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“Dolní Věstonice is an Upper Paleolithic archaeological site near the village of Dolní Věstonice, Moravia in the Czech Republic, on the base of Děvín Mountain (1,801 ft), unique in that it has been a particularly abundant source of prehistoric artifacts (especially art) dating from the Gravettian period, which held ritual human burials and the earliest shaman burial known. In addition, to an abundance of art, including carved representations of women, animals and men, along with personal ornaments, as well as other enigmatic engravings.” ref
“Dolní Věstonice I site, belongs to an assemblage of the Pavlovian sites (Early Gravettian) of the Southern Moravia (Czech Republic), together with the Dolní Věstonice II and III, Pavlov I-VI, Milovice I and IV and the Middle Moravia Basin sites. Dolní Věstonice I as well as other Southern Moravian sites were located at the foothill of Pavlovske Vrchy, close (0.3 miles) from the Dyje river.” ref
Pictures: ref
“The Dolní Věstonice – Pavlov cultural areas are similar in many ways to the Kostenki – Borshevo region beside the Don River in Russia. It was not just one site, it was many, spread over a fairly wide area, and was an open-air site. Most open-air sites do not give the wealth of data that these sites, both here at Dolní Věstonice and at Kostenki, have yielded, and both are from similar times. Both have Venus figures, both depended heavily on mammoths for their culture, and both used mammoth bones in the creation of shelters.” ref
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“The Gravettians: This ancestral group displaced the Aurignacians to dominate much of Europe from 34,000 to 26,000 years ago. Though they carried distinct genetic signatures, the Gravettians and Aurignacians were descended from the same ancient founder population.” ref
“The origin of Gravettian is seen as a more complex process than was thought before, involving an impact of industries with backed blades and bladelets from the eastern Mediterranean (Ahmarian, Lagaman, Dabba, beginning before 40 ky BP). After its establishment in Europe, the Danubian Gravettian is ordered into earlier Pavlovian stage (30-25 ky BP), concentrated in the Austrian-Moravian-South Polish corridor, and later Willendorf-Kostenkian stage (25-20 ky BP), widely dispersed over central and eastern Europe. The Epigravettian, termed Kasovian (after 20 ky BP), should be clearly separated from the earlier Gravettian stock.” ref
“The Gravettian, as the most complex Upper Paleolithic cultural entity in the Danubian Europe. Such as, the Gravettian sites in Lower Austria, on the Danube or Moravia, at Dolní Vestonice and Predmostí and Middle Moravia Basin. Others such as Pavlov VI, Bohemia, Silesia, Slovakia, and Hungary. Specifically, sites of the Danubian Gravettian provided a relatively large series of modern human fossil remains, such as, the spectacular finds of newborn babies, ritually buried at Krems-Wachtberg. As well as the sites of Dolní Vestonice – Pavlov and Predmosti.” ref
“Early cultures with backed blade technology, possible predecessors of the Gravettian in the eastern Mediterranean (small ovals); the early south European “Fumanian” (grey oval); and the subsequent Gravettian (large oval). Dolní Věstonice lies at center of the Gravettian oval, between the provinces of western and eastern Europe. Dolní Věstonice is predominantly associated with what is referred to as site I, that yielded the area’s most treasured artifact, the Venus of Věstonice. In the Absolon concept the slopes of the Pálava Hills were in fact one giant mega-settlement, a “Diluvial Pompei”. Today, in the areas of Dolní Věstonice, Pavlov, and Milovice, and differentiate between a structure of Gravettian settlements, roughly of the same age, and connected internally according to some kind of functional key.” ref
“Most of the uncommon finds from the location have some logical explanations – the determine of a lady with a deformed face appears to be linked to the burial of a lady with the same facial disfigurement, and Mediterranean shells present proof of journey or commerce – however the triple burial has lengthy eluded those that have looked for its that means. The primary skeleton, a male, was buried with a hand over the ochre-stained pelvis of the second whose intercourse was extra ambiguous. The third, male skeleton had been dumped into the grave, and was mendacity face down beside the others. Archaeologists and anthropologist have been theorizing in regards to the motive for the bizarre burial since its discovery. As the center skeleton has lengthy been assumed to be feminine, arguments centered round a love triangle, or a fertility ritual gone improper. Analysis performed by Mittnik et al. in 2016 has now deepened the thriller because it seems all three skeletons have been male – they usually have been brothers.” ref
“DV3 is similar to other earlier Upper Paleolithic remains in having warm temperate to tropical body proportions but is at the lower limit of Gravettian variation in body size indicators. The Dolnı́ Věstonice 3 partial skeleton represents the remains of an adult female, who was buried in a tightly flexed position and this compaction led to extensive damage to the axial skeleton and long bone epiphyses.” ref
“This Shaman hails from a place now called Dolni Vestonici, earning her the glamorous name “Dolni Vestonici 3” as the third burial found at the site. So I’ll call her Devee, the DV3 burial1. Palaeopathological examination of the female’s skull showed extensive pathological damage with significant asymmetry of the facial area as a result of a traumatic injury in childhood. Devee did take a major blow to the face but she recovered, the resulting disfigurement and Devee’s continued survival, despite this injury, is a key piece of evidence she was important to her tribe. Of course, she’d still need help from her friends to recover in the first place.” ref, ref
