Older Dryas - Humans

Humans

Eurasia was populated by Homo sapiens sapiens (Cro-Magnon man) in the late Upper Paleolithic stage of tool development. Bands of humans survived by hunting the plains mammals. In north Europe they preferred reindeer; in Ukraine—the wooly mammoth. They sheltered in huts and manufactured tools around campfires. Ukrainian shelters were supported by mammoth tusks. Man was already established across Siberia and in North America.

Man did not hunt alone. Two domestic dogs, Canis familiaris, have been found in late Pleistocene Ukraine. They were a heavy breed similar to a Great Dane, perhaps of use in running down Elephantidae. The large number of mammoth bones at campsites make it clear that even then the Elephantidae in Europe were approaching the limit of their duration. Their bones were used for many purposes, not the least interesting of which are the numerous objects of art, including an engraved star map.

Late upper palaeolithic culture was by no means uniform. A large number of local traditions have been defined. The Hamburgian culture had occupied the lowlands and north Germany before the Older Dryas. During the Older Dryas, contemporaneous with the Havelte Group of the late Hamburgian, the Federmesser culture appeared and occupied Denmark and south Sweden, following the reindeer. South of the Hamburgian was the Magdalenian, which at that time was long-standing. In Ukraine was the Molodovan, which used tusks in building shelters.