Prehistoric people created art by firelight

At paleolithic stone slabs are a type of furniture art with engravings that appear mainly in Magdalena deposits, a hunter-gatherer culture dating between 23,000 and 14,000 years ago.

A team of scientists studied 50 limestone slabs found on Montastruca Magdalenian site in the south France with a well-defined archaeological context, a feature common to many art sites excavated in the 19th and early 20th centuries.

“These plates are a fairly common type of art in the Magdalenian period, especially in Western Europe. There are some really important collections recovered in Spain, like the cave site of The Garma in Cantabria. Sometimes a site with this art can have a single copy, like the French one in Étiolles, and in others there can be hundreds, like the German one in Gönnersdorf”, he tells SINC. Andy Needhamlead author of the study at the Department of Archeology at the University of York (UK) and co-director of the Research Center for Experimental Archeology in York.

Another of their characteristics is that they are not always found in places where other types of Paleolithic art have been recovered. For example, although Magdalenian rock art is known at Creswell Crags in England, no plaques have been recovered so far in that country.

The use of platelets in Montastruc It was studied using a microscopy program, 3D modeling, virtual reality and experimental archaeology, the latter focused on limestone heating. According to the results, the plates were engraved with artistic designs about 15,000 years ago and show patterns of heat damage pink around the edges, suggesting they were carved near the flickering light of a fire.

“There have been some reports about traces of blush on other plates in different deposits. In some works from the early 19th century, excavators suggested that they be placed near the fires. Other researchers have identified heat-related breaks in some parts of France. Izzy Wisherfrom the Department of Archeology at the University of Durham (UK) and co-author of the study.

The interplay between engraved stone and firelight makes the engraved shapes appear dynamic and alive, suggesting that this may have been important to their use.

“Rock art produced in dark caves would have been produced in similar conditions, where darkness would have been a constant and all art would have been produced under the influence of the flickering light of candles, torches or fires. It is likely that Montastruc is not the only one and that this has been a factor elsewhere, certainly in caves and maybe with other plate collections as well,” says Needham.

The study looked at a collection of engraved stones, known as platelets, held at the British Museum. / Andy Needham, University of York

Plates kept by the British Museum

These objects were excavated in the 19th century and had long been in the British Museum, but have received relatively little academic attention. “Excavation methods were different in the 19th century, which sometimes makes it difficult to study of collections, as we do not have a complete picture of the context in which the plates were found. We wanted to see if we could better understand these objects using experimental archeology and new digital techniques, even if we no longer have the full archaeological context of the site,” adds Wisher.

The neurology Humans are particularly used to interpreting changes in light and shadow as movement, as well as identifying familiar visual forms in these changing light conditions, with mechanisms such as the so-called pareidolic experience.

“It is a psychological phenomenon that consists in seeing meaningful ways in random patterns, like animals or faces in clouds. This phenomenon likely emerged as an evolutionary advantage to allow our distant ancestors to identify potential threats: it is much better to believe that you saw a predator and react, even if it is just a rock with its shape”, says the experts.

In this way, the wavy surfaces and the cracks in the rocks may have been interpreted as different animals, which may have inspired Magdalenian artists to record what they saw in the rock. Some of the engravings accurately reflect parts of animalslike a paw or an ear.

This interpretation encourages consideration of possible conceptual connections between art made and experienced in similar circumstances, such as parietal art in dark cave environments. Needham continues: “Creating art by firelight would have been a very visceral experience, activating different parts of the human brain”.

“At a time when vast amounts of time and effort were spent in the pursuit of food, water and shelter, it’s fascinating to think that people still had the time and ability to create art. It shows how these activities are part of what made us human for thousands of years and demonstrates the cognitive complexity of prehistoric peoples”, concludes Wisher.

A city of hunter-gatherers

The Magdalenians were a group of hunter-gatherers who lived in a very cold climate at the end of the last Ice Age, in small groups. The panorama around them was very different from today, with fewer trees and more open pastures, with large herds of animals like horses s buffalo.

“They would have been tracked and hunted, perhaps migrating seasonally to follow specific groups across the landscape. Of course, animals were very important to these societies, not only because they depended on them for meat and skins, but also because their art focused almost exclusively on that theme: animals drawn from memory and in great detail.

In addition to portable artLike plaques and rock art, they also had a rich material culture consisting of beads made from animal teeth and exotic materials. They also carved representations of animals into more functional objects, such as spear thrusters.