“Red powdery and crusty concentrations from the fill-up and bottom of a female burial DV3 from the Dolní Věstonice I site, representing Pavlovian culture. The burial floor and fill-up is composed of marly substrate mixed with bone powder, charcoal ash and red, rounded, relatively hard particles, composed of burnt iron bearing aluminosilicates. Red crusts, present on it (maybe also within it), applied probably as suspension, are composed of unburnt iron bearing aluminosilicates. The raw material for powders is assumed to come from the site hearths red ash. Red iron artifacts, macroscopically almost identical, occur on the site also as an assemblage of loose red lumps. They are petrographically inhomogeneous and their sources are localized up to 94 miles away from the site. Raw material similar to the one of some of red lumps may have been used for burial ceremony. The red ferruginous materials may have been exploited in areas of particular importance, away from hunting and flint (and other raw materials) trails.” ref
“The DV3 burial was found in the cultural layer of the first settlement object. The grave pit was dug into the Pleistocene marly silt mixed with limestone debris. The sediment was formed as a result of solifluxion of the nearby Tertiary sediments. Grave pit with the flexed body of a middle aged woman was covered by red coloring agent, greyish marly fill-up and two mammoth scapulae contacting tightly one with the other. They are covered by a compacted layer of calcareous debris with an ash and “dye.” This layer was present only in the burial pit and in the immediate vicinity of it. The upper part of the skeleton, especially the skull was covered with red material. Colouring continued in the vicinity of isolated bones. A woman’s body, probably was smeared with marly soil with immersed red powder. Staining was visible also under the temporal bone. Perhaps, after the decomposition of soft body parts the red particles infiltrated to bone surfaces tinting them. Numerous red ferruginous pieces and lumps were present out of the DV3 grave. Points at the local sources (up to 1 km from the site) of red raw materials, e.g. Mn-Fe concretions from the Ždanice Middle Oligocene flysch, limonite concretions from Eocene sediments near Milovice and goethite from the vicinity of the Pavlovske Hills.” ref
“Nevertheless, geology of the area in some dozen kilometers is much more complex and numerous other rocks may have been sources of red iron oxides, including, among others, terra rosa of unknown (but probably Eocene) age, variegated shales from Oligocene-Miocene and Paleocen-Middle Eocene flysh, red claystones (Ždanice-Hustopeče Formation), Cretaceous spongolite at the Dyje river, Inner Carpathian pyrite-pyrhotine with their red weathering crusts, neohercynian hematite veins and stockwerks (also along the Vah valley), red continental Lower Permian sediments and Visean flysh (culm) facies with variegated shales. In 150 km radius Považsky Inovec and Jeseníky Mts. metamorphosed Devonian sedimentary-volcanogenic rocks of Lahn-Dill type were also available for Pavlovian societies. On the one hand there is interest in the diversity of petrographic origin and processing of red raw ferruginous red lumps found on the site beyond the grave DV3. On the other hand, there is questions about the nature of red microartifacts associated with a sepulchral context: what is their composition and origin? Were they intentionally processed? Is there one or more varieties of sediments in the burial? Do the red powders of burial sediment (or sediments) have any relationship with red lumps from beyond the grave, or they are specific in origin and processing? Could they be a deliberately burnt raw material?” ref
“Furthermore, a female figurine was found at the site and is believed to be associated with the aged woman, because of remarkably similar facial characteristics. The woman was found to have deformities on the left side of her face. The special importance accorded with her burial, in addition to her facial deformity, makes it possible that she was a shaman in this time period, where it was “not uncommon that people with disabilities, either mental or physical, are thought to have unusual supernatural powers.” ref
31,000-25,000 Dolni Vestonice, Czech Republic Totamistic-Shamanism
“A remarkable cluster of Pavlovian radiocarbon dates is recorded during the following two millenia, between 27 – 25 ky (Jöris & Weninger 2004). These dates were received from Willendorf II (layers 6-8), Aggsbach, Krems, Grub/Kranawetberg, Dolní Vestonice – Pavlov, Milovice (settlement), Borsice, Jarosov (settlement), Spytihnev, and Predmostí (the main occupation layer). An increase of microliths, including the geometric microliths (lunates, triangles, trapezes), is typical at this stage, especially within the Dolní Vestonice – Pavlov area (fig. 3). A variety of pointed blades and microblades continue to occur, but the typical leaf-points are absent at this stage. A few of the 14 C datings from sites like Dolní Vestonice, Milovice, and Jarosov are later than 25 ky; so, for example, the mammoth bone deposits at Milovice and Jarosov are dated later than the related settlements. If these dates are correct, they would suggest a prolongation of occupation at these sites after the Pavlovian.” ref
“The most typical example of another type of Early Gravettian, non-Pavlovian site, is Bodrogkeresztúr-Henye in eastern Hungary (Dobosi, ed. 2000). The site provided two dates, 28.7 ± 3 ky and 26.3 ± 0.4 ky that place it chronologically to the Early Gravettian. Contrary to the Pavlovian sites, however, the fauna is dominated by horse and elk, and the lithic industry, dominated by burins, retouched blades, endscrapers and sidescrapers, lacks the typical microliths. In addition, there are differences of rather functional nature. Nemsová, a workshop site with an Early Gravettian date in western Slovakia, is located near an important raw material source: the radiolarite. Two smaller cave sites, Slaninova Cave and Dzeravá skala Cave, yielded early Gravettian dates in association with fragments of the typical ivory points with circular section. This may be an evidence for periodical visits of Gravettian hunters in the karstic regions.” ref
– Dolní Věstonice I, excavations. 1: central hearth with the Venus 1; 2: structure 1 with the female burial DV 3; 3: large accumulation of mammoth bones; 4: structure 2-” a shamanic hut ” ; 5: settlement of the highest floor (level?); 6: middle part of the site with numerous ceramic statuettes; 7: lower (Aurignacian) layer in the middle part of the site. After Klíma 1983, completed by M. Oliva (2007). ref
