Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-lnqnp Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-20T10:07:35.137Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Expanding the horizons of Palaeolithic rock art: the site of Romualdova Pećina

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 April 2019

Aitor Ruiz-Redondo Open the ORCID record for Aitor Ruiz-Redondo [Opens in a new window] ,
Darko Komšo ,
Diego Garate Maidagan ,
Oscar Moro-Abadía ,
Manuel Ramón González-Morales ,
Jacques Jaubert  and
Ivor Karavanić
Aitor Ruiz-Redondo*
Affiliation:
PACEA (UMR5199), Université de Bordeaux, Bâtiment B18, Allée Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire, 33615 Pessac, France Centre for the Archaeology of Human Origins (CAHO), Faculty of Arts & Humanities, University of Southampton Avenue Campus, Southampton SO17 1BF, UK
Darko Komšo
Affiliation:
Archaeological Museum of Istria, Carrarina 3, 52100 Pula, Croatia
Diego Garate Maidagan
Affiliation:
IIIPC-Universidad de Cantabria, Edificio Interfacultativo, Avda de Los Castros 52, 39005 Santander, Spain
Oscar Moro-Abadía
Affiliation:
Department of Archaeology, Memorial University of Newfoundland, Queen's College, A1C 5S7 St John's, Canada
Manuel Ramón González-Morales
Affiliation:
IIIPC-Universidad de Cantabria, Edificio Interfacultativo, Avda de Los Castros 52, 39005 Santander, Spain
Jacques Jaubert
Affiliation:
PACEA (UMR5199), Université de Bordeaux, Bâtiment B18, Allée Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire, 33615 Pessac, France
Ivor Karavanić
Affiliation:
Department of Archaeology, University of Zagreb, Ivana Lučića 3, 10000 Zagreb, Croatia Department of Anthropology, University of Wyoming, Laramie, WY 82071, USA
*
*Author for correspondence (Email: aruizredondo@gmail.com)
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Rock art is key for understanding European Palaeolithic societies. Long thought to have been restricted to South-west Europe, recent discoveries on the Balkan Peninsula have expanded significantly the geographic distribution of Upper Palaeolithic figurative rock art, calling into question the idea of its limited distribution. This article presents the first example of figurative cave art discovered in the Balkan region, at Romualdova Pećina (‘Romuald's Cave’) in Croatia, discussing its chronology and relevance in the context of recent research in Pleistocene art.

Keywords

Balkan PeninsulaUpper PalaeolithicPleistocenecave artsymbolism
Type
Research
Information
Antiquity , Volume 93 , Issue 368 , April 2019 , pp. 297 - 312
Copyright
Copyright © Antiquity Publications Ltd, 2019 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Aubert, M., Brumm, A., Ramli, M., Sutikna, T., Saptomo, E.W., Hakim, B., Morwood, M.J., van den Bergh, G.D., Kinsley, L. & Dosseto, A.. 2014. Pleistocene cave art from Sulawesi, Indonesia. Nature 514: 223–27. https://doi.org/10.1038/nature13422Google Scholar
Bahn, P.G. 2016. Images of the Ice Age. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Bahn, P.G. & Vertut, J.. 1997. Journey through the Ice Age. London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson.Google Scholar
Basler, Đ. 1976. Paleolitsko prebivalište Badanj kod Stoca. Glasnik Zemaljskog muzeja Bosne i Hercegovine 29: 5–18.Google Scholar
Bourrillon, R. 2009. Les représentations humaines sexuées dans l'art du Paléolithique supérieur européen: diversité, réminiscences et permanences. Unpublished PhD dissertation, Université de Toulouse.Google Scholar
