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The Mammoth spear thrower is a
British Museum 2011. Retrieved 14 September 2011. Between 7 February – 26 May 2013 it was displayed in the exhibition at the British Museum ''Ice Age Art: Arrival of the Modern Mind''.Ice Age Art: Arrival of the Modern Mind
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Graphic of a spear thrower in use.
{{Prehistoric technology, state=expanded Prehistoric objects in the British Museum Art of the Upper Paleolithic History of hunting Ancient weapons Animals in art category:Sculptures of the British Museum Bone carvings
The Mammoth spear thrower is a spear thrower
A spear-thrower, spear-throwing lever or ''atlatl'' (pronounced or ; Nahuatl ''ahtlatl'' ) is a tool that uses leverage to achieve greater velocity in dart or javelin-throwing, and includes a bearing surface which allows the user to store ene ...
in the form of a mammoth
A mammoth is any species of the extinct elephantid genus ''Mammuthus'', one of the many genera that make up the order of trunked mammals called proboscideans. The various species of mammoth were commonly equipped with long, curved tusks and, ...
, discovered at the "Montastruc rock shelter
A rock shelter (also rockhouse, crepuscular cave, bluff shelter, or abri) is a shallow cave-like opening at the base of a bluff or cliff. In contrast to solutional caves (karst), which are often many miles long, rock shelters are almost alway ...
" in Bruniquel
Bruniquel (; Languedocien: ''Borniquèl'') is a commune in the Tarn-et-Garonne department in the Occitanie region in southern France.
Geography
The tiny fortified village of 561 inhabitants is at an altitude of by the river Aveyron. The river V ...
, France. It is from the late Magdalenian
The Magdalenian cultures (also Madelenian; French: ''Magdalénien'') are later cultures of the Upper Paleolithic and Mesolithic in western Europe. They date from around 17,000 to 12,000 years ago. It is named after the type site of La Madele ...
period and around 12,500 years old. It now forms part of the Christy Collection in the British Museum
The British Museum is a public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is among the largest and most comprehensive in existence. It docum ...
(Palart 551), and is normally on display in Room 2.Spear thrower carved as a mammoth.British Museum 2011. Retrieved 14 September 2011. Between 7 February – 26 May 2013 it was displayed in the exhibition at the British Museum ''Ice Age Art: Arrival of the Modern Mind''.
/ref>
Features
The spear thrower was carved from a reindeer antler and depicts a mammoth with a hole for an eye which probably held a bone or stone insert originally. The hook has been repaired after the antler from which it was carved broke. The tusks of the mammoth appear on each side but have mostly been lost due to damage. It is about 12 cm in length. The mammoth is produced in low-relief on both sides of the object. When it was discovered, the broken tail hook had already been repaired. This was achieved by drilling a hole through the mammoth shape, just in front of the broken hook - and inserting in another piece of antler. Spear throwers were first used in western Europe about 20,000 years ago and enabled hunters to launch spears with more force and speed than if they threw just by hand. It was common for them to be decorated with animal carvings. Other types of spear throwers include the perforated batons, which are also often decorated. Anexample
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from La Madeleine can be seen at the British Museum in Room 2.
See also
*Prehistoric art
In the history of art, prehistoric art is all art produced in preliterate, prehistorical cultures beginning somewhere in very late geological history, and generally continuing until that culture either develops writing or other methods of rec ...
*Swimming Reindeer
The ''Swimming Reindeer'' is a 13,000-year-old Magdalenian sculpture of two swimming reindeer conserved in the British Museum. The sculpture was made in what is now modern-day France by an unknown sculptor who carved the artwork from the tip of ...
(Palart 550) from the same site
*List of Stone Age art
This is a descriptive list of Stone Age art, the period of prehistory characterised by the widespread use of stone tools. This article contains, by sheer volume of the artwork discovered, a very incomplete list of the works of the painters, sculpt ...
*Art of the Upper Paleolithic
The art of the Upper Paleolithic represents the oldest form of prehistoric art. Figurative art is present in Europe and Southeast Asia, beginning between about 40,000 to 35,000 years ago.
Non-figurative cave paintings, consisting of hand ste ...
References
Further reading
*Sieveking, Ann. ''A catalogue of Paleolithic art in the British Museum.'' London: British Museum Publications, 1987.External links
Graphic of a spear thrower in use.
{{Prehistoric technology, state=expanded Prehistoric objects in the British Museum Art of the Upper Paleolithic History of hunting Ancient weapons Animals in art category:Sculptures of the British Museum Bone carvings