Week 7: The Upper Paleolithic: Symboling & Extinction

I. The Classic Western European Sequence

A. Aurignacian ca. 40-30 kya; appears earlier in C.

Europe. AmHS affinities; "art," bone tools; etc. (see

last week). Blanchard plaque (possible lunar notation); Hohlenfels

compsite figure ca. 32 kya.

1. Fumane Cave, N. Italy (red figures on slabs include

male composite figure);

1. Chauvet Cave in south-central France >30,000 years old;

unusual concentration of depictions of rare & dangerous animals

(e.g., felines, rhinos);

2. Cosquer Cave w/underwater entrance near Marseilles; early

phase of use ca. 27 kya; late phase during Gravettian: painted

hands, vulvas, barbed arrows engraved on animals.

B. Chatelperronian/Lower Perigordean ca. 37-30 kya;

Mousterian affinities; Neanderthal associations (St-

Césaire). Bone artifacts rarer than in Aurignacian. Some personal

decorative items by end.

C. Gravettian/Upper Perigordean ca. 30-22 kya but

continues to develop another 10,000 years in east;

Font-Robert points; backed blades; food storage in

permafrost pits; boiling stones at Abri Pataud.

Huts of mammoth bones (Mezhirich, Russia).

Famous site of Dolni Vestonice (slides).

"Cemetery" at Predmost, Czech Rep. Portable

"art" includes:

1. female figurines ("Aurignacian Venuses")

common across N. Europe ca. 26 kya:

faces & feet not depicted and form usually

female; all ages.

2. Clay models from Dolni Vestonice

D. Solutrean ca. 22-18 kya during LGM; laurel-leaf

points; originated in S-C or SW France; projectile

points used on the tips of arrows (though many so

large they may have been for ceremonial or status

purposes). Laurel-leaf points more common at sites

where red deer, large cattle, and horse were hunted

than at sites where smaller spp. such as ibex

dominate. Bone needles (for sewing) common. Not

much cave painting, but some sculpture in near-

round.

E. Magdalenian ca. 18-11 kya; bone needles, spear

thrower, harpoons; reindeer, red deer, salmon;

climate change, river & sea level changes; popula-

tion explosion? Largest sites in Périgord always

near river fords.

1. Parietal art (cave walls): 3 main centers.

Famous sites: (slides): Rouffignac,

Lascaux, Altamira, Font de Gaume, etc.

Sympathetic magic? (Henri Breuil);

Shamanism? (Jean Clottes)

2. Relationship between art and archaeofauna:

a. red deer & reindeer portrayed in rough

relation to their importance in the

archaeofauna;

b. larger spp. overportrayed relative to

their importance as game animals

3. Sex differences among anthropomorphs in

cave art:

a. rare in comparison with animal figures

b. 78% male, 22% female (of those where

sex can be told)

c. all running, walking, dancing, or

speared figures male; only males shown

in active modes; females portrayed

standing or lying down. Masked figures

(usually birds) are male when sex can be

told.

d. females more often shown in groups

4. Portable "art:" Grotte du Tai plaque: pos-

sible solar notation.

 

Syllabus