Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-rdxmf Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-24T05:53:19.289Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

A question of style: reconsidering the stylistic approach to dating Palaeolithic parietal art in France

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 November 2011

Genevieve von Petzinger  and
April Nowell
Genevieve von Petzinger
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, University of Victoria, 3800 Finnerty Road, Victoria, BC V8P 5C2, Canada (Email: [email protected]; [email protected])
April Nowell
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, University of Victoria, 3800 Finnerty Road, Victoria, BC V8P 5C2, Canada (Email: [email protected]; [email protected])
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

The authors deconstruct the basis for dating the Palaeolithic cave paintings of France and find it wanting. Only five per cent are directly dated and the remainder belong to a stylistic framework that has grown organically, and with much circularity, as new paintings were brought to light. Following a constructive bouleversement, the authors recommend a new chronometric foundation based on chains of evidence anchored by radiocarbon dates. The story so far is striking: it brings many of the themes and techniques thought typical of the later painters into the repertoire of their much earlier predecessors.

Keywords

FrancePalaeolithicAurignacianGravettianSolutreanMagdaleniancave paintingparietal art
Type
Research article
Information
Antiquity , Volume 85 , Issue 330 , December 2011 , pp. 1165 - 1183
Copyright
Copyright © Antiquity Publications Ltd 2011

