Les Nouvelles de l’Archéologie (May 2019)

Un art rupestre paléolithique au-delà de l’Oural ?

  • Catherine Cretin,
  • Jean-Michel Geneste,
  • Hugues Plisson,
  • Lydia V. Zotkina,
  • Dimitri V.,
  • Vyacheslav I. Molodin,
  • Jean-Jacques Delannoy,
  • Philip Deline,
  • Ludovic Ravanel

DOI
https://doi.org/10.4000/nda.5302
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 154
pp. 45 – 50

Abstract

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Chronological estimation of rock art figures based on stylistical criterias, especially when a very ancient age is suspected, is never easy to argue. This is the case of animal representations of Southern Altai and North-Western Mongolia, presenting characteristics compatible with the canon of Palaeolithic Art. In the absence of direct dating of these petroglyphs, different approaches have been undertaken, dealing at the same time with technic (lithic tools), substrate, topographical location and past accessibility (rocks released from glaciers before the end of the Upper Palaeolithic) in order to reduce the main objections that may be opposed to graphic comparisons. This interdisciplinary approach, involving microscopy, traceo-technology, 2D and 3D imagery, geomorphology and cosmogenic dating, has been done in the framework of the franco-russian Associated International Laboratory (LIA) ARTEMIR.

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