by Karin Bojs
Taller, Andreas. Conversation, September 2013.
Blaubeuren Museum of Prehistory (Urgeschichtliches Museum Blaubeuren). Visited in September 2013.
Geißenklösterle. Visit, September 2013.
Hohentübingen Castle Museum (Museum Schloss Hohentübingen). Visited in 2013.
Hohle Fels. Visit, September 2013.
First on the Scene in Europe
I received a great deal of help on the Kostenki site from the Russian archaeologist Andrei Sinitsyn. John F. Hoffecker, an American expert on eastern European archaeology, was also very helpful. Unfortunately, I have not yet been able to visit either the local museum in Kostenki or the Kunstkamera (the Peter the Great Museum of Anthropology and Ethnography) in St Petersburg, where the photo of the model was taken.
Anikovich, M., Sinitsyn, A., Hoffecker, J., Holliday, V., Popov, V., Lisitsyn, S., et al. (2007). Early Upper Paleolithic in Eastern Europe and implications for the dispersal of modern humans. Science, 315 (5809), 223–226. doi:10.1126/science.1133376
Benazzi, S., Douka, K., Fornai, C., Bauer, C., Kullmer, O., Svoboda, J., et al. (2011). Early dispersal of modern humans in Europe and implications for Neanderthal behaviour. Nature, 479 (7374), 525–528. doi:10.1038/nature10617
Benazzi, S., Bailey, S. E., Peresani, M., Mannino, M. A., Romandini, M., Richards, M. P., & Hublin, J. (2014). Middle Paleolithic and Uluzzian human remains from Fumane Cave, Italy. Journal of Human Evolution, 70, 61–68. doi:10.1016/j.jhevol.2014.03.001
Dalén, L., Orlando, L., Shapiro, B., Brandström-Durling, M., Quam, R., Gilbert, M., et al. (2012). Partial genetic turnover in Neanderthals: continuity in the East and population replacement in the West. Molecular Biology and Evolution, 29 (8), 1893–1897. doi:10.1093/molbev/mss074
Douka, K., Higham, T. G., Wood, R., Boscato, P., Gambassini, P., Karkanas, P., et al. (2014). On the chronology of the Uluzzian. Journal of Human Evolution, 68, 1–13. doi:10.1016/j.jhevol.2013.12.007
Higham, T., Compton, T., Stringer, C., Jacobi, R., Shapiro, B., Trinkaus, E., et al. (2011). The earliest evidence for anatomically modern humans in northwestern Europe. Nature, 479 (7374), 521–524. doi:10.1038/nature10484
Higham, T., Douka, K., Wood, R., Ramsey, C., Brock, F., Basell, L., et al. (2014). The timing and spatiotemporal patterning of Neanderthal disappearance. Nature, 512 (7514), 306–309. doi:10.1038/nature13621
Hublin, J. (2012). The earliest modern human colonization of Europe. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 109 (34), 13471–13472. doi:10.1073/pnas.1211082109
Krause, J., Briggs, A., Kircher, M., Maricic, T., Zwyns, N., Derevianko, A., & Pääbo, S. (2010). A complete mtDNA genome of an early modern human from Kostenki, Russia. Current Biology, 20 (3), 231–236. doi:10.1016/j.cub.2009.11.068
Maricic, T., Günther, V., Georgiev, O., Gehre, S., Ćurlin, M., Schreiweis, C., et al. (2013). A recent evolutionary change affects a regulatory element in the human FOXP2 gene. Molecular Biology and Evolution, 30 (4), 844.
Marom, A., McCullagh, J., Higham, T., Sinitsyn, A., & Hedges, R. (2012). Single amino acid radiocarbon dating of Upper Paleolithic modern humans. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 109 (18), 6878–6881. doi:10.1073/pnas.1116328109
Oppenheimer, C. (2011). Eruptions that Shook the World [Electronic resource]. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Trinkaus, E., Zilhão, J., & Constantin, S. (2013). Life and Death at the Peştera cu Oase: a setting for modern human emergence in Europe. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Wood, R., Barroso-Ruíz, C., Caparrós, M., Jordá Pardo, J., Galván Santos, B., & Higham, T. (2013). Radiocarbon dating casts doubt on the late chronology of the Middle to Upper Palaeolithic transition in southern Iberia. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 110 (8), 2781–2786. doi:10.1073/pnas.1207656110
Conard, Nicholas. Interview, 2013.
Higham, Thomas. Email, 2014.
Hoffecker, John. Email, 2014.
Hublin, Jean-Jacques. Interview, November 2014. Email, December 2014.
Pääbo, Svante. Email, May 2015.
Sinitsyn, Andrei. Email, 2014.
Trinkhaus, Erik. Email, 2014.
Wohlfarth, Barbara. Interview, July 2013.