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Bahn, P.G. & Vertut, J.. 1997. Journey through the Ice Age. Berkeley (CA): University of California Press.Google Scholar
Bégouën, R. & Clottes, J.. 1984. Grotte des Trois-Frères, in Ministère de la Culture (France) (ed.) L'art des cavernes: atlas des grottes ornées Paléolithiques Françaises: 400–409. Paris: Imprimerie Nationale.Google Scholar
Bosinski, G. 1991. The representation of female figures in the Rhineland Magdalenian. Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society 57: 51–65.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Breuil, H. 1952. Four hundred centuries of cave art. Montignac: Centre d'Etudes et de Documentation Préhistoriques.Google Scholar
Capitan, L., Breuil, H. & Peyrony, D.. 1910. La caverne de Font-de-Gaume aux Eyzies (Dordogne). Monaco.Google Scholar
Clot, A. 1984. Grotte du Bois du Cantet, in Ministère de la Culture (France) (ed.) L'art des cavernes: atlas des grottes ornées Paléolithiques Françaises: 523–6. Paris: Imprimerie Nationale.Google Scholar
Clottes, J. 1993. Post-Stylistic? in Lorblanchet, M. & Bahn, P.G. (ed.) Rock art studies: the post-stylistic era, or where do we go from here? (Oxbow monograph 35): 19–25. Oxford: Oxbow.Google Scholar
Clottes, J. 1996. Thematic changes in Upper Palaeolithic art - a view from the Grotte Chauvet. Antiquity 70: 276–88.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Clottes, J. 1998. The ‘three c's': fresh avenues towards European Palaeolithic art, in Chippindale, C. & Taçon, P.S.C. (ed.) The archaeology of rock-art. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Clottes, J. 2002. World rock art. Los Angeles (CA): Getty Publications.Google Scholar
Clottes, J. 2008. Cave art. London: Phaidon Press.Google Scholar
Clottes, J. & Courtin, J.. 1993. La grotte Cosquer: peintures et gravures de la caverne engloutie. Paris: Seuil.Google Scholar
Clottes, J., Menu, M. & Walter, P.. 1990. New light on the Niaux paintings. Rock Art Research 7: 21–6.Google Scholar
Clottes, J., Duport, L., Feruglio, V.. 1991. Derniers éléments sur les signes du Placard. Bulletin Socièté préhistorique Ariège-Pyrénéees 46: 119–32.Google Scholar
Clottes, J., Valladas, H., Cachier, H. & Arnold, M.. 1992. Des dates pour Niaux et Gargas. Bulletin de la Société Préhistorique Française 89: 270–74.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Clottes, J., Courtin, J. & Valladas, H.. 1996. Nouvelles dates directes pour la grotte Cosquer. International Newsletter on Rock Art 16: 2–4.Google Scholar
Combier, J. 1984. La Tête du Lion, in Ministère de la Culture (France) (ed.) L'art des cavernes: atlas des grottes ornées Paléolithiques Françaises: 597. Paris: Imprimerie Nationale.Google Scholar
Cuzange, M.-T., Delqué-Količ, E., Goslar, T., Meiert Grootes, P., Higham, T., Kaltnecker, E., Nadeau, M.-J., Oberlin, C., Paterne, M., Van Der Plicht, J., Bronk Ramsey, C., Valladas, H., Clottes, J. & Geneste, J.-M.. 2007. Radiocarbon Intercomparison Program for Chauvet Cave. Radiocarbon 49(2): 339–47.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Davidson, I. 1997. The power of pictures, in Conkey, M., Soffer, O., Stratmann, D. & Jablonski, N.G. (ed.) Beyond art: Pleistocene image and symbol: 125–59. Berkeley (CA): University of California Press.Google Scholar
Delluc, B. & Delluc, G.. 1984. Grotte La Martine, in Ministère de la Culture (France) (ed.) L'art des cavernes: atlas des grottes ornées Paléolithiques Françaises: 100–101. Paris: Imprimerie Nationale.Google Scholar
González, J.J.A. & Behrmann, R. De Balbín. 2007. 14C et style: la chronologie de l'art pariétal à l'heure actuelle. L'anthropologie 111: 435–66.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Igler, W., Dauvois, M., Hyman, M., Menu, M, Rowe, M., Vezian, J. & Walter, P.. 1994. Datation radiocarbone de deux figures pariétales de la grotte du Portel (Commune de Loubens, Ariège). Bulletin de la Socièté de Préhistoire de l'Ariège 49: 231–6.Google Scholar
Leroi-Gourhan, A. 1962. Chronologie de l'art paléolithique, in Pallottino, M., Cardini, L. & Brusadin, D. (ed.) Atti del VI Congresso Internazionale delle Scienze Preistoriche e Protostoriche, Roma 29 agosto-3 settembre. Volume 1: Relazioni generali: 341–55. Tivoli: G.C.Sansoni.Google Scholar
Leroi-Gourhan, A. 1984. Grotte de Lascaux, in Ministère de la Culture (France) (ed.) L'art des cavernes: atlas des grottes ornées Paléolithiques Françaises: 180–200. Paris: Imprimerie Nationale.Google Scholar
Leroi-Gourhan, A., Delluc, B. & Delluc, G. (ed). 1995. Préhistoire de l'Art Occidental. Paris: Citadelles et Mazenod.Google Scholar
Lewis-Williams, D. 2002. The mind in the cave: consciousness and the origins of art. London: Thames & Hudson.Google Scholar
Lorblanchet, M. 1984. Grotte des Merveilles, in Ministère de la Culture (France) (ed.) L'art des cavernes: atlas des grottes ornées Paléolithiques Françaises: 490–94. Paris: Imprimerie Nationale.Google Scholar
