Palaeolithic cave art at Creswell Crags in European context PDF
Preview Palaeolithic cave art at Creswell Crags in European context
PALAEOLITHIC CAVE ART AT CRESWELL CRAGS IN EUROPEAN CONTEXT This page intentionally left blank Palaeolithic Cave Art at Creswell Crags in European Context PAUL PETTITT, PAUL BAHN & SERGIO RIPOLL 1 3 GreatClarendonStreet,Oxfordox26dp OxfordUniversityPressisadepartmentoftheUniversityofOxford. ItfurtherstheUniversity’sobjectiveofexcellenceinresearch,scholarship, andeducationbypublishingworldwidein Oxford NewYork Auckland CapeTown DaresSalaam HongKong Karachi KualaLumpur Madrid Melbourne MexicoCity Nairobi NewDelhi Shanghai Taipei Toronto WithoYcesin Argentina Austria Brazil Chile CzechRepublic France Greece Guatemala Hungary Italy Japan Poland Portugal Singapore SouthKorea Switzerland Thailand Turkey Ukraine Vietnam OxfordisaregisteredtrademarkofOxfordUniversityPress intheUKandincertainothercountries PublishedintheUnitedStates byOxfordUniversityPressInc.,NewYork (cid:1)OxfordUniversityPress2007 Themoralrightsoftheauthorshavebeenasserted DatabaserightOxfordUniversityPress(maker) Firstpublished2007 Allrightsreserved.Nopartofthispublicationmaybereproduced, storedinaretrievalsystem,ortransmitted,inanyformorbyanymeans, withoutthepriorpermissioninwritingofOxfordUniversityPress, orasexpresslypermittedbylaw,orundertermsagreedwiththeappropriate reprographicsrightsorganization.Enquiriesconcerningreproduction outsidethescopeoftheaboveshouldbesenttotheRightsDepartment, OxfordUniversityPress,attheaddressabove Youmustnotcirculatethisbookinanyotherbindingorcover andyoumustimposethesameconditiononanyacquirer BritishLibraryCataloguinginPublicationData Dataavailable LibraryofCongressCataloginginPublicationData Dataavailable TypesetbySPIPublisherServices,Pondicherry,India PrintedinGreatBritain onacid-freepaperby BiddlesLtd.,King’sLynn,Norfolk ISBN978-0-19-929917-1 1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2 Prologue PaulPettitt WhenIorganizedtheWrstbriefsurveyofselectedBritishcavesforpossibleart, IandtheothermembersoftheteamhadnoideathatwewouldactuallyWndany. While I agreed with Paul Bahn that it was certainly worth a try, if I were a gamblingmanI’dhavewageredmoneyonthefactthatnothingwouldbefound. ThankfullyIamnot,andIhavenever beensopleasedtohavebeensowrong. Creswellwas,infact,theWrstportofcallonanitinerarythatwouldtakeusonto CheddarGorge,theGowerPeninsula,andDevon.Mystrategyinvolvedconcen- trating on caves and gorges that seemed to attract relatively large amounts of activityintheLateUpperPalaeolithic.Thereis,ofcourse,nocompellingreason whyart,ifitwastobefound,shouldbefoundatsuchplaces,butintheabsenceof anyotherguidingprinciplesitseemedlogicalthatifwestoodachanceofWnding anyitwouldbemaximizedatplaceswhichUpperPalaeolithichunter-gatherers knewwellandappearedtoreturntooverlongstretchesoftime.TobehonestI alsofanciedspendingsometimeontheDevoncoast,onGower,andatCheddar, and of course returning to Creswell which I had not seen for several years. At CreswellIhadsuggestedthatweconcentrateoureVortsinRobinHoodCaveand Mother Grundy’s Parlour. These caves seem to have attracted the majority of activityofalltheCreswellcavesduringthelateUpperPalaeolithic,anditseemed asensibleenoughpropositionthatifanyofthecavesweretocontainartfromthis perioditwouldbethey.ItwasBrianChamberswhosuggestedthatwealsolook inChurchHolewhilewewerethere,andwethereforeoweourdiscoverytohim. His enthusiasm, knowledge, and friendship subsequent to the discovery are cherishedbyusall.Itisthereforewithgreatpleasurethatwededicatethisvolume toBrian,withourgratitudeandbestwishesforalongandenjoyableretirement. AftertheinitialpublicationofthediscoveryinAntiquityandinthepopular press,itwascleartousthattwocriticalthingsneedbedone.First,weneeded, if we could, to demonstrate the antiquity of the art independently of our stylistic arguments that it was Palaeolithic. Secondly, we needed to show the arttoBritishandinternationalspecialistsincaveartandPalaeolithicarchae- ology and gain their critical insights into its authenticity, antiquity, and, particularly,widercontext.Thuswasconceivedthe‘CreswellArtinEuropean Context’ conference. Our colleagues Ian Wall from Creswell Heritage Trust and Andrew Chamberlain from the University of SheYeld joined us in the vi Prologue organization of the conference and were of invaluable assistance. We all agreed that this should be held in the heart of Creswell village, and that it should involve a series of evening lectures open to the public, so as to maximize localexposure andparticipation. Thesewere delivered byAndrew Chamberlain,PaulBahn,andCliveGamble,toswelledaudiences. Contributionstotheacademicprogrammeoftheconference,almostallof whicharerepresentedinthepapersthatfollow,werewide-ranging,andIrefer the reader to the summary by Claire Fisher and Robert Dinnis at the end of this volume for a summary of the variegated, subtle, intricate, and at times spicy Xavour of the