Cro-Magnons or European early modern humans (EEMH) were the first surviving expansion of early modern humans (Homo sapiens) found in Europe and Siberia, continuously occupying the continent possibly from as early as 56,800 years ago. They interacted and interbred with the indigenous Neanderthals (H. neanderthalensis) of Europe and Western Asia, who went extinct 35,000 to 40,000 years ago. At the time of this admixture, those Neanderthals already possessed about 6% Homo sapiens ancestry, from admixture with an earlier, extinct sapiens population in Eurasia earlier than 240kya. Ancient DNA research indicates that the earliest modern humans in Europe during the Initial Upper Paleolithic (~45–40 kya) were part of the broader early expansion of Homo sapiens from Eurasia. Genetic data show that some early European individuals, such as those associated with the Lincombian-Ranisian-Jerzmanowician technocomplex, represent lineages that left little or no detectable ancestry in later European populations. However, other lineages present in Europe by ~38–37 kya are genetically closer to later Upper Paleolithic Europeans. These surviving Upper Paleolithic populations contributed ancestry to Mesolithic European hunter-gatherers, including Western Hunter-Gatherers (WHG), who in turn form one of the principal ancestral components of present-day Europeans. Rather than reflecting a separate later migration into Europe prior to the Neolithic, current evidence supports a model of early population structure followed by lineage extinction and survival within the initial Homo sapiens expansion from the continent. Cro-Magnons produced Upper Palaeolithic cultures, the first major one being the Aurignacian, which was succeeded by the Gravettian by 30,000 years ago. The Gravettian split into the Epi-Gravettian in the east and Solutrean in the west, due to major climatic degradation during the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM), peaking 21,000 years ago. As Europe warmed, the Solutrean evolved into the Magdalenian by 20,000 years ago, and these peoples recolonised Europe. The Magdalenian and Epi-Gravettian gave way to Mesolithic cultures as big game animals were dying out, and the Last Glacial Period drew to a close. Upper Paleolithic West Eurasian populations contributed ancestry to later European hunter-gatherers and share deep genetic affinities with ancient Near Eastern populations, some of whose descendants later contributed to populations in West Asia and North Africa.
Cro-Magnons were generally more robust than most living populations, having larger brains, broader faces, more prominent brow ridges, and bigger teeth. The earliest Cro-Magnon specimens also exhibit some features that are reminiscent of those found in Neanderthals. The first Cro-Magnons would have generally had darker skin tones than most modern Europeans and some West Asians and North Africans; natural selection for lighter skin would not have begun until 30,000 years ago. Before the LGM, Cro-Magnons had overall low population density, tall stature similar to post-industrial humans, and expansive trade routes stretching as long as , and hunted big game animals. Cro-Magnons had much higher populations than the Neanderthals, possibly due to higher fertility rates; life expectancy for both species was typically under 40 years. Following the LGM, population density increased as communities travelled less frequently (though for longer distances), and the need to feed so many more people in tandem with the increasing scarcity of big game caused them to rely more heavily on small or aquatic game (broad spectrum revolution), and to more frequently participate in game drive systems and slaughter whole herds at a time. The Cro-Magnon arsenal included spears, spear-throwers, harpoons, and possibly throwing sticks and Palaeolithic dogs. Cro-Magnons likely commonly constructed temporary huts while moving around, and Gravettian peoples notably made large huts on the East European Plain out of mammoth bones.
Cro-Magnons are well renowned for creating a diverse array of artistic works, including cave paintings, Venus figurines, perforated batons, animal figurines, and geometric patterns. They also wore decorative beads and plant-fibre clothes dyed with various plant-based dyes. For music, they produced bone flutes and whistles, and possibly also bullroarers, rasps, drums, idiophones, and other instruments. They buried their dead, though possibly only people who had achieved or were born into high status.
The name "Cro-Magnon" comes from the five skeletons discovered by French palaeontologist Louis Lartet in 1868 at the Cro-Magnon rock shelter, Les Eyzies, Dordogne, France, after the area was accidentally discovered while a road was constructed for a railway station. Remains of Palaeolithic cultures have been known for centuries, but they were initially interpreted in a creationist model, wherein they represented antediluvian peoples which were wiped out by the Great Flood. Following the conception and popularisation of evolution in the mid-to-late 19th century, Cro-Magnons became the subject of much scientific racism, with early race theories allying with Nordicism and Pan-Germanism. Such historical race concepts were overturned by the mid-20th century.
Chronology
Initial Upper Palaeolithic
When early modern humans (Homo sapiens) migrated onto the European continent, they interacted with the indigenous Neandertals (Homo neanderthalensis) that had already inhabited Europe for hundreds of thousands of years. In 2019, Greek palaeoanthropologist Katerina Harvati and colleagues argued that two 210,000-year-old skulls from Apidima Cave, Greece, represent modern humans rather than Neanderthals, indicating these populations have an unexpectedly deep history—but this was disputed in 2020 by French paleoanthropologist Marie-Antoinette de Lumley and colleagues. In marine isotope stage 3, beginning about 60,000 years ago, there were rapid fluctuations between forestland and open steppeland.
