Introduction: Late Paleolithic Europe

From 56,800 years ago, the Cro-Magnons or European Early Modern Humans (EEMH) migrated from Western Asia to Europe. They lived alongside and interbred with the indigenous Neanderthals, who became extinct 40,000 to 35,000 years ago. 

The first group of Cro-Magnons became extinct around 38,000 BC due to a volcanic eruption that covered large parts of Europe in ash. About 1,000 years later, a second group of Cro-Magnons migrated to Europe. This group was a fundamental founding population and formed the basic for all later Cro-Magnon cultures. The Cro-Magnons had an advanced culture while living in the harsh climate of the European Ice Age. 

The Cro-Magnons developed various types of weapons, such as bows and spears, with which they hunted mammoths, among other things. They domesticated the dog, crafted musical instruments, used red ocher—possibly as cosmetics—and made jewelry. Additionally, groups traded raw materials over long distances, which were used, for example, to make Venus figurines: portable female figures, often with wide hips, large breasts, and a thick belly.

The discovery of Venus figurines initially led to the assumption that the society of the Cro-Magnons was matriarchal. There is no evidence for this. For example, most of the discovered graves are of men and boys, sometimes accompanied by luxurious grave goods.

Relatively few graves of the Cro-Magnons have been found. This may mean that not everyone was buried; some people may have been cremated and scattered, or exposed to the elements.

The people who were buried often received grave goods, such as tools and jewelry. The Cro-Magnons may have believed in an afterlife or resurrection. They were also buried with red ocher. Multiple people were regularly buried in the same grave, often of both sexes.

The society of the Cro-Magnons was generally relatively egalitarian. Yet grave goods show that some individuals had a higher status. For example, the grave of two children with very luxurious grave goods suggests that high status may have been hereditary.

A number of graves belong to people who were probably not suitable for hunting or heavy physical work. Yet they received rich grave goods, suggesting they may have had a special role, such as that of a shaman or craftsman.

Shamanism played a role in Cro-Magnon spirituality. In the Chauvet Cave (28,000 BC), the Lascaux Cave (15,000 BC), and Grotte des Trois-Frères (12,000 BC), hybrid bodies are depicted, a cross between human and animal. They may show a shamanistic trance, where the shaman exchanges his human body for that of an animal to make a spiritual journey.

It is likely that these shamans wore matching clothing for such rituals, such as antler headdresses, as found in the Mesolithic excavations of Star Carr (9300-8400 BC) and Badburg-Königshoven (7800-7600 BC).

Additionally, there is evidence of (ritual) cannibalism and the crafting of drinking cups from human skulls. This was possibly to support this shamanistic journey, or for another yet unknown ritual.

We can roughly divide the period when the Cro-Magnons lived in Europe, the Paleolithic or the old stone Age, into three cultures.

• The Aurignacian culture or the Auragnician (43,000-26,000 years ago) is known for the early art of the Cro-Magnons, such as the Venus of Hohle Fels, created between 40,000 and 35,000 years ago. This figure, discovered in Germany, is one of the oldest known Venus figurines. The Aurignacians also made the oldest flute, the Hohle Fels flute, and produced other artworks and ivory jewelry. They were the first modern humans in Europe, settling after the migration from Africa.
• The Gravettian culture or the Gravettian (33,000-22,000 years ago) followed the Aurignacian culture. During this period, most Venus figurines were made, usually from ivory or limestone. More than two hundred Venus figures from this culture have been found, such as the Venus of Galgenberg, Venus of Dolní Věstonice, Venus of Willendorf, Venus of Mauern, and the Venus of Laussel. The Gravettians were hunter-gatherers and lived in a cold climate. The culture extended from Portugal to Siberia. The Gravettian developed into the Epi-Gravettian in the region of Italy and the Solutrean in the west.
• From the Solutrean, the Magdalenian culture developed or the Magdalenian (17,000-12,000 years ago). This culture had refined techniques in tool production and art. They crafted both functional objects and artworks from materials such as deer antler, bone, and ivory. A well-known example is the Venus of Waldstetten, which is among the portable artworks of this culture. They also made phallic symbols, with more than sixty having been found. The famous stone Age cave paintings also date from this time, such as those in the caves of Lascaux and Altamira, where animals played a prominent role. These artworks offer a unique insight into their life and worldview. The Magdalenian culture spread over a large part of Western Europe.

During the last Ice Age, which lasted until about 12,000 BC, large parts of Europe were covered with glaciers and therefore uninhabitable. It is estimated that only 5,000 to 130,000 people lived scattered across the entire continent at that time. These populations concentrated in relatively small habitable areas, known as refugia, such as Northern Spain and Southern France of the Solutrean and the Italian peninsula of the Epigravettian.

After the end of the Ice Age, these groups began to repopulate Europe during the Mesolithic or the Middle-stone Age. They are now referred to as Western Hunter-Gatherers (WHG).