Cro-Magnon

“	With so much game, it is not surprising there are also predators. Cro-Magnons hunt on these plains in summer.	„
	— Allen Johnson, about Cro-Magnon in Mammoth's Undertaking Journey

Cro-Magnon (Homo sapiens, name meaning "Rock Shelter"), sometimes referred to as Ice Age Man or Anatomically Modern Humans, is a genus of hominid that lived in Eurasia during the Late Plestiocene. They were the first modern human to evolve and coexisted with humans such as Neanderthals.

In the Series 3 finale "Mammoth's Undertaking Journey", Cro-Magnons are one of the humans, Allen and his group encountered during their rescue mission in the Ice Age. The team saw a Cro-Magnon tribe attacking a pair of Megaloceros in Late Pleistocene Europe 30,000 years. Later while traveling through Siberia 40,000 years ago a tribe of Cro-Magnons followed the team through the portal bringing along their domesticated dogs. One of the members named See-Tan got sick but was cured by Rebecca. His sister Sheo is revealed to one of Allen's ancestors.

They also form a friendship with a tribe of Neanderthals the group also befriended despite a rough start. Eytukan the shaman of Sheo and See-Tan's tribe is Rebecca's ancestor given the reason how healing people and animals flowed through her family. The Cro-Magnon resides in the outskirts of the park where they made permanent camp near a cave the Neanderthal tribe resides in.

Earlier in the same episode while traveling through Late Pleistocene Europe 30,000 years ago, the team came across a Cro-Magnon campsite and got attacked by a Cro-Magnon tribe.

Facts[]

Era & Discovery[]

Cro-Magnons lived in Eurasia during the Late Pleistocene period from 120,000 years ago to the present. They lived alongside other hominids such as Neanderthals and even hunted animals like Megaloceros, Elasmotherium, Woolly Rhinoceros, and even the mighty Woolly Mammoths. When change came when the Ice Age came to an end, the Cro-Magnons were able to deal with it because they could adapt and had the ability to shape the world around them and would one day look back on their past. And of course, throughout Europe, as we began to spread, the Cro-Magnons came in contact with the other inhabitants those original cavemen, the Neanderthals.

The first fossil of Cro-Magnons were discovered by french palaeontologist Louis Lartet in 1868 in France.

Physical Attributes[]

Cro-Magnons were early modern humans who were 171 centimeters (7 inches) and weighed 65 kilograms (170 pounds) which made them the same size as us and were taller than the Neanderthals.

Unlike Neanderthals who were well adapted to their environment due to their stocky bodies and short limbs, Cro-Magnons had no physical adaption to cope with the freezing tempertures of the Ice Age. Instead they wore animal hinds and weaved cloths that helped them stay warm during the winter. Cro-Magnons mostly specialized in small animals such as deer, horses, and bison but would seldom hunt anything as big and dangerous as the Woolly Mammoths, however mammoths were nonetheless very important to these hominids. With so little woods parts of grassy plains they lived on, Cro-Magnons would collect the tusks of dead mammoths to build huts and even used their bones for fuels. This meant that these early modern humans were capable of making the most of every resource available.

During the early autumn and throughout the winter, Cro-Magnons would leave the plains so they would seek shelter and milder weather further down south and used extensive cave networks as perfect winter retreats, unlike Neanderthals who often stay in the same valleys they live on all year.

Cro-Magnons were predators unlike any before, they used not strength, but strategy pushing animals they hunted like Megaloceros into trees which prevented them to escape due to it's large antlers and would kill them by throwing their spear unlike Neanderthals who could only use their spears to kill animals at close quarters by thrusting. They had to take what they wanted as quickly as possible before Ice Age scavengers such as wolves, lions, and hyenas would make the kill site a dangerous place to be for them. Being modern humans, Cro-Magnons had no eye shine, and would have been the hardest to spot during the nighttime.

Behavior & Traits[]

Cro-Magnons were physical identical to us and had created sophisticated language to share their new ideas with each other. Wherever they went the Cro-Magnons left signs of their complex world they created.

They lived in larger tribes that rivaled the tribes that Neanderthals lived in. Although Neanderthals had larger brains, Cro-Magnons had different ways to think that Neanderthals never done before and were no match for their imagintive thinking.

Prehistoric Earth: A Natural History[]

Series 3[]

Cro-Magnons debut in the Series 3 finale Mammoth's Undertaking Journey, where a few of them collecting mammoth tusks to build huts were spotted by the team while rescuing a herd of Megaloceros. Later Allen and the team came across a Cro-Magnon village and went into a cave where they saw a Cro-Magnon making cave painting around the cave, however the team were attacked by a tribe of them until they escaped. That winter when Allen was observing two male Megaloceros fighting for a herd of females, a hunting party of Cro-Magnons attacked the two deer and eventually killed one of them using their spears. Later after escaping from an attack by a group of Neanderthals while rescuing a female Elasmotherium, another tribe of Cro-Magnon followed the team back to the park and were about to attack a Neanderthal tribe that also followed Allen and his team to the park, until Allen stops them from doing so. Two of the tribe members was See-Tan and his sister Sheo while the tribe's shaman Eytukan was Rebecca ancestorand their tribe eventually formed an alliance with the park's tribe of Neanderthals.

While traveling through Siberia 10,000 years ago, the team protects an injured Woolly Mammoth from a group of Cro-Magnons as well as wolves and Cave Hyenas. The group doesn't come any further possibly due to Allen and the team's sight.

Series 4[]

Journal Entry[]

“

One of the first homo sapiens, Cro-Magnons had no physical adaptation to cope with cold. Instead they wore animal hides and weaved cloth to protect themselves from the Ice Age winter. Cro-Magnons specialized in medium prey such as horses or deer and rarely hunted anything as big and dangerous as Woolly Mammoths, but mammoths were nonetheless very important to them. With so little wood in parts of open plains, the Cro-Magnons collected the tusks of dead mammoths to build huts and even used their bones for fuel. During the summertime when flies swarmed around they grinded up a paste made out of a mineral called ochre which helped keep the insects at bay.

When winter came the Cro-Magnons would leave the plains to seek shelter and milder weather further south and used entensive cave networks as perfect winter retreats. They were predators unlike any before. Cro-Magnons didn't use strength but strategy, pushing animals like Megaloceros into trees where their antlers prevented escape. They had to take what they wanted as quickly as possible before Ice Age predators like wolves, Cave Lions, and Cave Hyenas would make the kill site a dangerous place to be. Cro-Magnons had no eyeshine at all making them very hard to spot at nighttime.

The Cro-Magnons created sophisticated language so they would share their new ideas with each other. Of course in Europe as homo sapiens were beginning to spread across the glode, the Cro-Magnons came into contact with the other inhabitants of the continent the original cavemen, the Neanderthals. Once they arrived the Cro-Magnons became to outcompete the Neanderthals and even interbreed with them bringing them to the brink of extinction.

„

— Allen Johnson, in his journal about Cro-Magnons

Gallery[]

Trivia[]

Cro-Magnons along with Homo Sapiens Idaltu are the only Prehistoric Homo Sapiens to live to the park.