the Upper Paleolithic Revolution and Sapient Paradox aren't real

The first early signs of human culture were found in Northern Europe. Cave paintings and such dated back to 45,000 BCE. Given the lack of earlier evidence of culture, archeologists announced this as the "Upper Paleolithic Revolution."

Archeologists wondered why there weren't earlier signs of human culture, since humans had the same basic biological capacity for ten times as long.

See: 500,000 years of experimentation

They called this puzzle the "Sapient Paradox." Answers tended to credit something special about northern European peoples. Racists have used this to claim that Europeans are the protectors of human culture and civilization.

Others have suggested that climate may have been a factor. There was a little Ice Age in Europe 45,000 BCE years ago. People probably spent a lot of time inside.

But it turns out the paradox isn't a paradox at all. This isn't actually the first evidence of culture. More recent archeological digs in Africa have found symbolic representation going back to at least 100,000 BCE. And there's good reason to think we'll find older evidence, as archeologists haven't spent much time in much of Africa.

There was no revolution, 45,000 BCE is just when humans got to Europe. The real explanation for the Sapient Paradox is that European governments are rich, so Europeans have been doing most of the archeology.