Man, River and Space: Reflecting the Eco-Cultural Role of Large River Systems in the European Upper Palaeolithic

Abstract

Large river axes constitute important spatial thresholds in the European Upper Palaeolithic. In these glacial landscapes, rivers typically represent elements of high focality. Rivers are particularly relevant for human spatial organisation because they create unique affordances and heuristics, thereby enabling the convergence of »natural spaces« and »cultural spaces«. In the early (Aurignacian) and the late Upper Palaeolithic (Magdalenian), this spatial matrix is reflected in the use of river systems as axes of mobility and communication. The accessibility and prominence of these river systems coincides with the socio-historical background of colonisation and a limited landscape knowledge. By contrast, it seems possible to distinguish a phase in the middle Upper Palaeolithic (Gravettian), during which rivers regularly assume frontier or boundary functions and thereby reproduce the heterogeneity of the social space. In this context, river focality meets a cultural-geographic consolidation background comprising accumulated and readily available landscape knowledge.