Paleolithic Culture and Common

Human Experiences
By Bridgette Byrd O’Connor

In their quest to survive, Paleolithic humans joined together, leading

to the beginnings of what we today call “culture.”
1250L
Paleolithic Culture and Common Human Experiences
Bridgette Byrd O’Connor

Introduction
Most animals are social creatures. They come together in family groups or herds for protection, to raise their young,
and to find food. Humans are similar to other animals in that they form groups, such as families or clans, to help the
species survive. We still do this today, though often the groups we belong to do not serve to ensure our survival.
Instead, they are more social in nature. For example, you might be a member of your school’s art club or play a
sport. You and your family might be members of a local church, mosque, or synagogue. Your parents might support
causes by becoming members of an organization like Greenpeace. Maybe one of your parents owns a business and
has joined the local chamber of commerce or Rotary club to meet with other business owners in their community.
Humans are most certainly social animals and we tend to bond in groups over shared interests or experiences.
Early humans were very similar, but their main goal in joining together in groups was survival. Yet, by creating
these groups, they also began developing human cultures.

The Human Cultural Experience

Culture is a difficult word to define. Some define it as the way of life of people. However, if we use that broad
definition, then everything that people do can be counted as culture. Others use the term culture to describe the arts.
For our purposes, we’re going to use historian Bob Bain’s definition. For him, culture is the set of “ideas, beliefs,
and practices that are acquired, created, or learned as a member of a group to manage human challenges.” For early
humans living in the Paleolithic Era, or “Old Stone Age,” these challenges might include:

• How to maintain order and manage conflicts between group members and with strangers
• How to produce and distribute food and arrange for shelter and other important aspects of survival
• How to develop ways to communicate
• How to deal with nature
• How to organize labor to ensure survival
• How to build relationships between old and young, men and women, and parents and children in one’s group
• How to design and use tools

Paleolithic humans often organized themselves into family groups with about 25 or fewer people in them. Making
decisions about how to cope with challenges might have been relatively easy when the group was limited to 25
family members. However, Paleolithic humans often joined several family groups together, to form a larger group
with as many as 100 people. In these larger groups, it was more difficult to make decisions and to coordinate
members. The members of the group had to decide on the best ways to organize the group in order to ensure food,
safety and, ultimately, survival.

Shared Human Experiences

Different Paleolithic human communities created similar ways of dealing with their challenges because they faced
similar issues wherever they lived. All Paleolithic peoples foraged (hunted and gathered) because that was the
only way to get food before the creation of farming. But who did what kind of foraging is difficult to tell from the
remaining skeletal or archeological evidence. Stereotypical representations of Paleolithic people often portray men
going off to hunt while women and children wait for the men to bring meat. But much hunting was done by driving
herds of animals toward a cliff or throwing nets over them. These are types of hunting we know women participated
in during more recent eras. We know that Paleolithic infants were nursed by their mothers or other women who had
recently given birth. But among modern hunting and gathering cultures, childcare beyond infancy is a highly valued
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Paleolithic Culture and Common Human Experiences
Bridgette Byrd O’Connor

and culturally important task shared by everyone. Therefore, it may also have been for Paleolithic groups.

Spear head in wood hardened on fire, from Clacton (Essex, UK). It is one of the oldest wooden tools in the world
(about 400,000 years ago). By José-Manuel Benito Alvarez, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Hunting and gathering also required communication between

humans. Paleolithic human groups developed names for certain
animals or plants in order to tell others where to find them, how to
prepare them, or the best way to capture them. Communication was
also necessary for safety: to keep the fire burning at night to ward
off animals, or to learn how to interact with other groups in the local
area. Decisions had to be made about the best way to raise children
and how to teach them the necessary survival skills. Information
about what plants were poisonous, or which ones might help to cure
an illness, was passed down orally from one generation to the next.
Additionally, language played a crucial role in allowing humans to
share and pass on beliefs about the natural and spirit worlds.

Communities that lived close to one another usually spoke similar

languages. Sometimes, a particular set of skills or even an entire
culture was invented by members of one language network in
one region and then shared or adopted by others. The Venus of
Willendorf figure shown below is an example of this. Figures with
the same general appearance, all dating to the Paleolithic era, have
been found in multiple areas across Afro-Eurasia. This indicates
that beliefs and ideas were communicated and shared by many
communities.

While Paleolithic communities shared the same challenges and

all created cultures to deal with these issues, each culture was
somewhat different. These differences were based on a number
of factors, such as the geography or climate of the area where Venus of Willendorf (small religious figure, possible
the group lived, and the resources available. The farther apart two fertility symbol, Paleolithic, c. 30,000 BCE). By Mat-
thias Kabel, CC BY 2.5.
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Paleolithic Culture and Common Human Experiences
Bridgette Byrd O’Connor

human groups were, the greater the differences between them. For example, a foraging group that lived in the
rainforests of central Africa might develop tools and techniques based upon their local resources. Information
would be passed down about certain varieties of food and the best ways to construct tools and weapons to hunt
local game. Their language, means of survival, and stories about nature and creation would be very different from
those of a group that lived on the coasts of Southeast Asia, or in the mountains of Mesoamerica.

Today, there are still major differences between cultures. A wide variety of beliefs, practices, and experiences
can be found around the world. Sometimes these differences lead to arguments, violence, and distrust. Overall,
however, cultural differences add a wonderful diversity to the world. They are something to be celebrated.

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Paleolithic Culture and Common Human Experiences
Bridgette Byrd O’Connor

Bridgette Byrd O’Connor

Bridgette Byrd O’Connor holds a DPhil in history from the University of Oxford and has taught Big History, World History, and
AP U.S. Government and Politics for the past ten years at the high school level. In addition, she has been a freelance writer and
editor for the Big History Project and the Crash Course World History and U.S. History curriculums.

Image credits
Cover: Full Frame Shot Of Handprints On Rock At Cueva De Las Manos © H_ctor Aviles / EyeEm / Getty Images
Spear head in wood hardened on fire, from Clacton (Essex, UK). It is one of the oldest wooden tools in the world (about
400,000 years ago). By José-Manuel Benito Alvarez, CC BY-SA 4.0. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Clacton_Spear.
jpg#/media/File:Clacton_Spear.jpg
Venus of Willendorf (small religious figure, possible fertility symbol, Paleolithic, c. 30,000 BCE). By Matthias Kabel, CC BY 2.5.
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Venus_of_Willendorf_frontview.jpg#/media/File:Venus_of_Willendorf_frontview.jpg

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