Collections of bear bones at several widely dispersed sites suggest that Neanderthals may have worshiped cave bears, especially at Drachenloch above Vättis, in Switzerland, where a stone chest was discovered with a number of bear skulls stacked upon it.

Neanderthals, who also inhabited the entrance of the cave, are believed to have built it.

A massive stone slab covered the top of the structure.

At the cave entrance, seven bear skulls were arranged with their muzzles facing the cave entrance, while deeper in the cave, a further six bear skulls were lodged in niches along the wall.

Next to these remains were bundles of limb bones belonging to different bears.

Neanderthal Burial and Bear Remains at Le Regourdou, France

At Le Regourdou, a prehistoric site in the Dordogne region of southern France, archaeologists will uncover a massive stone slab covering the remains of at least twenty bears, arranged in a rectangular pit. Nearby, the remains of a Neanderthal will be found in a separate stone-lined pit, accompanied by a collection of objects that suggest a deliberate burial.

Possible Ritual Significance

• The Neanderthal burial included items such as a bear humerus, a scraper, a core, and some flakes, which have been interpreted as grave offerings.
• The close proximity of Neanderthal remains and bear remains has led to speculation about a symbolic or ritual connection between Neanderthals and bears, possibly indicating:
  • A ritualistic association with bears, perhaps related to beliefs about the afterlife.
  • A functional use of bear remains in burial practices.
  • A coincidence of site usage, where Neanderthals and bears occupied the same shelter at different times.

A Rare Glimpse into Neanderthal Culture

The Le Regourdou site provides compelling evidence of Neanderthal burial customs and potentially ritual behavior. Whether the bear remains were intentionally placed or coincidental, the site's structured layout and the presence of grave goods suggest that Neanderthals practiced deliberate burial and had symbolic or spiritual concepts.

This discovery reinforces the view that Neanderthals were not merely survival-driven hominins but had complex cultural and cognitive abilities, challenging earlier assumptions about their intellectual and social sophistication.

South America (49,293 – 28,578 BCE): Upper Pleistocene I — Refugia, Shelves, and the Two Southern Worlds

Geographic & Environmental Context

Late-Pleistocene South America was not one world but two adjoining worlds that barely overlapped:

• South America Major—from the Northern Andes (Quito–Cuzco–Titicaca–Altiplano) across the Amazon–Orinoco trunks, the Guianas Shield, and the Atlantic Brazil shelf, down through Paraguay–Uruguay–northern Argentina to northern Chile—was a continent of depressed cloud belts, fragmented rainforests, and broadened coastal plains.

• South America Minor—Patagonia, Tierra del Fuego, and the Magellan–Beagle archipelagos—was an ice-marginal realm of fjords, loess steppe, and shelf banks along two oceans, largely unpeopled at this time.

These natural subregions looked outward more than inward: South America Major was knit to the Pacific and Amazonian basins; South America Minor leaned into the Southern Ocean and subantarctic winds. Their contrasts anchor The Twelve Worlds claim that “region” is a loose envelope—the living units are the subregions.

Climate and Environmental Shifts

The interval spans the build-up to the Last Glacial Maximum:

• Andes & Altiplano: Temperatures were ~3–7 °C lower; glaciers expanded on high cordilleras; puna–páramo belts shifted downslope; springs and rock-shelter margins persisted.

• Amazon/Guianas: Rainforest contracted into riparian and montane refugia, separated by savanna corridors; evapotranspiration fell; seasonality sharpened.

• Atlantic Brazil shelf: Sea level ~100 m below modern exposed broad strand-plains; estuaries and deltas migrated seaward.

• Atacama & high basins: Hyper-arid, cold plateaus with oasis springs and small lagoons.

• Patagonia–Fuegia: Strong westerlies, permafrost or seasonal frost on the interior steppe; Cordilleran icefields calved into fjords; outer shelves widened on both coasts.

Heinrich/Dansgaard–Oeschger pulses toggled the continent between slightly wetter interstadials (refugia expand) and drier stadials (savannization and ice advance).

