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The Week in Germany: Culture July 20, 2007 Mammoth Moment: Sensational Little Sculpture Submerged in the Sands
of Time Reveals that Earliest Art was 'Made in Germany'
Woolly mammoths may have been massive ice-age creatures, but a very little likeness of one was recently unearthed by archealogists in southwestern Germany. The miniscule mammoth figurine, which measures only 3.7 centimeters in length and weighs a mere 7.5 grams, is not only a sensational rare find because it is fully intact. Dated to between 32,500 to 38,500 years ago, it is believed to be the oldest ivory carving ever discovered by modern science.The figurine was recovered amid several others by a team of archaelogists led by an American, Nicholas J. Conrad, at the University of Tübingen from the Swabian Jura, a plateau in the state of Baden-Württemberg. "You can be sure," Conard told Spiegel Online International, "that there has been art in Swabia for over 35,000 years." Premier German weekly newsmagazine Der Spiegel devoted an extensive cover story to the find and to the development of prehistoric art in its July 2 edition. It underscores that early prehistoric art, referred to by experts as the "human revolution", did not develop incrementally among early humans, but crops up suddenly in more of a "creative big bang" fashion. Although Neanderthals already used pigments, probably as body paint, and shells used as jewelry some 75,000 years ago were discovered in South Africa, it was not until homo sapiens reached the cold steppes of Europe after leaving the ancestral African homeland that human-made "art" emerges.
The geological context of the recent discoveries and radiocarbon dating indicate that the figurines belong to the Aurignacian culture, which refers to an area of southern France and is associated with the arrival of the first modern humans in Europe. It is in the so-called Aurignacian period (29,000 to 40,000 years ago) that art first develops, including the haunting cave drawings of southern France. A related find supporting the "big bang" art theory at the southern German site inlcude four flutes, two of which were crafted from the bones of swans. "These are the oldest musical instruments in the world," the German Der Spiegel states. "This means that music, which culminates in the complete symphonies of Beethoven and Mahler, also has its roots here." Among the new finds, moreover, are well-preserved remains of a 30-centimeter tall standing "lion-human" figurine (der Löwenmensch) and "the adoring one" (der Adorant), a small figure perched on an ivory platform, holding up his hands like a preacher blessing his flock. "This is the first such representation ever that humankind made of itself," Der Spiegel underscored. Both figures are shrouded in mystery - the human with a lion's head, for instance, has seven etched indents on its left arm - a tatooed code, perhaps? As reported by Spiegel Online, the preliminary results from the excavation
will be presented in a special exhibit at the Museum of Prehistory in
Blaubeuren from June 24, 2007 to January 13, 2008. In 2009, the figurines
will be displayed in a major state exhibition in Stuttgart entitled "Cultures
and Art of the Ice Age." Links: |
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