Musée National de Préhistoire, Les Eyzies-de-Tayac. Visited in 2013.
Mammoths in Brno
Brno, just over an hour by train from Vienna, is definitely worth a visit. Anthropos is among Europe’s more informative prehistory museums, and a visit to the monastery that was once the workplace of Gregor Mendel, the father of genetics, is surely part of our general education now that DNA technology is developing at such a dramatic rate.
And don’t miss Brno’s main square, where a large farmers’ market is held. This is particularly inviting in September, with cups of newly made wine on sale at market stalls.
Cook, J. (2013). Ice Age Art: arrival of the modern mind. London: British Museum Press.
Fu, Q., Mittnik, A., Johnson, P., Bos, K., Lari, M., Bollongino, R., et al. (2013). A revised timescale for human evolution based on ancient mitochondrial genomes. Current Biology, 23 (7), 553–559. doi:10.1016/j.cub.2013.02.044
Cook, Jill. Interview, March 2013.
Svoboda, Jiři. Interview, September 2013. Email, 2014.
Anthropos Museum, Brno. Visited in September 2013.
Cro-Magnon
If you choose to visit just one of the destinations described in this book, make it Les-Eyzies-de-Tayac. The French state and the local authorities have done everything they can here to pool their resources and make sure Ice Age tourists get the most out of their visit. Many of the sites are just 10 minutes’ walk apart.
It is best to avoid the high season in July and August, when the hotels are full and the narrow streets heaving with cars.
The train journey from Bordeaux takes about three hours. It is about five minutes’ walk from the little station to Cro-Magnon, and just a few minutes more to Abri Pataud, which has a small museum of its own. The big National Museum of Prehistory, the Musée National de Préhistoire, is a few hundred metres further on. Tremendously ambitious, the museum places considerable demands on the visitor. It is advisable to go on a guided tour, which will put everything into context.
The museum’s contact details are available on its homepage. It is open throughout the week in the high season; during the rest of the year it closes on Tuesdays.
The expert guides at the Musée National de Préhistoire, such as Florence Landais, are responsible for coordinating most things to do with prehistory in the region. However, this does not apply to Abri Pataud, which is covered by another state organisation, or to Rouffignac, which is privately owned.
The Pôle International de la Préhistoire (International Prehistory Centre) occupies a large new building near the museum. Its facilities include an extensive collection of books, magazines and films, which visitors can use free of charge. The centre is closed on Saturdays.
Font-de-Gaume is about half an hour on foot from Les Eyzies. Tickets can be purchased on the spot on the same day as the tour. It’s best to be there by 9.30 a.m., when they open! In the same direction, but a little further away, are Les Combarelles and Abri du Cap Blanc (the latter can be reached by bike or car, rather than on foot).
Abri du Poisson, Laugerie Haute and some other sites are about half an hour’s walk from Les Eyzies in the other direction.
The simplest way to get to Rouffignac is to hire a car.
The tourist office (office de tourisme) in Les Eyzies can put visitors in touch with car rental firms and hire out cycles.
The Department of Geological Sciences at the University of Stockholm was very helpful when I was planning my trip to Les Eyzies. Barbara Wohlfarth and Otto Hermelin used to organise trips there as part of the introductory course on human evolution. Sadly, the course is no longer running.
It was on Barbara Wohlfarth’s advice that I de
cided against visiting the most famous cave in the region, Lascaux. The public can no longer enter the cave, but have to make do with copies of the paintings on plastic backgrounds. Even so, it seems there are too many visitors for comfort.
The cave at Pech Merle, about two hours by car from Les Eyzies, is said to be extraordinary. Unfortunately, I was unable to fit in a visit.
Staying at the Cro-Magnon guesthouse was interesting and enjoyable, but rather expensive. More affordable alternatives are chalets at the local campsite or the Auberge de Musée. I ate best at Hôtel Les Glycines, and the Café-Brasserie de la Mairie at the foot of the big prehistory museum also served tasty dishes at affordable prices.
Achilli, A., Rengo, C., Battaglia, V., Pala, M., Olivieri, A., Fornarino, S., et al. (2005). Saami and Berbers – an unexpected mitochondrial DNA link. The American Journal of Human Genetics, 76 (5), 883–886.
Bäckman, L. & Hultkrantz, Å. (1978). Studies in Lapp Shamanism. Stockholm: Almqvist & Wiksell International.
Clottes, J. (2011[2008]). Cave Art. New York: Phaidon Press.
Desdemaines-Hugon, C. & Tattersall, I. (2010). Stepping-stones: a journey through the Ice Age caves of the Dordogne. New Haven: Yale University Press.
