Cro-Magnon
Cro-Magnons or European early modern humans were the first early modern humans to settle in Europe and North Africa, migrating from Western Asia, continuously occupying the continent possibly from as early as 56,800 years ago. They interacted and interbred with the indigenous Neanderthals of Europe and Western Asia, who went extinct 35,000 to 40,000 years ago. The first wave of modern humans in Europe left no genetic legacy to modern Europeans; however, from 37,000 years ago a second wave succeeded in forming a single founder population, from which all subsequent Cro-Magnons descended and which contributes ancestry to a majority of present-day Europeans, West Asians as well as some North Africans. Cro-Magnons produced Upper Palaeolithic cultures, the first major one being the Aurignacian, which was succeeded by the Gravettian by 30,000 years ago. The Gravettian split into the Epi-Gravettian in the east and Solutrean in the west, due to major climatic degradation during the Last Glacial Maximum, peaking 21,000 years ago. As Europe warmed, the Solutrean evolved into the Magdalenian by 20,000 years ago, and these peoples recolonised Europe. The Magdalenian and Epi-Gravettian gave way to Mesolithic cultures as big game animals were dying out, and the Last Glacial Period drew to a close.
Cro-Magnons were generally more robust than most living populations, having larger brains, broader faces, more prominent brow ridges, and bigger teeth. The earliest Cro-Magnon specimens also exhibit some features that are reminiscent of those found in Neanderthals. The first Cro-Magnons would have generally had darker skin tones than most modern Europeans and some West Asians and North Africans; natural selection for lighter skin would not have begun until 30,000 years ago. Before the LGM, Cro-Magnons had overall low population density, tall stature similar to post-industrial humans, and expansive trade routes stretching as long as, and hunted big game animals. Cro-Magnons had much higher populations than the Neanderthals, possibly due to higher fertility rates; life expectancy for both species was typically under 40 years. Following the LGM, population density increased as communities travelled less frequently, and the need to feed so many more people in tandem with the increasing scarcity of big game caused them to rely more heavily on small or aquatic game, and to more frequently participate in game drive systems and slaughter whole herds at a time. The Cro-Magnon arsenal included spears, spear-throwers, harpoons, and possibly throwing sticks and Palaeolithic dogs. Cro-Magnons likely commonly constructed temporary huts while moving around, and Gravettian peoples notably made large huts on the East European Plain out of mammoth bones.
Cro-Magnons are well renowned for creating a diverse array of artistic works, including cave paintings, Venus figurines, perforated batons, animal figurines, and geometric patterns. They also wore decorative beads and plant-fibre clothes dyed with various plant-based dyes. For music, they produced bone flutes and whistles, and possibly also bullroarers, rasps, drums, idiophones, and other instruments. They buried their dead, though possibly only people who had achieved or were born into high status.
The name "Cro-Magnon" comes from the five skeletons discovered by French palaeontologist Louis Lartet in 1868 at the Cro-Magnon rock shelter, Les Eyzies, Dordogne, France, after the area was accidentally discovered while a road was constructed for a railway station. Remains of Palaeolithic cultures have been known for centuries, but they were initially interpreted in a creationist model, wherein they represented antediluvian peoples which were wiped out by the Great Flood. Following the conception and popularisation of evolution in the mid-to-late 19th century, Cro-Magnons became the subject of much scientific racism, with early race theories allying with Nordicism and Pan-Germanism. Such historical race concepts were overturned by the mid-20th century.
Chronology
Initial Upper Palaeolithic
When early modern humans migrated onto the European continent, they interacted with the indigenous Neandertals that had already inhabited Europe for hundreds of thousands of years. In 2019, Greek palaeoanthropologist Katerina Harvati and colleagues argued that two 210,000-year-old skulls from Apidima Cave, Greece, represent modern humans rather than Neanderthals, indicating these populations have an unexpectedly deep history—but this was disputed in 2020 by French paleoanthropologist Marie-Antoinette de Lumley and colleagues.In marine isotope stage 3, beginning about 60,000 years ago, there were rapid fluctuations between forestland and open steppeland.
File:Bohunician scrapers.jpg|thumb|upright=1.35|Bohunician scrapers in the Moravian Museum, Czech Republic
The earliest indication of Upper Palaeolithic modern human migration into Europe is a series of modern human teeth with Neronian industry stone tools found at Mandrin Cave, Malataverne in France, dated in 2022 to between 56,800 and 51,700 years ago. The Neronian is one of the many industries associated with modern humans classed as transitional between the Middle and Upper Palaeolithic. Beyond this there is the Balkan Bohunician industry beginning 48,000 years ago, likely deriving from the Levantine Emiran industry; the remains found in the cave in Ranis, Germany, up to 47,500 years old; and the next-oldest fossils date to roughly 44,000 years ago in Bulgaria, Italy, and Britain. It is unclear, while migrating westward, if they followed the Danubian corridor or went along the Mediterranean coast.