The earliest indication of Upper Palaeolithic modern human migration into Europe is a series of modern human teeth with Neronian industry stone tools found at Mandrin Cave, Malataverne in France, dated in 2022 to between 56,800 and 51,700 years ago. The Neronian is one of the many industries associated with modern humans classed as transitional between the Middle and Upper Palaeolithic. Beyond this there is the Balkan Bohunician industry beginning 48,000 years ago, likely deriving from the Levantine Emiran industry; the remains found in the cave in Ranis, Germany, up to 47,500 years old, associated with the Lincombian-Ranisian-Jerzmanowician (LRJ) technocomplex, and the next-oldest fossils date to roughly 44,000 years ago in Bulgaria, Italy, and Britain (Kents Cavern 4). It is unclear, while migrating westward, if they followed the Danubian corridor or went along the Mediterranean coast.
Analysis of the LRJ associated individuals from individuals from Ranis, as well as the contemporaneous Zlatý kůň woman, suggests that they represent a basal lineage of the Out of Africa population that diverged to prior to the split between West and East Eurasians, and not ancestral to modern non-Africans. Other Initial Upper Paleolithic specimens such as those found at the Bacho Kiro cave, Bulgaria and the Peștera cu Oase, Romania were either early offshoots of the Ancient East Eurasian lineage, or a basal branch very close to the West Eurasian-East Eurasian split.
Those ancestors expanded from a population hub on the Persian plateau 48,000 to 46,000 years ago, correlating with the dispersal of IUP-affiliated material culture. In Europe, the IUP-affiliated groups got largely absorbed by later expanding "West Eurasian" populations (>38,000 years ago) with UP-affiliated material culture, resulting in the formation of the Aurignacian material culture.
Beginning about 38,000 years ago, the Proto-Aurignacian culture, the first widely recognised European Upper Palaeolithic culture, spread out across Europe, probably descending from the Near Eastern Ahmarian.
Aurignacian
The Aurignacian industry took hold perhaps in south-central Europe sometime after 40,000 years ago, with the onset of Heinrich event 4 (a period of extreme seasonality) and the Campanian Ignimbrite eruption near Naples (which covered eastern Europe in ash).Kathryn E. Fitzsimmons et al., The Campanian Ignimbrite Eruption: New Data on Volcanic Ash Dispersal and Its Potential Impact on Human Evolution, 2013 https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0065839Giaccio, B. et al., High-precision 14C and 40Ar/39Ar dating of the Campanian Ignimbrite (Y-5) reconciles the time-scales of climatic-cultural processes at 40 ka. Sci Rep 7, 45940 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1038/srep45940 The Aurignacian culture rapidly replaced others across the continent. This wave of modern humans replaced Neanderthals and their Mousterian culture, as well as IUP-affiliated cultures such as the Châtelperronian culture. In the Danube Valley, Aurignacian sites are few and far between, compared to later traditions, until 35,000 years ago. From here, the "Typical Aurignacian" becomes quite prevalent, and extends until 29,000 years ago.
Gravettian
Gradually replaced by the Gravettian culture, the close of the Aurignacian is poorly defined. "Aurignacoid" or "Epi-Aurignacian" tools are identified as late as 15,000 to 18,000 years ago. It is also unclear where the Gravettian originated from as it diverges strongly from the Aurignacian (and therefore may not have descended from it). Nonetheless, genetic evidence indicates that not all Aurignacian bloodlines went extinct.
Hypotheses for Gravettian genesis include evolution: in central Europe from the Szeletian (which developed from the Bohunician) which existed 37,000 to 41,000 ago; or from the Ahmarian or similar cultures from the Near East or the Caucasus that existed before 40,000 years ago. It is further debated where the earliest occurrence is identified, with the former hypothesis arguing for Germany about 37,500 years ago, and the latter III rockshelter in Crimea about 36,000 to 38,000 years ago. In either case, the appearance of the Gravettian coincides with a significant temperature drop. Also around 37,000 years ago, the founder population of all later early modern humans existed, and Europe would remain in genetic isolation from the rest of the world for the next 23,000 years.
Last Glacial Maximum
Around 29,000 years ago, marine isotope stage 2 began and cooling intensified. This peaked about 21,000 years ago during the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) when Scandinavia, the Baltic region, and the British Isles were covered in glaciers, and winter sea ice reached the French seaboard. The Alps were also covered in glaciers, and most of Europe was polar desert, with mammoth steppe and forest steppe dominating the Mediterranean coast.
Consequently, large swathes of Europe were uninhabitable, and two distinct cultures emerged with unique technologies to adapt to the new environment: the Solutrean in southwestern Europe, which invented brand new technologies, and the Epigravettian from Italy to the East European Plain, which adapted the previous Gravettian technologies. Solutrean peoples inhabited the permafrost zone, whereas Epigravettian peoples appear to have stuck to less harsh, seasonally frozen areas. Relatively few sites are known through this time.