Fu, Q., Mittnik, A., Johnson, P., Bos, K., Lari, M., Bollongino, R., et al. (2013). A revised timescale for human evolution based on ancient mitochondrial genomes. Current Biology, 23 (7), 553–559. doi:10.1016/j.cub.2013.02.044
Lewis-Williams, J. D. (2004[2002]). The Mind in the Cave: consciousness and the origins of art. London: Thames & Hudson.
Tambets, K., Rootsi, S., Kivisild, T., Help, H., Serk, P., Loogväli, E., et al. (2004). The western and eastern roots of the Saami – the story of genetic “outliers” told by mitochondrial DNA and Y chromosomes. The American Journal of Human Genetics, 74 (4), 661–682. doi:10.1086/383203
Wohlfarth, Barbara, University of Stockholm. Excursion guide for the 2013 course on human evolution.
Berlin, Rolf. Email, August 2011.
Chiotti, Laurent. Interview, September 2013.
Krause, Johannes. Interview, September 2013.
Plassard, Frédéric. Interview, September 2013.
Svoboda, Jiři. Interview, September 2013.
Abri du Cap Blanc, Les Eyzies-de-Tayac. Visited in September 2013.
Abri Pataud and Laugerie Haute, Les Eyzies-de-Tayac. Visited in September 2013.
Font-de-Gaume, Les Eyzies-de-Tayac. Visited in September 2013.
Les Combarelles, Les Eyzies-de-Tayac. Visited in September 2013.
Musée de l’Abri Pataud, Les Eyzies-de-Tayac. Visited in September 2013.
Musée National de Préhistoire, Les Eyzies-de-Tayac. Visited in September 2013.
Rouffignac. Visited in September 2013.
The First Dog
See the chapter on the Falbygden area for information on the museum.
Freedman, A., Gronau, I., Schweizer, R., Ortega-Del Vecchyo, D., Han, E., Silva, P., et al. (2014). Genome sequencing highlights the dynamic early history of dogs. PLOS Genetics, 10 (1), e1004016. doi:10.1371/journal.pgen.1004016
Fu, Q., Mittnik, A., Johnson, P., Bos, K., Lari, M., Bollongino, R., et al. (2013). A revised timescale for human evolution based on ancient mitochondrial genomes. Current Biology, 23 (7), 553–559. doi:10.1016/j.cub.2013.02.044
Giemsch, L. (2014). Eiszeitjäger: Leben im Paradies: Europa vor 15000 Jahren. Mainz: Nünnerich-Asmus.
Pettitt, P. (2011). The Palaeolithic Origins of Human Burial. Abingdon: Routledge.
Skoglund, P., Ersmark, E., Palkopoulou, E., & Dalén, L. (2015). Ancient wolf genome reveals an early divergence of domestic dog ancestors and admixture into high-latitude breeds. Current Biology, doi:10.1016/j.cub.2015.04.019
Thalmann, O., Shapiro, B., Cui, P., Schuenemann, V., Sawyer, S., Greenfield, D., et al. (2013). Complete mitochondrial genomes of ancient canids suggest a European origin of domestic dogs. Science, 342 (6160), 871–874. doi:10.1126/science.1243650
Schmitz, Ralph W. Email, 2014.
Street, Martin. Email, 2014.
Thalmann, Olaf. Email, 2014.
Doggerland
Research into Doggerland is very recent, and there is surprisingly little information available. For those who want to know more, I can only recommend Vincent Gaffney’s book and a few display cases at the Danish National Museum in Copenhagen.
This museum is the best resource in Scandinavia for anyone wanting to learn about the Palaeolithic in northern Europe (as well as the Neolithic period, the Bronze Age and the Iron Age). Moreover, entrance is free, and the area around the museum has some pleasant restaurants serving smørrebrød, the typical Danish open sandwiches.
Coles, B. (2000). Doggerland: The cultural dynamics of a shifting coastline. London: Geological Society. doi:10.1144/GSL.SP.2000.175.01.27
Fu, Q., Rudan, P., Pääbo, S., & Krause, J. (2012). Complete mitochondrial genomes reveal Neolithic expansion into Europe. PLOS ONE, 7 (3), 1–6. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0032473
Gaffney, V. L., Fitch, S., & Smith, D. N. (2009). Europe’s Lost World: the rediscovery of Doggerland. York: Council for British Archaeology.
Gaffney, Vincent. Interview, January 2015.
Wohlfarth, Barbara. Interview, March 2014.
The Ice Age Ends
The idea that people witnessed the sudden appearance of a huge waterfall to the north of Mount Billingen and the time when the water in the Öresund Strait ran dry is, of course, an invention. We cannot know whether there were any eyewitnesses. I borrowed most of the fictional description from Professor Svante Björck of Lund University, Sweden’s main expert on these geological events.
The finds from Huseby Klev are on show in a small local museum at Orust, which is open for a few weeks in summer and by prior arrangement.
