Rope making in the Aurignacian of Central Europe more than 35,000 years ago.

Central Europe; Cooperative works; Early Upper Palaeolithic; Evolution of technology; Fiber technology; Pleistocene; Social organizations; Multidisciplinary; use-wear

Abstract :

[en] Evidence for the manufacture and use of fiber technology such as rope and twine is rare in the Paleolithic, despite the widely held view that such artifacts were in regular use during the Pleistocene. On the basis of the discovery of a more than 35,000-year-old perforated baton made from mammoth ivory at Hohle Fels Cave in Ach Valley of southwestern Germany together with experimental studies, we are now able to demonstrate one way people of the early Upper Paleolithic manufactured rope. This work contributes to our understanding of the evolution of technology, cooperative work, and Paleolithic social organization.

Disciplines :

Archaeology

Author, co-author :

Conard, Nicholas J ; Department of Early Prehistory and Quaternary Ecology, Schloss Hohentübingen, University of Tübingen, 72070 Tübingen, Germany ; Senckenberg Centre for Human Evolution and Paleoenvironment, Schloss Hohentübingen, University of Tübingen, 72070 Tübingen, Germany

Rots, Veerle ; Université de Liège - ULiège > Unités de recherche interfacultaires > Art, Archéologie et Patrimoine (AAP) ; Université de Liège - ULiège > Département des sciences historiques > TraceoLab

Language :

English

Title :

Rope making in the Aurignacian of Central Europe more than 35,000 years ago.

Publication date :

02 February 2024

Journal title :

Science Advances

eISSN :

2375-2548

Publisher :

American Association for the Advancement of Science, United States

Volume :

Issue :

Pages :

eadh5217

Peer reviewed :

Peer Reviewed verified by ORBi

Additional URL :

https://www.science.org/doi/pdf/10.1126/sciadv.adh5217

Funding text :

This research has been supported by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (to n.J.C.); University of tübingen (to n.J.C.); Senckenberg Centre for human evolution and Paleoenvironment (to n.J.C.); ROCeeh project of the heidelberger Akademie der Wissenschaften (to n.J.C.); Ministerium für Wissenschaft, Forschung und Kunst of Baden-Württemberg (to n.J.C.); Alb-donau-Kreis, heidelbergCement (to n.J.C.); Museumsgesellschaft Schelklingen (to n.J.C.); Gesellschaft für Urgeschichte (to n.J.C.); Fund for Scientific Research (F.R.S.-FNRS), Belgium (to V.R.); European Research Council under the European Union’s Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007-2013, ERC grant agreement no. 312283, and EVO-HAFt, to V.R.); and the University of Liège, Belgium (to V.R.).

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since 28 February 2024

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