AZILIAN PAINTED PEBBLES:

Wikipedia,

Public Domain.

Following the heights (at least the artistic heights) of the Magdalenian culture in Western Europe was the period known as Azilian "in the Franco-Cantabrian region of northern Spain and southern France. It probably dates to the period of - around 14,000 years ago (uncalibrated) and followed the Magdalenian culture. It can be classified as part of the Epipaleolithic or the Mesolithic periods, or both." (Wikipedia)

"Archaeologists think the Azilian represents the tail end of the Magdalenian as the warming climate brought about changes in human behavior in the area. The effects of melting ice sheets would have diminished the food supply and probably impoverished the previously well-fed Magdalenian manufacturers, or at least those who had not followed the herds of horse and reindeer out of the glacial refugium to new territory. As a result, Azilian tools and art were cruder - than their Ice Age predecessors - or simply different." (Wikipedia)

Wikipedia,

Public Domain.

We, as humans, seem to have a tendency to evaluate any large cultural change as a cultural collapse or loss of civilization, instead of just a change, and the transition from Magdalanean to Azilian has been no exception.

"Diagnostic artifacts from the culture include Azilian points (microliths with rounded retouched backs), crude flat bone harpoons and pebbles with abstract decoration. The latter were first found in the River Arize at the type-site for the culture, the Grotte du Mas d'Azil at Le Mas d'Azil in the French Pyrenees. These are the main type of Azilian art, showing a great reduction in scale and complexity from the Magdalenian Art of the Upper Palaeolithic." (Wikipedia) Up until very recently the major form or category of decorative art we knew of  associated with Azilian sites was large numbers of those painted pebbles.

Science Illustrated,

July-August 2012, p. 10.

"Azilian pebbles carry simple designs colored and/or decorated with paint made from red ochre (iron peroxide), applied from the creator's fingers. Dots, borders and bands of color, zig-zags, ovals and dashes are featured. About 1400 pebles like these were found at Le Mas d'Azil, southwestern France - the painted motifs have been suggested to represent words or numbers, as in writing." (Wikipedia)

Wikipedia,

Public Domain.

Other suggestions have related to calendrical or mathematical purposes, game pieces, or even just interior decoration (home beautification). I actually find many of them to be quite decorative and I am more disposed to assume the decorative explanation than accept mathematical or calendrical explanations. Perhaps, when a batch of paint had been manufactured for some other purpose, the painted pebbles represented a way to use up what was left1. I would think that a lot of these painted pebbles lying around the rock shelter would provide a cheerful atmosphere. We have our bric-a-brac lying around our houses, why wouldn't they?  This has been treated by most authors as cultural impoverishment, but, in the words of cosmologist Martin Rees (as cited by Carl Sagan) "absence of evidence is not evidence of absence." (wiki.c2.com)

Now, a new discovery of an Azilian site in France shines a brighter light on this interpretation. "While major changes in stone tool technology between the Magdalenian and Azilian clearly mark important adaptive changes, the discovery of 45 engraved schist tablets from archaeological layers at Le Rocher de l'Impe'ratrice attests to iconographic continuity together with special valorization of aurochs as shown by a "shining" bull depiction. This evidence suggests that some cultural features such as iconography may lag far behind technological changes. We also argue that eventual change in symbolic expression, which includes the later disappearance of figurative art, provides new insight into the probable restructuring of the societies." (Naudinot et al. 2017) But, while the authors of this paper see the continuation of large animal symbolism as iconographic "lag" perhaps this imagery still fitted the spiritual need of the population. Our common religion has lasted for close to 2,000 years without a major change in symbols, perhaps the large animals are symbolic of the Azilian people's beliefs. Indeed, some artists still find creating images of animals to be pertinent and satisfying. If you are doing it right why change it? At least it should prompt a reinterpretation of the cultural and social life and accomplishments of the Azilian people. More on this newly discovered Azilian art next week.

1. Considering the amount of effort that would have been expended manufacturing paint, and the value of high quality red ocher, the remainder not used up for body painting or whatever primary purpose they had, might have been used to put those patterns on pebbles just to avoid wasting it.

NOTE: Some images in this posting were retrieved from the internet with a search for public domain photographs. If any of these images are not intended to be public domain, I apologize, and will happily provide the picture credits if the owner will contact me with them. For further information on these reports you should read the original reports at the sites listed below.

REFERENCES:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Azilian

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Painted_

pebbles

https://wiki.c2.com/?AbsenceOfEvidenceIsNot

EvidenceOfAbsence

Naudinot, N, Bourdier C, Laforge M, Paris C, Bellot-Gurlet L, Beyries S, et al.

2017 Divergence in the Evolution of Paleolithic Symbolic and Technological Systems: The Shining Bull and Engraved Tablets of Rocher de l'Ime'ratrice, PLoSONE 12(3):e0173037. doi:10.1371/journal. pone.0173037, March 3, 2017.