Upper Paleolithic
1
9.8
- noun
- /ˈʌpər ˌpeɪliəˈlɪθɪk/
- Specialized
:
Paleolítico Superior
- The Upper Paleolithic era is characterized by the emergence of advanced tools and artistic expression among early humans.
- Upper Paleolithic period
Examples
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Auel defends her conviction that Upper Paleolithic people possessed modern-day loves and hates, dreams and disappointments.
Academic text (2002) -
Archaeologists have discovered remains of ancient cave art from the Upper Paleolithic period in southern France.
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It's the final culture of the upper Paleolithic.
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What if a man from the upper Paleolithic survived until the present day?
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Well, we think men of the upper Paleolithic were as intelligent as we are.
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The notion of getting back to the relaxed atmosphere of the Upper Paleolithic is very attractive.
Blog text (21) -
Mithen explains: "Upper Paleolithic period hunters were living in a landscape full of symbolic meanings."
Academic text (2009) -
This confirms archaeological evidence of humans on the Tibetan Plateau in the Upper Paleolithic period and suggests that they survived there for thousands of years—at least long enough to mix with the later settlers.
Academic text (2010) -
During the Upper Paleolithic, people began to create complex social structures and communicate using symbols.
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning 'the later part of the Paleolithic era' is directly and compositionally derived from 'upper' (indicating the higher or later part) combined with 'Paleolithic' (the Paleolithic period). This is a standard chronological naming pattern (Upper/Lower) found cross-linguistically, so a B1 learner who knows both constituents would readily infer the intended sense.
Etymology
The noun Upper Paleolithic names the last part of the 'Old Stone Age'. Here Upper means 'later' or 'top' in time and Paleolithic means 'Old Stone', so the name points to the era when modern humans made more advanced tools and cave art.