title: First Epigravettian ceramic figurines from Europe (Vela Spila, Croatia).
abstract: Recent finds of 36 ceramic artifacts from the archaeological site of Vela Spila, Croatia, offer the first evidence of ceramic figurative art in late Upper Palaeolithic Europe, c. 17,500-15,000 years before present (BP). The size and diversity of this artistic ceramic assemblage indicate the emergence of a social tradition, rather than more ephemeral experimentation with a new material. Vela Spila ceramics offer compelling technological and stylistic comparisons with the only other evidence of a developed Palaeolithic ceramic tradition found at the sites of Pavlov I and Dolní Věstonice I, in the Czech Republic, c. 31,000-27,000 cal BP. Because of the 10,000-year gap between the two assemblages, the Vela Spila ceramics are interpreted as evidence of an independent invention of this technology. Consequently, these artifacts provide evidence of a new social context in which ceramics developed and were used to make art in the Upper Palaeolithic.
authors: McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, United Kingdom. rebecca.farbstein@gmail.com
authors: Rebecca
authors: R
authors: Farbstein
authors: Dinko
authors: D
authors: Radić
authors: Dejana
authors: D
authors: Brajković
authors: Preston T
authors: PT
authors: Miracle
mesh_terms: D001106:Archaeology; D002516:Ceramics; D017523:Croatia; D003469:Culture; D049690:History, Ancient; D006801:Humans