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New finds of Upper Palaeolithic decorative objects from Předmostí, Czech Republic

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2015

Rebecca Farbstein  and
Jiříp Svoboda
Rebecca Farbstein
Affiliation:
Department of Archaeology, University of Cambridge, Downing Street, Cambridge CB2 3DZ, UK
Jiříp Svoboda
Affiliation:
Institute of Archaeology, Paleolithic and Paleoethnology Research Center, 69129 Dolní Věstonice, Czech Republic
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Extract

Two new examples of decorative art have turned up at the Gravettian site of Předmostí, dating to the twenty-sixth to twenty-fifth millennium BP: rectilinear grid patterns are executed on one side of flat bones, probably of reindeer. The authors speculate that the two pieces may have come from a single larger decorated object. The grids themselves join a growing repertoire of patterns known from Upper Palaeolithic society, but their role remains enigmatic: counting, calendars or ornament? Art or science?

Keywords

Upper PalaeolithicGravettianCzech Republicmammothreindeerdecorative artartgrid pattern
Type
Research Article
Information
Antiquity , Volume 81 , Issue 314 , 1 December 2007 , pp. 856 - 864
Copyright
Copyright © Antiquity Publications Ltd. 2007

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