Spear thrower, carved antler, showing
an ibex or chamois giving birth,
Mas d'Azil, France. Public domain.
Continuing
with the practice of classifying Paleolithic portable art as related to the
category of rock art I am writing today about a theme that has fascinated
people for many years. Among the amazingly realistic antler Paleolithic carvings
decorating spear throwers there is a theme sometimes known as "bird on a
turd". This theme consists of an animal (deer, ibex or chamois, or bovine)
with its tail raised and a protuberance from its anal area with one or two
birds sitting on the protuberance. The animal usually has its head twisted
around to look back at the scene.
Spear thrower, carved antler, showing
an ibex or chamois giving birth,
Mas d'Azil, France. Public domain.
Spear thrower, carved antler, showing
an ibex or chamois giving birth,
Mas d'Azil, France. Public domain.
Spear thrower, carved antler,
showing an ibex or chamois
giving birth, France.
Public domain.
A number of
these spear throwers have been recovered from Paleolithic sites in France, some
so nearly identical that the assumption is that they may well have been created
by the same hand. " Perhaps this
explains the similarities between particular objects found at different sites
(the famous antler spearthrowers of the Pyrenees, for example), which are so
clear they must have been the product of a single individual." (Pettit 2016:26) Others
are quite like each other but show differences in workmanship and detail, so we
can also assume that the motive that led to their creation was spread more
widely than to just one individual. Note the different handling of the legs, some examples are pierced through while others remain filled in.
My original
assumption, based upon a quick observation many years ago, was that the birds
were picking seeds out of the excrement, a phenomenon that I have seen on farms
and ranches with the droppings of cattle or horses. A closer look, however, and
a little reflection leads to the conclusion that it cannot be that because the
anal expression is all wrong for excrement. Deer (or ibex, or chamois)
droppings consist of relatively small balls of matted digested vegetation, not
one large protuberance as in the carvings.
Deer droppings. Photograph
Public Domain.
Deer giving birth. Photograph
from www.spiritualbirth.net,
Public Domain.
The most
likely explanation of this theme is that the animal is a doe in the process of
giving birth. Paul Pettit wrote in "Ice Age Splendor: Redrawing The Past,
in the October/November 2016 issue of World
Archaeology Magazine: "Another
genitive element in the art is the so-called "bird and turd" antler
spearthower crooks of the Pyrenean Magdalenian. Bahn prefers the old
interpretation of these: a doe, turning her head back to look at one or two
birds that have landed on an excrement emerging from her behind. Deer scats do
not have this morphology, and others have suggested that these represent does
giving birth - but why should birds be present? In fact, corvids have been
observed feeding on the cauls of deer and cattle newborn. This artistic
expression both of life and death seems a far more plausible interpretation of
some of the most characteristic Upper Palaeolithic portable art objects than
imaginary scatological humor." (Pettit 2016:29)
Spear throwers from La Madeleine
rock shelter, France. Photograph
public domain.
Spear thrower from La Madeleine
rock shelter, France. Photograph
public domain.
Spear thrower showing a bovine
giving birth. La Madeleine rock
shelter, France. Photograph
public domain.
As noted
above there are also examples of this basic them with other animals as in the
spear thrower from La Madeleine that shows a bovine instead of an ibex or deer,
and lacks the birds perched upon the anal extrusion. A number of examples have
openings pierced through between the animals legs, but Guthrie (2005:290) has
pointed out that this leads to a weakness because of lack of material in that
portion of the spear thrower, a weakness that was corrected in the example above by portraying the animal as posed with
its rear legs folded under it.
Spear thrower, carved antler, showing
an ibex or chamois giving birth,
Mas d'Azil, France. Public domain.
Note that
in the most famous example the spear thrower's hook that fits into the
depression on the base of the dart or spear is the bird's tail. Examples from
Mas d'Azil, as well as La Madelaine, and others, show a variety of animals
fitting into the same general category. The upright position, as well as the
patterning of the birds suggest that they are intended to represent
woodpeckers.
Woodpecker.
Woodpeckers
possess a stiff tail that they can use as a support prop when holding on to a
surface. "The stiffened tails of woodpeckers are crucial for
their climbing and foraging techniques." (Wikipedia).
In this
theme we have yet another example of art that is useful to identify animal
species (the woodpeckers, doe, bovine), multiple identifiable works by a single
artist, and ancillary works by other, less skilled artists influenced by the
theme.
Because of
the context the most obvious conclusions would involve hunting magic, and/or
game animal fertility affecting the food supply (although these themes are
pretty much discounted in modern interpretation), yet I have not seen this
theme on any of the Magdalenian period painted cave walls, and that brings up
the very interesting question - why not? Why would we have multiple examples of
this theme carved on spear throwers, and not see it in the more numerous
examples of deer painted on cave walls? This suggests that the theme was
contextual, that it was somehow logical to portray on an instrument of the
hunt, but not to portray it on a cave wall. If there are other examples, or
examples in other contexts, please let me know. Also, I will be interested in
the other interpretations of this theme by my readers, so let me know that as
well.
Just think how wonderful it is that we have such a number of examples of this theme, from this long ago, and some of them are so similar that they were probably carved by the same hand.
NOTE: The images reproduced above were obtained by an internet search for public domain imagery. If any of them were not public domain they have been used accidentally and I apologize.
REFERENCES:
Guthie, R.
Dale
2005 The Nature of Paleolithic Art, University of
Chicago Press, Chicago.
Pettit,
Paul
2016 Ice Age Splendor: Redrawing The Past, p, 22-29,
World Archaeology Magazine, Issue 79,
Vol.7, No. 7, October/November 2016,
No comments:
Post a Comment