The Adorant from the Geißenklösterle cave is a 35,000-to-40,000-year-old section of

mammoth ivory Ivory is a hard, white material from the tusks (traditionally from elephants) and Tooth, teeth of animals, that consists mainly of dentine, one of the physical structures of teeth and tusks. The chemical structure of the teeth and tusks of mamm ...

with a depiction of a human figure, found in the Geißenklösterle cave in the

Swabian Jura The Swabian Jura (german: Schwäbische Alb , more rarely ), sometimes also named Swabian Alps in English, is a mountain range in Baden-Württemberg, Germany, extending from southwest to northeast and in width. It is named after the region of ...

near

Blaubeuren Blaubeuren () is a town in the district of Alb-Donau near Ulm in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. it had 11,963 inhabitants. Geography Geographical location The core city Blaubeuren lies at the foot of the Swabian Jura, west of Ulm. Neighboring ...

, Germany. The front face has a human figure of uncertain sex in

relief Relief is a sculptural method in which the sculpted pieces are bonded to a solid background of the same material. The term ''relief'' is from the Latin verb ''relevo'', to raise. To create a sculpture in relief is to give the impression that the ...

, with raised arms and outstretched legs, but no hands. The posture is usually interpreted as an expression of worship, which is why in German the figure is called an "adorant", a word meaning "worshipper". It has been claimed that a belt and sword can be seen, although these are probably natural features of the ivory. On the plate's reverse are rows of small notches. The piece was found in 1979 and is now in the

Landesmuseum Württemberg The Landesmuseum Württemberg (Württemberg State Museum) is the main historical museum of the Württemberg part of the German state of Baden-Württemberg. It emerged from the 16th-century “Kunstkammer” ( Cabinet of art and curiosities) of t ...

Stuttgart Stuttgart (; Swabian: ; ) is the capital and largest city of the German state of Baden-Württemberg. It is located on the Neckar river in a fertile valley known as the ''Stuttgarter Kessel'' (Stuttgart Cauldron) and lies an hour from the ...

. It is tall, wide, and thick. Traces of

manganese Manganese is a chemical element with the symbol Mn and atomic number 25. It is a hard, brittle, silvery metal, often found in minerals in combination with iron. Manganese is a transition metal with a multifaceted array of industrial alloy use ...

and

ochre Ochre ( ; , ), or ocher in American English, is a natural clay earth pigment, a mixture of ferric oxide and varying amounts of clay and sand. It ranges in colour from yellow to deep orange or brown. It is also the name of the colours produced ...

can be found on it by microscope analysis. Joachim Hahn: Eine aurignacienzeitliche Menschendarstellung aus dem Geißenklösterle bei Blaubeuren, Alb-Donau-Kreis. In: Denkmalpflege in Baden-Württemberg – Nachrichtenblatt der Landesdenkmalpflege, Bd. 9, Nr. 2 (1980), S. 56-58.

References

Literature

* Joachim Hahn, 1980: "Eine aurignacienzeitliche Menschendarstellung aus dem Geißenklösterle bei Blaubeuren, Alb-Donau-Kreis". In: ''Denkmalpflege in Baden-Württemberg – Nachrichtenblatt der Landesdenkmalpflege'', Vol. 9, Nr. 2 (1980), S. 56-58. * Joachim Hahn, 1988: ''Die Geißenklösterle-Höhle im Achtal bei Blaubeuren'', Stuttgart: Karl Theiss Verlag. * C.–S. Holdermann, Müller-Beck, H. and Simon, U., 2001: ''Eiszeitkunst im süddeutschschweizerischen Jura: Anfänge der Kunst,'', Stuttgart: Karl Theiss Verlag. * H. Müller-Beck und G. Albrecht (Ed.), 1987: ''Die Anfänge der Kunst vor 30000 Jahren'', Stuttgart: Theiss.

External links

Don Hitchcock (Don's Maps): "The Adorant - The Worshipper"
(with excellent pictures of the Adorant) {{Venus figurines Prehistoric art in Germany Art of the Upper Paleolithic Archaeological discoveries in Germany Archaeology of Baden-Württemberg Ivory works of art 1979 archaeological discoveries

See also

References

Literature

External links