© Antropark 2006
Illustrations and text © Libor Balák
Translated and modified by Vít Lang after discussions with the author.
This is the website of the Czech Academy of Sciences, the Institute of Archaeology in Brno, The Center for Paleolithic and Paleoethnological Research
The
Magdalenian Culture of western and Central Europe
The
era of the big European Northern-type cultures
The most recent culture
of the Upper Palaeolithic (the Late Upper Palaeolithic) in western and Central
Europe is the Magdalenian, 20,000 - 13,000 years ago (17,000 – 11,000
radiocarbon years before present).
The Magdalenian
appeared in western Europe after the last glacial maximum. It became the
dominant culture of western Europe and spread to Central Europe, including
Bohemia and Moravia. It was a culture associated above all with reindeer and
horses. Mammoths were disappearing, although they remained an important motif in
the art. The Magdalenian is a typical culture of the Arctic-type hunters.
A
reindeer hunter (a
reconstructional imitation)
A man of the Moravian
Magdalenian. He holds a spear-thrower using the principle of leverage, and a
spear with a bone projectil point with saw-like razor-sharp microlites. The
horses on his clothing are depicted according to a decorated object found in the
Pekárna Cave (the Moravian Karst).
A
Magdalenian bone points with microlites (a
reconstructional transformation)
A bone point from the
Drátenická Cave in the Moravian karst. This artefact is now in the Institute
Anthropos, which is a part of the Moravian Museum (Moravské zemské muzeum) in
Brno. You can see (the lower part to the right) an impression of the former
careful and fine binding. The reconstruction depicts the procedure of its
piecing together.
A camp
of reindeer hunters of Petersfels
The picture takes us to
southwest Germany, the well-known site of Petersfels by Engen. The narrow valley
became a trap for hunted reindeer. Reindeer were killed there on a large scale,
as the remains of their bones witness. The peculiarity of this picture is that
the photographic studies were not created artificially, but were made just on
the site, where well-versed fans displayed their home-made clothes, tents and
Magdalenian weapons.
A
hunter and his weapons
Notice the antler heads
of the throwing weapons, which were made so well that they can be compared with
the artistic level of carving in butts of the recent firearms.
In a
tent of Petersfels (a
reconstructional imitation)
The bone needles found
in abundance both in Petersfels and the Moravian Karst are different from those
of the Gravettian. The woman in the picture is sewing a piece of clothing using
an awl and a needle. The man is repairing the bone point of a weapon. He easily
replaces individual broken segments of the cutting edge with new ones. To the
left from him, there is his equipment, such as throwing weapons, lamps, a
chieftain’s baton, a
flute and bone points.
Clothing
of nomadic reindeer hunters (a reconstructional imitation)
The reconstructional
imitations of clothes dating back to the era of the Magdalenian reindeer and
horse hunters. The first clothing is exhibited in the Museum of Engen. You can
see decorative patterns made according to an ornamented shovel-like object found
in the Moravian Karst on the right clothing.
“In
the trap”, a picture of a hunting scene
(a reconstructional imitation)
A spear-thrower was ideal for hunting animals living in herds, such as horses
and reindeer. It was capable of shooting a maximum amount of projectiles within
a minimal period of time. The accuracy of shots at a mass of running bodies was
unimportant, the work was completed by sharp points. Most likely massive stone
pillars were used when driving reindeer. Reindeer avoided them in the same way
as they avoided people. That is why the Magdalenians preferred such environment
where limestone screes, of which they erected the pillars, were available, e.g.
outcrops of limestone, which are characteristic of the karst areas. The whole
life of these people was closely connected with animals living in herds, and it
formed their culture. The Magdalenian settlements came to Central Europe, namely
to Poland, 16,500 years ago (14,000 RCYBP) and to Moravia about 15,500 years ago
(13,000 RCYBP).
Acknowledgment:
I am grateful to Jiří Červinka from Prague for the support of the realization
of this reconstruction.
A
Magdalenian Venus
(a reconstructional transformation)
The representation of
women, the unmistakable Magdalenian Venuses, was quite curious. Women’s
figurines hardly bore any
detail, they were often just outlined, and their bottoms were always stuck out.
Some small figurines had holes for hanging.
Acknowledgment:
I am grateful to Jiří Červinka from Prague for the support of the realization
of this reconstruction.
A
Magdalenian Venus with a hairdo (a
reconstructional transformation)
One of the few
Magdalenian Venuses that provided at least some information about her hairdo.
Acknowledgment:
I am grateful to Jiří Červinka from Prague for the support of the realization
of this reconstruction.
A
functioning model of a spear-thrower (a
reconstructional imitation)
The reconstructional
work also involved testing of a typical Magdalenian weapon, i.e. a
spear-thrower. It is possible that all-wooden throwers were produced in Moravia.
This imitation is also made of wood.
A thrower decorated
with a depiction of buffaloes. The same picture was unearthed in the Pekárna
Cave in the Moravian Karst.
The picture of grazing
horses was also made according to the Pekárna Cave findings.
Shooting with a
spear-thrower is exciting. A spear is much bigger and heavier than an arrow. The
weapon is quite accurate, even when shooting at a long distance.
The
most recent Upper Palaeolithic of Eastern Europe
“Miss meander", a picture of a girl with bracelets (a reconstructional imitation)
One of the well-known
sites of the Late Upper Palaeolithic is Mezin in the Ukraine. The site is
renowned for the usage of meander patterns. These patterns were modified in
various ways and formed a whole artistic system. The depicted girl wears two
decorated ivory bracelets, one of them with a meander pattern. Both bracelets
are tied with small straps
The
Venus of Mezin (a
reconstructional transformation)
Meander was used also
for decoration of the Mezin Venuses, as the reconstructional transformation
shows. This woman figurine reminds of a mixture of the Gravettian and
Magdalenian styles. She stands upright as a Gravettian Venus and, at the same
time, she sticks out her bottom as a Magdalenian Venus.
THE
END OF THE PALAEOLITHIC AND THE MESOLITHIC CULTURES For the cultures of the
end of the Palaeolithic and Mesolithic see the website www.iabrno.cz/agalerie/mezolit.htm
The prehistory of animals -
Kontakt antropark@seznam.cz
Illustrations © Libor Balák Translated and modified by
Vít Lang after discussions with the author. © Antropark 2006 
