Brief Definition of the Topic
Techniques used by Upper Paleolithic groups to produce their graphic works of art provide almost inexhaustible sources on “ways of doing.” They also enable us to reflect on the levels of practice of “artists,” on the internal organization of societies, and on the implication of the individuals in the procurement of pigments, tools, and mediums.
In studying the techniques of Paleolithic artists, we seek to identify the set of processes of formal construction from the level of a single trace, to their combination into the form of a drawing all the way to the use of the graphic space whether it be on a restricted medium like an object or on a wall.
The study of techniques allows for the understanding of the artists’ gestures and the mediums used in the different graphic works.
The mediums of prehistoric representations are multiple and varied from objects of portable art (including bone, stone tablet, ivory, antler) to cave walls, shelters under rock, and...
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Further Reading
Aujoulat, N. 2004. Lascaux, le geste, l'espace et le temps. Paris: Le Seuil.
Bégouën, R., C. Fritz, G. Tosello, J. Clottes, A. Pastoors & F. Faist, et al. 2009. Le sanctuaire secret des Bisons. Il y a 14000 ans, dans la caverne du Tuc d'Audoubert. Paris: Ed. d'art Somogy et Assoc. L. Bégouën.
Fritz, C. 1999. La gravure dans l'art mobilier magdalénien. Du geste à la représentation (Documents d'Archéologie Française (D.A.F.) 75). Paris: édition de la Maison des Sciences de l'Homme.
Fritz, C. & G. Tosello. 2007a. The hidden meaning of forms: methods of recording Paleolithic parietal art. Journal of Archaeology Method and Theory 14 (1): 48-80.
- 2007b. Le secteur de la Salle Hillaire et de la Salle du Crâne: diversité, styles et datations de l'art paléolithique dans la grotte Chauvet, in N. Rouquerol & H. Floss (dir.) Les chemins de l'art aurignacien en Europe (cahier 4; Actes du colloque international d'Aurignac 2005): 393-408. Aurignac: éditions Musée-Forum d'Aurignac.
Lorblanchet, M. 2010. Art pariétal – Grottes ornées en Quercy. Rodez: Editions du Rouergue.
Rivero, O. 2007. Aproximación al estudio de las cadenas operativas del grabado sobre soporte pétreo: Análisis tecnológico de una representación de équido del Magdaleniense Medio de la cueva de Las Caldas (Asturias, España). Zephyrus LX: 97-111.
Tosello, G. 2003. Pierres gravées du Périgord magdalénien: art, symboles, territoires (36e supplément à Gallia Préhistoire). Paris: CNRS éditions.
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Fritz, C. (2014). Techniques of Paleolithic Art. In: Smith, C. (eds) Encyclopedia of Global Archaeology. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-0465-2_1262
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