conference. It was a shame that Michel Lorblanchet was unable to attend the conference, but Paul Bahn presented his paper and he was Wnally able to visit Creswell a few weeks later and spend a good deal of timeontheart.Wearepleasedthathehascontributedtothevolume.Other rock art specialists attended the conference and made lively and valuable contributions to the discussions both formal and informal, and we particu- larly thankAndrewLawsonandJohnCleggfor theirenthusiasm. Theconferencewould not have beenpossible were it not for a conference grant from the British Academy, funding from EnglishHeritage and English Nature, and sponsorship from Stickynewmedia Design, Portsmouth. John Humble, English Heritage Inspector of Ancient Monuments for the East Midlands,agreatfriendofthePalaeolithic,hasbeentremendouslysupportive from the word go. John Barrett, head of the Department of Archaeology at SheYeld University, was greatly encouraging and Naomi Nathan provided crucialassistanceinthenitty-grittyofgrantadministration.Wewarmlythank Lord Renfrew for acting as referee for the conference and Lady Renfrew for hercontinuingenthusiasmforCreswell. Wehopedthattheconferencewouldseenotonlysomegeneralconsensus emergingforthenatureoftheartanditsimportance,butalsolivelycontro- versy.Withthesubjectofcavearttherewillalwaysbethelatter,andopinions certainly vary as to exactly how many images we have at Creswell and how besttointerpretthem.Wewereparticularlystruckbythefriendlybuzzofthe conference(theall-daybarwithvantageofthestagepossiblyhelpedhere)and this gave speakers conWdence to Xoat ideas in an informal atmosphere. The papers in this volume, I hope, give something of a feel for what we experi- encedinApril2004.Aboveall,wehopedthatotherspecialistsmightnowbe inspired to survey caves elsewhere in the UK for similar art, and we were pleased to hear at the conference that others had indeed taken up the challenge.ThisisperhapsthegreateststatementonecanmakeoftheCreswell artandtheconferencethisvolumerepresents.Itismerely thebeginning. The publishers are grateful to English Heritage, for a grant to aid the publicationofthisbook. Contents ListofPlates ix ListofIllustrations x ListofTables xvi 1. TheHistoricalBackgroundtotheDiscoveryofCave ArtatCreswellCrags 1 PaulG.Bahn 2. ThePalaeolithicRockArtofCreswellCrags:Prelude toaSystematicStudy 14 SergioRipollandFranciscoJ.Mun˜oz 3. VeriWcationoftheAgeofthePalaeolithicCave ArtatCreswellCrags 34 AlistairW.G.Pike,MabsGilmour,andPaulB.Pettitt 4. 3DLaserScanningatChurchHole,CreswellCrags 46 AlistairCarty 5. ZoologicalPerspectivesontheLateGlacial 53 D.W.Yalden 6. CaveArchaeologyandPalaeontology inthe CreswellRegion 61 AndrewT.Chamberlain 7. TheStoneAgeArchaeologyofChurchHole, CreswellCrags,Nottinghamshire 71 R.M.Jacobi 8. CulturalContextandFormofSomeoftheCreswellImages: AnInterpretativeModel 112 PaulB.Pettitt 9. TheEngravingsofGouy:France’sNorthernmost DecoratedCave 140 YvesMartin 10. PalaeolithicArtinIsolation:TheCaseofSicilyandSardinia 194 MargheritaMussi 11. TheHorseinthePalaeolithicParietalArtoftheQuercy:Outline ofaStylisticStudy 207 MichelLorblanchet viii Contents 12. ATopographicalApproachtoParietalFigures: TheMonumentalSculpturesoftheRoc-aux-Sorciers (Vienne,France)ProducedinDaylightattheBack ofaRockshelterandonitsCeiling 229 Genevie´vePin(cid:1)on 13. DatingMagdalenianArtinNorthSpain: TheCurrentSituation 247 C´esarGonza´lezSainz 14. RockArtandtheCoˆaValleyArchaeologicalPark: ACaseStudy inthePreservationofPortugal’s PrehistoricRupestralHeritage 263 Anto´nioMartinhoBaptistaandAnto´nioPedroBatardaFernandes 15. RewritingtheHistoryBooks:TheMagdalenian ArtofCreswellCrags 280 ClaireFisherandRobDinnis Index 287 List of Plates 1. EngravingofdeeroneastwallofChurchHole 2. Closeupofdeer’shead 3. Closeupoftherearportionofthedeerandsetof engravedverticallinesbelow 4. IncompleteengravingofbovidoneastwallofChurchHolecave 5. TwovulvaeengravedonthewestwallofChurchHole, oppositethedeerandbovid 6. Engravedvulvaofthreeconverging linesonceiling ofChurchHole,betweenwallengravingsofdeerandvulvae 7. Part-sculpted,part-naturalbird’sheadonupper wall ofChurchHole 8. Enigmaticengravingofjoinedpairoflinesonthe westwallofChurchHoleattherearoftheentrancechamber 9. Engravedgroupofimagesinterpretedeitherasstylized humanfemalesorlong-neckedbirds 10. GeneralviewofCreswellCragslookingtowardsthewest. ChurchHolecaveisinthedistanceontheleft 11. GeneralviewofthemaincaveofChurchHole. Mostoftheengravingscanbefoundinthisarea 12. ChurchHolePanelIII,the‘stag’withengravedlinesemphasized.Antler tinesaretheinterpretationofS.Ripollbutareprobablynatural 13. Paul B. Pettitt showing a possible means of engraving Panel VII in the Magdalenian 14. AbriBourdois:capridssculptedinhaut-reliefand actualsize(photo(cid:1)G.Pinc¸on) 15. CuevadeElCastillo:ibexno.56 16. TheentwinedhorsesofRibeiradePiscosandtheir immediatesurroundings(photo(cid:1)Anto´nioPedro BatardaFernandes)
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