Lifeways and Settlement Patterns

Human presence before ~30 ka is debated. If present in this window, occupations were sparse and refugium-tethered; robust, widespread sites appear later, during deglaciation. The likely pattern:

• South America Major
  • Coasts (Pacific and Atlantic Brazil): Opportunistic foraging in upwelling coves and exposed strand-plains—shellfish, fish, seabirds—with short-stay dune or beach-ridge camps.
  • Riparian lowlands (Amazon–Orinoco): Small groups anchored to gallery forests and levees—fish, turtles, capybara, supplemented by deer/peccary and palm fruits.
  • Andean foothills & basins: Rock-shelter use near perennial springs; small-game, rodents, camelids at high elevations; wild tubers and chenopods along wet margins.
  • Atacama oases: Patchy use of springlines and saline lagoons where available.

• South America Minor
  • Likely unoccupied this early. Though kelp-forest corridors and rich fjord/shore ecologies existed (shellfish, pinnipeds, seabirds), sustained use is later (post-LGM, >14.5 ka north of the zone at Monte Verde).

Across the continent, potential foragers would have practiced short-radius mobility between water-secure nodes: coves ⇄ levees ⇄ springs ⇄ rock shelters.

Technology and Material Culture

Toolkits, where present, fit late Middle/early Upper Paleolithic expectations:

• Stone: expedient flake–blade industries in quartz/quartzite and local cherts; retouched scrapers, burins, backed pieces late.

• Organic: bone awls/points, digging sticks, nets/cordage (poorly preserved).

• Pigment & ornament: ochre for body/adhesive use; simple beads (shell/seed) in later parts of the span are plausible.

These reflect light, portable technologies optimized for riparian and springline mobility, not heavy residential investment.

Movement and Interaction Corridors

Even with low population density, the continent’s natural corridors were already set:

• Pacific littoral “kelp highway”: cove-to-cove reconnaissance along upwelling margins (Peru–N. Chile).

• Andean valley strings: spring/rock-shelter chains linking puna to foothills.

• Amazon–Orinoco trunks: Solimões–Madeira–Xingu–Tapajós–Negro and Orinoco–Casiquiare provided levee driftways and portage nodes.

• Atlantic strandlines: broad Brazilian shelf plains connected estuaries and lagoon belts.

In South America Minor, the Magellan–Beagle coasts and wide shelf banks were ecological scaffolding for the later maritime florescence.

Cultural and Symbolic Expressions

If present in this span, symbolic behaviors would mirror the global Upper Paleolithic repertoire at low intensity: ochre use, hearth structuring, simple ornament caches in shelters. The richest, unequivocal material appears after the interval, as deglaciation improves site survivorship and territory size.

Environmental Adaptation and Resilience

The operating logic of the age was refugium tethering:

• Water-secure nodes—gallery forests, springlines, upwelling coves—anchored seasonal rounds.

• Broad portfolios—aquatic + terrestrial—buffered aridity and cold snaps.

• Topographic stacking (coast ↔ foothill ↔ puna; levee ↔ terra firme) created short-range substitutes when one niche failed.

In South America Minor, kelp forests, guanaco steppe, and shelf banks formed the “later-use” safety net awaiting Holocene colonists.

Transition Toward Deglaciation

By 28,578 BCE, Andean ice began its slow retreat, rainforest corridors poised to reconnect, and coastal/riverine pathways to improve:

• South America Major was primed for the unequivocal Late Pleistocene/Early Holocene occupations—shell-midden coasts, levee hamlets, puna caravan trails—that will define its next chapter.

• South America Minor held its ecological stage set—fjords, archipelagos, and kelp lanes—for the post-LGM maritime foragers who would turn the far south into a canoe world.

In short, the continent already displayed the dual structure central to The Twelve Worlds: a peopled northern–central theater of refugia and corridors beside an unpeopled southern theater of ready-made ecologies—two neighboring worlds whose destinies would diverge as the ice let go.

South America Major (49,293–28,578 BCE)

South America Major includes Colombia (except Darién), Venezuela, the Guianas, Brazil, Ecuador (excluding the Capelands), Peru, Bolivia, Paraguay, Uruguay, northern Argentina, northern Chile.

Anchors: Northern Andes (Quito–Cuzco–Titicaca–Altiplano), Amazon Basin (Solimões–Madeira–Xingu–Tapajós–Marajó), Orinoco–Llanos, Atlantic Brazil coastal shelf, Guianas shield, Atacama oases.

Geographic & Environmental Context

• Andes: extensive glaciation on high cordilleras; puna and páramo belts depressed downslope.

• Amazon/Guianas: rainforest contracted into riparian and montane refugia, with intervening savanna corridors.

