Gravettian Figurative Art in the Western Pyrenees

Stratigraphy, Cultural Context, and Chronology

Bibliographic Data

ID7175804
AuthorsB Ochoa (0000-0002-8180-0135, University of the Basque Country, corresponding author), Marcos García-Diez (0000-0001-7923-5280, Universidad Isabel I), Marcos García Díez (0000-0002-4135-5145), José-Manuel Maíllo-Fernández (0000-0002-7555-4943, Universidad Nacional de Educación a Distancia), A Arrizabalaga (0000-0001-6127-2972, University of the Basque Country), P Pettitt (0000-0002-6195-9376, Durham University)
Year2018
Volume22
Issue2
Pages168-184
Publication date2018-08-14
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueEuropean Journal of Archaeology (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1461-9571 • E-ISSN: 1741-2722
PublisherCambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1017/eaa.2018.31
OpenAlexW2978821333
LanguageEN
Citations received4
References cited18

The timing and nature of the emergence of art in human evolution has been one of the more debated subjects in palaeoanthropology in the last few years, and one of the areas where archaeology has made impressive advances. Here, we discuss the first evidence of figurative art on portable materials in the north of Spain. After analysis of the stratigraphic contexts of all examples potentially of this age, which eliminated those of uncertain provenance, only three examples can be said to be Gravettian with a degree of confidence. We examine their stratigraphic provenance, the integrity of their archaeological contexts, and the absolute dates available for them. We then discuss their thematic and stylistic traits, comparing them to the wider database of material in the adjacent regions of the French Pyrenees and Mediterranean Iberia. We conclude that figurative depictions were scarce in the Gravettian of south-western Europe, in contrast to the relatively abundant examples of cave art assigned to this period in the region. If this is correct, we should nuance our discussions of ‘Palaeolithic art’ by considering that parietal and portable art had their own trajectories and functions, at least in the Early to mid-Upper Palaeolithic

Aesthetics · Archaeology · Art · Cave · Chronology · Context (archaeology · Geography · Linguistics · Literal and figurative language · Paleoanthropology · Period (music · Provenance · Rock art · Archaeological and Geological Studies · Archaeology and ancient environmental studies · History · Pleistocene-Era Hominins and Archaeology · Geology · Paleontology · Stratigraphy

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