White R., Normand C., 2015 - Early and Archaic Aurignacian Personal Ornaments from Isturitz Cave: Technological and Regional Perspectives, in White R., Bourrillon R. (eds.), Aurignacian Genius: Art, Technology and Society of the First Modern Humans in Europe, P@lethnology, 7, 138-164. (original) (raw)
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Proceedings of the …, 2010
There is extensive debate concerning the cognitive and behavioral adaptation of Neanderthals, especially in the period when the earliest anatomically modern humans dispersed into Western Europe, around 35,000-40,000 B.P. The site of the Grotte du Renne (at Arcy-sur-Cure) is of great importance because it provides the most persuasive evidence for behavioral complexity among Neanderthals. A range of ornaments and tools usually associated with modern human industries, such as the Aurignacian, were excavated from three of the Châtelperronian levels at the site, along with Neanderthal fossil remains (mainly teeth). This extremely rare occurrence has been taken to suggest that Neanderthals were the creators of these items. Whether Neanderthals independently achieved this level of behavioral complexity and whether this was culturally transmitted or mimicked via incoming modern humans has been contentious. At the heart of this discussion lies an assumption regarding the integrity of the excavated remains. One means of testing this is by radiocarbon dating; however, until recently, our ability to generate both accurate and precise results for this period has been compromised. A series of 31 accelerator mass spectrometry ultrafiltered dates on bones, antlers, artifacts, and teeth from six key archaeological levels shows an unexpected degree of variation. This suggests that some mixing of material may have occurred, which implies a more complex depositional history at the site and makes it difficult to be confident about the association of artifacts with human remains in the Châtelperronian levels.
PaleoAnthropology, 2019
The Paleolithic and Mesolithic ornament assemblages from the Franchthi Cave are possibly the richest in Europe in the number of specimens. They are also, undoubtedly, the most restricted in terms of ornament types and the most uniform through time. Perforated Tritia neritea, Tritia pellucida, Antalis sp. and Columbella rustica constitute the dominant types throughout the sequence, from the earliest Upper Paleolithic to the end of the Mesolithic. Pre-Aurignacian, Aurignacian, and Gravettian assemblages, for instance, are completely similar in terms of types and frequency, and the same holds true for the Final Upper Paleolithic and the Lower Mesolithic. Such stability in the choice of ornament types, despite repeated changes in the status and function of the site, contradicts the dis-continuities exemplified by the lithic assemblages. This raises the question of the cultural proxies we use to define past cultural entities and suggests a revision of the paleogeography of prehistoric Europe. This special issue is guest-edited by Daniella E. Bar-Yosef Mayer (Steinhardt Museum of Natural History and Institute of Archaeology, Tel Aviv University) and Marjolein D. Bosch (McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research, University of Cambridge). This is article #11 of 12.
Ivory Ornaments of the Aurignacian in Western Europe: Case studies from France and Germany
L'Anthropologie, 2018
Here we present an overview of the personal ornaments of the Swabian Aurignacian and the Early Aurignacian sites of southwestern France made from mammoth ivory. The production sequences for the serial manufacture of beads from these sites are quite similar. While the Swabian sites have yielded numerous different types of beads with a focus of the double-perforated bead, the nearly exclusive use of one bead-type, the perle en forme de panier, is striking at the sites of southwestern France. Following the presentation of major inventories of ivory ornaments in the two regions concerned, we discuss potential factors underlying both the differences and the similarities we observe in these assemblages.
Personal ornaments in Europe during the Solutrean: evidences from Cantabrian Spain
This paper analyses over 200 pendants, found at a total of 19 sites of Solutrean age in Cantabrian Spain. The most common raw materials used in their manufacture are animal teeth, closely followed by recent (non-fossil) marine shells. Pendants made from other materials (antler, ivory, rocks, minerals and fossils) are much less frequent. All the artefacts have been studied from different points of view (archaeozoological, taphonomic, technological, spatial, etc.). We also review the role played by these pendants within the groups of hunter-gatherers occupying Europe during the Solutrean, with special attention to the strategies used in obtaining the raw materials and to the archaeological context where the objects were found.
PaleoAnthropology, 2019
This article presents two case studies from totally distinct geographic vectors and cultural environments—the Arroyo Seco II cemetery, in the Pampas in Argentina (7800–6300 BP and 4800–4300 BP), and La Vergne, in the west of France dated to the Early Mesolithic (9280–9000 BP), on opposite sides of the Atlantic Ocean. These two graveyards correspond to hunter-gatherer populations, where shells are a major component. They present exceptionally well-conserved remains and were attentively and accurately excavated. Burial environments such asthese, especially graves in open ground, enable us to discuss the status of decorative and ornamental objects in relation to the deceased, and their position in the tomb. Some of them contain abundant corporal personal adornments, whereas others seem to correspond to the deposition of objects in highly ornate perishable materials; each of which contributes to the funerary arrangements. The comparison of such distant examples compels us to go beyond strictly local contingencies and allows us to better underline similarities. It also provides the opportunity to bring to light different types of human action on materials, including the comparison of natural entities with the shaping of raw materials. With respect to prehistoric personal adornments, this debate is reminiscent of the earlier distinction between shells (skeletal) and shellfish. Within this comparative scheme, a new example—the Germignac grave complex (6090 BP) from the early Neolithic of western France where shells are also a major component of adornments—will then highlight how the first farmers, at least in this case, erased the natural identity of certain elements.
Personal Ornaments in the Early Upper Palaeolithic of Western Eurasia. An Evaluation of the record
The ear li est oc cur rences of per sonal or na ments in West ern Eur asia are known from as sem blages that are placed at the Mid dle to Up per Paleolithic Tran si tion (Chatelperronian, Uluzzian, Blattspitzengruppen, Bachokirian). How ever, the paucity of sites dat ing to this pe riod which have pro duced such or na ments, the of ten doubt ful con tex tual as so ci a tion of the finds, and the lim ited num ber of per sonal or na ments known to date from this pe riod, bring into ques tion their uti li za tion prior to the Protoaurignacian.