Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-2brh9 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-04T19:53:14.012Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

A Newly Discovered Female Engraving from Courbet (Penne-Tarn), France

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 February 2014

Jill Cook  and
Anne-Catherine Welté
Jill Cook
Affiliation:
British Museum, Quaternary Section, Franks House, 38 Orsman Road, London N1 5QJ
Anne-Catherine Welté
Affiliation:
Musée d'Histoire Naturelle, 35 allées J. Guesde, 31000 Toulouse
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

An Upper Palaeolithic engraving of a female figure has recently been discovered on the base of a naturally hollowed limestone slab possibly used as a bowl or lamp, found in the cave of Courbet (Penne-Tarn, France) and preserved in the British Museum. The slab, decorated on the dished side with linear incisions, and the female figure are described in detail. The occurrence of a female engraving on a utilised slab is found to be unique to date but the relationship of the figure to the support is questioned and discussed. The female engraving is compared with others known from Germany, as well as Quercy and Périgord, France. On the basis of these comparisons and radiocarbon age estimates, the engraved slab is attributed to Magdalenian VI.

Type
Research Article
Information
Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society , Volume 58 , Issue 1 , 1992 , pp. 29 - 35
Copyright
Copyright © The Prehistoric Society 1992

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

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Alaux, J.-F. 1972. Gravure feminine sur plaquette calcaire, du Magdalenien supérieur de la grotte de Courbet (commune de Penne-Tarn). Bulletin de la Société Préhistorique Française 69, 109–12.Google Scholar
Beaune, S. A. de 1987. Lampes et Godets au Paléolithique. Supplément à Gallia Préhistoire 23. Paris: CNRS.Google Scholar
Beaune, S. A. de, Roussot, A. & White, R. 1988. Une lampe paléolithique retrouvée dans les collections du Field Museum of Natural History, Chicago. Bulletin de la Société Préhistorique Ariège-Pyrénées 43, 149–60.Google Scholar
Bosinski, G. 1991. The representation of female figures in the Rhineland Magdalenian. Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society 57 (1), 51–64.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bosinski, G. & Fischer, G. 1974. Die Darstellungen von Gönnersdorf. Die Ausgrabung von 1968. Wiesbaden: Franz Steiner.Google Scholar
Delporte, H. 1979. L'Image de la Femme dans l'Art Préhistorique. Paris: Picard.Google Scholar
Garrigou, F., Martin, L. & Trutat, E. 1864. Fouilles pratiquées dans la Caverne de Bruniquel, Tarn-et-Garonne. Mémoires de l'Académie des Sciences, Inscriptions et Belle Lettres de Toulouse, 6e série, 422–23.Google Scholar
Ladier, E. 1988. Fouilles récentes à la grotte du Courbet à Penne (Tarn), premiers résultats. Archéologie Tarnaise Hors-série n° 1, 29–39.Google Scholar
Ladier, E. & Welté, A.-C. in press. Les sites magdaléniens de la vallée de l'Aveyron; observations inédites. Bulletin de la Société Préhistorique Française.Google Scholar
Lastic, F. de 1868. Priorité de l'homme dans la caverne de Bruniquel. Congrès International d'Anthropologie et d'Archéologie Préhistorique. Compte rendu de la 2me Session, Paris, 1867, pp. 119–22 and 160. Paris: C. Reinwald.Google Scholar
Lorblanchet, M. & Welté, A.-C. 1987. Les figurations féminines stylisées du Magdalénien Supérieur en Quercy. Bulletin de la Société des Etudes du Lot 57, 3–57.Google Scholar
Owen, R. 1896. Description of the cavern of Bruniquel and its organic contents. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society 159, 517–33 and 535–57.Google Scholar
Schvoerer, M., Bordier, C., Evin J., & Delibrias, G. 1979. Chronologie absolue de la fin des temps glaciaires en Europe. Recensement et présentation des datations se rapportant à des sites français. In de Sonneville-Bordes, D. (ed.), La Fin des Temps Glaciaires en Europe, 21–41. Paris: CNRS.Google Scholar
Sieveking, A. 1987. A Catalogue of Palaeolithic Art in the British Museum. London: British Museum Publications.Google Scholar
Tosello, G. 1989. Une lampe ornée à La Madeleine. Paléo 1, 117–24.Google Scholar
Welté, A.-C. & Lambert, G. in press. L'art mobilier de l'abri de Fontalès (T. et G.), Novelles observations. L'Anthropologie.Google Scholar