ENGRAVED ROD
Cova de les Cendres (Moraira, Teulada)

Bone
l: 11.4 cm; w: 1.13 cm; th: 0.71 cm
Upper Palaeolithic
End Late Magdalense Period

 

Decorated bone rod from a fragment of the shaft of a left metatarsal of Cervus elaphus (Red Deer). Decorated on its outer face with a stylised and naturalistic figure of an incised deer, consisting of the head, the beginning of the chest and body and the line of the neck and back. This central figure, drawn with lines of distinct composition and intensity, is accompanied by earlier lines which have been partially reused for this figure. This decorated rod, due to its obviously schematic style and date, fits in with the artistic sequence of the last stages of the Upper Palaeolithic, in the Spanish Mediterranean area.

This is an important find as it widens the geographic context of Levantine Schematic art, as until a few years ago this style of artwork was not found in this area. Furthermore, in respect to the naturalist zoomorphic themes, it demonstrates the continuity of this art form from the last stages of the Upper Palaeolithic to the first stages of the Initial Epipalaeolithic.
C.S.: 1233
VILLAVERDE BONILLA, V., 1985.