One of the clues to the way of life of modern people in the last glaciation is from the source and distribution of the stone used for their tools.
Their predecessors used mainly local stone: these modern people often used stone that they had acquired hundreds of miles away.
Seashells have also been found on sites far inland. Either people were trading with other groups nearer the sources or, more likely, obtaining these things themselves when they moved seasonally following the herds they hunted.
This emphasizes the close connection that existed in the Upper Palaeolithic between people and particular favoured prey species - reindeer in southern France, gazelle in the Levant, bison in Russia - these could provide 90% or more of the meat consumed.
The distances it was necessary to travel varied, depending on the species selected. In southern European sites, for instance, settlements may have been occupied most of the time, indicating only occasional short movements; in the north, on the other hand, sites were occupied only briefly and at intervals, showing far more movement, over longer distances.
