Description of the Piece

The engraving is found on one side of an unmodified tip of reindeer (Cervus elephas) antler. Measuring 44.21 mm in total length, 16.41 mm at its maximum width, and weighing only 2.6 g, this piece appears to be made up of the very tip of the antler tine.

The engraving depicts the head of a horse in right profile – there is a possibility that this image shows two horse's heads, one next to and overlapping the other – though this is a little unclear owing to post-depositional wear (Fig. 1). Additionally, one must be careful when attributing lines on antler artefacts to anthropogenic cut marks rather than scratches accrued by the deer while in life (see Jin & Shipman Reference Jin and Shipman2010; Olsen Reference Olsen1989 for discussion on distinguishing natural damage from cultural activities on antler tine). Figure 1 shows a line drawing of this artefact indicating those lines which are believed to be intentionally added as part of the engraving process and the possible second horse head is indicated in a dotted line.

Fig. 1 Antler tine with engraved horse head (MAN 54450) from La Madeleine, Dordogne. Top right: Drawing of the artefact with dotted line indicating possible second horse head. (Photos by M. C. Langley with permission of the Musée d'Archaéologie National, Saint-Germaine-en-Laye)

An example of a ‘naturalistic’ style typical in Middle–Late Magdalenian assemblages, the horse has a series of parallel lines down its neck and muzzle – a feature seen on a number of similar engravings of horse heads found at this site (Fig. 2). The angular features of the muzzle are also consistent with similar pieces documented at La Madeleine (for examples see Capitan & Peyrony Reference Capitan and Peyrony1928, 91, fig. 54 nos 16, 17; 42, fig. 19 no. 7; Leroi-Gourhan Reference Leroi-Gourhan1968, 430, no. 448).

Fig. 2 Examples of engravings of horse's heads found on bone and antler fragments recovered from La Madeleine (after Capitan & Peyrony Reference Capitan and Peyrony1928, 42, fig. 19).

Both the distal (tip) and proximal end of the piece exhibit post-depositional breaks and wear. While the distal break does not seem to have encroached on the engraving (the muzzle of the horse appears to be intact), the lines depicting the neck of the animal run into the proximal break, indicating that this engraving probably continued past this fracture. Whether this fragment was part of a larger, worked tool is impossible to know, however, the piece showed no evidence of use-wear indicating that it is most likely simply a fragment of antler tine decorated without significant modification to the whole.

Similar Finds Elsewhere and Its Place in Prehistory

The horse (Late Pleistocene wild horse similar to the modern Przewalski's horse) is the most important animal depicted in Late Palaeolithic iconography. As such, small portable artefacts with engravings of these animals are found in numerous sites throughout the Magdalenian territory. In fact, Rice and Paterson (1996) report that 43.7% of Palaeolithic engravings are of horses. These authors also observed that only the heads of horses were more likely to be engraved during the Middle Magdalenian with whole animals much more commonly depicted in the Late Magdalenian.

Magdalenian engravings of horse's heads (along with various other animals) on small fragments of bone, antler, ivory, or stone and which may or may not have been originally part of larger, more complete pieces, have been recovered from numerous sites dating back to the Aurignacian and continuing right through to the Late Magdalenian (see Graziosi Reference Graziosi1960 for examples from each period). Most of these examples are represented on ‘engraved’ or ‘decorated plaquettes’ – small pieces of sandstone, limestone, slate, schist, or any other stone, bone, ivory, or antler piece with a somewhat flat surface on which figurative or abstract designs could be engraved. In Magdalenian contexts, examples of engravings of horse's heads found on small fragments of bone or stone are individually too numerous to describe in detail here, however sites where these artefacts have been recovered include Laugerie-Basse (Leroi-Gourhan Reference Leroi-Gourhan1968, 430, no. 447; Tosello Reference Tosello2003, 86, 69–70); Isturitz (Leroi-Gourhan Reference Leroi-Gourhan1968, 430, no. 449); Limeuil (Graziosi Reference Graziosi1960, pl. 80, b; Tosello Reference Tosello2003, 139, 91–3, 235, 239); Le Soucy (Tosello Reference Tosello2003, 462); La Pierre aux Fées (Allain Reference Allain1974); Villepin (Tosello Reference Tosello2003, 484); Robin Hood's Cave (Sieveking Reference Sieveking1992); Las Caldas (Corchón & Rivero Reference Corchón and Rivero2010–11); and Cueva de Ekain (Ontañón & Arias Reference Ontañón and Arias2010–11), as well as many other sites located throughout western Europe (see Sieveking Reference Sieveking1987 and Tosello Reference Tosello2003 for a synthesis of these objects during the Magdalenian).

Horse heads found on unmodified reindeer antler tine – and are therefore most similar to the piece reported here – include Raymonden (Leroi-Gourhan Reference Leroi-Gourhan1968, 430, no. 454) and La Vache (Baffier & Cremades Reference Baffier and Cremades2003, 253) in addition to the several other examples previous reported from La Madeleine (Fig. 2; Capitan & Peyrony Reference Capitan and Peyrony1928). Antler pieces with full horses have also been recovered from La Madeleine (ibid.; examples BM349 and BM350 curated in the British Museum; Sieveking Reference Sieveking1992).

These engravings, executed on fragments of bone, antler, ivory, and stone rather than finished objects that were used in everyday life (such as weapons, tools, or other utilitarian or religious worked items), remain enigmatic despite their early recognition by researchers during the 1860s. Owing to the portable nature of these items, the actions which led to their manufacture, use, and discard as well as any potential spatial patterning which may have been present within their use lives is potentially erased. Certainly there is evidence from a number of examples, such as the engraved rib with a horse head and forelimb behind a series of lines from Robin Hood's Cave and the ivory horse from Lourdes, which show a high degree of handling polish, that these smaller artworks may have been carried extensively around the landscape and perhaps handed down from one generation to the next (Sieveking Reference Sieveking1991; Reference Sieveking1992).

Despite these uncertainties, however, researchers have concluded that plaquettes (along with other osseous mobiliary art) ‘were done in the context of ordinary life, and were directed at smaller domestic, social audiences’ (Rice & Patterson Reference Rice and Patterson1996, 232). While others suggest a more religious focus for these items (eg, Leroi-Gourhan Reference Leroi-Gourhan1965; Sieveking Reference Sieveking1987; Reference Sieveking1991), there seems to be some consensus that it was the act of creating the engraving which was important. Having been made, these items were then discarded having no further role to play in Magdalenian (religious) life after the event in which they were manufactured was concluded. These plaquettes, unlike parietal art which survived in a relatively protected environment, would then be exposed to trampling and other types of damage commonly accrued through exposure to everyday activities, having been discarded on a shelter (or other site) floor. Additionally, they were often reused and recycled in domestic activities (such as lining a hearth or a shelter floor) suggesting that their use-life continued in possibly an entirely different function to that for which they were originally created (Sieveking Reference Sieveking1987). This scenario certainly seems to be the case for the site from which the engraving described here was recovered, La Madeleine, where researchers have concluded that the role of mobiliary art was embedded in activities of the everyday and involved multiple aspects of Magdalenian life (Pettitt Reference Pettitt2005; Tosello Reference Tosello2003).