Bourrillon, R., Fritz, C. & Sauvet, G.. 2012. La thématique féminine au cours du Paléolithique supérieur européen: permanences et variations formelles. Bulletin de la Société Préhistorique Française 109: 85–103. https://doi.org/10.3406/bspf.2012.14144Google Scholar
Broglio, A. & Dalmeri, G. (ed.). 2005. Pitture paleolitiche nelle Prealpi venete. Grotta di Fumane e Riparo Dalmeri. Verona: Museo Civico di Storia Naturale.Google Scholar
Ramsey, Bronk, C. 2013. OxCal version 4.2.3 calibration package. Oxford: Oxford Radiocarbon Accelerator Unit.Google Scholar
Cartailhac, E. 1902. La grotte d'Altamira, Espagne. Mea culpa d'un sceptique. L'Anthropologie 13: 348–54.Google Scholar
Chu, W. 2018. The Danube Corridor hypothesis and the Carpathian Basin: geological, environmental and archaeological approaches to characterizing Aurignacian dynamics. Journal of World Prehistory 31: 117–78. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10963-018-9115-1Google Scholar
Clottes, J. (ed.). 2001. La grotte Chauvet. L'art des origines. Paris: Seuil.Google Scholar
Clottes, J., Besesek, M., Gély, B., Ghemis, C., Kenesz, M., Lascu, V.T., Meyssonnier, M., Philippe, M., Plichon, V., Prud'homme, F., Radu, V.A., Rus, T. & Tociu, R.L.. 2012. Découverte d'une nouvelle grotte ornée paléolithique en Roumanie, dans le département du Bihor. Préhistoire, Art et Sociétés—B.S.P.A. 65–66: 513–28.Google Scholar
Cooper, A., Turney, C., Hughen, K.A., Brook, B.W., McDonald, H.G. & Bradshaw, C.J.A.. 2015. Abrupt warming events drove Late Pleistocene Holarctic megafaunal turnover. Science 349: 62–66. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aac4315Google Scholar
David, B., Barker, B., Petchey, F., Delannoy, J.-J., Geneste, J.-M., Rowe, C., Eccleston, M., Lamb, L. & Whear, R.. 2013. A 28 000 year old excavated painted rock from Nawarla Gabarnmang, northern Australia. Journal of Archaeological Science 40: 2493–501. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jas.2012.08.015Google Scholar
Ford, D. & William, P.. 2013. Karst hydrogeology and geomorphology. London: Unwin Hyman.Google Scholar
French, J.C. 2015. The demography of the Upper Palaeolithic hunter-gatherers of southwestern France: a multi-proxy approach using archaeological data. Journal of Anthropological Archaeology 39: 193–209. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jaa.2015.04.005Google Scholar
Fritz, C. & Tosello, G.. 2007. The hidden meaning of forms: methods of recording Paleolithic parietal art. Journal of Archaeological Method and Theory 14: 48–80. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10816-007-9027-3Google Scholar
Gamble, C. 1984. Regional variation in hunter-gatherer strategy in the Upper Pleistocene in Europe, in Foley, R. (ed.) Hominid evolution and community ecology: 237–60. London: Academic.Google Scholar
Garate, D. 2010. Las ciervas punteadas en las cuevas del Paleolítico: una expresión pictórica de la Cornisa Cantábrica. Donostia: Munibe.Google Scholar
Garate, D., Bourrillon, R. & Rios, J.. 2012. La grotte ornée paléolithique d'Etxeberri (Camou-Cihige, Pyrénées-Atlantiques): datation du contexte archéologique de la ‘salle des Peintures’. BSPF 109: 637–50. https://doi.org/10.3406/bspf.2012.14200Google Scholar
González-Sainz, C., Ruiz-Redondo, A., Garate, D. & Iriarte, E.. 2013. Not only Chauvet: dating aurignacian rock art in Altxerri B Cave (northern Spain). Journal of Human Evolution 65: 457–64. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhevol.2013.08.001Google Scholar
Henshilwood, C., d'Errico, F., Yates, R., Jacobs, Z., Tribolo, C., Duller, G.A.T., Mercier, N., Sealy, J.C., Valladas, H., Watts, I. & Wintle, A.G.. 2002. Emergence of modern human behavior: Middle Stone Age engravings from South Africa. Science 295: 1278–80. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1067575Google Scholar
