolithic or "Copper-Stone Age". This gave rise to a new stratification of human society as for the first time a true "upper class" formed.
I hope you like this and I hope to inspire some interest in Prehistory with this
I decided to draw another entry for Stone Age 101 yet again, this time we will go back to the Middle Paleolithic while the Neanderthal ruled Europe and Asia and we will travel south to see what the first modern humans were up to meanwhile.
In African prehistoric Archaeology the Paleolithic is divided in “Early Stone Age”, “Middle Stone Age” and “Late Stone Age” – these stages pretty much coincide with Lower, Middle and Upper Paleolithic both chronologically as well as in many of the technological developments. Today we will take a look at the Middle Stone Age. Just like in Europe it started around 300kya with the introduction of the Levallois technology which is especially well documented in modern day Kenia and Ethiopia. Around this time anatomically modern humans show up in the fossil record so it is very likely they were the bearers of the individual cultures. Just like in Europe or Asia there are many sub-stages in different areas for different times. For the Spear shown in the picture I went with the Lupemban of central and southern Africa. The tools are usually leaf shaped and bear great resemblance to Mousterien tools. So far the inventory of this stone industry includes knives, spear tips, harpoons and well as axes. Findings from several caves (for example Broken Hill in South Africa) suggest that our early relatives hunted and butchered the local megafauna.
It is little surprising that also the human love for art and decoration can be traced to our early ancestors. At the Porc-Epic Site in Ethiopia large quantities of red and yellow ocher were found that show signs of grinding indicating that it was used as paint. A very common form of adornment in Paleolithic Africa were beads made from the shells of Ostrich eggs, like the necklace depicted here. Such beads have been found in Border Cave in South Africa as well as Mumba Cave in Tanzania.
By popular demand a spin-off of my Stone Age 101 series that focuses on North America.You can find the rest of the series here: pelycosaur24.deviantart.com/ga…
The Question when humans migrated to America is a little controversial, with lots of different estimated based of lots of different factors. But if you look at unmistakable archaeological evidence (that means no mastodon skulls that where probably crushed by ... literally anything but humans) it is pretty safe to say that the first Americans arrived over the Beringia land bridge around 17.000 BP - 15.000 BP. There are theories that suggest that South America was settled separately via Polynesia.
For this drawing I choose to focus on the Clovis culture. Today the Clovis people are no longer seen as the first inhabitants in America but they are the first large scale culture with a good defined stone tool typology - which makes them ideal for this series!
The Clovis culture appears around 14.000 BP and in very short time spread over most of North and Central America. The stone tools made by the Clovis are very characteristic and the long bladed "clovis tips" made from semi-precious stones are often found at the sites.
Almost all Clovis sites are “Kill sites”, which gives us a good understanding of what they hunted. Their main prey consisted of Bison, Deer, Pronghorn and Bighorn sheep. Mammoths and Mastodon are only present in some kill sites.
As for settlements there is one site that suggests that Clovis people lived in hut or tent like structures.
There is only one burial site in Anzick, Montana, where the ceremonial use of red ocher is documented. That is also the spot I choose for my representative woman.
As far as I know (please correct me if I am wrong) there is no evidence of any form of art (save for a few geometric scratched stones found at Gault Site in Texas) in the Clovis Culture.
What is interesting is that the Clovis culture is very well represented in the Disney movies Brother bear 1 and 2. They use some pretty accurate Clovis tips in the movie, the clothing looks good and in the second movie you can even see a settlement with accurate Stone Age huts. So thumbs up 
for Disney for making what is probably the most accurate animated movie set in the Stone Age.
You can find the rest of the Stone Age 101 series here pelycosaur24.deviantart.com/ga…
After I drew “the dancing Venus” fav.me/dazh7h5 I decided I wanted to draw the woman in that picture again and give her an outfit based on actual findings. Once I was done I thought: why not turn it into a Stone Age 101 drawing focusing on Austria? For this drawing I choose two famous sites from the Aurignacien and Gravettien as inspiration for the clothing and background. Humans have lived in Austria for at least 100.000 years and there are countless sites where Neanderthal tools have been found (most notably the Repolust Cave were also Neanderthal jewelry has been found).
However as a fining place Austria reached its greatest importance in the Upper Paleolithic. Lower Austria – along the valley of the Danube – is one of the densest areas for Paleolithic findings period. Some of the most notable sites are of course Willendorf where the famous Venus was discovered in 1908 and Krems-Wachtberg where the burial of two twin babies was found in 2005 alongside clay figurines that – together with the findings of Dolni Vestonice – are the oldest pottery artifacts in the world. For my drawing however I choose the sites of Stratzing (Aurignacien) and Grub-Kranawetberg (Gravettien).
The former is famous for the discovery of the Venus vom Galgenberg which – together with the Venus von Holefels – is considered the oldest humanoid figurine in the world. The hut depicted in the background of the drawing is also based on the findings of Stratzing. It consisted of four posts and had a fireplace and a separate pit used for cooking next to it.
The second finding spot at Grub-Kranawetberg is known as the largest deposit of Ice Age jewelry found in Austria, consisting of over 250 ivory and bone pearls and 100 pierced shells and mollusks. These where most likely sewn to the clothing the way I depicted it here. Additionally the use of color can be observed at this spot, especially graphite, red ocher and hematite. Based on this I decided to draw what could be a ceremonial dress – since I doubt she wants to crawl through the mud dressed like this
For the spear I decided to give her a Lautscher tip which is typical for the Aurignacien and has been found at several sites throughout Austria. I did not give her a spear thrower since none have been found in Austria yet (although it can of course be assumed that they did exist).
As for climate and animals: We know from pollen analysis and from mollusks that the climate was extremely dry and the landscape of the Danube Valley was an open steppe with the occasional appearance of conifers. There were lots of mammoths and they appear at almost every site, additionally the people hunted wholly rhino, reindeer, horses but also carnivores like foxes and wolves.
Another Episode of Stone Age 101!
This time we travel back to the lower Paleolithic and visit two extraordinary sites in Germany.
400.000 years ago Germany looked very different it had a Flora rich in forest and Grassland and a Fauna reminiscent of modern savanna. Rhinoceros, deer, horses and forest elephants dominated the landscape. Feeding on this variety were predators like lions, hyenas and humans. In fact the oldest proof that humans were indeed predators comes from Germany. At Schöningen 8 carefully crafted javelins have been discovered which stand tall as the oldest known weapons. However an even more remarkable site is the settlement of Bilzingsleben.
It consisted of three large round huts 4-5 meters in diameter with a foundation of rocks and fireplaces at the entrance. There was a very busy production of tools at this site and over 140.000 flint artifacts have been recovered as well as engraved bones. There is also what has been described as a “paved” round workplace consisting of non-native rocks that had been carefully placed in the mud. This area was apparently “cleaned” as bone fragments were discovered in the grooved between the rocks, almost as if it had been swept clean regularly.
This gives us an extraordinary insight in the cognitive abilities of these early humans. The people who built this settlement were most likely homo heidelbergensis – the direct ancestors of European Neanderthals. It is estimated that they already had a religion and complex speech.
Fun fact: I obviously censored the nipples. A quote from my little sister upon seeing the drawing: “It kinda looks more kinky with the leather straps.”
No hay comentarios:
Publicar un comentario