What could our ancestors have done 15,000 years ago, when it was evening? The discoveries made at the site of Montastruc (France) provide an overview. The artifacts found date back to the Magdalenian period, an Upper Paleolithic cultural era spanning from 17,000 to 14,000 BC. was for sane man A period rich in the production of portable or mural art in Western Europe, over a geographic area stretching from Portugal to Germany. Among these finds, engraved stone panels have caught the attention of researchers regarding their use: were they functional, decorative, or ritualistic? This study was published in PLUS ONE On April 20, 2022, it presents a new way of understanding European Paleolithic art.
Mysterious Engraved Stones
In the mid-nineteenth century, archaeologist Peccadeau de l’Isle discovered about fifty limestone slabs in Montastruc, a town in southwestern France. Their bodies were exhumed from a 29-meter-high limestone shelter near the Aveyron River, a place occupied by human societies about 15,000 years ago. They are covered with carvings of animals (horses, reindeer, caribou, cattle), anthropomorphic figures and abstract ornaments, sometimes intertwined with each other. For nearly two centuries, these paintings have been kept in The British Museum As artifacts from the Paleolithic period.
Recently, a team of archaeologists wanted to analyze it thoroughly, although there was a significant drawback: the context for the discovery of these plates is very old and insufficiently accurate. Without an idea of their original location in the sanctuary, and the depth of their burial when they were discovered, the explanation for their function is more speculative. However, the analysis of these paintings thanks to digital technologies revealed clues. The radiocarbon dating of two of them inferred that they were made between 16,000 and 13,500 years before the present, suggesting their homogeneity. On site.
close contact with fire
Thanks to an arsenal of technologies such as microscopy, 3D modeling and virtual reality, it was possible to notice that these chips were poorly exposed to light, but also most of them bear traces of heating. They probably stayed in the shelter and near a stove with low ambient light. Many are cracked or tolerate thermal fractures, as well as traces of pink discoloration that appear to be burnt. This is the phenomenon of redness: the stone takes on a red color when heated between 100 ° C and 300 ° C. Above 600 ° C, the stone takes on a light gray tint.
According to the team, this platelet-burning activity could be unique to Montastruc. Several assumptions are made:
What could our ancestors have done 15,000 years ago, when it was evening? The discoveries made at the site of Montastruc (France) provide an overview. The artifacts found date back to the Magdalenian period, an Upper Paleolithic cultural era spanning from 17,000 to 14,000 BC. was for sane man A period rich in the production of portable or mural art in Western Europe, over a geographic area stretching from Portugal to Germany. Among these finds, engraved stone panels have caught the attention of researchers regarding their use: were they functional, decorative, or ritualistic? This study was published in PLUS ONE On April 20, 2022, it presents a new way of understanding European Paleolithic art.
Mysterious Engraved Stones
in the middle of 19And In the last century, archaeologist Picado de Lille discovered about fifty limestone slabs in Montastruc, a town in southwestern France. Their bodies were exhumed from a 29-meter-high limestone shelter near the Aveyron River, a place occupied by human societies about 15,000 years ago. They are covered with carvings of animals (horses, reindeer, caribou, cattle), anthropomorphic figures and abstract ornaments, sometimes intertwined with each other. For nearly two centuries, these paintings have been kept in The British Museum As artifacts from the Paleolithic period.
Recently, a team of archaeologists wanted to analyze it thoroughly, although there was a significant drawback: the context for the discovery of these plates is very old and insufficiently accurate. Without an idea of their original location in the sanctuary, and the depth of their burial when they were discovered, the explanation for their function is more speculative. However, the analysis of these paintings thanks to digital technologies revealed clues. The radiocarbon dating of two of them inferred that they were made between 16,000 and 13,500 years before the present, suggesting their homogeneity. On site.
close contact with fire
Thanks to an arsenal of technologies such as microscopy, 3D modeling and virtual reality, it was possible to notice that these chips were poorly exposed to light, but also most of them bear traces of heating. They probably stayed in the shelter and near a fireplace with low ambient light. Many are cracked or tolerate thermal fractures, as well as traces of pink discoloration that appear to be burnt. This is the phenomenon of redness: the stone takes on a red color when it is heated between 100 ° C and 300 ° C. Above 600 ° C, the stone takes on a light gray tint.
According to the team, this platelet-burning activity could be unique to Montastruc. Several hypotheses were put forward: either it was a question of accidental burning of these chips, or it was purely functional (such as the structure of a furnace or a boiling stone, for example), or it was a question of non-functional activity, perhaps – it is technical. “The study is innovative because it calls for several levels of tools and techniques with empirical input, allowing a fairly complete analysis of these platelets.‘, note to Science and the future Oscar Fuentes, archaeologist at the National Prehistoric Center. “It comes in addition to other works such as that of Catherine Ferrer on cave-wall heating experiments and similar phenomena that emerge from them.. “
Radical changes in color
In an experiment conducted in York Center for Experimental Archeology Research, The research team placed limestone slabs similar to those at Montastruc in real conditions, near a fire. Some were a medium distance from the stove, others very close to the flames. They were able to notice the stone appearing.”drastic changes in color“When the limestone was heated, particularly at the level of the engraved parts, which corresponds to the redness temperatures recorded on the Montastruck plates. The researchers concluded that different optical effects caused by the light intensity differences in the fire could be seen.
The following video shows a virtual reality simulation of plate number 662, which provides a good example of the effect of these intertwined reliefs in firelight. Depending on the angle of the position relative to the focus, some antlers are further distinguished.
Chip #662 video in VR lighting simulation, directed in two different directions. © Andy Needham & all / PLOS One, 2022
The researchers pointed out that the fillings placed near the fire caused “Noticeable visual effects (…) by flashing on the etched surface“, the dynamic addition of different styles. The effect was”Especially notable for overlays“It seems to come alive under the influence of the flames.”The study of the relationship between manipulable hewn stones and their visual effect in fireplace light is relatively innovative.continues Olivier Fuentes, There is not much work in this aspect. It is very likely that this type of platelet was used in this way, but this can only be confirmed by supporting this hypothesis by studying other bodies excavated at other sites, in particular reliefs representing stacked animals or with several pairs of legs. “
deliberate launch
It is very likely for archaeologists that this was the desired effect. According to them, human neuroscience would be well suited to explaining changes in light and shadow as movements, not to mention the effect of pareidolia. This assumes that these communities were experts at observing local wildlife, a recurring theme in their artistic production. These, for researchers, are favorable conditions.”eliciting psycho-visual responses“, the light is able to believe in the illusion of movement. If the results do not rule out other causes of these heating effects, then the deliberate placement of these plates is highly probable. The team notes that there were also plates with no traces of heating, undoubtedly used as ornamental or ornamental objects .
Olivier Fuentes calls for caution about these interpretations: “We don’t know the context of finding these plates, in fact my feeling is mixed versus the results. The use of fiery lights on wall reliefs is already known, but as for moving paintings, the possibilities of their numerous use do not make it possible to guarantee their main function. It is difficult to study Montastruck from this point of view. The study would have indicated in particular that the redness of the stones was sometimes optional, in order to make the whiteness of the inscription more conspicuous. This was observed at the prehistoric site of La Marche, in Vienna, where the stones were scratched and re-engraved several times to “refresh” the whiteness of the patterns.“
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