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.

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

PAINTED PEBBLES, VAL VERDE COUNTY, TX.

Painted pebbles (reproductions) on display,

White Shaman, Val Verde County, TX.

Photograph: Peter Faris, March 2004.

Forms of rock art that are often considered portable include rock slabs, stones or pebbles, or even stone tools that are carved, scratched, or painted. In the Pecos region of Texas painted pebbles are quite commonly found, often with burials in rock shelters. A large number of them were recovered during the 1933 excavation of Fate Bell Shelter by J. E. Pearce.

Painted pebbles, Val Verde County, TX, From Newcomb, 

1967, The Rock Art of Texas Indians, paintings

by Forrest Kirkland, Plate 68, p. 107.

“Forty-eight painted pebbles were found in the shelter. Eight were broken.

Of the pebbles excavated 67 per cent came from the upper 25 inches, 21 per cent from depths of 25 to 40 inches, and 12 per cent from below 40 inches.

The painted designs on a few of the pebbles remain clear and bright, but on a majority they are somewhat dim. Frequently they are so nearly obliterated that but little remains of the original designs. On twenty of the pebbles the paint is barely discernible.” (Pearce 1933:79)  

“Black was the predominant color of the paint used. One design has a trace of red bordering the black; another bears a very dim design in red paint.

In length the pebbles vary from 1½ to 4½ inches, in width from ½ to 2¼ inches, and in thickness from 1/8 to ½ inch.

It seems worth noting that a number of the painted pebbles from Site No. 1, Seminole Canyon, and from other nearby rock shelters bear evidence of having been scratched and pecked in spots.” (Pearce 1933:83)

Painted pebbles, Val Verde County, TX, From Newcomb, 

1967, The Rock Art of Texas Indians, paintings

by Forrest Kirkland, Plate 67, p. 106.

“The design elements present and the number of times each was employed in the decoration of these pebbles are as follows:

Horizontal lines……………………….….24

Geometric figures………………….…..15

Ladder symbols………………………..…12

Scrolls……………………………………..….10

Vertical lines………………………….…..10

Sun Symbols …………………………..…..8

Projectile shafts …………………….…..7

Serpents …………………………….….…..5

Cross…………………………………….………5

Dashes, or enumeration dots.……..5

Human faces………………………….………5

Moon symbol s………………………………4

Trees or plants ……………………………4

Lightning symbols ……………….…..…4

“Death counts” ………………………..…3

Human figures ………………………..….2

Crosshatch………………………………....2

Bird …………………………………………….1

Animal or insect………………………….1

Blanket-like figure ……………..…….1

Tepee-like figure ……………………….1” 

(Pearce 1933:84)

Now many of these categories strike me as problematical and arbitrary, especially since they were not accompanied with any sort of index to the meanings of these designations.  It is worth noting that Pearce footnoted this table with the disclaimer - “This tabulated study of designs is the work of Mr. A. T. Jackson. His co-author is dubious about some of his identifications of elements but accepts most of them. J. E. P.” (Pearce 1933:84)

“This study of the designs on painted pebbles is not intended to be exhaustive. Many more specimens must be secured, studied, and compared before any definite conclusions can be arrived at as to their significance. Their number, character, and distribution indicate that they were an important element in the life of the early men who lived in this shelter. They are suggestive of the churingas of Australia and were almost surely sacred objects.” (Pearce 1933:87)

Of course they were not “almost certainly sacred objects” as Pearce stated (the underline is mine). They are just as likely to have been gaming pieces, toys, or practice for the important job of painting on the shelter walls. They might even have been intended for juggling, in some sort of prehistoric Pecos vaudeville act, or for all we know a Pecos magician might have pulled them from some child's ear in an example of prehistoric prestidigitation. They were, however, obviously important for some reason because there are so many of them, and so many of those are quite neatly made with carefully delineated lines and patterns, not just splashed or smeared. Painted pebbles have been found in many other locations from throughout human history, including Paleolithic sites in Europe. Whatever else they were, they were certainly a widespread human cultural phenomenon, and they are worth looking at for that reason alone.

REFERENCES:

Newcomb, W. W., Jr.

1967    The Rock Art of Texas Indians, paintings by Forrest Kirkland, University of Texas Press, Austin and London.

Pearce, J. E., and A. T. Jackson,

1933    A Prehistoric Rock Shelter In Val Verde County, Texas, Anthropological Papers of the University of Texas, Vol. 1, No. 3, Bureau of Research in the Social Sciences, Study No. 6, University of Texas, Austin.