The Aurignacian was an Upper Paleolithic culture of Europe and southwest Asia, associated with the early arrival of anatomically modern humans in Europe. It is named after the cave of Aurignac in southern France. Its toolkit included blades, bone and antler points, and beads and other personal ornaments. The culture also produced some of the earliest known figurative art and music, among them the ivory Lion Man from Hohlenstein-Stadel, the Venus of Hohle Fels, and flutes of bird bone and mammoth ivory from caves in the Swabian Jura. It spread across Europe at the time Neanderthals were disappearing, and the two populations overlapped and interbred to a limited extent. It was followed by the Gravettian culture.
Before and after
- about 51,300 years agoSulawesi cave art is made
- from about 50,000 years ago to 2nd millenniumPre-Columbian era
- from about 50,000 years ago to 9,726 years agoUpper Paleolithic
- about 41,000 years agoNeanderthals disappear from Europe
- from about 40,000 years ago to 31,000 years agoAurignacian
- about 36,100 years agoChauvet cave paintings are made
- about 30,100 years agoThe Venus of Willendorf is carved
- about 23,100 years agoPeople are already in North America
- about 21,000 years agoLast Glacial Maximum
More in Evolution & life
- about 15,100 years agoDogs are domesticated
- from about 15,000 years ago to 1st millennium BCEJōmon period
- from about 14,000 years ago to 9th millennium BCENatufian culture
- about 13,000 years agoThe megafauna of the Americas die out
- c. 9,750s BCEQuaternary extinction event
- from c. 3,300 BCE to 2,600 BCEYamnaya culture
The era
This moment belongs to the Human prehistory (300,000 years ago to 3,200 BCE), the human story before writing.