This is a burial from the Pavlovian culture, a variant of the larger eastern Gravettian hunter-gatherer culture in Central Europe and Russia, around 33,000 –24,000 years ago. Moreover, the Pavlovian culture existed in the region of Moravia, northern Austria, and southern Poland around 29,000 – 25,000 years ago. This body was of a 40 years old woman with a height of 4’10” dated to 27,000 to 25,000 Years ago at Dolni Vestonice, Czech Republic. She was laid on her right side with her knees drawn up to the waist placed a little below the original floor of a large hut, sprinkled red ochre, and then covered with two mammoth shoulder bones. The mammoth shoulders were placed over her leaning against each other and one of them had engravings on its lower side. The exact symbols used are not known so I added ones used in the area at the time. A flint spearhead had been placed near the skull as well as several flint flakes also were lying in her pit grave. The bones of an arctic fox were in her left hand, while the right hand grasped ten canine teeth from an arctic fox as well. All this evidence seems to indicate a shaman. ref, ref, ref, ref
DV3 (Ritualistic Single Burial of a Older Shaman Woman) 27,000 to 25,000 years ago
“The DV3 woman was around 36- to 45-year-old buried ritualistically, laid in a shallow dish shaped pit, placed beneath a pair of mammoth scapulae, one leaning against the other, above which there was part of a mammoth pelvic bone. And one of the two mammoth shoulder bones, had been engraved on its lower side. as well as a flint spearhead had been placed near her skull.” ref, ref
“Her age is important as it is believed that elderly people were highly influential in society. Grandparents assisted in childcare, perpetuated cultural transmission, and contributed to the increased complexity of stone tools. The woman found at Dolni Vestonice was old enough to have been a grandparent. Although human lifespans were increasing, elderly individuals in Upper Paleolithic societies were still relatively rare. Because of this, it is possible that the woman was attributed with great importance and wisdom, and revered because of her age. Because of her advanced age, it is also possible she had a decreased ability to care for herself, instead relying on her family group to care for her, which indicates strong social connections.” ref
“The body rested on its right side with its knees drawn up to the chin. The body had been sprinkled with red ochre before being covered. It belonged to a woman who had been about 40 years old when she died, and had been small and slim, standing about 160 cm, or 4 feet 10 inches at most. Lying in the grave were several flint flakes. Beside the body’s left hand were the bones of an arctic fox, while the right hand grasped ten canine teeth from an arctic fox. And all the evidence seems to indicate a shaman. This is the oldest site not only of ceramic figurines and artistic portraiture, but also of evidence of female shamans.” ref
Why are these 32 symbols found in caves all over Europe
Link to Location and age of ancient DNA samples
“Each bar corresponds to a sample, the color code designates the genetically defined sample cluster, and the height is proportional to sample age (the background grid shows a projection of longitude against sample age). To help in visualization, we add jitter for sites with multiple samples from nearby locations. Four samples that are from Siberia are plotted at the far eastern edge of the map.” ref
“Stable populations developed 38,000 to 30,000 years ago and the culture which finally dominated among them was the Gravettian culture. The people who lived at the archaeological site of Dolní Věstonice were part of this culture. The gene pool of the Dolní Věstonice “mammoth hunters” conquered Europe at one point and people belonging to this group developed a strong culture, it gradually disappeared and the relevant genetic groups only form about 10 to 15 percent of the current European population. The “Věstonice genetic cluster”, as it was named by the researchers after the Czech archaeological site of Dolní Věstonice, prevailed in Europe for several thousand years. “There are findings from Italy, Austria, and Belgium that belong to the same group.” ref
“South Moravia (Czech Republic) has provided numerous Upper Palaeolithic—Gravettian sites (33–22 kyr BP) with a great deal of human skeletal remains.” ref
“The “Vestonice Cluster” is composed of 14 pre-Ice Age individuals from around 34,000-26,000 years ago, who are all associated with the archaeologically defined Gravettian culture.” ref
DV13, DV15, DV14 (Ritual Triple Burial)
Vestonice13: 31,070-30,670 years ago Layer
Vestonice15: 31,070-30,670 years ago Layer
Vestonice14: 31,070-30,670 years ago Layer ref
“Three inhabitants of Dolni Vestonice, have mitochondrial haplogroup U, and one inhabitant mitochondrial haplogroup U8. In the Vestonice 13 sample, the Y chromosomal haplogroup CT (not IJK-L16) (CTS109+, CTS5318+, CTS6327+, CTS8243+, CTS9556+, Z17718+, Y1571+, M5831+) was determined, for the Vestonice 15 sample, the Y chromosome haplogroup BT (PF1178+).” ref
DV16 (Older Man Single Burial)
Vestonice 16: 30,710-29,310 years ago Layer ref
“The Vestonice 16 sample, the Y chromosomal haplogroup C1a2 (V20+, V86+).” ref
“Vestonice43: 30,710-29,310 years ago Layer, the Y chromosome haplogroup F (not I) (P145+, P158+).” ref, ref
“The so-called Wolf bone is a prehistoric artifact discovered in 1937 during excavations led by Karel Absolon. Dated to the Aurignacian, approximately 30,000 years ago, with an age of this artifact was set at 28.000–25.000 years old the bone is marked with 55 marks which some believe to be tally marks. The head of an ivory Venus figurine was excavated close to the bone.” ref, ref, ref
“The other findings to date, sites in the region (Dolní Věstonice II, IIa, III, Pavlov II, VI, and the latest Milovice IV) layers of the Gravettian culture.” ref
“Carved on a mammoth tusk that was found at Pavlov we see a geometric pattern that evokes a picture of the landscape. Of course this is no aesthetic “landscape”, but the practical record left by a hunter, with etchings representing perhaps the characteristics and possibility of the terrain. Similar drawings on mammoth tusks have been found at hunting settlements in Moravia, Ukraine, and Russia. Even today nomadic hunting populations, which have a well-developed sense of space, create simple but practical Milovice IV. Stone tools were made of imported materials, predominantly fl int and radiolarite. maps of their territory.” ref
