The Dawn of Humans in Europe

How was Europe first colonised by Humanity? In this episode, I am going to explore the story of the human populations which made Europe their home, what happened to them and how they relate to modern humans today. I hope you enjoy this story, and welcome to the first episode in this series! _____ Buy me a coffee?: https://ko-fi.com/alexilesuk My Patreon:   / alexilesuk   Iles Tours Website: www.ilestours.co.uk _____ REFERENCES: Callaway, E. (2016) ‘“Cave of forgotten dreams” may hold earliest painting of volcanic eruption’, Nature, 15 January. doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/nature.2016.1... Chauvet, J-M. et al. (1996) Dawn of art: the Chauvet Cave: the oldest known paintings in the world. New York: H.N. Abrams. Clottes, J. (1996) ‘Thematic changes in Upper Palaeolithic art: a view from the Grotte Chauvet’, Antiquity, 70(268), pp. 276–288. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0003598X0008... Conard, N. Palaeolithic ivory sculptures from southwestern Germany and the origins of figurative art. Nature 426, 830–832 (2003). https://doi.org/10.1038/nature02186 Conard, N. A female figurine from the basal Aurignacian of Hohle Fels Cave in southwestern Dalton, R. Lion man takes pride of place as oldest statue. Nature 425, 7 (2003). https://doi.org/10.1038/425007a Delannoy, J.-J. et al. (2013) ‘The social construction of caves and rockshelters: Chauvet Cave (France) and Nawarla Gabarnmang (Australia)’, Antiquity, 87(335), pp. 12–29. doi:10.1017/S0003598X00048596. Dixson, Alan F., Dixson, Barnaby J., Venus Figurines of the European Paleolithic: Symbols of Fertility or Attractiveness?, Journal of Anthropology, 2011, 569120, 11 pages, 2011. https://doi.org/10.1155/2011/569120 Fritz, C., Tosello, G. The Hidden Meaning of Forms: Methods of Recording Paleolithic Parietal Art. J Archaeol Method Theory 14 , 48–80 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10816-007-90... Kind, C-J. et al. (2021) ‘The smile of the Lion Man: recent excavations in Stadel Cave (Baden-Württemberg, south-western Germany) and the restoration of the famous Upper Palaeolithic figurine’, KIP Articles, art. no. 9085. https://doi.org/10.7485/QU61_07 Maier, A. and Zimmermann, A. (2017) ‘Populations headed south? The Gravettian from a palaeodemographic point of view’, Antiquity, 91(357), pp. 573–588. doi:10.15184/aqy.2017.37. Past Horizons (2015) Fragments of a 40,000 year old female figurine found in Hohle Fels. Available at: https://web.archive.org/web/201612300... (Accessed: 4 February 2026). Marta Sánchez de la Torre et al. ,Far-reaching hunter-gatherer networks during the Last Glacial Maximum in Western Europe.Sci. Adv.12,eadz7697(2026).DOI:10.1126/sciadv.adz7697 Shao, Y., Wegener, C., Klein, K. et al. Reconstruction of human dispersal during Aurignacian on pan-European scale. Nat Commun 15, 7406 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-024-51... Théry-Parisot, I. et al. (2018) ‘Illuminating the cave, drawing in black: wood charcoal analysis at Chauvet-Pont d’Arc’, Antiquity, 92(362), pp. 320–333. doi:10.15184/aqy.2017.222. Villalba-Mouco, V., van de Loosdrecht, M.S., Rohrlach, A.B. et al. A 23,000-year-old southern Iberian individual links human groups that lived in Western Europe before and after the Last Glacial Maximum. Nat Ecol Evol 7, 597–609 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-023-01... _____ Introduction and Outro Video made by Lauren Kirkwood:   / lauren-kirkwood-9b8750191   Many thanks to Geza Frank and Event Horizon for permission to use their music - Pulsar (    • EVENT HORIZON - Pulsar [Official]  )