Initial Upper Paleolithic: A (near) global problem and a global opportunity

The Initial Upper Paleolithic is an excellent test case for evaluating different approaches to understanding cultural variation and continuity across broad regions. The central questions about the origins of the IUP, namely the roles of cultural transmission and convergence in explaining its broad distribution across Eurasia, are common to many periods and locations. This chapter begins with a brief overview of the concept of the Initial Upper Paleolithic, its history and the features which define it. It then summarizes some of the major research questions about the IUP phenomenon, and details the contributions of the papers in this special issue toward resolving them.