The race of humans called Cro-Magnon man were the first to inhabit Europe following the last ice age. They were tall, with long, narrow faces, high foreheads, and long, narrow noses. Essentially, they were the people of today.
The Cro-Magnon people lived in caves and used pigments to decorate the walls with drawings. Though it must have been difficult painting by firelight, the drawings are very lifelike, though they varied in size and often overlapped. Large game animals like bison were the favorite subject of these paintings. Relatively few drawings of humans have been found, and these are almost always of women.
The Cro-Magnon people seem to have been capable of more abstract thinking than any previous species as their art included symbolic as well as figurative elements. They also possessed the throwing stick, harpoon, and excellent bone tools. Their spoken language was probably quite advanced. However, they still did not grow their food or raise animals.