“The individual sites in the Dolní Věstonice–Pavlov–Milovice area have their hierarchy, given by their size and by the complexity of the activities. Some of the larger localities grew out of the merger of such smaller units. This hierarchy of settlements is related to length and seasonality of occupation. At the permanently-inhabited sites a larger spectrum of activities were realized, including production of artistic objects, and the carrying out of rituals.” ref
“The large and complex sites at Dolní Věstonice I and Pavlov I cover oval-shaped areas exceeding hundreds of meters, containing layers of the remnants of repeated hearths and the building of huts, refuse from the consumption of food and production activities, traces of rituals, symbolic art, and the individual burials of the hunters themselves. We assume that the both sites fulfilled their function year-round.” ref
“The Dolní Věstonice II locality, too, is a large settlement, even larger than the two previously named, but evidence of occupation is not as intensive; the traces are more spread out and cover a longer segment of time, with repeated interruptions. There are few artistic or ornamental items here, though there is evidence of mammoth hunting (the bones of which are found in the adjacent gully) and the working of skins (a large number of fox and wolf bones, and traces of working skins on their tools). Dolní Věstonice II is most famous, however, for its anthropological finds, including a triple burial, the single burial of a man, and a quantity of scattered fragments of human bones in the area.” ref
“Milovice I also takes up a significant area, but it is dominated by a big deposit of mammoth bones, and occupation evidently was repeated at certain intervals. The other sites (Dolní Věstonice III, Pavlov II) are smaller, measuring a few dozen square meters at most, and were evidently inhabited seasonally. And the Pavlov VI site represents a single settlement unit with “kitchen” facilities for processing meat, containing remnants of animal bones.” ref
Pavlov1-Czech: 31,110-29,410 years ago Layer ref
“The Pavlovian is an Upper Paleolithic culture, a variant of the Gravettian, that existed in the region of Moravia, northern Austria and southern Poland around 29,000 – 25,000 years ago. The culture used sophisticated stone age technology to survive in the tundra on the fringe of the ice sheets around the Last Glacial Maximum. Its economy was principally based on the hunting of mammoth herds for meat, fat fuel, hides for tents and large bones and tusks for building winter shelters. Its name is derived from the village of Pavlov, in the Pavlov Hills, next to Dolní Věstonice in southern Moravia.” ref
Pavlov I. Intensively inhabited Gravettian settlement with two large concentrations, in the field to the west adjacent to the village. The settlement units (huts) overlap mainly in the southeastern part, where their layouts form a difficult-to-read palimpsest. ref
Pavlov II. Smaller Gravettian settlement on the eastern edge of the village, now being gradually built over with family houses. ref
Pavlov III. Scattered Gravettian stone tools and bones from the wall of the former, now filled-in clay pit along the road from Pavlov to Milovice. ref
Pavlov IV. Surface finds of stone tools in the valley along the southeastern edge of the settlement. ref
Pavlov V (Děvičky). Surface finds of stone tools. ref
Pavlov VI. Isolated, completely preserved Gravettian settlement unit on the eastern edge of the village by the road to Milovice. ref
“Little is known about the genetic makeup of the first European hunter-gatherers, who likely arrived ∼45,000 years ago or about the subsequent population dynamics during the nearly 40,000 years spanning from the Late Pleistocene to the Neolithic transition. In the maps presented there is a reconstruction of 35 complete or nearly complete mtDNAs of ancient modern human individuals from Italy, Germany, Belgium, France, Czech Republic, and Romania, spanning in age from 35,000 years ago to 7,000 years ago combined with 20 previously published ancient European mtDNAs for a total of 55 pre-Neolithic sequences and explicitly tested scenarios of the early population history of Europe using coalescent demographic modeling paired with approximate Bayesian computation (ABC).” ref
“mtDNAs data confirmed that the vast majority of Late Pleistocene and Early Holocene individuals belonged to the U lineage, which is a subgroup of the N clade and a basal U lineage that had no derived position leading to known sub-hgs in a 33,000-year-old Romanian individual. Surprisingly, three hunter-gatherers from Belgium and France dating to between 35 and 28 ka carried mtDNA hg M, today found predominantly in Asia, Australasia, and the Americas, although it is almost absent in extant populations with European ancestry.” ref
Moreover, Haplogroup U Possible place of origin Western Asia around 46,500 ± 3,300 years ago and is a human mitochondrial DNA haplogroup (mtDNA). The clade arose from haplogroup R, likely during the early Upper Paleolithic. Its various subclades (labeled U1–U9, diverging over the course of the Upper Paleolithic) are found widely distributed across Northern and Eastern Europe, Central, Western and South Asia, as well as North Africa, the Horn of Africa, and the Canary Islands. The haplogroup U8b’s most common subclade is haplogroup K, which is estimated to date to between 30,000 and 22,000 years ago. Haplogroup U descends from the haplogroup R mtDNA branch of the phylogenetic tree. The defining mutations (A11467G, A12308G, G12372A) are estimated to have arisen between 43,000 and 50,000 years ago, in the early Upper Paleolithic (around 46,530 ± 3,290 years before present, with a 95% confidence interval per Behar et al., 2012). Ancient DNA classified as belonging to the U* mitochondrial haplogroup has been recovered from human skeletal remains found in Western Siberia, which have been dated to c. 45,000 years ago. Haplogroup U has been found among Iberomaurusian specimens dating from the Epipaleolithic at the Taforalt and Afalou prehistoric sites. Among the Taforalt individuals, around 13% of the observed haplotypes belonged to various U subclades, including U4a2b (1/24; 4%), U4c1 (1/24; 4%), and U6d3 (1/24; 4%). A further 41% of the analyzed haplotypes could be assigned to either haplogroup U or haplogroup H. Among the Afalou individuals, 44% of the analyzed haplotypes could be assigned to either haplogroup U or haplogroup H (3/9; 33%). Haplogroup U has also been observed among ancient Egyptian mummies excavated at the Abusir el-Meleq archaeological site in Middle Egypt, dated to the 1st millennium BC. Additionally, haplogroup U has been observed in ancient Guanche fossils excavated in Gran Canaria and Tenerife on the Canary Islands, which have been radiocarbon-dated to between the 7th and 11th centuries CE. All of the clade-bearing individuals were inhumed at the Tenerife site, with these specimens found to belong to the U6b1a (4/7; 57%) and U6b (1/7; 14%) subclades. ref, ref
