Gravettian

Diet

Animals were a primary food source for humans of the Gravettian period. Since Europe was extremely cold during this period, they preferred food sources high in energy and fat content. Testing comparisons among various human remains reveal that populations at higher latitudes placed greater dietary emphasis on meat. A defining trait distinguishing Gravettian people was their ease of mobility compared to their Neanderthal counterparts. Modern humans developed the technology and social organization that enabled them to migrate with their food source whereas Neanderthals were not adept at travelling, even with relatively sedentary herds.

With their ability to move with the herds, Gravettian diets incorporated a broad variety of animal prey. Gravettian diet included larger animals such as mammoths, hyenas, wolves, and reindeer killed with stone or bone tools, as well as hares and foxes captured with nets. This time period is classified by the strong emphasis on meat consumption because agriculture had not been fully introduced nor utilized. In addition, the climate was not favorable to stable crop cultivation.

Seafood accounted for a significant portion of coastal Gravettians' diet. From remains found in Italy and Wales, isotope analysis reveals that 20–30% of Gravettian diets of coastal peoples consisted of sea animals. Populations of lower latitudes relied more on shellfish and fish while higher latitudes' diets consisted of seals.

Physical type

Physical remains of people of the Gravettian have revealed that they were tall and relatively slender people. The male height of the Gravettian culture ranged between 179 and 188 centimetres (5 ft 10 in and 6 ft 2 in) tall with an average of 183.5 centimetres (6 ft 0.2 in), which is exceptionally tall not only for that period of prehistory, but for all periods of history.

They were fairly slender and normally weighed between 67–73 kilograms (148–161 lb), although they would likely have had a higher ratio of lean muscle mass compared to body fat in comparison to modern humans as a result of a very physically active and demanding lifestyle. The females of the Gravettian were much shorter, standing 158 centimetres (5 ft 2 in) on average, with an average weight of 54 kilograms (119 lb). Examinations of Gravettian skulls reveal that high cheekbones were common among them.

Hunting

Clubs, stones and sticks were the primary hunting tools during the Upper Paleolithic period. Bone, antler and ivory points have all been found at sites in France; but proper stone arrowheads and throwing spears did not appear until the Solutrean period (~20,000 Before Present). Due to the primitive tools, many animals were hunted at close range. The typical artefact of Gravettian industry, once considered diagnostic, is the small pointed blade with a straight blunt back. They are today known as the Gravette point, and were used to hunt big game. Gravettians used nets to hunt small game, and are credited with inventing the bow and arrow.

Gravettian settlers tended towards the valleys that pooled migrating prey. Examples found through discoveries in Gr. La Gala, a site in Southern Italy, show a strategic settlement based in a small valley. As the settlers became more aware of the migration patterns of animals like red deer, they learned to prey herd in valleys, thereby allowing the hunters to avoid travelling long distances for food. Specifically in Gr. La Gala, the glacial topography forced the deer to pass through the areas in the valley occupied by humans. Additional evidence of strategically positioned settlements include sites like Klithi in Greece, also placed to intercept migrating prey.

Discoveries in the Czech Republic suggest that nets were used to capture large numbers of smaller prey, offering a quick and consistent food supply and thus an alternative to the feast/famine pattern of large game hunters. Evidence comes in the form of 4 mm (0.16 in) thick rope preserved on clay imprints. Research suggests that although no larger net imprints have been discovered, there would be little reason for them not to be made as no further knowledge would be required for their creation. The weaving of nets was likely a communal task, relying on the work of both women and children.

Material culture

Animal remains

The Gravettian era landscape is most closely related to the landscape of present-day Moravia. Pavlov I in southern Moravia is the most complete and complex Gravettian site presently found and dates back to 26,000 years ago. It provides a perfect model for a general understanding of Gravettian culture. In many instances, animal remains indicate both decorative and utilitarian purposes. In the case of, for example, Arctic foxes, incisors and canines were used for decoration, while their humeri and radii bones were used as tools. Similarly, the skeletons of some red foxes contain decorative incisors and canines as well as ulnas used for awls and barbs.

Some animal bones were only used to create tools. Due to their shape, the ribs, fibulas, and metapodia of horses were good for awl and barb creation. In addition, the ribs were also implemented to create different types of smoothers for pelt preparation. The shapes of hare bones are also unique, and as a result, the ulnas were commonly used as awls and barbs. Reindeer antlers, ulnas, ribs, tibias and teeth were utilised in addition to a rare documented case of a phalanx. Mammoth remnants are among the most common bone remnants of the culture, while long bones and molars are also documented. Some mammoth bones were used for decorative purposes. Wolf remains were often used for tool production and decoration.

Textiles

Also at Pavlov I, negative impressions of woven textiles or basketry have been found on fired clay fragments in ash deposits in and around hearths within dwellings. Radiocarbon dating places them between approximately 26,980-24,870 BP. The four clay impressions show two distinct types of twining: Type I (Open Simple Twining with Z Twist Weft) and Type II (Open Diagonal Twining with S Twist Weft). Both types show technical sophistication, suggesting prior development in fiber technology. The warps measure only 0.073-0.092 mm in diameter for Type I and 0.049-0.065 mm for Type II, with approximately 12 warps per centimeter. Researchers could not determine whether they came from textiles or basketry and so may have been portions of bags, mats, or fully flexible fabrics like clothing. They were likely made with some form of non-heddle frame or loom. While the plant fibers remain unidentified, pollen analysis at the site suggest they could have from the bark of alder and yew trees, or from herbaceous plants like milkweed and nettle.

Genetics

Fu et al. (2016) examined the remains of fourteen Gravettians. The eight males included three samples of Y-chromosomal haplogroup CT, one of I, one IJK, one BT, one C1a2, and one sample of F. Of the fourteen samples of mtDNA, there were thirteen samples of U and one sample of M. The majority of the sample of U belonged to the U5 and U2. Teschler et al. (2020) examined the remains of one adult male and two twin boys from a Gravettian site in Austria. All belonged to haplogroup Y-Haplogroup I. and all had the same mtDNA, U5. According to Scorrano et al. (2022), "the genome of an early European individual from Kostenki 14, dated to around 37,000 years ago, demonstrated that the ancestral European gene pool was already established by that time."

A 2023 study found that Gravettian-producing peoples belonged to two genetically distinct clusters. Fournol in the west (France and Spain) and Věstonice in the east (Czech Republic, Poland, Austria, Slovakia and Italy) both of whom traced their descent from producers of the earlier Aurignacian culture. Some individuals showed mixed ancestry from both clusters where the range of the two clusters bordered. The study found that members of the western Fournol cluster were ancestral to later Western European Cro-Magnon groups that existed after the Last Glacial Maximum, the producers of the Solutrean and Magdalenian cultures. All Gravettian-producing peoples are strongly genetically distinct from the producers of the later Epigravettian, who are genetically referred to as the Villabruna cluster, who show a greater affinity to ancient and modern peoples in West Asia than other Palaeolithic European hunter-gatherer groups. There is evidence of some genetic affinity between the Villabruna and Věstonice clusters, which may reflect shared common ancestry from the Balkans region.