Geometric Images on Pebbles and Stone Tablets
in the Paleolithic of Northern Eurasia:
Comparative Analysis and Possibilities of Interpretation

T. V. Korneva

List of issues > «Geoarchaeology, Ethnology, and Anthropology Series». 2022. Vol 41

Geometric Images on Pebbles and Stone Tablets in the Paleolithic of Northern Eurasia: Comparative Analysis and Possibilities of Interpretation

Full text (russian)

Author(s)

T. V. Korneva

Abstract

This study is devoted to geometric images (also called “abstract” and “non-figurative”) on pebbles and stone tablets that are represented in the context of cave and open Paleolithic sites of Europe and Russia. Terms such as “geometric image” and “symbolic image” reflect different approaches to the study of non-figurative images - morphological and semiotic. Geometric images chronologically appeared earlier than figurative ones: the first evidence of nonutilitarian activity in the form of notches and strokes is known at the sites of the Acheulean time, and for the Middle Paleolithic their number reached several dozen. With the onset of the Upper Paleolithic, the heyday of Paleolithic art begins. Since the Magdalenian, there has been a sharp development of non-figurative art, which reached its apogee in the final Paleolithic. It was during this period that Azil pebbles appeared, and geometric images on stones became serial and standardized, primarily in Western Europe. Pebbles and stone tablets with signs are found on the territory of Central and Eastern Europe, the Urals and Siberia, up to Kamchatka. Some geometric images are found both in mobile and in rock art, but in most cases, it is impossible to consider the signs separately from the object on which they are applied. Pebbles and stone tablets are usually decorated with different motifs. They existed in different contexts and cultures: tablets were more often used as a base in the Magdalenian, and pebbles – in the Azilian. They probably had different meanings and were created for different purposes. The technique of image creation was also important: it is no accident that drawings made with paint rarely have analogies among engraved images, even within the one site. The application of the semiotic approach allows us to identify groups of images that can be considered elements of sign systems. The Azilian pebbles of Western Europe can be attributed to the sign systems. Stone objects with geometric images from Eastern Europe and Siberia do not form such a unity: they are represented by single artifacts, diverse in morphology, age, technique and the type of the stone object. Some objects found at the sites of the Northern Asia, from the Urals to Kamchatka, show similarities with European artifacts. However, such examples are rare, and similar stones with geometric images were found at sites very remote from each other, so it is too early to draw conclusions about their relationship.

About the Authors

Korneva Tatyana Vladimirovna, Junior Researcher, Laboratory of desk and digital processing, accounting and storage of archaeological collections, Institute of the History of material culture RAS; 18, Palace embankment, Saint-Petersburg, 191186, Russian Federation. e-mail: kortania22@gmail.com

For citation

Korneva T. V. Geometric Images on Pebbles and Stone Tablets in the Paleolithic of Northern Eurasia: Comparative Analysis and Possibilities of Interpretation. Bulletin of the Irkutsk State University. Geoarchaeology, Ethnology, and Anthropology Series. 2022, Vol. 41, pp. 57–67. https://doi.org/10.26516/2227-2380.2022.41.57 (in Russ.)

Keywords

Paleolithic, Epipaleolithic, Azilian culture, Paleolithic art, geometric images, pebbles, stone tablets.

UDC

7.031.1(4/5)

DOI

https://doi.org/10.26516/2227-2380.2022.41.57

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