dAf 91
TYMULA Sophie
L'art solutréen du Roc de Sers (Charente)
Of fundamental importance for the study of palaeolithic art, the Solutrean settlement site of Roc de Sers and the sculpted cave-wall art which typifies it are presented within a rigorous scientific framework. Beyond the form-support relationship, developed to its fullest expression in the Magdalenian period, and the canon of gestures resulting from carefully controlled transmission of technical sculpting procedures, artistic and symbolic expression, seen from a techno-economic and socio-cultural perspective, were enhanced by other inventive innovations. Complex construction, use of contours and mastery of shadow work together to create visual effects suggesting volume and perspective. The mastery of the third dimension, a considerable advance in the realm of cave-wall art, combines figurative art with unconventional, sometimes abstract composite figures, reflecting a society in which the concept of regionalism is gaining ground.
Abstract
Abstract
Part I : The Solutrean settlement site
1 Geography and lay-out of the site
The Roc de Sers site in Charente is centrally located with respect to the other two major Palaeolithic art sites found in this department, the Placard cave and the Chaire-à-Calvin rock-shelter. Aside from cultural factors which may have influenced the choice of location and habitat type, the geography of the site, with its southern exposure, was probably the most important criterion in choosing this part of the Roc valley. The area is made up of two caves: the Virgin cave and the Roc cave, separated by a line of Upper Turonian limestone cliffs. Its south-east orientation protects the site from the prevailing westerly winds. The virtually horizontal platforms and natural level surfaces, protected by the caves’ overhang and the rock-shelters’ roofs, provided the necessary conditions for long-term occupation of this part of the valley during the last maximum glacial period. Climatic factors would have been only partially responsible for the Solutrean groups’ choice of sites. Access to natural resources was probably another determining factor. Movement between the shelters and the valley was facilitated as the inclines are not very steep. There was easy access to the river, which was nonetheless far enough away not to be dangerous during the flood season. The caves’ and shelters’ platforms would have allowed settlers to observe the arrival of game which probably also migrated along this access route. Finally, the geographical location of the site, close to deposits of siliceous raw materials, gave it an environmentally strategic advantage which was no doubt an influential factor in acquiring supplies of stone. The Echelle, Tardoire, Charente and Vienne valleys offered travellers natural paths of communication which would have intersected with the river network.
The combination of palaeo-environmental, geomorphological and palaeo-ethnological factors taken up in this chapter allows us to understand the site’s natural architecture and the types of behaviour which resulted in locating the site in the valley. In 1979 Roc de Sers was given the status of a national Historical Monument.
2 Prior research (1907-1998)
The first research of an archaeological nature at Roc de Sers was undertaken in 1907, when C. Bertranet dug a trial hole at the entrance to the Roc cave. Widespread recognition of the site’s importance began with the work of Dr. Léon Henri-Martin, although A. Favraud’s earlier discovery in the cave of a substantial Aurignacian layer, covered by a Solutrean level, had already given H. Breuil one of the arguments he needed to prove that the Aurignacian was followed by the Solutrean period.
Three years of digging (1927-1929) allowed Dr. Henri-Martin to excavate the major portion of an extensive series of sculpted fragments from a frieze attributed to the Upper Solutrean period. A single campaign (1951) would later give G. Henri-Martin and R. Lantier the opportunity to complete these finds with a new archaeological perspective. Finally, in 1965, A. Leroi-Gourhan used the significant model provided by this reliably dated sculpture group to posit his definition of “Style IV”. Sixty years after they were discovered, the sculpted forms from Roc de Sers have been re-examined and the information concerning their chrono-stratigraphic context re-appraised. Using Dr. Henri-Martin’s excavation reports, previous research on the site has been put together and presented in table form.
3 Habitat and the parietal layout: chrono-stratigraphical and palaeo-ethnological context
Definition of the archaeological features is based upon observation in situ in their current context of preservation and upon recording carried out during the excavations of the site and at the time the sculpted elements were discovered.
This approach brings out the techno-economic uniformity of the occupation site, which fits into Upper Solutrean models. Such an approach also enables us to attempt a reconstruction of the site’s natural architecture and to characterise the cave-wall space. Thus, from a topographic point of view, the extent of the frieze can be estimated at approximately ten meters in length. It overhung the platform of the intermediary rock-shelter to the east and the slope subjacent to the Roc cave to the west.
Finally, by taking into account five essential archaeological materials (worked flint, worked animal bone, portable art, ornaments and fauna) we can suggest a reconstruction of the spatiotemporal relationships among the three habitat units (the slope subjacent to the Roc cave, the platform of the intermediary rock-shelter and the slope subjacent to the Virgin cave). For two of the three habitat sites, information from two carbon-14 dates would seem to confirm that there were at least four phases of occupation prior to the collapse of the rocky overhang. These phases are in direct correlation with the sociocultural behaviour of Solutrean groups.
