NYC - AMNH: Spitzer Hall of Human Origins - Cro Magnon diorama

In 1868, workers digging at Cro-Magnon, a rock shelter at Les Eyzies-de-Tayac, France, uncovered several skeletons of ancient Homo sapiens. Since that discovery, the first modern human residents of Europe have been known as Cro-Magnons. This diorama, depicting Homo sapiens during the Ice Age, is set in Mezhirich, Ukraine.

The winters of Ice Age Europe some 15,000 years ago were harsh, but modern human—Homo sapiens—had developed clever ways to cope with the cold. These residents of eastern Europe sewed clothes from animal hides and built sturdy shelters from mammoth bones. When food was abundant, they buried supplies in the permafrost—an ancient form of deep-freezing.

Modern humans displayed a wide range of cultural and technological abilities not seen among our earlier hominid relatives. These new humans had developed true language and could make highly sophisticated tools. They created art and practiced elaborate rituals. Indeed, these hominids exhibited virtually the entire array of behaviors that characterize people today.