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

Description

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? Cover Title Page Copyright Page Contents Page Contents Preface Don Johanson Acknowledgements Introduction CHRONOLOGY Chapter 1 Introducing the People: Appearance, Abilities and Disabilities The Lapedo child La Marche Female figurines Cap Blanc Tracks and traces The division of labour – did women hunt? Genders – rigid or fluid? Feeding the ice age family Dietary requirements Sunghir Fitness and violence Cro-Magnon Vitamin D The Romito dwarf Teeth, mouth and gum infections Diseases and infections The Arcy parasite Waste matter and sanitation Immunity and treatments Burials The Dolní Vestonice trio Conclusion Chapter 2 Setting the Scene: Ice Age Environments and Home Comforts The changing climate Flora and fauna Who would live in a place like this? Use of deep caves Cave comforts Carry on camping Building with mammoths Fire Have you got a light? Conclusion Chapter 3 Our Crafty Ancestors Toolmaking The flint stones Mastic Feats of clay Using hard bits of animals Woodwork Innovations with fibres and plants Animal skins and clothing Containers: cache and carry! Carrying Children Head coverings The La Madeleine burial: the child of an elite family? Best foot forward Conclusion Chapter 4 How to Make a Living: Survival and Subsistence Hunting -vs - gathering The ivory boomerang Solutré Hunting for clues to hunting Horses Animal control Reining in the reindeer Red deer The ibex The mammoth Carnivores and small game Embarking on a relationship with dogs How and why were wolves domesticated? Plucky bird hunters Fishing on a small scale Atlantic salmon runs Plant foods A camp of fisher-hunter-gatherers Modern gatherers Ice age food processors The original boil-in-a-bag meal Palaeolithic recipes Eggs with mushrooms Chapter 5 Ice Age People:From Womb to Tomb Reproduction From here to maternity The obstetric dilemma The Abri Pataud The Ostuni burial of a woman and her infant The child burials at the Grotte des Enfants The perinatal skeleton from Wilczyce, Poland Identical twins at Krems-Wachtberg, Austria Home delivery service After birth Sharing the caring Postmenopausal women and the grandmother hypothesis Family size and birth intervals First foods for ice age infants Methods of carrying and transporting infants Weaning Who’s your daddy? Paternity and avoiding incest Who stays and who goes? Is there any evidence of infanticide? Growing up Cavorting in caves: thrills but no spills Female figurines An enduring myth: the ‘Lion Man’ Kids in caves – making a good impression Death in the ice age – good grief! The young Italian Prince Chapter 6 Keeping in Touch:Communication, Social Life and Organization Getting together Ice age bling Language Therianthropes Thanks for the memory Telling the time Drama in caves Having a laugh? Musical moments Images on the rocks What evidence is there for religion? JFK The ‘Rites of Springs’ Conclusion Case Study El Mirón and Covalanas The Red Lady The secret sanctuary Appendix The Fake ‘Venus’ of Abri Pataud References Figure credits Index Back cover