Naudinot Nicolas, Bourdier Camille, Laforge Marine, Paris Céline, Bellot-Gurlet Ludovic, Beyries Sylvie, Thery-Parisot Isabelle, Le Goffic Michel
University Côte d'Azur, CNRS, CEPAM, UMR, Nice, France.
University Toulouse II Jean Jaurès, TRACES UMR, Toulouse, France.
PLoS One. 2017 Mar 3;12(3):e0173037. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0173037. eCollection 2017.
The development of the Azilian in Western Europe 14,000 years ago is considered a "revolution" in Upper Paleolithic Archaeology. One of the main elements of this rapid social restructuring is the abandonment of naturalistic figurative art on portable pieces or on cave walls in the Magdalenian in favor of abstract expression on small pebbles. Recent work shows that the transformation of human societies between the Magdalenian and the Azilian was more gradual. The discovery of a new Early Azilian site with decorated stones in France supports this hypothesis. While major changes in stone tool technology between the Magdalenian and Azilian clearly mark important adaptive changes, the discovery of 45 engraved schist tablets from archaeological layers at Le Rocher de l'Impératrice attests to iconographic continuity together with special valorization of aurochs as shown by a "shining" bull depiction. This evidence suggests that some cultural features such as iconography may lag far behind technological changes. We also argue that eventual change in symbolic expression, which includes the later disappearance of figurative art, provides new insight into the probable restructuring of the societies.
一万四千年前阿齐尔文化在西欧的发展被认为是旧石器时代晚期考古学中的一场“革命”。这种迅速的社会结构重组的主要因素之一是，马格德林时期便携式物品或洞穴壁上的自然主义具象艺术被摒弃，转而青睐在小卵石上进行抽象表达。最近的研究表明，马格德林时期和阿齐尔文化之间人类社会的转变更为渐进。在法国发现的一个带有装饰性石头的新的阿齐尔早期遗址支持了这一假说。虽然马格德林时期和阿齐尔文化之间石器技术的重大变化清楚地标志着重要的适应性变化，但在皇后岩考古层发现的45块刻有图案的片岩板证明了图像学的连续性，同时也证明了如“闪耀”的公牛描绘所示的对欧洲野牛的特殊重视。这一证据表明，诸如图像学等一些文化特征可能远远落后于技术变革。我们还认为，象征表达的最终变化，包括具象艺术的后来消失，为社会可能的重组提供了新的见解。