“Dolní V ěstonice II, wolf skull found at the site. Moreover, foxes and wolves, the bones of which are found in large quantities at some of the settlements, were predominantly considered as a source of furs, but sometimes of meat as well.” ref
“In certain huts figurines of both animals and people were found – entire bodies or just parts. Immediately afterward the production, the images were destroyed or damaged by temperature shock, blows, or incisions. This may have been some kind of ritual, so-called sympathetic magic. The Venus of Věstonice is a sort of prototype, which survived nearly intact.” ref
“It had long been thinking that these mammoth hunters’ settlements, were basically made from nomadic people. However, it turned out that three of the sites in Dolní Věstonice and Pavlov could have been inhabited year round, while other, smaller settlements served as seasonal bases for hunting and other purposes. Experts have also been able to establish that these people ate not only meat, but also plants. Studies have found traces of starch, and according to the researchers, the hunters ground plant roots to make a simple type of flour. “They also knew how to fire clay. Moreover, some of the clay was found to bear prints of a regular grid-like structure, which means they also knew how to weave.” ref
“Even though the gene pool of the Dolní Věstonice “mammoth hunters” conquered Europe at one point and people belonging to this group developed a strong culture, it gradually disappeared and the relevant genetic groups only form about 10 to 15 percent of the current European population. According to Svoboda, more significant traces of genes of the people who lived in Dolní Věstonice during the Ice Age can currently be found, for example, among the Sami people who live mainly in Scandinavia. The genome of the mammoth-hunting inhabitants of Dolní Věstonice prevailed until the glaciation peak of the last ice age, that is, about 25,000 to 20,000 years ago. Afterwards, representatives of other genetic groups began to spread in Europe and about 14,500 years ago, the genome begins to show traces of entirely new populations coming from the south-east.” ref
The genome from Ust’-Ishim (Main Semi-Related Ancestor DNA Branch)
“The Ust’-Ishim DNA was from northern Siberia that dates to 45,000 years ago, from the bank of the Irtysh River, which is in the Siberian plain near Omsk. Its source lies in the Mongolian Altai in Dzungaria (the northern part of Xinjiang, China) close to the border with Mongolia. The Ob-Irtysh system forms a major drainage basin in Asia, encompassing most of Western Siberia and the Altai Mountains.” ref, ref
“Ust’-Ishim is more similar to genomes of non-Africans than it is to sub-Saharan African genomes. Ust’-Ishim is not more like the Mal’ta genome than it is like any other genomes of Asians or Native Americans. It is not like any living population of Asians or Native Americans more than any other.” ref
Link to Population history inferences
“Color is used to highlight important early branches of the European founder population: the Kostenki14 lineage is modeled as the predominant contributor to the Vestonice Cluster (green); the GoyetQ116-1 lineage as the predominant contributor to the El Mirón Cluster (red); and the Villabruna lineage as broadly represented across many clusters.” ref ‘
“While individuals assigned to the Gravettian cultural complex in Europe are associated with the Vestonice Cluster, there is no genetic connection between them and the Mal’ta1 individual in Siberia despite the fact that Venus figurines are associated with both. This suggests that if this similarity is not a coincidence, it reflects diffusion of ideas rather than movements of people.” ref
“GoyetQ116-1 chronologically associated with the Aurignacian cultural complex. derives from a different deep branch of the European founder population than the Vestonice Cluster which became predominant in many places in Europe between 34,000 and 26,000 years ago including at Goyet Cave. Thus, the subsequent spread of the Vestonice Cluster, which is associated with the Gravettian cultural complex, shows that the spread of the latter culture was mediated at least in part by population movements. But, the population represented by the Aurignacian GoyetQ116-1 did not disappear, as its descendants became widespread again after ~19,000 years ago in the El Mirón Cluster detected in Iberia associated with the Magdalenian culture and may represent a post-ice age expansion from southwestern European.” ref
“The Villabruna Cluster at least ~14,000 years ago, all European individuals analyzed show an affinity to the Near East. This correlates in time to the Bølling-Allerød interstadial, the first significant warming period after the Ice Age. Archaeologically, it correlates with cultural transitions within the Epigravettian in Southern Europe and the Magdalenian-to-Azilian transition in Western Europe. Thus, the appearance of the Villabruna Cluster may reflect migrations or population shifts within Europe at the end of the Ice Age, an observation that is also consistent with the evidence of turnover of mitochondrial DNA sequences at this time. One scenario that could explain these patterns is a population expansion from southeastern European or west Asian after the Ice Age, drawing together the genetic ancestry of Europe and the Near East. Moreover, within the Villabruna Cluster, some, but not all, individuals have affinity to East Asians.” ref
The Areas Burials
“Dolní Věstonice finds include two fragments of skullcaps, perhaps used as bowls, fragments of burnt children’s bones, and scattered human teeth. A severely crouched skeleton of a woman was discovered, followed by a male buried at Pavlov I, and another series of finds, a third fragment of a skullcap, possibly a bowl, then the famous triple burial of three young people, and finally the burial of an older man laid to rest beside the fireplace in the middle of a hut. Small fragments of human bones and individual teeth are still being found, mainly during the detailed sorting and description of animal bones. Among the latest discoveries is the skeleton of two separate human hands, which were laid in the same place at Pavlov I.” ref
