PREHISTORIC ANIMATION - PALEOLITHIC THAUMATROPES?

Illustration of bird and cage

thaumatrope. Public Domain.

Even if we do not remember, or ever knew, what they are called, we all remember thaumatropes from our childhood as the classic illustration of the bird in a cage thaumatrope will remind us. Another popular one from history is made with a vase on one side and a bunch of flowers on the other. As you spin it the flowers appear to be in the vase, and the bird in the cage. Now it seems possible that the thaumatrope was invented a very long time ago.

Bone disc from Mas d'Azil, France.

Photo paleomanias.co, Public Domain.

In their 2012 paper from Antiquity, Azema and Rivere propose that engraved bone discs found in Paleolithic excavations might function as thaumatropes. In 2997 Florent Rivere was studying paleolithic bone discs cut from the shoulder blades of large animals (bison or deer). These had almost universally been classified as buttons or pendants by their discoverers. (Another suggestion was spindle whorls, but small size suggests that they would be ineffective in that role). Noting that some were decorated on both sides with animals shown in different positions he and Azema hypothesized that they could be strung on a cord of sinew or plant fiber and rotated as a thaumatrope.

Bone disc from Mas d'Azil, France.

Photo paleomanias.co, Public Domain.

"One of the most convincing cases is that of a bone disc some 3.1cm in diameter found in 1868 by M. Hardy in the Laugerie-Basse rockshelter in the Dordogne and published in 1872. One can see a herbivore, a doe or more likely a chamois from the shape of the ear and horn, the shape of the tail and small lines along the head. The animal is shown in two different positions, standing on one side of the disc and lying on the other.  .  .  .  . We then had the idea that rapidly pivoting the object at 180 degrees (back and forth) would induce an optical effect in terms of retinal persistence, the capacity of the eye to retain an image already seen superimposed on the images being seen." (p. 321) In other words, by rapidly rotating the object about a horizontal pivot both sides would be seen in rapid succession, and the images would fuse because of retinal persistence.

Bone disc from Laugerie-Bas,

France. Public Domain.

"Other Magdalenian bone discs, whole or fragmented, seem to offer similar examples of animation. A mammoth from Raymonden (Dordogne) has an eye that opens (circular profile) and closes (almond shaped profile) while the mouth half opens. - A disc found at the site of La Tuiliere at Saint-Leon-sur-Vezere (Dordogne) shows the movement of an equid, from right to left, in three successive images. At Mas d'Azil (Ariege), a bone disc shows a sort of 'morphone', recording the passage of a young calf to adulthood." (p. 323)

Does any of this prove anything, well no, in fact I find myself a little skeptical of most of these conclusions. Based upon the listed subject matter I am not convinced that most of these would be effective illusions (on the order of the bird in the cage or the flowers in the vase). The mammoth winking it's eye does sound like an effective illusion however. But, if true, all this suggests a wonderful insight, that our Paleolithic forebears had invented this 19th century toy many, tens of thousands of years ago. An exciting possibility indeed. We know they were smart enough.

NOTE: 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 this you should read the original report listed below.

REFERENCES:

Azema, Marc, and Florent Rivere,

2012 Animation in Palaeolithic Art: A Pre-Echo of Cinema, Antiquity Publications Ltd., Antiquity 86 (2012):316-324, http://antiquity.ac.uk/ant/086/ant0860316.htm

NEW DISCOVERIES IN AZILIAN CULTURE ROCK ART:

Azilian painted pebble,

Wikipedia. Public Domain.

It has long been believed that the great Ice Age art of Europe disappeared with the decline of the Magdalenian culture about 12,000 BCE. The following culture in that area has been named the Azilian culture, and the main art practice associated with Azilian has been decorated pebbles.

"The Azilian is a name given by archaeologists to an industry of the Epipaleolithic in northern Spain and southern France.