• Atlantic shelf: sea level ~100 m lower exposed broad coastal plains; estuaries migrated seaward.

• Atacama/Altiplano: cold, hyper-arid plateaus; oasis springs persistent.

Climate & Environmental Shifts

• Last Glacial Maximum (LGM): cooler (~3–7 °C lower), drier interiors; stronger seasonality; widespread glaciation in the Central Andes; reduced Amazonian evapotranspiration.

• Heinrich/D-O oscillations toggled between slightly wetter interstadials (refugia expand) and drier stadials (savannization).

Subsistence & Settlement

• Human presence before ~30 ka is debated (claims in eastern Brazil and Andean foothills exist but are contested). If present, foragers would have favored riparian refugia, coastal upwelling zones, and montane spring belts.

• Likeliest robust occupations in the later part of this window: coastal foraging (shellfish, fish, seabirds), riparian hunting (deer, peccary, capybara), and puna/basin small-game procurement.

Technology & Material Culture

• Late Middle/early Upper Paleolithic flake–blade industries; expedient quartz/quartzite; bone awls/points; ochre pigments.

• Portable organic technologies (nets, digging sticks) likely but poorly preserved.

Movement & Interaction Corridors

• Pacific littoral (upwelling coves, dune-sheltered landings), Andean valley strings (springs/rock shelters), Amazonian trunk rivers (Solimões–Madeira–Xingu–Tapajós), Orinoco–Casiquiare links to the Negro–Amazon.

Cultural & Symbolic Expressions

• If present, ochre and bead use, hearth structuring, and rock-shelter ritual spaces would mirror broader Upper Paleolithic patterns.

Environmental Adaptation & Resilience

• Refugium strategy: tethering to evergreen gallery forests, springlines, and productive coasts; broad-spectrum aquatic + terrestrial foraging buffered aridity.

Transition

• As deglaciation accelerates, rainforest corridors re-connect, Andean ice withdraws, and coastal/riverine pathways improve — enabling the unequivocal Late Pleistocene–Early Holocene occupations that follow.

Bone flute fragments in Geissenklösterle Cave date back to around forty-two thousand years.

The Venus of Hohle Fels (also known as the Venus of Schelklingen), an Upper Paleolithic “Venus” figurine found near Schelklingen, Germany, is dated to between forty thousand and thirty-five thousand years ago.

Belonging to the early Aurignacian, at the very beginning of the Upper Paleolithic, which is associated with the assumed earliest presence of Homo sapiens in Europe (Early European Modern Humans), it is the oldest undisputed example of Upper Paleolithic art and figurative prehistoric art in general.

The figurine is a representation of a woman, putting emphasis on the vulva and the breasts.

Consequently, it is presumed to be an amulet related to fertility.

It is made of a woolly mammoth tusk and had broken into fragments, of which six have been recovered, with the left arm and shoulder still missing.

In place of the head, the figurine has a perforation so that it could have been worn as a pendant.

Archaeologist John J. Shea suggests it would have taken "tens if not hundreds of hours" to carve the figurine.

A four-hole flute, excavated in September 2008 from a German cave, is the oldest handmade musical instrument ever found, according to archaeologist Nicholas Conrad, who assembled the flute from twelve pieces of griffon vulture bone scattered in the Hohle Fels, a cave in the Swabian Alps of Germany.

At a news conference on June 24, 2012, Conrad said the 8.6-inch flute was crafted thirty-five thousand years ago.

The flutes found in the Hohle Fels are among the earliest musical instruments ever found.

The Swabian Alb region has a number of caves that have yielded mammoth ivory artifacts of the Upper Paleolithic period, totaling about twenty-five items to date.

These include the lion-headed figure of Hohlenstein-Stadel and an ivory flute found at Geißenklösterle, dated to thirty-six thousand years ago.

This concentration of evidence of full behavioral modernity in the period of forty to thirty thousand years ago, including figurative art and instrumental music, is unique worldwide.

Nicholas J. Conard speculates that the bearers of the Aurignacian culture in the Swabian Alb may be credited with the invention, not just of figurative art and music, but possibly, early religion as well.

In a distance of seventy centimeters to the Venus figurine, Conard's team found a flute made from a vulture bone.

Additional artifacts excavated from the same cave layer included flint-knapping debris, worked bone, and carved ivory as well as remains of tarpans, reindeer, cave bears, woolly mammoths, and Alpine Ibexes.

