Croatia. Archaeologists uncover Palaeolithic ceramic art

Ceramics found on the coast of the Adriatic attest to a hitherto unknown artistic culture which flourished during the last Ice Age, thousands of years before pottery was commonly used.

Leg and torso from the model of a four legged animal possibly a deer or horse. Credit Rebecca Farbstein.

Evidence of a community of prehistoric artists and craftspeople who “invented” ceramics during the last Ice Age – thousands of years before pottery became commonplace – has been found in modern-day Croatia.

The finds consist of 36 fragments, most of them apparently the broken-off remnants of modelled animals, and come from a site called Vela Spila on the Adriatic coast. Archaeologists believe that they were the products of an artistic culture which sprang up in the region about 17,500 years ago. Their ceramic art flourished for about 2,500 years, but then disappeared.

The study, which is published in the journal PLoS ONE, adds to a rapidly-changing set of views about when humans first developed the ability to make ceramics and pottery. Most histories of the technology begin with the more settled cultures of the Neolithic era, which began about 10,000 years ago.

Now it is becoming clear that the story was much more complex. Over thousands of years, ceramics were invented, lost, reinvented and lost again. The earliest producers did not make crockery, but seem to have had more artistic inclinations.

The Vela Spila finds have been the subject of intensive investigation by researchers at the University of Cambridge and colleagues in Croatia since 2010. Their report, published this week, suggests that although earlier ceramic remnants have been found elsewhere, they had no connection with the site, where the ability to make these artefacts appears to have been independently rediscovered by the people who lived there... University of Cambridge

Reference: Farbstein R, Radić D, Brajković D, Miracle PT (2012) First Epigravettian Ceramic Figurines from Europe (Vela Spila, Croatia). PLoS ONE 7(7): e41437. http://dx.plos.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0041437 (Full article).

Actualización 27-07-12. Un equipo de arqueólogos británicos y croatas descubren cerámica artística elaborada durante el Paleolítico Superior
La evidencia de una comunidad de artistas y artesanos prehistóricos que "inventó" la cerámica durante la última Edad de Hielo -miles de años antes de que la cerámica se convirtiera en algo común- ha sido descubierta en la actual Croacia.
Los hallazgos consisten en 36 fragmentos, la mayoría de ellos, al parecer, son restos desprendidos de figurillas de animales modeladas, y provienen de un lugar llamado Vela Spila en la costa adriática. Los arqueólogos creen que son el producto de una cultura artística que surgió en la región hace alrededor de 17.500 años. Su arte cerámico floreció durante unos 2.500 años, pero luego desapareció...