Paleolithic Pornography

Dedicated to the people of the Upper Paleolithic.

[thedeer]

[midwintercrone]

Lascaux, France

[theolduvaigorge]

Object Lesson: The Swimming Reindeer

“What is it? The ‘swimming reindeer’ sculpture is a beautiful example of portable Palaeolithic art dating to the end of the last Ice Age, around 13,000 years ago. It is 20.7cm long and depicts two reindeer, a male and female, intricately carved into the tip of a mammoth tusk. The male has been sculpted from the larger end and is preceded by the more slender female whose nose forms the point of the tusk. 

The reindeers’ legs are stretched out and their heads are tilted upwards – a lifelike portrayal of how these animals swim through water that shows the artist had a deep familiarity with the surrounding natural world.Where was it found and when?The sculpture was discovered in 1866 by rail engineer and archaeological hobbyist Peccadeau de I’Isle, inside a rock shelter near the village of Bruniquel, in the south of France. It was bought by the British Museum in 1887, where it is now kept in a highly controlled environment due to its delicate nature. 

The sculpture was originally found in two separate pieces, along with flint tools and other pieces of portable artwork dating to the Late Magdalenian period. It was not until the 1930s that the two sections of the sculpture housed in the British Museum collection were fitted back together again.Why does it matter?The accuracy of these reindeer is carefully considered. We can see lines representing ribs, the smooth curve of the antlers, and feathery strands of hair. The artist spent a long time observing these animals, which roamed through France 13,000 years ago, no doubt because they provided a rich source of food, clothing, tools, and weapons for hunter gatherers. The carving is so detailed that experts can see it was created in the autumn, when both male and female reindeer have full antlers and coats” (read more).

(Source: World Archaeology)

[theolduvaigorge]

“Saw the coolest ice age fossils today…”

(Source: @palaeomanchester on Twitter)

[goddessoftheblackcoast]

Crystalized cave bear skull

[goddessoftheblackcoast]

skeleton of cave bear in Bears Cave, Romania

[lascauxxx]

The 18,700-year-old bones of a woman whose remains were found in northern Spain’s El Mirón Cave is the first Magdalenian burial to be found in the Iberian Peninsula, according to Lawrence Straus of the University of New Mexico and Manuel González Morales of the University of Cantabria. 

Read more: http://www.archaeology.org/news/3132-150331-spain-red-lady

[museum-of-artifacts]

Cave bear skull placed on top of a rock by unknown man thousands of years ago (30,000–32,000 BP) in Chauvet Cave, France.

[history-museum]

Bison sculpted from mammoth ivory. Found at Zaraysk, Russia. About 20,000 years old [630x445]

[theolduvaigorge]

New Evidence for a Possible Paleolithic Occupation of the Eastern North American Continental Shelf at the Last Glacial Maximum

Dennis Stanford, Darrin Lowery, Margaret Jodry, Bruce A. Bradley, Marvin Kay, Thomas W. Stafford and Robert J. Speakman

"Researchers have postulated the presence of submerged archaeological deposits on the Middle Atlantic continental shelf of North America for decades (Emery and Edwards 1966; Edwards and Emery1977; Kraft et al.1983). However, archaeological discoveries on the continental shelf made during commercial shellfish dredging have gone unrecorded or have escaped detection. By contrast, numerous vertebrate remains including the bones, teeth, and skulls of mammoth, mastodon, and walrus have been reportedly discovered by deep-sea fishermen and dredgers on the continental shelf (Edwards and Merrill 1977; Whitmore et al.1967).

In 1974, Captain Thurston Shawn and the crew of Cinmar, a scallop trawler working 100 km east of the Virginia Capes, were dredging at a depth of 70 m (Fig. 5.1). Just after starting their run, the dredge became very heavy and when reeled in, it contained a mastodon skull. While cleaning the bone from the dredge, a large bifacially flaked rhyolite knife was discovered. Shawn carefully plotted the water depth and the exact location of the find on his navigation charts and noted that all of these items were dredged at the same time. To expedite getting back to dredging, the Cinmar  crew broke up the skull and removed the tusks and teeth for souvenirs, throwing the rest of the bone overboard. Later the tusks were sawn into pieces and distributed among the crew” (read more/open access).

(Open access source: Evans, A.M. et al (eds.), Prehistoric Archaeology on the Continental Shelf. New York: Springer 2014 via Academia.edu)

[archaeologicalnews]

The DNA from the 45,000-year-old bone of a man from Siberia is helping to pinpoint when modern humans and Neanderthals first interbred, researchers say.

Although modern humans are the only surviving human lineage, others once lived on Earth. The closest extinct relatives of modern humans were...

[goodluckisdead]

[gwydionmisha]

"Archaeologists unearthed what appears to be a fragment of animal figurine, which was originally discovered in the Vogelherd Cave in 1931."

[lascauxxx]

Tableau des principaux caractères du style IV. A. Nord : Arcy-sur-Cure. B. Poitou-Périgord : (1) Les Combarelles, Angles-sur-l'Anglin, Cap-Blanc, Lascaux (Puits) ; (2) Les Combarelles, Rouffignac ; (3) Teyjat. C. Pyrénées : (1) Marsoulas, Niaux, Labastide ; (2) Les Trois-Frères, Le Portel. D. Espagne : (1) Altamira, Santimamiñe; ; (2) Las Chimeneas, El Pindal, Los Casares. This is an excellent organisation of the drawing styles from some French and Spanish caves. The columns left to right are of: Signs, Bison, Aurochs, Horses, Ibex, Reindeer, Mammoths/Deer, Rhinoceros.

Photo: Marc Groenen, 'Pour une histoire de la Préhistoire'

(Source.)

[amorsciendi]

We discuss mankind’s beautiful ability to think abstractly while looking at cave paintings.

[lascauxxx]

Plan of the Lascaux cave in France Photo: E. Pfeiffer 'The Creative Explosion'

(Source.)

[lascauxxx]

Plan of the Niaux cave in FrancePhoto: E. Pfeiffer 'The Creative Explosion' (Source.)

[mbo-romi-deactivated20140114]

The pain I feel when I search the ‘paleolithic’ tag and find it to be mostly people talking about that stupid fad diet. 

[lascauxxx]

AGREED!!