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The dawn of our own species has enticed many questions of "how" and "why" from scientists. There is one theory that states that the Homo erectus population in Africa spread throughout the world and gradually evolved into the different races that now exist. This is called the Multiregional Hypothesis. An ardent supporter of this is Milford Wolpoff. There is another one which says that modern humans evolved in Africa, and the African population then migrated to other parts of the world, replacing pre-existing H. erectus populations. This is referred to as the Noah's Ark Hypothesis or the Out of Africa Hypothesis. A major exponent is Christopher Stringer. The latter is supported by mitochondrial evidence and the remains of anatomically modern humans discovered in Africa, dating back to around 100,000 years ago, while the former is arrived at by informed inferences. Personally, I believe the Out of Africa Hypothesis to be more correct. However, please feel free to choose whichever one you wish.
Anyway, Cro-Magnon (as he is known in Europe) arrived in Europe 40,000 years ago. They were very successful hunter-gatherers, following the game herds and reaping the edible plants available to them. They had a temporary home base, made of mammoth tusks and wooden sticks, similar to the teepees of the Native Americans. Their diet consisted of nuts, berries, roots, seeds, meat, and fish. Cro-Magnon acquired the skill of preserving food for eating in the winter. They invented fishing nets, fish hooks, the bow and arrows, rafts and canoes, and even poisons.
With more time on their hands, they made necklaces and bracelets, and often decorated their bodies with tattoos and paints. They learned to produce pottery, and fired them too to provide them with durability. Cro-Magnon carved petite figurines, made of bone or ivory, which usually represented female figures.
However, the most wonderful achievement of Cro-Magnon, is undoubtedly, the breakthrough of art. The fine paintings were drawn using natural pigments, such as ochre, charcoal, and black manganese. Indeed, they were so well drawn that, when the Lascaux paintings were first discovered, the overwhelming majority of scientists believed that the discoverer had employed a professional painter to do the work.
Maybe the most tantalizing question about the cave paintings is: "What is the purpose of the pictures?" In other words, "Why did Cro-Magnon draw them in the first place?" At first, people thought that Cro-Magnon was simply fond of drawing. Others believed that the scenes were representations of the environment at that time. However, the percentage each animal took up in a particular drawing did not equal the actual percentage in nature. Then came the hunting magic hypothesis, which reasoned that the over-representation of some species was to ensure there was an ample supply of them--which would be preyed on by Cro-Magnon. Nevertheless, the prey animals were frequently not mirrored in Cro-Magnon's diet. Then came a whole mélange of many other very diverse ideas. Up to this point, the Upper Paleolithic Art can be described by one word: unrealistic. Rather, they resemble shamanistic art. A recent hypothesis advanced by David Lewis-Williams, states that the paintings were a product of hallucination. In the first stage, the person perceives entoptic images. In the second stage, the person struggles to find meaning in these shapes. In stage three, the person senses them being drawn into a vortex, and start hallucinating symbolic images, derived from the individual's own personal world. All these details are seen in the Upper Paleolithic cave paintings, which makes this hypothesis the most reasonable.
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