Everyday Life in the Ice Age : A New Study of Our Ancestors

Everyday Life in the Ice Age is the first attempt to present a truly complete, balanced and realistic picture of life during the last Ice Age, with its many problems and challenges, while dispelling many of the myths and inaccuracies about our early ancestors. One of the most common questions asked by visitors to Europe’s decorated caves is ‘What was life like for these people?’ No previous book has ever managed to answer this question, and most studies of the period are aimed entirely at academics, tending to focus on tool-types rather than what the tools were used for. Women and children are almost invisible in these studies. The book examines all aspects of the lives of biologically modern humans in Europe from about 40,000 to 12,000 years ago, the period known as the Last Ice Age, a time of radical change in climate and environment. It explores how people were able to cope with and adapt to the often rapid alterations in their circumstances. Elle Clifford’s background in Social Psychology brings important insights into aspects of the past which are never normally discussed – domestic and family life, pregnancy and child-rearing, and care of the sick and elderly. The book is aimed not only at students and specialists, but also and especially the interested public, for whom the most interesting questions are: How were they like us? and what behaviours do we share? Elle Clifford began her career lecturing in social and developmental psychology, and researching stress and women’s reproductive health. She published over a dozen academic papers on these topics. She then acquired a Master’s degree in prehistory at York University with a thesis on cave art and mythological worlds. In recent years Elle has accompanied Paul on visits to more than 50 of the most important decorated caves. They have co-authored two papers on the so-called ‘Lion Man’ figurine of the Ice Age. ; Paul Bahn has a PhD in archaeology from Cambridge University, and for decades has been an independent researcher, writing and editing a wide range of archaeological books, including several on Ice Age art. He also lectures on numerous tours to the decorated Ice Age caves. Cover 1 Title Page 3 Copyright Page 4 Contents Page 5 Contents 5 Preface 7 Don Johanson 7 Acknowledgements 10 Introduction 11 CHRONOLOGY 14 Chapter 1 Introducing the People: Appearance, Abilities and Disabilities 15 The Lapedo child 16 La Marche 20 Female figurines 23 Cap Blanc 26 Tracks and traces 28 The division of labour – did women hunt? 30 Genders – rigid or fluid? 32 Feeding the ice age family 36 Dietary requirements 36 Sunghir 38 Fitness and violence 43 Cro-Magnon 45 Vitamin D 46 The Romito dwarf 47 Teeth, mouth and gum infections 49 Diseases and infections 50 The Arcy parasite 51 Waste matter and sanitation 52 Immunity and treatments 53 Burials 54 The Dolní Vestonice trio 55 Conclusion 58 Chapter 2 Setting the Scene: Ice Age Environments and Home Comforts 59 The changing climate 59 Flora and fauna 61 Who would live in a place like this? 65 Use of deep caves 67 Cave comforts 69 Carry on camping 73 Building with mammoths 80 Fire 84 Have you got a light? 88 Conclusion 90 Chapter 3 Our Crafty Ancestors 91 Toolmaking 91 The flint stones 92 Mastic 97 Feats of clay 98 Using hard bits of animals 99 Woodwork 101 Innovations with fibres and plants 104 Animal skins and clothing 109 Containers: cache and carry! 112 Carrying Children 119 Head coverings 120 The La Madeleine burial: the child of an elite family? 121 Best foot forward 126 Conclusion 127 Chapter 4 How to Make a Living: Survival and Subsistence 129 Hunting -vs - gathering 129 The ivory boomerang 130 Solutré 134 Hunting for clues to hunting 134 Horses 135 Animal control 138 Reining in the reindeer 142 Red deer 146 The ibex 146 The mammoth 148 Carnivores and small game 150 Embarking on a relationship with dogs 151 How and why were wolves domesticated? 153 Plucky bird hunters 156 Fishing on a small scale 158 Atlantic salmon runs 161 Plant foods 165 A camp of fisher-hunter-gatherers 167 Modern gatherers 168 Ice age food processors 169 The original boil-in-a-bag meal 170 Palaeolithic recipes 172 Eggs with mushrooms 172 Chapter 5 Ice Age People:From Womb to Tomb 173 Reproduction 173 From here to maternity 174 The obstetric dilemma 178 The Abri Pataud 180 The Ostuni burial of a woman and her infant 181 The child burials at the Grotte des Enfants 183 The perinatal skeleton from Wilczyce, Poland 184 Identical twins at Krems-Wachtberg, Austria 186 Home delivery service 187 After birth 189 Sharing the caring 189 Postmenopausal women and the grandmother hypothesis 190 Family size and birth intervals 191 First foods for ice age infants 191 Methods of carrying and transporting infants 193 Weaning 193 Who’s your daddy? Paternity and avoiding incest 195 Who stays and who goes? 196 Is there any evidence of infanticide? 197 Growing up 197 Cavorting in caves: thrills but no spills 198 Female figurines 202 An enduring myth: the ‘Lion Man’ 205 Kids in caves – making a good impression 206 Death in the ice age – good grief! 212 The young Italian Prince 215 Chapter 6 Keeping in Touch:Communication, Social Life and Organization 217 Getting together 217 Ice age bling 221 Language 227 Therianthropes 228 Thanks for the memory 229 Telling the time 233 Drama in caves 235 Having a laugh? 240 Musical moments 244 Images on the rocks 248 What evidence is there for religion? 258 JFK 259 The ‘Rites of Springs’ 263 Conclusion 266 Case Study El Mirón and Covalanas 269 The Red Lady 271 The secret sanctuary 273 Appendix The Fake ‘Venus’ of Abri Pataud 275 References 277 Figure credits 295 Index 300 Back cover 307

Everyday Life in the Ice Age is the first attempt to present a truly complete, balanced and realistic picture of life during the last Ice Age, with its many problems and challenges, while dispelling many of the myths and inaccuracies about our early ancestors.One of the most common questions asked by visitors to Europe's decorated caves is 'What was life like for these people?' No previous book has ever managed to answer this question, and most studies of the period are aimed entirely at academics, tending to focus on tool-types rather than what the tools were used for. Women and children are almost invisible in these studies.The book examines all aspects of the lives of biologically modern humans in Europe from about 40, 000 to 12, 000 years ago, the period known as the Last Ice Age, a time of radical change in climate and environment. It explores how people were able to cope with and adapt to the often rapid alterations in their circumstances.Elle Clifford's background in Social Psychology brings important insights into aspects of the past which are never normally discussed – domestic and family life, pregnancy and child-rearing, and care of the sick and elderly.The book is aimed not only at students and specialists, but also and especially the interested public, for whom the most interesting questions are: How were they like us? and what behaviours do we share?

This is the first attempt to present a truly complete, balanced and realistic picture of life during the last Ice Age, while dispelling many of the myths and inaccuracies about our early ancestors. This highly illustrated and accessible book is aimed not only at students and specialists, but also and especially the interested public.