Hi!
Trying to figure out technologies during upper paleolithic Europe (10.000 BCE).
Would greatly appreciate feedback on what technologies I've missed that existed back then.
Tools and weapons used
Handaxes were multi-functional tools, sort of a “Swiss Army Knife” of the upper palaeolithic. Can be used for cutting, breaking, skinning and so forth.
(Hafted) Stone Axe – putting a handaxe on a stick, creates a stone axe. This was generally used for heavy woodworking, such as clearing trees, making firewood into right size, constructing shelter, mining clay etc. It was also a formidable weapon or could be used for skinning a large game.
Adze – the main tool for the heavy-duty woodworking, or a can be used as a weapon. Also useful as sort of a shovel for digging holes for food pits, firepits etc. Not very common at that era, but there are some findings.
Adzes are also good for making dug-out canoes but the first archaeological evidence are from 8.000 BCE, two thousand years later. This is also when adzes were perfected and widely used.
Spears were generally just a long pointy wooden sticks, with some nuances..
Throwing spears, later named javelins, were lighter and balanced for throwing. Maximum range of spears did not much exceed 10 meters/yards.
Thrusting spears, with heavier, thick-shafted bodies were used for close-quarters fighting – finishing the animals or enemies off.
Both spears were sometimes also equipped with stone, bone or antler tips, to increase chances of penetrating the thick skin of larger animals.
Atlatl, also known as spear-thrower, was a handheld tool with a hook at the end – used to increase the velocity of the thrust. This increased the range of the spear up to 50 meters/yards.
Harpoons were barbed spears, made of antlers or bones or wooden sticks with antler/bone backward-facing barbs. Were used for both hunting and fishing. Once stuck into target, it stuck to it, allowing to either haul the prey or to weaken it. It is thought that even back then, harpoons were attached to a rope, in case it is needed to pull the weapon back. They could also be used with the spear-thrower, to increase the strength and range of the throw.
Flint Scrapers were used to process hides, cut meat into smaller pieces, shaping wood and bone, extracting marrow and fat from the carcass and processing plant fibres (for example to make rope).
Got to try to make these tools during summer.
Microliths were used as replaceable tips/barbs for arrows and spears or as a small knives. Microliths were also supposedly used for tattooing. That’s an interesting one.
Sling – there is indirect evidence that slings were used in Europe back then. There are no surviving slings but are plenty of stones, made exactly the right size and shape to be used with slings. Let’s count them as a possibility. Slings were simpler and there was unlimited ammo laying around, in case you ran out of arrows.
“The difficulty with the sling is its invisibility in the archaeological record... unlike the flint arrowheads which survive indefinitely, the sling leaves behind only the ‘sling-stone,’ which is often overlooked by archaeologists as a natural object.” — Journal of Anthropological Archaeology
Bow and arrows date back 70.000 years and reached Europe in Late Upper Palaeolithic about 40.000 or 15.000 years ago, depending on whose study to believe.
Bows were made mainly of elm and yew trees, less often pine and hazel.
Stone, Bone or Antler arrowheads were fixed into place either using cords or glue. Yes, an actual glue.
“The microliths were fixed into place using a combination of birch-bark tar and beeswax. This ‘prehistoric glue’ was remarkably strong, holding the flint firmly in place even when the weapon struck a high-velocity target like a red deer.”
— The Star Carr Project / University of York
Summary of weapons and tools and their potential relative damage.
Trapping fish, birds & animals
Trapping is more energy efficient than hunting. As the ice receded and Europe became more forested, small animals were abundant everywhere. See the density of small animals in this post.
Trap 1: the Snare.
There are plenty of evidence of people making ropes and coords so trapping small animals was likely to be widely used.
Trap 2: the Deadfall.
No archaeological evidence from that period in Europe, but it would be really cool to build this in the game.
Trap 3: Pitfalls.
Does not require any specific tools or equipment like cords. Just dig a hole and cover it with brush and leaves, leave something for bait and you’re done.
Or you just stop by natural pitfall traps to see if any animal has fallen down. Like the one in Wyoming:
Trapping pits (the pitfall traps), that can catch large animals, were used in the stone age. “European rock drawings and cave paintings reveal that bear, moose and wolf were hunted since the Stone Age using trapping pits.”
However you trap the animals, you eventually had to kill it. It seems like spears were the most common tool for this purpose.
Trap 4: Fish Traps.
Fishing Weir is the one with most evidence remaining. Simple V-shaped trap at high traffic location in the river is still used today. Either with the traps, or separately, harpoons were used to catch fish.
Fishing nets date back to over 15.000 years. There are many findings suggesting fishing nets did exist and were used.
The handaxe and the scraper were the main tools for butchering animals. Animals were usually butchered where they were killed, since carrying entire carcass was not particularly energy efficient.
Not only meat was derived from the animal carcass.
- Pelts, hides and furs were used to create clothing and used for constructions.
- Bones and antlers were used to create tools, weapons and also for construction. Bone marrow was also used as food, if the bone was not needed in intact form.
- Organs like bladder and stomach were used as water containers.
- Sinew was used to make durable cords.
- Hooves & Horns were boiled to make simple adhesives as long as 15.000 years ago. There was a bit of a problem with it compared to other glues – it was water-soluble. A little rain and it just melts away.
What big portion is missing from hunting and trapping scene 12.000 years ago?