Dans ce gisement paléolithique, le plus grand gisement en cours de recherches d’Europe, plusieurs couches archéologiques ont été découvertes : Aurignacien I inférieur, Aurignacien I, II, III et III ...supérieur, Gravettien I, II, III IV et Gravettien dispersé. Des fouilles systématiques ont été menées entre 1978 et 2017, sur une surface de plus de 900m2, jusqu’à une profondeur approximative de 14m. Nous avons identifié des pièces taillées en matières allogènes, et des survivances aurignaciennes dans le milieu gravettien, liées à la présence de pièces carénées, de racloirs, etc.
In this Palaeolithic site, at the moment the largest habitation undergoing investigations in Europe, several archaeological layers were discovered: Lower Aurignacian I, Aurignacian I, II, III and Upper Aurignacian III, Gravettian I, II, III, IV and Dispersed Gravettian. The systematic archaeological investigations were conducted between 1978 and 2017 and covered a surface of more than 900 square meters, reaching a depth of approximately 14m. Stone artefacts worked in non-local raw materials were identified, as well as a survival of Aurignacian elements within the Gravettian medium, as suggested by the presence of carenated pieces, scarpers, etc.
Our contribution focuses on cervidae in the narrow sense of the term (deer – doe), although we also analyze the representations of reindeer and the elk when we discuss the cervidae in general. ...Although less represented than horses or bison, the deer dominates the portable art of the Upper Magdalenian Cantabrian area, from Pyrenees to Asturias, the Basque Country and the Levant. There are all the stylistic trends and modes of representation. The deer carries a Uranian symbolism, associated with fertility, virility and the cycle of life.
The first Palaeolithic discoveries in Romania were made in the 19th century in Mitoc (Botoșani department). Five main stations were excavated, yielding Middle and Upper Palaeolithic industries ...(including Aurignacian, Gravettian and Epipalaeolithic). Some have yielded mixed industries ; others were better preserved and understood, like Malu Galben.
Our approach focuses on the art of the Upper Palaeolithic portable art in Western and Southern Europe. This geographical area covers roughly the current territory of Italy, Spain, Portugal, France ...and Belgium. Portable art means all artistic representations on a movable support. In addition, we refer only to the visual arts and we exclude scenic arts, music, dance, and generally any kind of perishable art (including transient visual arts, such as sand drawings or paintings on bark) that has not survived to this day as an archaeological witness. We are analyzing figurines, carved contours, pebbles, pendants, pierced sticks, propellants, harpoons, lamps, pots, spears, spatula, rings, jewellery, and other utilitarian or non-utilitarian object that possess any form of decoration – figurative and / or geometric – and which is portable.
It is well known that Gravettian hunters were the best reindeer hunters, while the Epigravettian and Mesolithic hunters especially hunted the red deer. The first explanation consists in the ...environmental conditions, almost identical in the various regions of Europe, during the periods when these communities lived; archeological excavations undertaken in their establishments allowed determining of several realities: the modalities of locating the habitats (even the habitations); the predilection for the geographic geomorphological areas; the climate micro-episodes (for instance, the periglacial climate for several geographical micro-regions); the usage of hard materials of animal origin – reindeer and red-deer antlers – as supports for implements, weapons, body ornamental items or art objects, even the usage of horns in the field of the funeral rites, etc. The existence of regional variations was noticed: forinstance, in its artistic representations, etc., which are more numerous, Atlantic Europe being dominated by reindeer hunting. In this context, it appears that the red deer is an animal to which a very rich symbolism is attached, so being also the case of the bison or ofthe reindeer in other geographic regions and prehistoric cultures. Therefore, a special attention is paid to the paleozoological finds in the Gravettian and Epipaleolithic – Mesolithic habitat levels, which are also identified throughout the East-Carpathian territory and the Russian Plain. We shall present such finds from Mitoc-Malu Galben and also in other important sites of the considered geographic area, due to their multifunctional character (existence of species as environmental elements, their usage as food, or the usage of the skins and carcasses in constructions, of bonesand horns for artistic creations or in order to arrange cult-related structures). The East-Carpathian territory of Romania, situated between the Eastern Carpathians and the Prut, then the Dniestr, to which the Romanian Plain is added (between the Danube and the Southern Carpathians), is very well studied from the archeological point of view. There were discovered several sites with levels of the Gravettian habitat and belonging to the Epigravettian (of Mediterranean aspect) and to the Mesolithic, with a rich and varied archeological material. Among the fauna remains, the category belonging to the reindeer (Gravettian) and the red deer (Epigravettian-Mesolithic) is the one which dominates statistically. The human communities used the reindeer and the red deer not only for food, as they also used horns for making implements and weapons and as supports forart objects
