MORE 38,000-YEAR-OLD AURIGNACIAN ART DISCOVERED IN FRANCE:

Painted block of stone from Abri

Castanet, figures in red and black

pigment are identified as animals.

Sciencedaily photograph by

Raphaelle Bourillon.

On Saturday, February 11, 2017, I posted about the announcement of a date of 38,000 B.P. confirmation for an engraved block of stone from Abri Blanchard, in France. Now, a Science Daily report confirms another 38,000 year-old date for rock art from nearby Abri Castanet. These come from the Aurignacian culture of 43,000 to 30,000 B.P. (www.anthropark.wz.cz).

Like the previous report of 38,000-year-old art from Abri Blanchard, the team which made the discovery at Abri Castanet was led by Randall White of New York University. They are collapsed rock shelters "once inhabited by some of Europe’s first modern humans. Abri Blanchard and its neighbor to the south, Abri Castanet, sit along a cliff face in the Castel Merle Valley, just beyond the quiet, 190-person commune of Sergeac. Abri Blanchard, perched to the left, and Castanet, to its right, once housed extended families who congregated here in the winter." (archaeology.org)

Examples of art from two, essentially adjacent, rock shelters, dated to the same age, suggest that they might have been done by the same group of people. "'Early Aurignacian humans functioned, more or less, like humans today,' explained New York University anthropology professor Randall White, one of the study's co-authors. 'They had relatively complex social identities communicated through personal ornamentation, and they practiced sculpture and graphic arts.'" (sciencedaily.com)

"In 2007, the team discovered an engraved block of limestone in what had been a rock shelter occupied by a group of Aurignacian reindeer hunters. Subsequent geological analysis revealed (that) the ceiling had been about two meters above the floor on which the Aurignacians lived - within arms' reach. Using carbon dating, the researchers determined that both the engraved ceiling, which includes depictions of animals and geometric forms, and the other artifacts found on the living surface below were approximately 37,000 years old." (sciencedaily.com)

You can see the complete story at

https://wwwlsciencedaily.com/releases/2012/05/120514152952.htm. Another exciting discovery, it pays to keep looking.

REFERENCES:

https://wwwlsciencedaily.com/releases/2012/05/120514152952.htm.

http://www.anthropark.wz.cz/aurig.htm 

http://www.archaeology.org/issues/62-1301/letter-from/200-france-abri-castanet-aurignacian

THE OLDEST ART IN EUROPE?

In the January – February, 2013, issue of Archaeology magazine, a fascinating article entitled Structural Integrity, by Nikhil Swaminathan, discusses domestic spatial utilization by Paleolithic people in the ancient rock shelter of Abri Castanet. Randall White, of New York University, has been conducting studies there for eighteen years and has recovered about 150,000 artifacts, from limestone blocks to burnt reindeer bone and minute beads. White has also found markings engraved on stone (petroglyphs) that he estimates at 35,000 years old (lab results will be back early in 2013). These engravings seem to have mostly been found on block and slabs of stone that had fallen from the roof of the cave and there are both aesthetic and functional examples.

Anneaux with engraved line on limestone block.

Abri Cansanet, France. From Archaeology Magazine,

January - February 2013, Structural Integrity,

by Nikhil Swaminthan, pages 55 to 63.

Perhaps the most interesting functional examples are called anneaux. These are pairs of pits or gouges cut into the rock next to each other which have then been joined with an undercut down by the bottom of the pits leaving what is essentially a stone ring or stanchion. Thirty anneaux on 18 different slabs of rock, both from the ceiling and the floor have been found. It is believed that they served as tying points or anchors to tie up a reindeer hide curtain for protection from harsh weather conditions making them part of an early mechanical system.

Petroglyph identified as a vulva. Abri Castanet, France.

From Archaeology Magazine, January - February 2013, p. 29.

As early as 1909 the landowner, Marcel Castanet, was digging at the site, prompted by his discovery of an ivory bead nearby in a fox hole. After a couple of months he found a limestone slab which had the petroglyph of what he thought at first to be a heart on one side, later identified by Abbe Henri Breuil as a portrayal of a vulva.

One block of stone had lines on it that had been identified as the hindquarters of an animal. The adjoining piece of stone was recovered later and displayed the remainder of the creature, allowing the team to identify it as an aurochs.

Estimates of the age of material from the excavation of Abri Castanet (37,000 b.p.) make this material possibly the oldest rock art in Europe made by modern (Cro Magnon) humans. I sincerely hope that Archaeology will keep us updated on this.

REFERENCE:

Swaminithan, Nikhil

2013    Structural Integrity, pages 55 – 63, Archaeology Magazine, January-February 2013.