The History Book

27

narrow valleys or at river crossings.

In leaner times, these groups would

split up again and range far across

the landscape to find enough wild

resources to sustain themselves.

Early technologies

These hunter-gatherers expended

considerable effort on hunting

technology, since it could spell

the difference between life and

death. They hafted elaborately

worked stone tips on to spears that

were then launched at the target

using atlatls, or spear-throwers,

designed to increase the distance

over which a spear could travel

and the force with which it hit its

target. These tools were crucial to

hunting success, so it is no surprise

that some of these atlatls were

beautifully carved and decorated,

often with representations of the

animals being hunted. Similarly,

they also painstakingly carved

complex barbed harpoons from

bone and antler for fishing.

First seeds of a society

Delicately worked bone awls and

needles suggest Stone Age humans

also made warm clothes out of

HUMAN ORIGINS

animal skin and fur with much more

care than their predecessors, and

they made many other items—from

jewelry finely crafted from animal

teeth and shell, to figurines carved

from stone or sculpted from clay.

Many of these may also have been

traded, gifted, or exchanged with

individuals from other groups as

part of large-scale social networks.

The unpredictable environments

of Europe during the Last Glacial

Maximum meant sharing resources

with other groups in times of plenty

could pay off significantly at a

later date: if a group struggled to

find resources in one area, others

elsewhere who had previously

benefited from their generosity

would be more inclined to return

the favor. These kinds of exchange

relationships probably linked even

very far-flung groups together into

complex networks of individual

and group relationships that were

fundamental to survival in such

a tough environment. ■

Venus figurines Figurines of women carved or

sculpted from stone, ivory, or

clay are a type of Paleolithic

art found widely across Europe.

These figurines share many

striking similarities. While

details such as facial features

and feet are largely ignored,

feminine sexual characteristics

(breasts, belly, hips, thighs, and

vulva) are often exaggerated.

The focus on features related to

sexuality and fertility, and the

round body shapes depicted

(during the Ice Age fat would

have been a precious commodity)

suggest that the figurines may

have played a symbolic role as

a charm relating to childbirth

or, more generally, fertility.

Some researchers believe

that the figures represent a

“mother goddess,” but there

is no real evidence for such

an interpretation. Others have

focused instead on the fact

that the figurines demonstrate

widely shared cultural ideas

and symbols. These would

have been crucial to social

interactions and exchanges

of resources, information, and

potential marriage partners

in the Ice Age world.

Hunting tools, such as this spear-

thrower, were often carved in the shape

of the animals they were used to kill,

probably as a sort of “magic ritual” to

improve chances of success in the hunt.

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