We can notice that the idea that we are trying to assign to prehistoric man, that is the sacredness condition, which represents a specific feature and is manifested by voluntary deeds and actions, ...such as the artistic creation and the funeral phenomenon, was a specific feature of the social life of prehistoric communities. Regarding the so various burial practices, understood as representative for the will of the community members, the social relations between them, a certain state of religiosity and continuity in the prehistoric environments, we try to differentiate between ritual space and sacred space; ritual space cannot be permanently equated, especially for the localizations of its manifestations, to the sacred space. Ritual space has become sacred following the repetition of the manifestations of the collective sacredness (we refer, for instance, to the continuity of the burials in the same place, considered by its effectiveness, observed as repetition of the phenomenon of funeral sacredness); thus, the ritual space of the Paleolithic caves or outside them has become open to sacredness by the attitude of the practitioners, of the initiated, and also, possibly, by the one of a large number of adepts, participants in the respective cult manifestations. During the Upper Paleolithic one notices sometimes the same practices of the funeral behavior, and also particular innovations. Variations appear regarding the deposition and the orientation of the dead and especially of the funeral offerings etc. We consider it is only then that the behavior of the living population creates the possibility of evaluation of the functioning manners of the respective human communities, their organization, mentalities and, last but not least, their beliefs and religious practices.
The artistic creation of prehistoric human communities is very rich and varied in terms of representing the entire natural environment as a factor of opposition to humankind, its continuous attempts ...to master the environment and transform the basic means of subsistence for survival. The religious feeling was a consistent feature of human permanence. Through the religious feeling that we cannot understand in all its expressions, human communities developed artistic or cultural creations that can be framed in religious themes, as we find them repeating in various forms, but almost identical in the artistic execution and religious connotation. These religious themes, represented in prehistoric artistic creation, are the following: the substitution, the orant, the forbidden image, the feminine divinity, the masculine divinity and the hand representation. In terms of the spirituality of Palaeolithic human communities, we consider that all artistic creation has religious connotations. Moreover, the researchers of this period no longer doubt the existence of the religious phenomenon, the individual and collective sacred among those human communities.
Par des recherches archéologiques effectuées dans l’espace géographique entre les Carpates et le Dniestr, les archéologues ont constaté l’utilisation de matières premières locales: silex dit du Prut ...ou celui dit du Dniestr, mais aussi l’utilisation, assez intense, d’autres matières premières allogènes: grès, schiste noir d’Audia (les Carpates Orientales), silex de Volynie (Ucraine), opale, mais aussi de silex de zones géographiques encore non identifiées: silex noir à silex blanc, silex vert mat, etc. Par la présence de ces types de matière première allogène, nous avons pu supposer l’existence de déplacements périodiques des communautés humaines des campements propres en d’autres espaces, riches en matières premières de bonne qualité. Parfois, on a taillé le silex du Prut ou du Dniestr sur place. En d’autres gisements, on a aussi découvert des déchets de la taille qui marquent l’apport de matières premières allogènes et on a fait la taille sur l’emplacement des campements de base.
Primele descoperiri paleolitice în România au avut loc în secolul al XIX-lea, în zona Mitoc (județul Botoșani). Dintre acestea, cinci stațiuni principale au beneficiat de săpături sistematice, ...atestând prezența unor industrii caracteristice Paleoliticului mijlociu și celui Superior (Aurignacian, Gravettian și Epipaleolitic). Unele situri au scos la lumină industrii amestecate, altele, cum este Malu Galben, se caracterizează prin industrii mai bine conservate, studiate și înțelese.
The first Palaeolithic discoveries in Romania were made in the 19th century in Mitoc (Botoșani department). Five main stations were excavated, yielding Middle and Upper Palaeolithic industries (including Aurignacian, Gravettian and Epipalaeolithic). Some have yielded mixed industries ; others were better preserved and understood, like Malu Galben.
Nous nous proposons de mettre en évidence l’existence des modifications culturelles et de comportement des communautés humaines pendant le Paléolithique supérieur, l’impact des habitats humains sur ...l’environnement, l’utilisation des ressources fournies comme élément des permanentes tendances de l’homme de soumettre l’environnement. Les recherches archéologiques ont mis en évidence l’impact de l’habitat : structures de combustion, ateliers de taille, la production des outils en pierre ou en matières dures animales, comme structures de production, l’économie de la chasse, même l’idéologie (production et utilisation des pièces d’art ou de parure). Par exemple, la très grande importance de toutes les modifications structurelles pendant
