In this video, Stefan Milo details aspects of the lives of the humans who were living throughout Europe during the last Ice Age.

Following are points from the video:

— During the last Ice Age (about 35,000 years ago), all of northern Europe was covered in glaciers, and huge beasts roamed the land such as Woolly Mammoths, Shaggy Rhinos, and cave-dwelling Lions.  It was very cold.

— The people living in Europe at that time are known as the “Aurignacian Culture” (from 43 to 33 thousand years ago.)  The Neanderthals have been replaced or assimilated by that time.

— The Aurignacian culture was almost certainly not the first homo sapiens to arrive on the continent.  A 210 thousand year old human skull was found in a cave in Greece, which is the earliest known human outside of Africa.  Another example of human habitation was found in Bacho Kiro Cave in Bulgaria, which is 47 thousand years old.

— At about 43 thousand years ago, “proto-Arurignacian” groups started to appear.  Not much is known about the initial peoples, and researchers think there were initially only 1,500 people in western and central Europe.

— The initial people often used 5 CM stone tools that were part of composite weapons (meaning being attached to spears).

— Milo speaks with Dr. James Dilley, who is an expert on prehistoric tools.  Dilley is the maker of a YouTube series called NapTime, and he is the founder of ancientcraft.co.uk, where you can purchase accurate replicas of stone age tools.  Dilley explains that he has studied the fact that Aurignacians liked to use tools made from antlers instead of from stone as the Neanderthals had previously done.  Dilley explains that at the time there were very few trees in Europe due to the cold climate, and thus there was a shortage of wood to use as spears, so the people utilized antler-head spear points that would easily detach inside the animal without breaking the spear in order for the spear to quickly be re-used again.  Dilley also explains that they have found that the antler spear-heads being lodged in the animals keeps the wound opened when the spear is pulled out, thus causing massive blood loss for the animal.

— Ivory was commonly used for decorative items such as beads and figurines, and bone was used as domestic tools such as needles.

— Perforated “batons” were made from antlers with one or two holes drilled into them, often with a design etched into it as well.  It is hypothesized that the batons were somehow used in conjunction with rope, although nobody is sure.  Whatever they were used for, they were apparently used for a span of at least 15 thousand years!

— In western Europe, the people at the time mostly ate reindeer meat instead of mammoths.

— In eastern Europe and Russia, the Aurignacian culture is more difficult to pin down, especially in topographies that contain less caves.  In those locations the people preferred to eat horses rather than reindeer, and sites show entire bands of horses being butchered, such as in Kostenki, Russia between 32 and 34 thousand years ago.

— Not much is known about habitations along the coast at that time because sea levels have risen substantially since then.  People likely ate a lot of mollusks in the southern coastal parts of the continent such as in Spain, and there isn’t really evidence of whales or fish being hunted, however a Sperm whale tooth has been found in a cave from Aurignacian times.

— Mammoths frequently show up in art from that time period, even though they apparently weren’t eaten in large numbers.  Cave paintings at Chauvet, France are very ornate and detailed, where 420 individual motifs have been drawn on the walls of lions, deer, mammoths, rhinos, and hyenas.  The drawing date to about 39 to 33 thousand years ago.  The drawings depict large dramatic hunting scenes of predator animals chasing prey.

— In the Swabian Jura-ish mountain range of southern Germany, cave art doesn’t exist but intricately carved ivory figurines have been discovered, such as lions, horses, water birds, the first “Venus” figurine, and a Lion-man.  So far, eight flutes have been recovered from that region.

— It is believed that three distinct groups of Aurignacian people concurrently lived in Europe, in the northern, central, and southern regions.  The groups utilized different styles of jewelry made from different animal parts such as teeth.

— There isn’t a lot of evidence of conflict happening between the peoples at that time, although the tiny population sizes makes if difficult to know how they interacted in that manner.  However, a skull found in Cioclovina, Romania, was shown to have received two blows to the top of it with a club.

— Aurignacian people apparently did not practice burying their dead, which didn’t become common until 33 thousand years ago.  Bodies may have often been placed in the steppe to eaten by carnivores such as lions.

— Milo mentions a video on his channel where he interviews Dr. Cosimo Post talking about the genetic history of Ice Age Europe.