Janković, I., Komšo, D., Ahern, J.C.M., Becker, R., Gerometta, K., Weinstock, J., Barbir, A., Vukosavljević, N., Cvitkušić, B., Zubčić, K., Mihelić, S. & Smith, F.H.. 2017. New research on the Late Pleistocene in the Lim Channel, Istria. Antiquity Project Gallery 91(359): https://doi.org/10.15184/aqy.2017.170Google Scholar
Jaubert, J. 2008. L'art’ pariétal gravettien en France: éléments pour un bilan chronologique. Paléo 20: 439–74.Google Scholar
Komšo, D. 2008. Limski kanal. Hrvatski arheološki godišnjak 4: 264–68.Google Scholar
Komšo, D., Cvitkušić, B. & Janković, I.. 2017. Previous archaeological research in the Lim Channel and adjacent areas, in Janković, I., Komšo, D., Mihelić, S. & Ahern, J.C.M. (ed.) The Archaeolim Project: archaeological investigations into the Late Pleistocene and Early Holocene of the Lim Channel: 21–38. Zagreb: Arheološki muzej u Zagrebu.Google Scholar
Leroi-Gourhan, A. 1965. Préhistoire de l'art occidental. Paris: Lucien Mazenod.Google Scholar
Malez, M. 1981. Krško podzemlje Istre kao prostor za naseljavanje fosilnih ljudi. Liburnijske Teme 4: 117–35.Google Scholar
McBrearty, S. & Brooks, A.S.. 2000. The revolution that wasn't: a new interpretation of the origin of modern human behavior. Journal of Human Evolution 39: 453–563. https://doi.org/10.1006/jhev.2000.0435Google Scholar
Medina-Alcaide, M.A., Garate, D., Ruiz-Redondo, A. & Sanchidrián, J.L.. 2018. Beyond art: the internal archaeological context in Paleolithic decorated caves. Journal of Anthropological Archaeology 49: 114–28. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jaa.2017.12.005Google Scholar
Mellars, P. 1989. Major issues in the emergence of modern humans. Current Anthropology 30: 349–85. https://doi.org/10.1086/203755Google Scholar
Mithen, S. 1996. The prehistory of mind. The cognitive origins of art, religion and science. London: Thames & Hudson.Google Scholar
Pettitt, P., Bahn, P. & Ripoll, S.. 2007. Palaeolithic cave art at Creswell Crags in European context. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Reimer, P.J. et al. 2013. IntCal13 and Marine13 radiocarbon age calibration curves 0–50,000 years cal BP. Radiocarbon 55: 1869–87. https://doi.org/10.2458/azu_js_rc.55.16947Google Scholar
Rivero, O. & Garate, D.. 2014. L'art mobilier gravettien de la grotte d'Isturitz (fouilles Saint-Perier): une collection redécouverte. Paléo 25: 247–76.Google Scholar
Robert, E. 2006. Les signes et leurs supports pariétaux. Analyse comparée des rapports entre les représentations abstraites et les reliefs naturels dans les grottes ornées du Paléolithique supérieur au sein de l'espace franco-cantabrique. Unpublished PhD dissertation, Université Paris 1 Panthéon Sorbonne.Google Scholar
Ruiz-Redondo, A., González-Sainz, C. & Garate, D.. 2017. Back to the past: symbolism and archaeology in Altxerri B (Gipuzkoa, northern Spain). Quaternary International 432: 66–76. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quaint.2015.07.013Google Scholar
Ruiz-Redondo, A., Mihailovic, D. & Kuhn, S.L.. 2018. First results of rock art survey in Central Balkans: analysis of the graphic remains of Selačka 3 (Serbia), in Floss, H. & Pastoors, A. (ed.) Palaeolithic rock and cave art in Central Europe?: 109–17. Rahden: Marie Leidorf.Google Scholar
Zilhão, J. 2007. The emergence of ornaments and art: an archaeological perspective on the origins of ‘behavioral modernity’. Journal of Archaeological Research 15: 1–54. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10814-006-9008-1Google Scholar