Chapitre 5. Inventaire descriptif et analytique des représentations

• Main Author: Tymula, Sophie
• Format: Book
• Language: French
• Published: Éditions de la Maison des sciences de l’homme 2021
• Subjects: habitat; art paléolithique; Charente; datation stylistique; dispositif pariétal; procédés techniques; recontextualisation; sculpture pariétale; Solutréen; geo; hist; musk ox
• Online Access: http://books.openedition.org/editionsmsh/21297

The fourteen sculpted, engraved and painted fragments recovered from the platform of the intermediate rock-shelter and from the slope subjacent to the Roc cave are described in their order of discovery, respecting the alphabetical designation established by Dr. Henri-Martin. The final list of graphic items includes 27 animal figures, 10 unidentified traces, 4 indeterminate animal figures, 2 humans, 5 painted signs and 3 rings for a total of 51 elements. The tendency towards realistic renderings of animals and humans justifies an anatomical approach, not only for the complete representations but also for the partial or segmented figures. This detailed anatomical study leads to a zoological classification enabling us to see the relationship between the representations and fauna actually present in the area and the animals hunted and eaten by the Solutreans in the Roc Valley. Eight types of animals have been identified for the frieze; some have been classified at the species level, others at the gender or family level. With the exception of the composite figures specific to Roc de Sers and unique in the context of Palaeolithic art (Bison-Boar and Musk-ox-Bison), the figures use a common stock of forms. The Horse and the Ibex are the most frequently represented species; this numerical preponderance reflects the unusual organisation of the composition. The Bison theme is found in both series and its relationship with the dominant species provides the foundations of the parietal layout’s symbolic construction, in which man, albeit not entirely free of a bestialised expression, is not totally excluded; nor is abstract symbolism, as suggested by the unusual association of a type 4 sign (5 dots aligned) and a horse. This approach has proven to be essential in determining the graphic conventions peculiar to the parietal layout and their variations. Les 14 fragments sculptés, gravés et peints recueillis sur la plate-forme de l’abri-sous-roche intermédiaire et dans le talus sous-jacent à la grotte du Roc sont décrits dans ...