A roughly 14,000-year-old reindeer-antler fragment from La Marche Cave bears several distinct series of deliberately incised marks. Traceological analysis identifies multiple stone tools, surface preparation and controlled graphic strokes, distinguishing them from rapid sawing motions. The video argues that the object is an early artificial memory system. That function remains an interpretation, not a clear-cut or uncontested fact.
La Marche antler shows deliberate engraving; the video argues it is a memory system
Franceunverified
Key facts
- La Marche Cave is in Vienne, western France, and is known for engraved limestone plaques and human figures.
- The approximately 14,000-year-old reindeer-antler fragment bears several distinct series of marks. Traceological analysis identifies multiple stone tools and distinguishes controlled graphic incisions from rapid sawing motions.
- Experimental engraving and microscopic study support intentional marks, deliberate organization and surface preparation before inscription.
- The artificial-memory-system interpretation is the video's hypothesis. The analysis does not establish the object's function or make it an essentially uncontested example of symbolic recording.
Sources
Detail of the main face of an antler artifact of undetermined ...researchgate.net
La Marche, Vienne, engraved with multiple series of marks. Three different tools were used in the area shown, approximately 2 cm wide, commonly found engraved ...
Lost and found, the first find of an early human artworkphys.org
A 14000-year-old engraved reindeer antler is possibly the first piece of early human art ever found. The specimen was uncovered in the 1800s ...
Grotte de la Marchedonsmaps.com
This relatively small area has no trace of engravings, while the engraved plates exist at the top level. Now we examine the silted part. Beads were ...
La Marche (cave)en.wikipedia.org
In particular, an engraved reindeer antler from La Marche has provided proof that more sophisticated systems of symbols existed during the Paleolithic period ...
Art by firelight? Using experimental and digital techniques to ...pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
by A Needham · 2022 · Cited by 31 — Radiocarbon dating of a worked piece of antler and an antler ・ antler spearthrower ・ at sites such as La Marche and Labastide, plaquettes appear closely ...
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