학술논문

The Cave of Isturitz (West Pyrenees, France): One Century of Research in Paleolithic Parietal Art
Document Type
article
Source
Arts, Vol 2, Iss 4, Pp 253-272 (2013)
Subject
cave art
Isturitz
Magdalenian
Basque Country
engravings
Arts in general
NX1-820
Language
English
ISSN
2076-0752
Abstract
The cave of Isturitz is one of the most important archaeological sites of the prehistory of Western Europe. Human occupations followed each other in the cavity from at least the Middle Paleolithic to the Roman age. In 1913, Passermard started archaeological excavations there, and a calcite pillar was discovered next to the original entrance that was sculpted with a dozen of animal representations. In this excavation, the Magdalenian levels yielded a considerable quantity of portable art objects. In the last few years, several workers have resumed the study of those pieces. Since 2011, we have created a research team for the study of the parietal figures of the cave, as well as other elements, for example the objects embedded in the walls. We present here our first results, which improve in the understanding of the artistic activities of Upper Palaeolithic peoples by shedding light at the art analyzed in Isturitz.