UPPER PALEOLITHIC ART

2015 ◽  
pp. 83-120
Keyword(s):  
Upper Paleolithic ◽  
Paleolithic Art

At the crossroad: A new approach to the Upper Paleolithic art in the Western Pyrenees

2015 ◽  
Vol 364 ◽  
pp. 283-293 ◽  
Author(s):  
Diego Garate ◽  
Olivia Rivero ◽  
Aitor Ruiz-Redondo ◽  
Joseba Rios-Garaizar
Keyword(s):  
Upper Paleolithic ◽  
New Approach ◽  
Paleolithic Art ◽  
Western Pyrenees

Mental Imagery and Iconic Imagery: The Art of the Origins between Neuropsychology and Shamanism

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gabriella Brusa-Zappellini
Keyword(s):  
Mental Imagery ◽  
Upper Paleolithic ◽  
Grand Nombre ◽  
Il Y A ◽  
Paleolithic Art ◽  
Current Anthropology ◽  
Paléolithique Supérieur ◽  
Iconic Imagery

L’art pariétal du Paléolithique supérieur présente, à côté d’un extraordinaire répertoire animalier bien diversifié, un grand nombre de signes qui ne trouvent pas d’équivalents dans la perception de la réalité sensible. Tandis que les images des humains ou des créatures mi-humaines mi-animales sont très rares, ces formes aniconiques, souvent géométrisantes et aisément classifiables, sont globalement plus nombreuses que les animaux. Si saisir l’intentionnalité qui a poussé les premiers artistes à peindre sur les parois représente un défi pour nos compétences interprétatives, les « signes » constituent l’aspect le plus énigmatique de ce défi. Il y a trente ans, en 1988, dans la revue Current Anthropology, a été publié un article de James D. Lewis-Williams et Thomas A. Dowson, « The Signs of All Times. Entoptic Phenomena in Upper Paleolithic Art », ouvrant une nouvelle perspective sur l’origine des signes. En appliquant le modèle neuropsychologique à l’imagerie bidimensionnelle de l’art des grottes, il est possible d’identifier à des signes à valeur universelle, selon les auteurs, les apparitions entoptiques présentes, avec leurs diverses modalités combinatoires, dans l’art rupestre de « tous les temps ». Cette interprétation de l’art des sociétés préhistoriques, qui resitue la naissance des images dans les territoires visionnaires des cultures chamaniques, a soulevé en France des perplexités et des polémiques innombrables, parfois acerbes. Il est prioritaire alors de voir si le modèle neuropsychologique est effectivement en mesure d’offrir un cadre explicatif des données archéologiques des grottes ornées et de ses « constructions symboliques », en mesure d’intégrer tous les indices disponibles dans une construction théorique cohérente.

The Hidden Shaman

2013 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Wengrow
Keyword(s):  
Near East ◽  
Upper Paleolithic ◽  
Ice Age ◽  
Southern Europe ◽  
Hunter Gatherers ◽  
Last Ice Age ◽  
Paleolithic Art ◽  
Predynastic Egypt

This chapter considers the case for a much earlier beginning to the composite's story, among the hunter-gatherers and villagers of remote prehistory. It has been suggested that “imaginary animals,” “monsters,” and composite figures are found throughout the Upper Paleolithic art tradition that flourished among hunter-gatherers of the last Ice Age, between around 40,000 and 10,000 years ago. That tradition, or better complex of traditions, is most richly documented across a broad swath of southern Europe, on what were then the fringes of a vast steppe bordering the zone of maximum glaciation. The chapter first examines the frequency of composites among the surviving corpus of Paleolithic art, along with the significance of such images in the ritual life of prehistoric societies, before discussing the development of pictorial art in the later Neolithic of the Near East. It also describes animal figures in predynastic Egypt.

scholarly journals The conquest of the dark spaces: An experimental approach to lighting systems in Paleolithic caves

PLoS ONE ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 16 (6) ◽  
pp. e0250497
Author(s):  
Mª Ángeles Medina-Alcaide ◽  
Diego Garate ◽  
Iñaki Intxaurbe ◽  
José L. Sanchidrián ◽  
Olivia Rivero ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Experimental Approach ◽  
Economic Behavior ◽  
Upper Paleolithic ◽  
Archaeological Record ◽  
Gis Technology ◽  
Northern Spain ◽  
Artificial Lighting ◽  
Paleolithic Art ◽  
Lighting Systems ◽  
Experimental Archeology