Part II : The parietal layout
4 The applied methodology
Characterising the technical processes and graphic conventions used by the Solutrean sculptors in creating the parietal layout demands a linear analytical approach making use of interdisciplinary means of observation and data recording systems. These analytical procedures will likewise contribute to recontextualizing the sculptural space within the actual physical environs of the habitat.
5 Descriptive and analytical inventory of sculptural representations
The fourteen sculpted, engraved and painted fragments recovered from the platform of the intermediate rock-shelter and from the slope subjacent to the Roc cave are described in their order of discovery, respecting the alphabetical designation established by Dr. Henri-Martin. The final list of graphic items includes 27 animal figures, 10 unidentified traces, 4 indeterminate animal figures, 2 humans, 5 painted signs and 3 rings for a total of 51 elements.
The tendency towards realistic renderings of animals and humans justifies an anatomical approach, not only for the complete representations but also for the partial or segmented figures. This detailed anatomical study leads to a zoological classification enabling us to see the relationship between the representations and fauna actually present in the area and the animals hunted and eaten by the Solutreans in the Roc Valley. Eight types of animals have been identified for the frieze ; some have been classified at the species level , others at the gender or family level.
With the exception of the composite figures specific to Roc de Sers and unique in the context of Palaeolithic art (Bison-Boar and Musk-ox-Bison), the figures use a common stock of forms. The Horse and the Ibex are the most frequently represented species ; this numerical preponderance reflects the unusual organisation of the composition. The Bison theme is found in both series and its relationship with the dominant species provides the foundations of the parietal layout’s symbolic construction, in which man, albeit not entirely free of a bestialised expression, is not totally excluded; nor is abstract symbolism, as suggested by the unusual association of a type 4 sign (5 dots aligned) and a horse.
This approach has proven to be essential in determining the graphic conventions peculiar to the parietal layout and their variations.
6 Technical processes in Solutrean parietal sculpture
Special attention has been given here to those technical characteristics contributing to the cultural homogeneity of the parietal layout. Diachronic analysis, developed on the bases of research carried out on technological systems found in Aurignacian, Gravettian and Magdalenian sculpture, reveals carefully controlled transmission of technical procedures adopted by Solutrean sculptors. However, if the technical rules established as early as the Aurignacian constitute a technological basis whose continuing existence was assured by codifying norms of expression, technological innovation during the Upper Palaeolithic was at its strongest in Solutrean society. For the first time, due to the highly complex role of the support, we can speak in terms of wall sculpture. In reconstructing the technical sequence used in the Roc de Sers frieze, we observe certain innovative applications of technology which can be seen in relation to integrating the support into the work of art. These new techniques, namely high-relief, half-relief, reserved relief and re-cutting show that beginning with the Solutrean, the conscious distribution of shadow undeniably played an important and innovative part in composition, and that light was being deliberately exploited as a plastic component. With respect to re-cutting sculpted surfaces, technological analysis of different sets of lines shows that this technique was always only partially applied and that at least three separate sequences appear to make up the parietal layout.
7 Characterisation of the Solutrean sculpted art from Roc de Sers
Access to a high degree of technical skill had freed the Solutrean sculptor from purely material restrictions and given the artist better control of the sequences of actions, thus contributing to establishing stylistic conventions which would be important in developing the techno-stylistic unity of the parietal layout and the cultural homogeneity of the “ sanctuary ”. These graphic conventions, as well as the analysis of symbolic constructions in the parietal layout, are described in this chapter.
The six graphic conventions, applied to each theme treated, compose the final chrono-cultural reference point for this symbolic Solutrean identity. In conjunction with technical and chrono-stratigraphic information, they contribute to establishing a fundamental reference framework defining Upper Solutrean cave-wall art. Although certain graphic conventions are similar to those seen in sculpture attributed to the Aurignacian and Gravettian, such as use of the full profile or minimal internal hatch-work, most conventions used to create a composition demonstrate a true transformation in graphic expression. These conceptual changes are particularly well established by sculptural techniques which concentrate graphic codes into a single homogeneous structure, extending over a limited surface area.
The constant search to translate perspective and movement of volumes in space lies behind the schemas developed for representing figures. By highlighting these approaches to graphic representation, with visual effects and choices of complex construction bearing witness to a very precise knowledge of the models, the Solutreans succeeded in going beyond certain optical constraints. They thus attained a mastery of the third dimension and an assimilation of perspective from the support. These techniques represent considerable progress in the field of wall sculpture.
8 Conclusions
The results of this study show that the Roc de Sers habitat will henceforth be a key site for defining a reference framework for Palaeolithic art. The data brought together and put back into the context of the Upper Solutrean provide an important contribution to our understanding of socio-cultural behaviour in Solutrean groups in the Roc Valley. This information also allows us to reformulate the relationship between art and habitat, giving us points of comparison with Franco-Iberian Solutrean sites. Finally, the data confirm the interest and importance of integrating art into cultures defined by complex techno-economic systems, establishing the importance of seeing art in relation to society whilst at the same time reinforcing the concept of regionalization.