A lion headed figure, first called the lion man (German: Löwenmensch, literally "lion person"), then the lion lady (German: Löwenfrau), is an ivory sculpture that is the oldest known zoomorphic (animal-shaped) sculpture in the world and one of the oldest known sculptures in general.

The sculpture has also been interpreted as anthropomorphic, giving human characteristics to an animal, although it may have represented a deity.

The figurine was determined to be about thirty-two thousand years old by carbon dating material from the same layer in which the sculpture was found.

It is associated with the archaeological Aurignacian culture.

Its pieces were found in 1939 in a cave named Stadel-Höhle im Hohlenstein (Stadel cave in Hohlenstein Mountain) in the Lonetal (Lone valley) Swabian Alb, Germany.

Due to the beginning of the Second World War, it was forgotten and only rediscovered thirty years later.

The first reconstruction revealed a humanoid figurine without head.

During 1997 through 1998, additional pieces of the sculpture were discovered and the head was reassembled and restored.

The sculpture, 29.6 centimeters (11.7 inches) in height, 5.6 centimeters wide, and 5.9 centimeters thick, was carved out of mammoth ivory using a flint stone knife.

There are seven parallel, transverse, carved gouges on the left arm.

After this artifact was identified, a similar, but smaller, lion-headed sculpture was found, along with other animal figures and several flutes, in another cave in the same region of Germany.

This leads to the possibility that the lion-figure played an important role in the mythology of humans of the early Upper Paleolithic.

The sculpture can be seen in the Ulmer Museum in Ulm, Germany.

Northeastern Eurasia (28,577 – 7,822 BCE): Late Pleistocene–Early Holocene — Beringian Migrations, Salmon Economies, and the First Pottery Traditions

Geographic & Environmental Context

At the end of the Ice Age, Northeastern Eurasia—stretching from the Urals to the Pacific Rim—was a vast, deglaciating world of river corridors, boreal forests, and emerging coasts. It included three key cultural–ecological spheres:

• Northwest Asia — the Ob–Irtysh–Yenisei heartlands, Altai piedmont lakes, and Minusinsk Basin, bounded by the Ural Mountains to the west. Here, deglaciation produced pluvial lake systems, and forest belts climbed into the Altai foothills.

• East Europe — from the Dnieper–Don steppe–forest margins to the Upper Volga–Oka and Pripet wetlands, a corridor of interlinked rivers and pluvial basins supporting rich postglacial foraging.

• Northeast Asia — the Amur and Ussuri basins, the Sea of Okhotsk littoral, Sakhalin and the Kuril–Hokkaidō arc, Kamchatka, and the Chukchi Peninsula—a maritime–riverine realm where early Holocene foragers developed salmon economies and pottery traditions under the warming Pacific westerlies.

Together these subregions formed a continuous arc of adaptation spanning tundra, taiga, and coast—an evolutionary laboratory for the technologies and traditions that would later circle the entire North Pacific.

Climate & Environmental Shifts

• Bølling–Allerød (14,700–12,900 BCE): Rapid warming and higher precipitation expanded boreal forests and intensified riverine productivity across Eurasia’s north. Salmon runs strengthened in the Amur and Okhotsk drainages; pluvial lakes filled the Altai basins.

• Younger Dryas (12,900–11,700 BCE): A temporary cold–dry reversal restored steppe and tundra, constraining forests to valleys; lake levels fell; inland mobility increased.

• Early Holocene (after 11,700 BCE): Stable warmth and sustained moisture drove forest advance (pine, larch, birch) and high lake stands; sea levels rose along the Okhotsk and Bering coasts, flooding older plains and establishing modern shorelines.

These oscillations forged adaptable forager systems able to pivot between large-game mobility and aquatic specialization.

Subsistence & Settlement

Across the northern tier, lifeways diversified and semi-sedentism began to take root:

• Northwest Asia:
  Elk, reindeer, beaver, and fish formed broad-spectrum diets. Lakeside camps in the Altai and Minusinsk basins became seasonal home bases, while Ob–Yenisei channels hosted canoe or raft mobility. Forest nuts and berries expanded plant food options in warm phases.

• East Europe:
  Along the Dnieper, Don, and Upper Volga, foragers targeted elk, red deer, horse, and beaver, exploiting riverine fish and waterfowl. Repeated occupations at lake outlets and confluences reflect increasing site permanence and food storage.

