rthals suddenly from contact with the humans, possibly. In conclusion we may never be sure of the fate of the Neanderthals, until archaeological finds provide the evidence. However, they did have a human awareness for many things. Neanderthals were compassionate enough to bury their dead, care for their injured and ill, develop complex tools, create some form of ritual behavior, and communicate in some ways. It is this aspect of humanity, that was improved and carried on by their successors, Cro-Magnon man, who later dominated the world.In the Upper Paleolithic period Neanderthal man disappears and is replaced by a variety of Homo sapiens such as Cro-Magnon-Man and Grimaldi man. This, the flowering of the Paleolithic period, we saw an astonishing number of human cultures, such as the Aurignacian, Gravettian, Perigordian, Solutrean, and Magdalenian, rise and develop in the Old World. The beginnings of communal hunting and extensive fishing are found here, as is the first conclusive evidence of belief systems centering on magic and the supernatural. Pit houses, the first man-made shelters, were built, sewn clothing was worn, and sculpture and painting originated. The Upper Paleolithic people had a greater variety of tools used for different seasons. Plus their art is an evident in the tools and weapons they made. Their stone tools are finely worked, and they made a typical figure eight-shaped blade. They also used bone, horn, and ivory and made necklaces and other personal ornaments. They carved the so-called Venus figures, ritual statuettes of bone, and made outline drawings on cave walls. The hunters of the Solutrean phase of the Upper Paleolithic entered Europe from the east and ousted many of their Aurignacian predecessors. The Solutrean wrought extremely fine spearheads, shaped like a laurel leaf. The wild horse was their chief quarry. The Solutrean as well as remnants of the Aurignacian were replaced by the Magdalenian, the final, a...