Artificial lighting was a crucial physical resource for expanding complex social and economic behavior in Paleolithic groups. Furthermore, the control of fire allowed the development of the first symbolic behavior in deep caves, around 176 ky BP. These activities would increase during the Upper Paleolithic, when lighting residues proliferated at these sites. The physical peculiarities of Paleolithic lighting resources are very poorly understood, although this is a key aspect for the study of human activity within caves and other dark contexts. In this work, we characterize the main Paleolithic lighting systems (e.g., wooden torches, portable fat lamps, and fireplaces) through empirical observations and experimental archeology in an endokarstic context. Furthermore, each lighting system’s characteristic combustion residues were identified to achieve a better identification for the archaeological record. The experiments are based on an exhaustive review of archaeological information about this topic. Besides, we apply the estimated luminous data of a Paleolithic cave with Paleolithic art (Atxurra in northern Spain) in 3D through GIS technology to delve into the archeologic implications of illumination in Paleolithic underground activities.

scholarly journals Mobile Paleolithic Arts: long distances withesses

2021 ◽  
Vol 79 (1) ◽  
pp. 103-110
Author(s):  
Marcel Otte ◽  
◽  
Keyword(s):  
Diffusion Process ◽  
Central And Eastern Europe ◽  
Natural World ◽  
Upper Paleolithic ◽  
The Other ◽  
Northern Plains ◽  
The West ◽  
Early Upper Paleolithic ◽  
Paleolithic Art ◽  
Early Upper

The meaning of statuettes appearance across Paleolithic Europe has changed a lot. Different processes can explain their variations. The «creation» from nothing apparently but imitating certain aspects of the natural world (animals). The «transfer» process from one tradition to the other inside early Upper Paleolithic people. The «movement» of both statuettes and people when recolonizing the northern plains. The «drift» process, when different cores are following the same stylistic variations. The «diffusion» process, where we can see the movements affecting Central and Eastern Europe, from the west to the East. All these processes require specific ways of treatment and of understanding. They should not be confused, nor forgotten in any Paleolithic art study.

scholarly journals Imagens fantasmagóricas, silhuetas elusivas: as figuras humanas na arte do Paleolítico Superior da região do Côa

2020 ◽  
pp. 537-549
Author(s):  
Mário Reis
Keyword(s):  
Upper Paleolithic ◽  
Human Figure ◽  
Complete Set ◽  
Paleolithic Art ◽  
Survey Review

The representation of the human figure is rare in European Paleolithic art, and the Côa region is no exception, although Paleolithic anthropomorphs have been known in its open-air art since the beginning. At first restricted to two sites, their quantity and territorial dispersion has considerably expanded in recent years, with the continued work of survey, review and registration of decorated rocks, and currently amount to almost half a hundred, despite the doubts concerning the classification of several among them. This text presents the complete set of these figures in the Côa art, divided in their main chronological and typological groups, and briefly reflecting on their possible continuation for the cultural phase subsequent to the Upper Paleolithic.

scholarly journals Symbolic interactionism of the Malta’s anthropomorphic paleolithic figurines

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Людмила Валентиновна Лбова
Keyword(s):  
Symbolic Interactionism ◽  
Upper Paleolithic ◽  
Cultural Symbols ◽  
Artistic Style ◽  
Prehistoric Art ◽  
Paleolithic Art ◽  
Technological Analysis

«Классическая коллекция» сибирского палеолитического искусства, полученная в результате раскопок М. М. Герасимова в 1928 – 1958гг. ключевого археологического памятника Южной Сибири – Мальты – представлена более чем 800 изделиями из бивня, рога, поделочного камня, датируется в пределах 19000 – 23000 лет назад [6]. Технологический анализ образцов палеолитического искусства демонстрирует устойчивые приемы обработки бивня и рога, формообразование, детализацию и декорирование [18]. В представляемой статье рассмотрена антропоморфная пластика Мальтинской коллекции в рамках концепции символического интеракционизма [20]. Обозначенная концепция прочтения архаической культуры и культурных символов позволяет выделить устойчивые константы, принимающие участие в коммуникации и определившие специфику сибирской коллекции доисторического искусства. Такой подход позволяет объяснить реалистичность художественного стиля, внимание древних мастеров к деталям (элементы тела, одежды, аксессуары), выбору техники гравировок и характера декорирования. Malta's "classical collection" of Siberian Upper Paleolithic art, obtained as a result of excavations by M. M. Gerasimov in the years 1928-1958, is represented by more than 800 pieces of ivory, antler, and soft stone. It is dating up 19,000 to 23,000 years ago [6]. The technological analysis of samples of Paleolithic art demonstrates stable methods of processing ivory and antler, shaping, detailing and decorating [18]. In the paper, we present the anthropomorphic figurines of the Malta's collection that are considered within the framework of the concept of symbolic interactionism [20]. The concept of reading archaic culture and cultural symbols allows us to identify stable constants that take part in communication and that determined the specificity of the Siberian collection of Prehistoric Art. This approach allows us to explain the realism of the artistic style, the attention of Paleolithic masters to the details (body elements, clothing, and accessories), the choice of engraving techniques and the nature of the ornamentation.

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