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First Sculpted Human Face in the Western Mediterranean Early Neolithic

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 March 2014

Didier Binder
Affiliation:
CNRS - Université Nice Sophia Antipolis (UNS), UMR7264, Cultures, Environnements. Préhistoire, Antiquité, Moyen Âge, Maison des Sciences de l'Homme et de la Société Sud-Est, 24 Avenue des Diables Bleus, 06357 Nice, France, Email: didier.binder@cepam.cnrs.fr
Caroline Hamon
Affiliation:
CNRS - Université Paris 1, UMR8215, Trajectoires. De la sédentarisation à l'Etat, 21 Allée de l'Université, 92023 Nanterre, France, Email: caroline.hamon@mae.cnrs.fr
Ludovic Bellot-Gurlet
Affiliation:
CNRS - Université Pierre et Marie Curie (UPMC), UMR7075, Laboratoire de Dynamique, Interactions et Réactivité, 4 Place Jussieu, 75005 Paris, France, Email: ludovic.bellot-gurlet@upmc.fr
Sylvie Beyries
Affiliation:
CNRS - Université Nice Sophia Antipolis (UNS), UMR7264, Cultures, Environnements. Préhistoire, Antiquité, Moyen Âge, Maison des Sciences de l'Homme et de la Société Sud-Est, 24 Avenue des Diables Bleus, 06357 Nice, France, Email: sylvie.beyries@cepam.cnrs.fr
Jean-Victor Pradeau
Affiliation:
CNRS - Université Nice Sophia Antipolis (UNS), UMR7264, Cultures, Environnements. Préhistoire, Antiquité, Moyen Âge, Maison des Sciences de l'Homme et de la Société Sud-Est, 24 Avenue des Diables Bleus, 06357 Nice, France, Email: jean-victor.pradeau@cepam.cnrs.fr
Franck Vautier
Affiliation:
CNRS - Université Blaise-Pascal Clermont-Ferrand, UMS3108, Maison des Sciences de l’Homme, 4 Rue Ledru, 63057 Clermont-Ferrand, France, Email: franck.vautier@univ-bpclermont.fr
Olivier Voldoire
Affiliation:
CNRS - Université Blaise-Pascal Clermont-Ferrand, UMR6042, Laboratoire de Géographie Physique et Environnementale, Maison des Sciences de l'Homme, 4 Rue Ledru, 63057 Clermont-Ferrand, France, Email: olivier.voldoire@univ-bpclermont.fr

Abstract

The development of the Neolithic way of life in the western Mediterranean during the sixth millennium cal. BC is the consequence of the spread of populations from the Near East after successive stages of cultural remodelling. Despite the clear contribution of the Near Eastern and Aegean Neolithic to the economic and technical changes that happened to the west, little is known here about their symbolic legacies, because of the scarcity of representations and ritual evidences associated to the earliest western Neolithic contexts. Excavations at the rock shelter of Pendimoun (southeastern France) yielded the first anthropomorphic stone sculpture from the western Mediterranean Neolithic (early sixth millennium cal. BC). Using both carving and painting techniques, it represents a realistic-looking human face and is a unique example within the western Mediterranean and European frameworks. After describing the shaping and colouring details of the mask, the authors here deal with its possible social significances and cultural connections.

Type
Articles
Copyright
Copyright © The McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research 2014 

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