Another reminder that you can join the dedicated Facebook group for GCSE Natural History here. We have over 750 members of the group now.
One element of the proposed specification is a look back at the early representations of wildlife found in caves and painted many thousands of years ago.
This delightful little red mammoth can be found in the Grottes d'Arcy-sur-Cure near Burgundy. It was created by an ice age artist just before the last glacial maximum #IceAgeFrance 🎨 pic.twitter.com/WFZFoLS4s3
— Prof Jamie Woodward (@Jamie_Woodward_) May 1, 2022
I've been reading Max Leonard's 'A Cold Spell', and he mentions the cave at Cosquer near Marseille.
There was a long human occupation of the Cosquer Cave, from 33,000 BP to 19,000 BP, consisting of two major, almost uninterrupted, phases of human occupation. These dates have been obtained from around sixty Carbon-14 dating tests performed on forty-one samples collected between 1992 and 2012.
The Upper Palaeolithic Period was a period in prehistory that began in Europe when the first Homo sapiens emerged, around 45,000 years ago. The period was characterised by an intensely cold climate, and the fauna and flora adapted to the cold temperatures. The Homo sapiens hunter-gatherers developed various tools, hunting techniques, and dwellings to adapt to this environment. Around 10,000 years ago, the climate became warmer, which marked the end of the Palaeolithic Period.
The Gravettian culture was one of the major cultures of the Upper Palaeolithic Period in Europe. The culture developed from around 34,000-33,000 years ago to 23,000-22,000 BP. It was characterised by its very specific lithic industry, vestiges of which include, in particular, the projectile tips found in the cave at La Gravette, and very specific forms of artistic expression 'Venus’ figurines and negative handprints. The Gravettian geographical distribution was very wide, extending from the Iberian Peninsula to the Dnieper River Basin.
The Cosquer Cave, which was decorated with art at a time when the sea was several kilometres away, is now partially submerged due to climate change. The cave became inaccessible on foot around 9,000 years ago. The site, which has been protected from human intrusion for thousands of years, and which is now recognised as an archaeological heritage site, is therefore destined to disappear.
As with Lascaux, a replica cave system has been built to help protect the original from the impacts of visitors.
Image: Hay Tor - Alan Parkinson, shared under CC license
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