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Evidence from personal ornaments suggest nine distinct cultural groups between 34,000 and 24,000 years ago in Europe

Nature Human Behaviour volume 8, pages 431–444 (2024)Cite this article

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Abstract

Mechanisms governing the relationship between genetic and cultural evolution are the subject of debate, data analysis and modelling efforts. Here we present a new georeferenced dataset of personal ornaments worn by European hunter-gatherers during the so-called Gravettian technocomplex (34,000–24,000 years ago), analyse it with multivariate and geospatial statistics, model the impact of distance on cultural diversity and contrast the outcome of our analyses with up-to-date palaeogenetic data. We demonstrate that Gravettian ornament variability cannot be explained solely by isolation-by-distance. Analysis of Gravettian ornaments identified nine geographically discrete cultural entities across Europe. While broadly in agreement with palaeogenetic data, our results highlight a more complex pattern, with cultural entities located in areas not yet sampled by palaeogenetics and distinctive entities in regions inhabited by populations of similar genetic ancestry. Integrating personal ornament and biological data from other Palaeolithic cultures will elucidate the complex narrative of population dynamics of Upper Palaeolithic Europe.

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Fig. 1: Material used for Gravettian personal ornaments.
Fig. 2: Seriation analysis of the bead database for Gravettian occupation sites.
Fig. 3: Seriation analysis of the bead database of Gravettian occupation sites attributable to Gravettian phases (Early, Middle and Late).
Fig. 4: A PCoA and neighbour-joining analysis of the bead database for Gravettian occupation sites.
Fig. 5: Seriation analyses of the bead database for Gravettian burial sites.
Fig. 6: A PCoA and neighbour-joining analysis of the bead database for Gravettian burial sites.
Fig. 7: Neighbour-net analyses of the Gravettian occupation and burial sites.
Fig. 8: Map of Europe showing the location of human remains attributed to the Gravettian.

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Data availability

The data used for the statistical tests can be found in the Supplementary tables.

Code availability

Code used is available from the corresponding author upon request and is detailed in the Supplementary Information.

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Acknowledgements

We thank F. Barraquand and F. Santos for useful advice regarding the statistical analyses. This work was supported by the French National Research Agency under the IDEX Bordeaux NETAWA Emergence project No. ANR-10-IDEX-03-02 ‘Out of the Core: Exploring social NETworks at the dawn of Agriculture in Western Asia 10,000 years ago’ (S.R., D.P.), the CNRS Momentum Project (S.R., D.P.), the ERC Synergy QUANTA (Grant No. 951388) (F.d’E., L.A.C.), the University of Bordeaux ‘Grand Programme de Recherche’ ‘Human Past’ (F.d’E., S.R., D.P.), the Research Council of Norway through its Centres of Excellence funding scheme, SFF Centre for Early Sapiens Behaviour (SapienCE), project number 262618 (F.d’E.), the Talents Programme (Grant No. 191022_001) (F.d’E.) and the ‘Projet Collectif de Recherche’ ‘Gravettien’ (J.B., S.R., F.d’E.). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish or preparation of the manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. CNRS UMR 5199 De la Préhistoire à l’Actuel: Culture, Environnement, et Anthropologie (PACEA), Université Bordeaux, Bordeaux, France

    Jack Baker, Solange Rigaud, Daniel Pereira, Lloyd A. Courtenay & Francesco d’Errico

  2. SFF Centre for Early Sapiens Behaviour (SapienCE), University of Bergen, Bergen, Norway

    Francesco d’Errico

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  1. Jack Baker
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Contributions

J.B., S.R. and F.d’E. wrote the paper. J.B., S.R., D.P., L.A.C. and F.d’E. conceived and designed the experiments. J.B., D.P. and L.A.C. performed the experiments. J.B., S.R., D.P., L.A.C. and F.d’E. analysed the data.

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Correspondence to Jack Baker.

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Extended data

Extended Data Fig. 1 Map showing the locations of Gravettian occupation and burial sites containing personal ornaments.