• Northeast Asia:
  The Amur–Okhotsk region pioneered salmon-based economies, anchoring early Holocene villages at river confluences and estuarine terraces. Coasts provided seal, shellfish, seabirds, and seaweeds, while inland foragers pursued elk and musk deer. Winter sea-ice hunting alternated with summer canoe travel along the Sakhalin–Kuril–Hokkaidō chain.

This mosaic of economies—lake fishers, river hunters, and sealers—reflected the continent’s growing ecological diversity.

Technology & Material Culture

Innovation was continuous and regionally distinctive:

• Microblade technology persisted across all subregions, with refined hafting systems for composite projectiles.

• Bone and antler harpoons, toggling points, and gorges evolved for intensive fishing and sealing.

• Ground-stone adzes and chisels appeared, enabling woodworking and boat construction.

• Early pottery, first along the Lower Amur and Ussuri basins (c. 15,000–13,000 BCE), spread across the Russian Far East—among the world’s earliest ceramic traditions—used for boiling fish, storing oils, and processing nuts.

• Slate knives and grindstones at Okhotsk and Amur sites show specialized craft economies.

• Personal ornaments in amber, shell, and ivory continued, while sewing kits with eyed needles and sinew thread supported tailored, waterproof clothing.

These toolkits established the technological template for later northern and Pacific Rim foragers.

Movement & Interaction Corridors

• Ob–Irtysh–Yenisei river systems funneled movement north–south, linking the steppe with the taiga and tundra.

• Altai and Ural passes maintained east–west contact with Central Asia and Europe.

• Dnieper–Volga–Oka networks merged the European forest-steppe into the greater Eurasian exchange field.

• In the Far East, the Amur–Sungari–Zeya–Okhotsk corridor unified interior and coast, while the Sakhalin–Kuril–Hokkaidō arc allowed short-hop voyaging.

• Across the Bering Strait, fluctuating sea levels intermittently connected Chukotka and Alaska, maintaining Beringian gene flow and cultural exchange.
  These conduits supported both biological and technological diffusion at a continental scale.

Cultural & Symbolic Expressions

• Ochre burials with ornamented clothing and ivory or antler goods reflect deep symbolic continuity from the Upper Paleolithic.

• Petroglyphs and engravings in the Altai and Minusinsk basins, and later in Kamchatka, depict large animals, waterbirds, and solar motifs.

• Amur basin figurines and carved marine-mammal and fish effigies attest to ritualized relationships with food species.

• In the Far East, early evidence of first-salmon and bear-rite traditions foreshadows later Ainu and Okhotsk ceremonialism.

Across all subregions, water and game remained the core of spirituality, connecting people to cyclical abundance and ancestral landscapes.

Environmental Adaptation & Resilience

Foragers across Northeastern Eurasia met environmental volatility with creative versatility:

• Zonal mobility (taiga–tundra–coast) and multi-season storage (dried meat, smoked fish, rendered oils) stabilized food supply.

• Boat and ice technologies extended reach across seasons.

• Broad-spectrum diets cushioned against climatic downturns.

• Flexible dwellings and social alliances allowed fission and fusion as resources shifted.

• Memory landscapes—engraved rocks, ritual mounds, named rivers—preserved continuity through spatial change.

Genetic and Linguistic Legacy

The Beringian population standstill during the Late Glacial created a deep ancestral pool for both Paleo-Inuit and First American lineages, while reciprocal migration reconnected Chukchi, Kamchatkan, and Amur populations after sea-level rise.
These long-lived networks seeded circum-Pacific cultural parallels in salmon ritual, dog-traction, maritime hunting, and composite toolkits, forming the northern backbone of later trans-Pacific cultural continuity.

Long-Term Significance

By 7,822 BCE, Northeastern Eurasia had become one of the world’s great centers of forager innovation:

• Northwest Asia’s pluvial lakes fostered early semi-sedentism and the first rock art of Siberia.

• East Europe’s river–lake foragers stabilized broad-spectrum economies bridging steppe and forest.

• Northeast Asia’s salmon-rich coasts and early pottery traditions created the technological and ritual matrix that would radiate across the North Pacific.

This continental synthesis of aquatic resource mastery, ceramic innovation, and long-range mobility defined the emerging Holocene north—a zone where people and landscape adapted together through water, ice, and memory.