It probably dates to the period of - around 12,000 years ago - and followed the Magdalenian culture. Archaeologists think the Azilian represents the tail end of the Magdalenian as the warming climate brought about changes in human behaviour in the area. The effects of melting ice sheets would have diminished the food supply and probably impoverished the previously well-fed Magdalenian manufacturers. As a result, Azilian tools and art were cruder and less expansive than their Ice Age predecessors - or simply different.

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, Le Mas-d'Azil in the French Pyrenees." (Wikipedia)

Large numbers of the painted pebbles mentioned above have been recovered from Azilian sites, and this has long been assumed to represent their total artistic output.

"Azilian pebbles carry simple designs coloured and/or decorated with paint made from red ochre (iron peroxide), applied from the creator's fingers. Dots, borders and bands of colour, zig-zags, ovals and dashes are featured. About 1400 pebbles like these were found at Le Mas-d'Azil, southwestern France." (Wikipedia)

Engraved aurochs on schist plaque.

Azilian, Le Rocher del'Imperatrice,

France. Plos.org, Public Domain.

Drawing of aurochs on schist plaque.

Azilian, Le Rocher del'Imperatrice,

France. Plos.org, Public Domain.

A recent publication online on Plosone (Plos.org, March 3, 2017) by a team of French researchers led by Nicolas Naudinot described a group of 45 schist placques recovered at Le Rocher del'Imperatrice described sophisticated realistic engravings that open up a whole new area of understanding of the art of this important period of history.

"The development of the Azilian in Western Europe 14,000 years ago is considered a 'revolution' in Upper Paleolithic Archaeology. One of the main elements of this rapid social restructuring is the abandonment of naturalistic figurative art on portable pieces or on cave walls in the Magdalenian in favor of abstract expression on small pebbles.

Recent work shows that the transformation of human societies between the Magdalenian and the Azilian was more gradual. The discovery of a new Early Azilian site with decorated stones in France supports this hypothesis. 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'Iperatrice attests to iconogaphic continuity together with special valorization of aurochs as shown by a 'shining' bull depiction." (Naudinot 2017)

Realistic, larger-scale depictions of aurochs and horses provide evidence that cultural and religious beliefs had not totally abandoned the fascination in large animals found in previous cultures, and suggest that the evolution of these beliefs and mythology moved more slowly, lagging behind the evolution of tools to fit the new conditions the people lived in.

Engraved aurochs on schist plaque.

Azilian, Le Rocher del'Imperatrice,

France. Plos.org, Public Domain.

Drawing of aurochs on schist plaque.

Azilian, Le Rocher del'Imperatrice,

France. Plos.org, Public Domain.

A depiction on one schist plaque of an aurochs seems to be accentuated by an aura or rays around its head. "One side bears a special composition of a bull's head in left profile surrounded by deep rays that create a highlighting visual effect. No equivalent 'shining animal' could be found in the European Paleolithic iconography. The technological study of this piece shows an intentional organization of gestures in order to point up the central place of the aurochs. The rays were engraved after the animal. But to place the aurochs at the forefront, the horns have been accentuated by a new series of engraving in the same grooves, occurring in the areas where the rays and the horns intersect." (Naudinot 2017)

This type of symbolic representation may be later traced to the portrayal of halos on holy images in medieval and renaissance art and may point to the origin of a symbol utilized and understood down to the present. In other words, it is possible that this represents the earliest known example of a symbol that has lasted for ca. 14,000 years, an important discovery to be sure.

NOTE: The images in this posting were retrieved from the Internet with a search for Public Domain images. If they were used inappropriately and are not intended to be Public Domain I apologize to the owner of the picture's rights. If this is the case please inform me.

REFERENCES:                                                          

Naudinot, et al,

2017 Divergence in the Evolution of Paleolithic Symbolic and Technological Systems: the Shining Bull and Engraved tablets of Rocher de L'Imperatrice,

http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pome.0173037

Wikipedia

A UNIQUE THEME IN PALEOLITHIC PORTABLE ART - THE BIRD ON A TURD:

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,

Wikipedia