Culture from the start of the Upper Palaeolithic (43,000-35,000 years ago), the name of which comes from the small cave of Aurignac (Haute-Garonne). The extent of this culture in temporal and geographical terms (from Spain to the Russian steppes) represented by the last inhabitants of Europe (Homo sapiens sapiens) was very significant and involved a number of regional variations. The Aurignacian is divided into several stages, and is characterised by technical and symbolic innovations and ruptures and by radical new social developments in comparison to the preceding cultures (Middle Palaeolithic). These include in particular the emergence of cave and portable art, the development of the art of personal ornamentation, the diversification of flint tools and the production of weapons and tools from bone and antler.