Une pierre peinte du Hohle Fels ( Baden-Württemberg , Allemagne) et la question de l' art pariétal paléolithique en Europe centrale/A painted stone from Hohle Fels cave (Baden-Württemberg, Germany) and the question of paleolithic parietal art in Central Europe/Ein bemalter Stein vom Hohle Fels (Baden-Württemberg, Deutschland) und die Frage nach paläolithischer Höhlenkunst in Mitteleuropa

摘要

A painted stone from Hohle Fels cave (Baden-Württemberg, Germany) and the question of paleolithic parietal art in Central Europe. Due to weathering and breakdown caused by strong fluctuations in temperature and moisture during the Late Quaternary, the original wall surfaces of German Paleolithic cave sites are rarely preserved. This situation has hindered the discovery of parietal art in the region. However, during the 1998 excavation of the Magdalenian layer 1k at Hohle Fels Cave near Schelklingen, a painted fragment of the wall of the cave was recovered. This find of 76 x 59 x 17 mm provides the strongest evidence for wall painting thus far documented in Germany. The piece counts among a small number of possible indications for Paleolithic parietal art in central Europe. The archaeological layer from which the find was excavated is radiocarbon dated to ca. 13,000 BP, and based on stylistic comparisons with parietal and mobile art, the painted wall fragment appears to be of Magdalenian age. The fragment depicts two double rows of small red points. One double row includes seven pairs of points, while the other truncated double row preserves four pairs of points. This truncation clearly shows that the find was part of a larger composition. The painted wall fragment from Hohle Fels confirms the existence of Magdalenian paintings in the region and provides further evidence for a measure of stylistic continuity between the Magdalenian and Final Paleolithic. While it cannot be excluded that the painting occurred after the fragment fell from the wall and thus represents mobile art, the find provides the best evidence to date for parietal art in Germany.