Decorated plaquettes from Magdalenian habitation floors in the Lower Gallery at La Garma (Cantabria, Spain)

• Autores: Roberto Ontañón Peredo, Pablo Arias Cabal
• Localización: Préhistoire, art et sociétés: bulletin de la Société Préhistorique de l'Ariège, ISSN 1954-5045, Nº. 65-66, 2010-2011 (Ejemplar dedicado a: L'art pléistocène dans le monde), págs. 244-245
• Idioma: francés
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• Resumen

  • The Lower Gallery at La Garma is a cave whose entrance became blocked near the end of the Late Glacial period, sealing off hundreds of square metres of Middle Magdalenian habitation floors. Among the different portable artefacts found on these floors are one very characteristic type: calcite plaquettes decorated with engravings representing animals such as bison and deer, anatomical parts (heads, above all), and an anthropomorph. They also contain non-figurative designs, in the form of different kinds of grids of intercrossing lines. To date, seventeen engraved plaquettes have been found in Zone IV of the cave, and the perspectives for future research are excellent, if we consider that the floors in the Lower Gallery contain thousands of potential surfaces for portable art. The outstanding state of conservation of these occupation floors, which have remained intact since their formation about 16,500 years ago, allows us to study these Magdalenian objects in their archaeological context. Although the study of Zone IV has not been completed yet, the available evidence suggests that these plaquettes, together with other portable art objects made from organic materials, were produced, used and abandoned in the cave, finally being added to the thick carpet of remains covering the habitation floors.