“Although the dead in Věstonice were laid down carefully, they were modestly equipped for the afterlife. Near the skeletons, mainly around the skulls, were found only drilled animal teeth and little beads of ivory, as decoration on headdresses and clothes. Meanwhile, judging according to the decorative objects found scattered over the settlements, living people adorned themselves more richly. The skull and sometimes the pelvis of the deceased were covered with red coating and the position in which the bodies were laid may have had some significance. Some of the dead are crouched in the crouched position, others lie on their backs or stomachs. The hands of one young man in the triple burial were deliberately placed on the pelvis of the central individual.” ref
“The role of female shaman is sometimes attributed to a woman found in Dolní Věstonice, but there could also be evidence that would assign this role to the middle individual in the mysterious triple burial in Dolní Věstonice. This is because of his or her central position between two men, as well as the illness the individual evidently suffered during life, and above all the individual’s ambigous sexual identity, which some cultures regard as not only a handicap, but also a special gift, a source of strength and power. The complete anthropological finds of Dolní Věstonice now reaches up to 64, and Pavlov to 33.” ref
The six complete human skeletons:
“Dolní Věstonice 3, site DV I – upper part. Woman, 36−45 years, height 158−159 cm, minimum weight 56 kg, lying on side in crouched positioin, facing northwest, with red coloration of the skull and upper part of body, accompanied by ten drilled fox teeth.” ref
“Dolní Věstonice 13, site DV II − hilltop. Man, 21−25 years, height 168−169 cm, weight around 65 kg, lying on the left in the triple burial, on his back, slightly turned towards DV 15, oriented south-southeast, with coloration of the skull, with twenty drilled teeth of large predators and pendants of mammoth ivory.” ref
“Dolní Věstonice 14, site DV II − hilltop. Man, 16−20 years, 179−180 cm, weight 68 kg, lying on the right in the triple burial, on his stomach, oriented towards the south, with coloration on the skull, with three drilled wolf canines, and pendants of mammoth ivory.”
“Dolní Věstonice 15, site DV II − hilltop. Individual of undetermined gender, 21−25 years, height 159 cm, weight 66−68 kg, the middle person in the triple burial, oriented towards the south, with coloring on the skull and pelvis, with four drilled fox teeth.” ref
“Dolní Věstonice 16, site DV II – western slope. Man, over 45 years, height 171 cm, weight 68−69 kg, lying in the fetal position on his side by a hearth, oriented towards the east, with coloration on the skull and pelvis, with four drilled fox teeth.” ref
“Pavlov 1, site Pavlov I − northwest. Man, 36−45 years, height 172−178 cm, weight 70 kg, evidently originally lying in a crouched position, but later disturbed due to the downslope movement.” ref
DV13, DV15, DV14 (Ritual Triple Burial) 31,000 to 30,000 years ago
“The 2 clearly male skeletons were buried with pierced carnivore tooth and ivory ornamentation round their skulls, and the male whose hand is on the crotch of the center skeleton was sporting some sort of masks which some have interpreted as shaman expression. There have been a number of theories that shaped primarily based on the center skeleton being a feminine, like a fertility ritual. Others thought the one that was dumped within the grave might have severely wronged the center skeleton not directly or damaged a serious taboo deserving to be buried face down. However, DNA shows that the people would have been all brothers. The DNA and family connection removes some of the seemingly most logical theories on the burial. Three brothers being buried this manner might have been for very totally different causes but the positioning of the bodies and the ochre is ritual proof the bodies where not just dumped carelessly.” ref
“The bodies were lying in an extended supine position, covered by burnt spruce logs and branches. The body in the middle was placed first, being partially covered by the other two. Moreover, the central body suffers from a genetic pathology resulting in the curved form of his legs. Red ocher, a pigment commonly used for rituals, was found over the pelvis.” ref
“Furthermore, the Gravettian triple burial of young individuals at Dolní Vestonice includes a skeleton in the middle (DV 15) is pathological and very problematic to sex though first believed to be a female, currently thought to be a slender male; the other two (DV 13 and DV 14) are somewhat larger males and lie in an unusual position. The pathological condition of the (DV 15) skeleton in the middle include asymmetric shortening of the right femur and of left forearm bones, bowing of the right femur, right humerus, and left radius, elongation of fibulae, dysplasias of the vertebral column, and very marked enamel hypoplasias suggesting chondrodysplasia calcificans punctata (CCP) complicated by trauma and early fractures of the upper limbs leaving permanent deformities on affected bones.” ref
“Among the different forms of CCP, the X-linked dominant form is that resulting in asymmetric shortening and is lethal during early infancy in males. Thus, survival of DV 15 until young adult age would require the specimen to be a female. Clinical findings often associated with the disease (erythemas, ichthyosis, alopecia, cataracts, and joint contractures, among others) would emphasize the singular aspect of this individual, pointing to a condition that should be carefully taken into account when speculating on the significance of that peculiar burial.” ref
“Lastly, the triple burial of Dolní Věstonice is especially intriguing due to the peculiarity of the individuals’ positioning–DV 13 on his side facing the central DV 15 with hands reaching the pubic region of the latter, and DV 14 laying face-down. The prominent central position of DV 15 is even more highlighted due to his pathological deformations. The fact that his sex was undeterminable by means of bone morphology and metrics suggests a unique character of this person and such individuals may have received a specific status in egalitarian societies.” ref
DV16 (Older Man Single (Chef/Clan Leader?) Burial)
