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Lalinde / Gönnersdorf Figurines and Engravings

Lalinde/Gönnersdorf figurines and engravings are strictly stylized, overtly female forms with over-sized buttocks, long trunks, small or missing breasts, and no heads. These images have been found at sites such as Gönnersdorf in Germany, in Abri Murat and Gare de Couze in France, Pekárna in the Czech Republic, and Wilczyce in Poland.

Text above adapted from: http://archaeology.about.com/od/upperpaleolithic/a/0307_venusfig.htm

Les figurations féminines schématiques

Très caractéristiques de la fin du Magdalénien, les figures féminines stylisées (du type Lalinde-Gönnersdorf) constituent une iconographie à part de l'art traditionnellement animalier du Magdalénien. Identifiées à l'origine d'après la figure princeps de Couze, gravés sur bloc calcaire (No 1 dans la vitrine), ces figurations schématiques sont connues sur divers supports dans toute l'Europe. Elles traduisent l'homogénéité culturelle de la fin du Paléolithique supérieur à une époque où les circulation des matières premières et des coquillages, atteignent leur apogée.

Very characteristic of the late Magdalenian, these stylized female figures (known as the Lalinde-Gönnersdorf tradition) are a part of imagery in the art of the traditional Magdalenian. Identified initially on the basis of the figures from Gare de Couze, engraved on a limestone block (No. 1 in the window), the schematic figures are known on various media across Europe. They reflect the cultural homogeneity of the late Upper Paleolithic at a time when the movement of raw materials and shells reached their climax.

Gare de Couze engravings.

Photo: Don Hitchcock 2008

Source: Originals, display at Musée National de Préhistoire, Les Eyzies

Gare de Couze engravings highlighted.

Photo: Don Hitchcock 2008

Source: Originals, display at Musée National de Préhistoire, Les Eyzies

These form part of a consistent art form, showing the outline of the female form engraved in limestone or on ivory plaques. See the illustrations below.

Note however, that every single one of the engravings photographed above on a single stone is shown from the right side of the female outline, which is not the case with all of the examples shown below.

Lalinde style engravings

La Roche Lalinde

Photo: www.ucmo.edu/Documents/dissertationillus.pdf

Lalinde style engravings

11-13 , Hohlenstein; 14-16 Gönnersdorf (engraving No. 59-1 and 86-1 and figurine No. 1

Photo: www.ucmo.edu/Documents/dissertationillus.pdf

Chipped stone female figurines (style Lalinde/Gönnersdorf) from Wilczyce, Poland Photo: Romuald Schild, photo credit Dagmara Manka

Source: http://archaeology.about.com/od/artandartifacts/ig/Wilczyce-Figurines/Chipped-Stone-Female-Figurine-.htm

Carved Bone Female Figurine (style Lalinde/Gönnersdorf) from Wilczyce, Poland Photo: Romuald Schild, photo credit Dagmara Manka

Source: http://archaeology.about.com/od/artandartifacts/ig/Wilczyce-Figurines/Chipped-Stone-Female-Figurine-.htm

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This page last modified Wednesday 28 October 2009

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