- Gravettian
The Gravettian was an industry of the
Europe anUpper Palaeolithic . It is named after the type site ofLa Gravette in theDordogne region ofFrance . It dates from between 28,000 and 22,000 years ago and succeeded theAurignacian .The diagnostic artifact of the industry is a small pointed restruck blade with a blunt but straight back, known as a Noailles burin. Artistic achievements of the Gravettian cultural stage included the
Venus figurines . The industry had counterparts across central Europe and intoRussia .Gravettian culture
A phase (c.28,000–23,000 ya) of the European Upper Paleolithic that is characterized by a stone-tool industry with small pointed blades used for big-game hunting (
bison ,horse ,reindeer andmammoth ). It is divided into two regional groups: the western Gravettian, mostly known from cave sites in France, and the eastern Gravettian, with open sites of specializedmammoth hunters on the plains of central Europe and Russia. Some early examples of cave art and the famous 'Venus' figurines were made by Gravettian artists.External links
* [http://www.culture.gouv.fr/culture/actualites/index-cussac.htm Cave sites in France]
* [http://www.iabrno.cz/agalerie/aagalery.htm Picture Gallery of the Paleolithic (reconstructional palaeoethnology)] , Libor Balák at the Czech Academy of Sciences, the Institute of Archaeology in Brno, The Center for Paleolithic and Paleoethnological Researchee also
*
Upper Paleolithic
*Perigordian
*Synoptic table of the principal old world prehistoric cultures
*Solutrean
*Venus figurines
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