“In Dolní Věstonice II the stone coverage was used inside the hut, a structured settlement where there lay the skeleton of a single male burial labelled DV16. This fireplace may have been set up so as to give warmth for the longest possible time to the dead or dying man.” ref
“Dolní Věstonice II site with the triple burial and the DV16 burial was also accompanied by a number of stone and bone tools, decorative objects, as well as fragmented remains of associated human individuals making it one of the most important sites of the Central European Gravettian.” ref, ref
“The Dolní Vestonice artifacts also include some of the earliest examples of fired clay sculptures, including the Venus of Dolní Věstonice, and date back to 26,000 B.P. The Venus figurine is a ceramic statuette depiction of an obese, nude female. This figurine is similar to other Venuses found throughout the area at nearby archaeological sites such as Willendorf and the Caves of Grimaldi (see Grimaldi Man). A tomograph scan of the figurine showed a fingerprint of a child who must have handled it before it was fired. A majority of the clay figurines at Dolni Vestonice were found around either the dugout or the central fire pit located within the site. At an isolated site 80 meters upstream lies a lean-to shelter dug into an embankment.” ref
“An estimated 2,300 clay figurines of various animals were found in and around the remains of a kiln. It may be one of the first instances of a covered oven, hot enough to fire clay. Most of the figurines were broken and found in fragments. General consensus agrees that they were likely intentionally and perhaps ritualistically broken, but offers no conclusive reason.” ref
“One hypothesis posits that these figurines had magical significance, and were intentionally fashioned from wet clay so that they would explode when fired. Dolni Vestonice is an open-air site located along a stream. Its people hunted mammoths and other herd animals, saving mammoth and other bones that could be used to construct a fence-like boundary, separating the living space into a distinct inside and outside. In this way, the perimeter of the site would be easily distinguishable.” ref
“At the center of the enclosure was a large bonfire and huts were grouped together within the barrier of the bone fence. These thousands of ceramic artifacts, many of which depicted animals, were also found associated with the site. The animals molded in the clay include lions, rhinoceroses, and mammoths. These figurines have been interpreted to have been of some ceremonial significance to the ancient occupants of the site.” ref
“In addition to these artifacts, two figurines depicting women were found. One of the figurines, known as the Black Venus, was found on a hillside amongst charred mammoth bones; the other depicted a woman with a deformed face. Speculation regarding the relation of the second Venus figurine with a woman buried at the site, who had a deformation on the same side of the face, may imply a connection between the two. This woman’s skeleton was found buried under the scapula of a mammoth, with a fox pelt and red ochre. Such a burial is attributed to the relative importance of this individual to the people who occupied this site.” ref
“Contrary to popular beliefs regarding the hunting practices of people living in the Upper Pleistocene, the inhabitants of this site did not solely chase mammoths with spears. Indentations of netting on the clay floors of the huts found at the site were preserved in the archaeological record when the structures burned down, hardening the clay. These indentations strongly suggest that these people were using nets to catch smaller prey in addition to hunting mammoths with spears. Finally, shells found at the site have been shown to originate from the Mediterranean, suggesting these people either traveled to collect them or were trade partners with other groups nearby.” ref
While hallucinogens are associated with shamanism, it is alcohol that is associated with paganism.
The Atheist-Humanist-Leftist Revolutionaries Shows in the prehistory series:
Show two: Pre-animism 300,000 years old and animism 100,000 years old: related to “Anarchism and Socialism”
Show tree: Totemism 50,000 years old: related to “Anarchism and Socialism”
Show four: Shamanism 30,000 years old: related to “Anarchism and Socialism”
Show five: Paganism 12,000 years old: related to “Anarchism and Socialism”
Show six: Emergence of hierarchy, sexism, slavery, and the new male god dominance: Paganism 7,000-5,000 years old: related to “Anarchism and Socialism” (Capitalism) (World War 0) Elite and their slaves!
Prehistory: related to “Anarchism and Socialism” the division of labor, power, rights, and recourses: VIDEO
Pre-animism 300,000 years old and animism 100,000 years old: related to “Anarchism and Socialism”: VIDEO
Totemism 50,000 years old: related to “Anarchism and Socialism”: VIDEO
Shamanism 30,000 years old: related to “Anarchism and Socialism”: VIDEO
Paganism 12,000 years old: related to “Anarchism and Socialism” (Pre-Capitalism): VIDEO
Paganism 7,000-5,000 years old: related to “Anarchism and Socialism” (Capitalism) (World War 0) Elite and their slaves: VIEDO
Paganism 5,000 years old: progressed organized religion and the state: related to “Anarchism and Socialism” (Kings and the Rise of the State): VIEDO
Paganism 4,000 years old: related to “Anarchism and Socialism” (First Moralistic gods, then the Origin time of Monotheism): VIEDO
I do not hate simply because I challenge and expose myths or lies any more than others being thought of as loving simply because of the protection and hiding from challenge their favored myths or lies.
The truth is best championed in the sunlight of challenge.
An archaeologist once said to me “Damien religion and culture are very different”
My response, So are you saying that was always that way, such as would you say Native Americans’ cultures are separate from their religions? And do you think it always was the way you believe?
I had said that religion was a cultural product. That is still how I see it and there are other archaeologists that think close to me as well. Gods too are the myths of cultures that did not understand science or the world around them, seeing magic/supernatural everywhere.
I personally think there is a goddess and not enough evidence to support a male god at Çatalhöyük but if there was both a male and female god and goddess then I know the kind of gods they were like Proto-Indo-European mythology.
