during the Upper Paleolithic was intertwined with hunting rites. For instance, archaeological evidence from art and bear remains reveals that the bear cult The Paleolithic ( PAY-lee-oh-LITH-ik, PAL-ee-), or Old Stone Age, is a period in human prehistory distinguished by the original development of stone tools. It represents almost the entire period of human prehistoric technology, extending from the earliest known use of stone tools by hominins, c. 3.3 million years ago, to the end of the Pleistocene, c. 11,650 cal BP. The Paleolithic Age in Europe The Paleolithic ( PAY-lee-oh-LITH-ik, PAL-ee-), or Old Stone Age, is a period in human prehistory distinguished by the original development of stone tools. It represents almost the entire period of human prehistoric technology, extending from the earliest known use of stone tools by hominins, c. 3.3 million years ago, to the end of the Pleistocene, c. 11,650 cal BP. The Paleolithic Age in Europe preceded the Mesolithic Age, although the date of the transition varies geographically by several thousand years. During the Paleolithic Age, hominins grouped together in small societies such as bands and subsisted by gathering plants, fishing, and hunting or scavenging wild animals. The Paleolithic Age is characterized by the use of knapped stone tools, although at the time humans also used wood and bone tools. Other organic commodities were adapted for use as tools, including leather and vegetable fibers; however, due to rapid decomposition, these have not survived to any great degree. About 50,000 years ago, a marked increase in the diversity of artifacts occurred. In Africa, bone artifacts and the first art appear in the archaeological record. The first evidence of human fishing is also noted, from artifacts in places such as Blombos Cave in South Africa. Archaeologists classify artifacts of the last 50,000 years into many different categories, such as projectile points, engraving tools, sharp knife blades, and drilling and piercing tools. Humankind gradually evolved from early members of the genus Homo—such as Homo habilis, who used simple stone tools—into anatomically modern humans as well as behaviourally modern humans by the Upper Paleolithic. During the end of the Paleolithic Age, specifically the Middle or Upper Paleolithic Age, humans began to produce the earliest works of art and to engage in religious or spiritual behavior such as burial and ritual. Conditions during the Paleolithic Age went through a set of glacial and interglacial periods in which the climate periodically fluctuated between warm and cool temperatures. By c. 50,000 – c. 40,000 BP, the first humans set foot in Australia. By c. 45,000 BP, humans lived at 61°N latitude in Europe. By… Ac…

The article gives a review of the Upper Paleolithic objects made of solid organic materials, which were found in the Kapova Cave (Southern Urals, Russia) in different years of research. Formation of the cultural layers discovered in some parts of the cave dates back to the period between 13,900±190 BP and 16,710±800 BP. The essential point is almost complete absence of fossil remains of large and medium-sized classes of animals in the studied areas of Paleolithic man’s activity in the cave. The bone industry is represented by several categories, such as an arrow, a knife, an awl, needles, a trowel-like tool, ornamented bones, and personal ornaments. These objects were mostly made of bone, including the bones of large rodents and fish. There are also articles made of ivory and mollusk shells. It should be noted as well that there are no traces of wastes of producing bone inventory (in contrast to the stone industry). The only exception is untreated fossil shells from Volga used as material for making personal ornaments. The data comparison shows similarity in the tool kit from the collections of the sites with wall paintings in Western Europe and the Southern Urals. The human activity in such caves was much more diverse than it is commonly supposed to be. The archaeological study of different points of distribution of cultural layers in the caves, as well as the findings on the floor of chambers and galleries, leave unanswered the question of synchronicity of material accumula