Initial Upper Paleolithic specimens such as those found at the Bacho Kiro cave and the Peștera cu Oase sites were closer related to Ancient East Eurasians. Those ancestors expanded from a population hub on the Persian plateau 48,000 to 46,000 years ago, correlating with the dispersal of IUP-affiliated material culture. In Europe, the IUP-affiliated groups got largely absorbed by later expanding "West Eurasian" populations with UP-affiliated material culture, resulting in the formation of the Aurignacian material culture.
Beginning about 38,000 years ago, the Proto-Aurignacian culture, the first widely recognised European Upper Palaeolithic culture, spread out across Europe, probably descending from the Near Eastern Ahmarian.
Aurignacian
The Aurignacian industry took hold perhaps in south-central Europe sometime after 40,000 years ago, with the onset of Heinrich event 4 and the Campanian Ignimbrite eruption near Naples. The Aurignacian culture rapidly replaced others across the continent. This wave of modern humans replaced Neanderthals and their Mousterian culture, as well as IUP-affiliated cultures such as the Châtelperronian culture. In the Danube Valley, Aurignacian sites are few and far between, compared to later traditions, until 35,000 years ago. From here, the "Typical Aurignacian" becomes quite prevalent, and extends until 29,000 years ago.Gravettian
Gradually replaced by the Gravettian culture, the close of the Aurignacian is poorly defined. "Aurignacoid" or "Epi-Aurignacian" tools are identified as late as 15,000 to 18,000 years ago. It is also unclear where the Gravettian originated from as it diverges strongly from the Aurignacian. Nonetheless, genetic evidence indicates that not all Aurignacian bloodlines went extinct.Hypotheses for Gravettian genesis include evolution: in central Europe from the Szeletian which existed 37,000 to 41,000 ago; or from the Ahmarian or similar cultures from the Near East or the Caucasus that existed before 40,000 years ago. It is further debated where the earliest occurrence is identified, with the former hypothesis arguing for Germany about 37,500 years ago, and the latter III rockshelter in Crimea about 36,000 to 38,000 years ago. In either case, the appearance of the Gravettian coincides with a significant temperature drop. Also around 37,000 years ago, the founder population of all later early modern humans existed, and Europe would remain in genetic isolation from the rest of the world for the next 23,000 years.
Last Glacial Maximum
Around 29,000 years ago, marine isotope stage 2 began and cooling intensified. This peaked about 21,000 years ago during the Last Glacial Maximum when Scandinavia, the Baltic region, and the British Isles were covered in glaciers, and winter sea ice reached the French seaboard. The Alps were also covered in glaciers, and most of Europe was polar desert, with mammoth steppe and forest steppe dominating the Mediterranean coast.Consequently, large swathes of Europe were uninhabitable, and two distinct cultures emerged with unique technologies to adapt to the new environment: the Solutrean in southwestern Europe, which invented brand new technologies, and the Epigravettian from Italy to the East European Plain, which adapted the previous Gravettian technologies. Solutrean peoples inhabited the permafrost zone, whereas Epigravettian peoples appear to have stuck to less harsh, seasonally frozen areas. Relatively few sites are known through this time.
The glaciers began retreating about 20,000 years ago, and the Solutrean evolved into the Magdalenian, which would recolonise Western and Central Europe over the next couple thousand years. Starting during the Older Dryas roughly 14,000 years ago, Final Magdalenian traditions appear, namely the Azilian, Hamburgian, and Creswellian. During the Bølling–Allerød warming, Near Eastern genes began showing up in the indigenous Europeans, indicating the end of Europe's genetic isolation. Possibly due to the continual reduction of European big game, the Magdalenian and Epigravettian were completely replaced by the Mesolithic by the beginning of the Holocene.
Mesolithic
Europe was repeopled entirely during the Holocene climatic optimum from 5-9000 years ago. Mesolithic Western hunter-gatherers contributed significantly to the current European genome, alongside Ancient North Eurasians, who descended from the Siberian Mal'ta–Buret' culture and Caucasus hunter-gatherers. Most present-day Europeans have a 40–60% WHG ratio, and the 8000-year-old Loschbour man seems to have had a similar genetic makeup. Near Eastern Neolithic farmers, who split from western hunter-gatherers about 40,000 years ago, started to spread out across Europe by 8000 years ago, ushering in Neolithic Europe with Early European Farmers. EEF contribute about 30% of ancestry to present-day Baltic populations, and up to 90% in present-day Mediterranean populations. The latter may have inherited WHG ancestry via EEF introgression.The Eastern hunter-gatherers population identified around the steppes of the Urals also dispersed, and the Scandinavian hunter-gatherers appear to be a mix of WHG and EHG. Around 4500 years ago, the immigration of the Yamnaya and Corded Ware cultures from the eastern steppes brought about Bronze Age Europe, the Proto-Indo-European language, and more or less the present-day genetic makeup of Europeans.