a) Geographical distribution of the Gravettian burials yielding personal ornaments. BS1, Krems-Wachtberg; BS2, Lagar Velho; BS3, Paviland; BS4, Arene Candide; BS5, Kostenki 14; BS6, Ostuni; BS7, Fanciulli; BS8, Paglicci; BS9, Dolni Vestonice; BS10, Brno; BS11, Cro-Magnon; BS12, Baousso da Torre; BS13, Barma Grande; BS14, Grotta del Caviglione; BS15, Veneri Parabita; BS16, Predmosti; BS17, Borsuka Cave. b) Geographical distribution of the Gravettian occupation sites yielding personal ornaments in Europe with the Dordogne region enlarged at the bottom right (c). S1, Poiana Ciresului-Piatra Neamt; S2, Kostenki 17; S3, Foradada Cave; S4, Riparo Mochi; S5, Franchthi Cave; S6, Mitoc-Malu Galben; S7, Brinzeni Cave; S8, Duruitoarea Veche Cave; S9, Cosauti; S10, Climauti; S11, Molodova V; S12, Gargas Cave; S13, Brillenhohle; S14, Geisenklosterle; S15, Hohle Fels; S16, Ollersdorf/Heidenberg; S17, Mainz-Linsenberg; S18, Nerja Cave; S31, Isturitz Cave; S32, Abri des Pecheurs; S33, Baume Perigaud; S34, Pushkari; S35, Grotta della Serratura; S36, Vale Boi; S37, El Cuco; S38, Sire; S39, Tibrinu; S40, Gura Cheii-Rasnov Cave; S41, Garma A; S42, Cova Gran de Santa Linya; S43, La Grotte du Figuier; S44, Cova de les Cendres; S45, Cova del Comte; S47, Grub-Kranawetberg; S48, Grotte du Renne; S49, Krakow Spadzista; S50, Grotte du Pape; S52, Kostenki 21; S53, Kostenki 8; S54, Kostenki 4; S55, Aitzbitarte; S56, Amiens-Renancourt; S57, Mollet; S58, Arbreda Cave; S59, Jaksice; S60, Les Bossats; S61, La Bergerie; S62, Lapa do Picareiro; S63, La Fuente del Salin; S66, Krems-Wachtberg; S67, Willendorf; S70, Buran-Kaya; S71, Weinberghohlen; S72, Krems-Hundsteig; S73, Obere Klause; S74, Betche-aux-Rotches de Spy; S75, Goyet; S77, Dolni Vestonice 1; S80, Le Blot; S81, Pavlov; S82, Oblazowa Cave; S83, Ciaoarei Cave; S84, Reclau Viver Cave; S85, Paviland; S86, La Vina; S87, Cueto de la Mina; S88, Cueva Morin; S89; Bolinkoba; S90, Amalda; S91, Alkerdi; S92, Antolinako Koba; S93, Abric Romani; S94, Cueva de Ardales; S95, Gruta do Caldeirao; S96, Cova Beneito; S97, Zajara; S98, Los Morceguillos. c) Geographical distribution of the Gravettian occupation sites yielding personal ornaments from the Dordogne region. S19, Le Facteur; S21, Labattut; S20, Le Flageolet; S22, Laussel; S23, Le Poisson; S24, Les Rochers de l’Acier; S25, Le Roque-Saint-Christophe; S26, Le Ruth-Pages; S27, Grotte de Tourtoirac; S28, Abri Laraux; S29, Grotte de Pair-non-Pair; S30, Le Roc de Gavaudun; S46, Le Fourneau du Diable; S51, La Gravette; S64, Les Vachons; S65, La Ferrassie; S68, Le Petit-Puyrousseau; S69, Abri Pataud; S78, Laugerie-Haute; S79, Masnaigre. Maps created on QGIS using ETOPO1 Global Relief Model data with a modern and Gravettian coastline at −100 m142.

Extended Data Fig. 2 Two-tailed Mantel correlogram established for the bead-type associations recorded at Gravettian occupation sites.

(a), and burial sites (b). Unit of geographic distance for a1 and b1: 500 km, a2 and b2: 250 km, a3 and b3: 100 km. Black squares indicate significant P-values, white squares non-significant P-values.

Extended Data Fig. 3 Boxplot of radiocarbon ages associated with Gravettian occupation and burial sites yielding personal ornaments in different regions of Europe.

Maximum value = 36,280.5 years, Minimum = 23,525 years. Dark grey = occupation sets, light grey = burial sets. The box extends from the lower to upper quartile, with the whisker variability indicating outside the upper and lower quartiles. ‘eastern Europe’ = N = 8, ‘south Iberia’ = N = 8, ‘northwestern Europe’ = N = 4, ‘north Iberia’ = N = 8, ‘Central Europe’ = N = 9, ‘eastern (Burials)’ = N = 9, ‘north Italy (Burials)’ = N = 11, ‘south Italy (Burials)’ = N = 6. Total = N = 63.

Extended Data Table 1 Results of the two-tailed Mantel tests calculated for the bead-type associations recorded at Gravettian occupations and burial sites
Full size table
Extended Data Table 2 Results of the two-tailed Partial Mantel tests calculated for the bead-type associations recorded at Gravettian burial sites
Full size table
Extended Data Table 3 Results of the two-tailed Mantel tests calculated for the bead-type associations recorded at Gravettian burial sites in western and eastern Europe
Full size table

Supplementary information

Supplementary Information

Supplementary Results 1 and 2, Figs. 1–5 and Tables 1–6.

Reporting Summary

Supplementary Table 1

Bead coding. An excel spreadsheet containing each of the discrete bead types and the code used for each.

Supplementary Table 2

All datasets. An excel spreadsheet containing 7 separate worksheets.

Supplementary Table 3

Occupation Table. An excel spreadsheet containing the attributes and personal ornaments of the occupation sites.

Supplementary Table 4

Burial Table. An excel spreadsheet containing the attributes and personal ornaments of the buried individuals.

Supplementary Table 5

All distance matrices. An excel spreadsheet containing 14 separate worksheets.

Supplementary Table 6

All datasets used for the Mantel test modelling. An excel spreadsheet containing 5 separate worksheets.

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Baker, J., Rigaud, S., Pereira, D. et al. Evidence from personal ornaments suggest nine distinct cultural groups between 34,000 and 24,000 years ago in Europe. Nat Hum Behav 8, 431–444 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41562-023-01803-6

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