Gravettian
| Geographical range | Europe |
|---|---|
| Period | Upper Paleolithic |
| Dates | c. 31,000 - 22,000 BCE |
| Type site | La Gravette |
| Major sites | Dordogne |
| Preceded by | Aurignacian |
| Followed by | Solutrean, Epigravettian |
| The Paleolithic |
|---|
|
↑ Pliocene (before Homo) |
|
Lower Paleolithic (c. 3.3 Ma – 300 ka)
(300–45 ka)
(50–10 ka)
|
| ↓ Mesolithic ↓ Stone Age |
↑ Pliocene (before Homo)
The Gravettian was an archaeological industry of the European Upper Paleolithic that succeeded the Aurignacian c. 31,000 BC. It is archaeologically the last unified European culture, and lasted until c. 22,000 BC, close to the Last Glacial Maximum. At this point it developed into the Epigravettian in Italy, the Balkans, and Russia, and was replaced abruptly by the Solutrean in France and Spain.
The origins of the Gravettian people are not clear, they seem to appear simultaneously all over Europe. Like their Aurignacian predecessors, they are well-known for their Venus figurines.
The culture was first identified at the site of La Gravette in Southwestern France.
One typical artefact of the industry, once considered diagnostic, is a small pointed blade with a straight blunt back, known as the Gravette point. These were used to hunt big game including bison, horse, reindeer and mammoth. Gravettians also used nets to hunt small game.
Archaeologists usually describe two regional variants: the western Gravettian, known namely from cave sites in France, Spain and Britain, and the eastern Gravettian in Central Europe and Russia. The eastern Gravettians — they include the Pavlovian culture — were specialized mammoth hunters, whose remains are usually found not in caves but in open air sites.
The Aurignacian and Gravettian cultures are featured in Earth's children, a series of novels set in prehistory. In this piece of fiction, the Venus figurines play a particularly important role at the center of a fertility rite.
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Wikipedia