The Gravettian Culture: Lords of the Mammoth Steppe

Claim your SPECIAL OFFER for MagellanTV here: Start your free trial TODAY so you can watch Sapiens, the New Origins about human evolution: In the depths of the ice age in Europe, at the end of the Upper Paleolithic, the Gravettian saw incredible societies of mammoth hunters thriving across Europe. They lived in caves, rock shelters, and open-air settlements in mammoth bone houses and developed surprisingly complex and sophisticated societies. Their burials at sites like Dolní Věstonice and Sungir could include grave goods like ivory beads in enormous quantities, suggesting the emergence of social inequality. They were the first people in the world to use ceramics, making small figurines of animals and people. They also made the world-famous Venus figurines in stone, ivory, and moulded from clay. So who were these people? Where did they come from? Where and how did they live? How could they create so much art in the depths of the ice age? And what ultimately happened to them? This is the awe-inspiring story of the lords of the mammoth steppe; the Gravettians. *If you enjoy my videos please consider supporting the channel* Become a YouTube Channel Member: Support me on Patreon: All my books on Amazon: *My Links* Website Facebook: Twitter: Instagram: *Sources* Palaeolithic Europe: A Demographic and Social Prehistory by Jennifer C. French The People of Sunghir by Erik Trinkaus et al Growing Up in the Ice Age by April Nowell Posth, C., Yu, H., Ghalichi, A. et al. Palaeogenomics of Upper Palaeolithic to Neolithic European hunter-gatherers. Nature 615, 117–126 (2023) Bennett, E.A., Parasayan, O., Prat, S. et al. Genome sequences of 36,000- to 37,000-year-old modern humans at Buran-Kaya III in Crimea. Baker, J., Rigaud, S., Pereira, D. et al. Evidence from personal ornaments suggest nine distinct cultural groups between 34,000 and 24,000 years ago in Europe The Death and Burial of Sunghir 1 - E. Trinkausa and A. P. Buzhilova 2010 The origin of the Gravettian - Janusz K. Kozlowski 2014 The symbolism of breast-shaped beads from Dolní Věstonice - Martina Lázničková-Galetová 2017 Upper Paleolithic ceramic figurines - Pamela B. Vandiver 2022 A Critical Reassessment of Pavlovian Art and Society - Rebecca Farbstein 2013 Identity and fear – burials in the Upper Palaeolithic - Simona Petru 2019 Upper Paleolithic Venus Figurines and Interpretations of Prehistoric Gender Representations – Vandewettering 2015 The Gravettian burials at Grotta Paglicci – Ronchitelli et al 2015 Self-Representation in Upper Paleolithic Female Figurines - LeRoy McDermott 1996 Hunters of the Ice Age: The Biology of Upper Paleolithic People - Holt & Formicola 2008 Venus figurines history: The above links include affiliate links which means we will earn a small commission from your purchases at no additional cost to you which is a way to support the channel. *Thank you* Ancient Europeans for use of artwork: Dolni Věstonice digital reconstruction: Thank you to Don Hitchcock for his fantastic resources at *Video Chapters* 00:00 The Gravettians 01:50 MagellanTV 03:00 The First Europeans 05:38 Gravettian Origins 08:50 Gravettian physiques 11:23 Gravettian mobility 14:00 Venus Figurines 18:00 Personal ornaments and culture 19:18 Dolní Věstonice 22:44 The burials at Sungir 25:05 Gravettian social inequality 26:47 The last Gravettians