Lorblanchet, M. 2010. Art Parietal: Grottes Ornees du Quercy. Rodez: Editions du Rouergue.Google Scholar
Lorblanchet, M., Cachier, H. & Valladas, H.. 1995. Datation des chevaux ponctués de Pech-Merle. International Newsletter on Rock Art 12: 2–3.Google Scholar
Mélard, N., Pigeaud, R., Primault, J. & Rodet, J.. 2010. Gravettian paintings and associated activity at Le Moulin de Laguenay (Lissac-sur-Couze, Corrèze). Antiquity 84: 666–80.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Moro-Abadía, O. & González Morales, M.R.. 2007. Thinking about style in the ‘Post-Stylistic Era’: reconstructing the stylistic context of Chauvet. Oxford Journal of Archaeology 26(2): 109–125.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pettitt, P. 2008. Art and the Middle-to-Upper Paleolithic transition in Europe: comments on the archaeological arguments for an early Upper Paleolithic antiquity of the Grotte Chauvet art. Journal of Human Evolution 55: 908–917.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Pettitt, P. & Bahn, P.. 2003. Current problems in dating Palaeolithic cave art: Candamo and Chauvet. Antiquity 77: 134–41.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pettitt, P. & Pike, A.. 2007. Dating European Palaeolithic cave art: progress, prospects, problems. Journal of Archaeological Method and Theory 14(1): 27–47.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pettitt, P., Bahn, P. & Züchner, C.. 2009. The Chauvet conundrum: are claims for the ‘Birthplace of Art’ premature? in Bahn, P.G. (ed.) An enquiring mind: studies in honor of Alexander Marshack: 239–62. Oxford: Oxbow.Google Scholar
Pigeaud, R. 2007. Determining style in Palaeolithic cave art: a new method derived from horse images. Antiquity 81: 409–422.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pigeaud, R., Valladas, H., Arnold, M. & Cachier, H.. 2003. Deux dates carbone 14 en spectrométrie de masse par accélérateur (SMA) pour une représentation pariétale de la grotte ornée Mayenne-Sciences (Thorigné-en-Charnie, Mayenne): émergence d'un art gravettien en France septentrionale? Comptes Rendus Paleovol 2: 161–8.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Reimer, P.J., Baillie, M.G.L., Bard, E., Bayliss, A., Beck, J.W, Blackwell, P.G., Bronk Ramsey, C., Buck, C.E., Burr, G.S., Edwards, R.L., Friedrich, M., Grootes, P.M., Guilderson, T.P., Hajdas, I., Heaton, T.J., Hogg, A.G., Hughen, K.A., Kaiser, K.F., Kromer, B., Mccormac, F.G., Manning, S.W., Reimer, R.W., Richards, D.A., Southon, J.R., Talamo, S., Turney, C.S.M., Van Der Plicht, J. & Weyhenmeyer, C.E.. 2010. IntCal09 and Marine09 radiocarbon age calibration curves, 0-50,000 years cal BP. Radiocarbon 51: 1111–50.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Roussot, A. 1984. Grotte de Font-de-Gaume, in Ministère de la Culture (France) (ed.) L'art des cavernes: atlas des grottes ornées Paléolithiques Françaises: 129–34. Paris: Imprimerie Nationale.Google Scholar
Roussot, A., Aujoulat, N. & Daubisse, P.. 1983. Grotte de Font-de-Gaume, Les Eyzies (Dordogne). Les peintures de la galerie d'accès. Bulletin de la Société préhistorique de l'Ariège 38: 151–63.Google Scholar
Sauvet, G. & Wlodarczyk, A.. 2008. Towards a formal grammar of the European Paleolithic cave art. Rock Art Research 25(2): 165–72.Google Scholar
Sentis, J. 2005. Les silhouettes féminines stylisées peuvent-elles caractériser des territoires culturels? in Jaubert, J. & Barbaza, M. (ed.) Territoires, déplacements, mobilité, échanges durant la Préhistoire: 411–20. Paris: CTHS.Google Scholar
Sharpe, K. & Van Gelder, L.. 2006. The study of finger flutings. Cambridge Archaeological Journal 16(3): 281–95.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Valladas, H., Cachier, H., Maurice, P., Bernaldo De Quirós, F., Clottes, J., Cabrera, V., Uzquiano, P. & Arnold, M.. 1992. Direct radiocarbon dates for prehistoric paintings at the Altamira, El Castillo and Niaux caves. Nature 357: 68–70.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Valladas, H., Cachier, H. & Arnold, M.. 1993. New Radiocarbon dates for Prehistoric cave paintings at Cougnac, in Lorblanchet, M. & Bahn, P.G. (ed.) Rock art studies: the post-stylistic era, or where do we go from here? (Oxbow monograph 35): 74–6. Oxford: Oxbow.Google Scholar
Valladas, H., Tisnerat, N., Arnold, M., Evin, J. & Oberlin, C.. 2001. Les dates des fréquentations, in Clottes, J. (ed.) La grotte Chauvet. L'Art des origins: 32–3. Paris: Seuil.Google Scholar
Von Petzinger, G. 2009. Making the abstract concrete: the place of geometric signs in French Upper Palaeolithic parietal art. Unpublished Master's dissertation, University of Victoria.Google Scholar
Züchner, c. 2003. Archaeological dating of rock art nothing but a subjective method. International Newsletter on Rock Art 35: 18–24.Google Scholar