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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
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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

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References

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