This series idea was addressed in, Anarchist Teaching as Free Public Education or Free Education in the Public: VIDEO
Our 12 video series: Organized Oppression: Mesopotamian State Force and the Politics of power (9,000-4,000 years ago), is adapted from: The Complete and Concise History of the Sumerians and Early Bronze Age Mesopotamia (7000-2000 BC): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=szFjxmY7jQA by “History with Cy“
Show #1: Mesopotamian State Force and the Politics of Power (Samarra, Halaf, Ubaid)
Show #2: Mesopotamian State Force and the Politics of Power (Eridu “Tell Abu Shahrain”)
Show #3: Mesopotamian State Force and the Politics of Power (Uruk and the First Cities)
Show #4: Mesopotamian State Force and the Politics of Power (First Kings)
Show #5: Mesopotamian State Force and the Politics of Power (Early Dynastic Period)
Show #6: Mesopotamian State Force and the Politics of Power (King/Ruler Lugalzagesi)
Show #7: Mesopotamian State Force and the Politics of Power (Sargon and Akkadian Rule)
Show #9: Mesopotamian State Force and the Politics of Power (Gudea of Lagash and Utu-hegal)
Show #12: Mesopotamian State Force and the Politics of Power (Aftermath and Legacy of Sumer)
The “Atheist-Humanist-Leftist Revolutionaries”
Cory Johnston ☭ Ⓐ Atheist Leftist @Skepticallefty & I (Damien Marie AtHope) @AthopeMarie (my YouTube & related blog) are working jointly in atheist, antitheist, antireligionist, antifascist, anarchist, socialist, and humanist endeavors in our videos together, generally, every other Saturday.
Why Does Power Bring Responsibility?
Think, how often is it the powerless that start wars, oppress others, or commit genocide? So, I guess the question is to us all, to ask, how can power not carry responsibility in a humanity concept? I know I see the deep ethical responsibility that if there is power their must be a humanistic responsibility of ethical and empathic stewardship of that power. Will I be brave enough to be kind? Will I possess enough courage to be compassionate? Will my valor reach its height of empathy? I as everyone, earns our justified respect by our actions, that are good, ethical, just, protecting, and kind. Do I have enough self-respect to put my love for humanity’s flushing, over being brought down by some of its bad actors? May we all be the ones doing good actions in the world, to help human flourishing.
I create the world I want to live in, striving for flourishing. Which is not a place but a positive potential involvement and promotion; a life of humanist goal precision. To master oneself, also means mastering positive prosocial behaviors needed for human flourishing. I may have lost a god myth as an atheist, but I am happy to tell you, my friend, it is exactly because of that, leaving the mental terrorizer, god belief, that I truly regained my connected ethical as well as kind humanity.
Cory and I will talk about prehistory and theism, addressing the relevance to atheism, anarchism, and socialism.
At the same time as the rise of the male god, 7,000 years ago, there was also the very time there was the rise of violence, war, and clans to kingdoms, then empires, then states. It is all connected back to 7,000 years ago, and it moved across the world.
Cory Johnston: https://damienmarieathope.com/2021/04/cory-johnston-mind-of-a-skeptical-leftist/?v=32aec8db952d
The Mind of a Skeptical Leftist (YouTube)
Cory Johnston: Mind of a Skeptical Leftist @Skepticallefty
The Mind of a Skeptical Leftist By Cory Johnston: “Promoting critical thinking, social justice, and left-wing politics by covering current events and talking to a variety of people. Cory Johnston has been thoughtfully talking to people and attempting to promote critical thinking, social justice, and left-wing politics.” http://anchor.fm/skepticalleft
Cory needs our support. We rise by helping each other.
Cory Johnston ☭ Ⓐ @Skepticallefty Evidence-based atheist leftist (he/him) Producer, host, and co-host of 4 podcasts @skeptarchy @skpoliticspod and @AthopeMarie
Damien Marie AtHope (“At Hope”) Axiological Atheist, Anti-theist, Anti-religionist, Secular Humanist. Rationalist, Writer, Artist, Poet, Philosopher, Advocate, Activist, Psychology, and Armchair Archaeology/Anthropology/Historian.
Damien is interested in: Freedom, Liberty, Justice, Equality, Ethics, Humanism, Science, Atheism, Antiteism, Antireligionism, Ignosticism, Left-Libertarianism, Anarchism, Socialism, Mutualism, Axiology, Metaphysics, LGBTQI, Philosophy, Advocacy, Activism, Mental Health, Psychology, Archaeology, Social Work, Sexual Rights, Marriage Rights, Woman’s Rights, Gender Rights, Child Rights, Secular Rights, Race Equality, Ageism/Disability Equality, Etc. And a far-leftist, “Anarcho-Humanist.”
I am not a good fit in the atheist movement that is mostly pro-capitalist, I am anti-capitalist. Mostly pro-skeptic, I am a rationalist not valuing skepticism. Mostly pro-agnostic, I am anti-agnostic. Mostly limited to anti-Abrahamic religions, I am an anti-religionist.
To me, the “male god” seems to have either emerged or become prominent around 7,000 years ago, whereas the now favored monotheism “male god” is more like 4,000 years ago or so. To me, the “female goddess” seems to have either emerged or become prominent around 11,000-10,000 years ago or so, losing the majority of its once prominence around 2,000 years ago due largely to the now favored monotheism “male god” that grow in prominence after 4,000 years ago or so.
My Thought on the Evolution of Gods?
Animal protector deities from old totems/spirit animal beliefs come first to me, 13,000/12,000 years ago, then women as deities 11,000/10,000 years ago, then male gods around 7,000/8,000 years ago. Moralistic gods around 5,000/4,000 years ago, and monotheistic gods around 4,000/3,000 years ago.
Damien Marie AtHope (Said as “At” “Hope”)/(Autodidact Polymath but not good at math):
Axiological Atheist, Anti-theist, Anti-religionist, Secular Humanist, Rationalist, Writer, Artist, Jeweler, Poet, “autodidact” Philosopher, schooled in Psychology, and “autodidact” Armchair Archaeology/Anthropology/Pre-Historian (Knowledgeable in the range of: 1 million to 5,000/4,000 years ago). I am an anarchist socialist politically. Reasons for or Types of Atheism
My Website, My Blog, & Short-writing or Quotes, My YouTube, Twitter: @AthopeMarie, and My Email: damien.marie.athope@gmail.com