The Cro-Magnons form the earliest known European examples of Homo sapiens, the species to which modern humans belong. The term falls outside the usual naming conventions for early man and is used in a general sense to describe the oldest modern people in Europe. The oldest H. sapiens (i.e. anatomically modern humans) first emerged in Africa around 100,000 years ago. World map showing Europe Europe is conventionally considered one of the seven continents which, in this case, is more a cultural and political distinction than a physiogeographic one. ... Human beings are defined variously in biological, spiritual, and cultural terms, or in combinations thereof. ... Binomial name Homo sapiens Linnaeus, 1758 Subspecies Homo sapiens idaltu(extinct) Homo sapiens sapiens Homo (genus). ... Early man can refer to these articles: Human evolution Early Man (band) This is a disambiguation page—a list of articles associated with the same title. ... Africa is the worlds second-largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. ...

Cro-Magnons lived from about 35,000 to 10,000 years ago in the Upper Paleolithic period of the Pleistocene epoch. For all intents and purposes these people were anatomically modern, only differing from their modern day descendants in Europe by their slightly more robust physiology and brains which were about 4 percent larger than that of modern man. The Cro-Magnons could be descended from any number of subspecies of Homo sapiens that emerged from Africa approximately 100,000 years ago, such as Homo sapiens idaltu. The Upper Paleolithic (or Upper Palaeolithic) is the third and last subdivision of the Paleolithic or Old Stone Age as it is understood in Europe, Africa and Asia. ... The Pleistocene Epoch is part of the geologic timescale. ... Trinomial name Homo sapiens idaltu White et al, 2003 Homo sapiens idaltu is an extinct subspecies of Homo sapiens that lived over 160,000 years ago in Africa. ...

The geologist Louis Lartet discovered the first five skeletons in March 1868 in the Cro-Magnon rock shelter at Les Eyzies, Dordogne, France. The definitive specimen from this find bears the name 'Cro Magnon I'. The skeletons showed the same high forehead, upright posture and slender (gracile) skeleton as modern humans. Other specimens have since come to light in other parts of Europe and in the Middle East. The European individuals probably arrived from a North African origin via South Asia, Central Asia and the Middle East. However, this is highly speculative since no Cro-Magnon remains have been found in Africa (though the North African ancestors of Cro-Magnon man would have been pre-Cro-Magnon). Louis Lartet (1840 - 1899), French geologist and paleontologist, discovered the original Cro-Magnon skeletons. ... In biology, the skeleton or skeletal system is the biological system providing support in living organisms. ... 1868 (MDCCCLXVIII) was a leap year starting on Wednesday (see link for calendar) of the Gregorian calendar or a leap year starting on Friday of the 12-day-slower Julian calendar. ... Les Eyzies-de-Tayac-Sireuil is a commune of the Dordogne département, in southwestern France. ... Dordogne is a département in central France named after the Dordogne River. ... A map showing countries commonly considered to be part of the Middle East The Middle East is a region comprising the lands around the southern and eastern parts of the Mediterranean Sea, a territory that extends from the eastern Mediterranean Sea to the Persian Gulf. ... Categories: Africa geography stubs | North Africa ... Composite satellite image of South Asia Map of South Asia. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ...

The condition and placement of the remains along with pieces of shell and animal tooth in what appears to have been pendants or necklaces raises the question whether or not they were buried intentionally. If Cro-Magnons buried their dead intentionally it shows us they had a knowledge of ritual, by burying their dead with necklaces and tools, or an idea of disease and that the bodies needed to be contained.^[1]

Analysis of the pathology of the skeletons shows that the humans of this time period led a physically tough life. In addition to infection, several of the individuals found at the shelter had fused vertebrae in their necks indicating traumatic injury, and the adult female found at the shelter had survived for some time with a skull fracture. As these injuries would be life threatening even today, this shows that Cro-Magnons believed in community support and took care of each others' injuries.^[2]

Surviving Cro-Magnon artifacts include huts, cave paintings, carvings and antler-tipped spears. The remains of tools suggest that they knew how to make woven clothing. They had huts, constructed of rocks, clay, bones, branches, and animal hide/fur. These early humans used manganese and iron oxides to paint pictures and it is believed that they created the first calendar around 32,000 B.C.E. Cave or rock paintings are paintings painted on cave or rock walls and ceilings, usually dating to prehistoric times. ... General Name, Symbol, Number manganese, Mn, 25 Chemical series transition metals Group, Period, Block 7, 4, d Appearance silvery metallic Atomic mass 54. ... An oxide is a chemical compound of oxygen with other chemical elements. ... A calendar is a system for naming periods of time, typically days. ...

The flint tools found in association with the remains at Cro-Magnon have associations with the Aurignacian culture that Lartet had identified a few years before he found the skeletons. Aurignacian is the name of a culture of the Upper Palaeolithic present in Europe and south west Asia. ...

Cro-Magnon people were completely modern in appearance. However, the name "Cro-Magnon", as typically used and mis-pronounced in English, sounds vaguely rough; in the popular mind this type of human tends to get confused with earlier, more primitive species such as Neanderthals, and is commonly portrayed in cartoons as a semi-erect, brutish and low-browed fellow. Binomial name Homo neanderthalensis The Neanderthal or Neandertal was a species of Homo (Homo neanderthalensis) that inhabited Europe and parts of western Asia from about 230,000 to 29,000 years ago, during the Middle Paleolithic period. ...

References

1. ^ Museum of Natural History

External link

• BBC: Oldest lunar calendar identified (15,000 BC)