The island of Stora Karlsö is a wonderful place to visit, especially at the beginning of summer, when the orchids are in bloom and the common murre (guillemot) chicks are leaping from the cliffs. There are daily boat trips until the end of August. The Stora Förvar cave, near the harbour, is freely accessible to the public.
The Barum woman is exhibited at the Swedish History Museum in Stockholm. In addition to her skeleton, there is a whole room full of information about the environment in which she lived.
Apart from these sites, the best and most complete information about the Scandinavian Stone Age is to be found at the Danish National Museum in Copenhagen.
Andersson, M. & Knarrström, B. (1999). Senpaleolitikum i Skåne: en studie av materiell kultur och ekonomi hos Sveriges första fångstfolk. Stockholm: Swedish National Heritage Board, Archaeological Research Department.
Bailey, G. N. & Spikins, P. (eds) (2008). Mesolithic Europe. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Bjerck, H. B. (2009). Colonizing seascapes: comparative perspectives on the development of maritime relations in Scandinavia and Patagonia. Arctic Anthropology, 46 (1–2), 118–131.
Carlson, A. (2013). The Younger Dryas climate event. Encyclopedia
of Quaternary Science, 3, 126–134. doi:10.1016/B978-0-444-53643-3.00029-7
Hernek, R. & Nordqvist, B. (1995). Världens äldsta tuggummi?Ett urval spännande arkeologiska fynd och upptäckter som gjordes vid Huseby klev, och andra platser, inför väg 178 över Orust (1st edition). Kungsbacka: Byrån för arkeologiska undersökningar, Swedish National Heritage Board.
IPCC. (2013). Climate Change 2013: the physical science basis. Chapter 5: Information from Paleoclimate Archives. Cambridge and New York: Cambridge University Press.
Lindqvist, C. & Possnert, G. (1999). The first seal hunter families on Gotland: on the Mesolithic occupation in the Stora Förvar cave. Current Swedish Archaeology, 7, 65–87.
Malyarchuk, B. (2008). Mitochondrial DNA phylogeny in Eastern and Western Slavs. Molecular Biology and Evolution, 25 (8), 1651–1658.
Malyarchuk, B., Derenko, M., Grzybowski, T., Perkova, M., Rogalla, U., Vanecek, T., & Tsybovsky, I. (2010). The peopling of Europe from the mitochondri
al haplogroup U5 perspective. PLOS ONE, 5 (4), 1–6. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0010285
Masson-Delmotte, V., Swingedouw, D., Landais, A., Seidenkrantz, M., Gauthier, E., Bichet, V., et al. (2012). Greenland climate change: from the past to the future. Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews: Climate Change, 3 (5), 427–449.
Nordqvist, B. (2005). Huseby klev: en kustboplats med bevarat organiskt material från äldsta mesoliticum till järnålder: Bohuslän, Morlanda socken, Huseby 2:4 och 3:13, RAÄ 89 och 485: arkeologisk förundersökning och undersökning. Mölndal: Contract Archaeological Service (West), Swedish National Heritage Board, Archaeological Research Department.
Andersson, Magnus. Interview, February 2014.
Andrén, Thomas. Telephone interview, February 2014.
Apel, Jan. Telephone interview, November 2014 and March 2015.
Bjerck, Hein Bjartmann. Email, March 2014.
Björck, Svante. Interview, March 2014.
Broström, Anna. Interview, February 2014.
Jakobsson, Mattias. Interviews, November and December 2014.
Jennbert, Kristina. Interview, February 2014.
Magnell, Ola. Interview, February 2014.
Nordqvist, Bengt. Telephone interview, March 2014.
Price, Douglas. Interview, February 2014.
Storå, Jan. Telephone interview, December 2014.
Wohlfarth, Barbara. Interview, March 2014.
Dark Skin, Blue Eyes
Cerqueira, C., Paixão-Côrtes, V., Zambra, F., Salzano, F., Hünemeier, T., & Bortolini, M. (2012). Predicting homo pigmentation phenotype through genomic data: from Neanderthal to James Watson. American Journal of Human Biology, 24 (5), 705–709. doi:10.1002/ajhb.22263
Draus-Barini, J., Walsh, S., Pośpiech, E., Kupiec, T., Głab, H., Branicki, W., & Kayser, M. (2013). Bona fide colour: DNA prediction of human eye and hair colour from ancient and contemporary skeletal remains. Investigative Genetics, 4 (1), doi:10.1186/2041-2223-4-3
Fortes, G., Speller, C., Hofreiter, M., & King, T. (2013). Phenotypes from ancient DNA: approaches, insights and prospects. Bioessays, 35 (8), 690–695.
Gaffney, V. L., Fitch, S., & Smith, D. N. (2009). Europe’s Lost World: the rediscovery of Doggerland. York: Council for British Archaeology.