| Aurignacian | A lithic tool technology associated
with anatomically modern human beings in Europe
dating from 34,000 to 27,000 years ago. Includes
long, narrow blade tools.
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| Aurignacian blade | A blade tool produced in the
Aurignacian technology dating between 34,000
and 27,000 years ago.
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| grave goods | Cultural materials placed into a grave,
sometimes in a conscious attempt to provide the
deceased with items it is believed are needed in the
afterlife.
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| Gravettian | Toolmaking tradition of the Upper Paleolithic,
characterized by the production of small
blades and denticulate knives (with projections, or
“teeth,” along the cutting edge). Dated from 27,000
to 21,000 B.P.
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| logistical collecting | A settlement-subsistence strategy
that involves the movement of a group in a
fixed seasonal round. The food collectors know
when resources are available and where during the
course of a year. They plan the movements of their
settlements to coincide with the availability of food
resources in their territory.
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| Magdelanian | culture in Europe
dating from 16,000 to 11,000 B.P. Known from sites
primarily in France and Spain,Magdelanian material
culture included finely made barbed harpoons,
carved decorative objects, and cave paintings.
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| megafauna | Very large animals; commonly used to
describe the large, now-extinct herbivores of the
Pleistocene world.
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| mobiliary art | Art that is portable. Mobiliary art
made during the Upper Paleolithic includes Venus
figurines, animal carvings, and geometrically incised
bone and antler.
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| opportunistic foragers | Groups that follow a subsistence
pattern in which they take advantage of
whatever resources become available without
much patterning or planning in advance.
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| parietal art | Art on the walls of a cave, like the cave
paintings of the Upper Paleolithic.
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| petroglyph | A design etched into a rock face. Darker,
weathered rock surface is removed, creating a design
or pattern by exposing lighter-colored rock
beneath.
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| settlement pattern | The location, size, function, and
seasonality of the various communities or activity
areas within a given cultural system. The pattern
of land use.
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| Solutrean | The stone-toolmaking tradition of the
European Upper Paleolithic dating from 21,000 to
16,000 B.P. Solutrean bifaces include exquisitely
made, symmetrical, leaf-shaped projectile points.
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| spear-thrower | A tool used to increase the range and
accuracy of the hand-thrown spear. It is a straight
rod or board with a hook at one end that articulates
with the end of the spear and effectively increases
the length of the arm of the individual
throwing the spear.
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| Venus figurines | Upper Paleolithic sculptures of females,
often, but not always, with exaggerated secondary
sexual characteristics. They have been
found in geographic clusters in western, central,
and eastern Europe, usually dated to the narrow
time span between 25,000 and 23,000 years ago.
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2003 McGraw-Hill Higher Education