Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Reflections on the Identities and Roles of the Artists in European Paleolithic Societies

  • Published:
Journal of Archaeological Method and Theory Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

In an attempt to introduce concerns with social identities into the discussion and understanding of the making of what we call Paleolithic art, this article considers issues of gender, skill, apprenticeship, and tradition. We note that, as in every period of history, Paleolithic art can be seen as embedded in the society that studies it. Over the last 20 years, the research attention given to women in Paleolithic societies has grown considerably, leading us to ask what could have been the roles of women in Paleolithic art. On what criteria could we base a determination of those roles or of other social identities that were likely part of the making and viewing of Paleolithic art?

Thanks to our microscopic analysis of engravings, it is possible to identify the skill level and expertise of the artists and thus to address the question of apprenticeship and how these techniques were transmitted. We observe many similarities that allow us to group together various works of art, sometimes from very distant sites, which indicate a movement of ideas, objects, and people. Are we talking about “imitation”? How can we define an “invention” within a social context strongly bound by traditions?

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5
Fig. 6
Fig. 7
Fig. 8
Fig. 9
Fig. 10
Fig. 11
Fig. 12
Fig. 13
Fig. 14
Fig. 15
Fig. 16

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Adovasio, J. M., Soffer, O., & Page, J. (2007). The invisible sex: uncovering the roles of women in prehistory. Washington DC: Collins-Smithsonian Books.

    Google Scholar 

  • Arias, P., González Sainz, C., Moure, A., & Ontañón, R. (1999). La Garma, Un Descenso al Pasado. Santander: Catálogo de la exposición. Gobierno de Cantabria y Universidad de Cantabria.

    Google Scholar 

  • Alcalde del Rio H., Breuil H. Sierra L. (1912). Les cavernes de la région cantabrique, Monaco, Veuve A. Chêne ed., 265 p

  • Almagro Basch, M. (1976). Los omoplatos decorados de la cueva de El Castillo, Puente Viesgo (Santander). Monografias Arqueologicas, 2, Museo Arqueologico Nacional, Madrid, 99 p

  • Alvarez Fernandez, E. (2002). Perforated Homalopoma sanguineum from Tito Bustillo (Asturias): mobility of Magdalenian groups in northern Spain. Antiquity, 76(293), 641–646.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Appelaniz, J. M. (1984). L’auteur des grands taureaux de Lascaux et ses successeurs. L'Anthropologie, 88(4), L 539–561.

    Google Scholar 

  • Baffier, D., & Feruglio, V. (1998). Premières observations sur deux nappes de ponctuations de la grotte Chauvet (Vallon-Pont-d’Arc, Ardèche, France). International Newsletter on Rock Art, 21, 1–4.

    Google Scholar 

  • Barandiaran, I. (1973). Arte Meuble del Paleolitico Cantabrico.Monografias Arqueologicas No. 14, Universidad de Zaragoza, Zaragoza.

  • Bahn, P. G. (1982). Intersite and inter-regional links during the Upper Paleolithic : the Pyrenean evidence. Oxford Journal of Archaeology, I(3), 247–268.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Barbaza, M., Fritz, C., & Pomiès, M. P. (1999). Une pendeloque gravée azilienne dans la grotte de Troubat (Hautes-Pyrénées) (pp. 141–174). LIII: Bulletin Société Préhistorique Ariégeoise.

    Google Scholar 

  • Baxter, J. E. (2005). The Archaeology of Childhood. Lanham, MD: Rowman-Littlefield.

    Google Scholar 

  • Baxter, J. E. (Ed.). (2006). Children in action: perspectives on the archaeology of childhoods. Archaeological Papers of the American Anthropological Association, No.15. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley Subscription Services.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bégouën, R., Fritz, C., Tosello, G., Clottes, J., Pastoors, A., Faist, F., avec la collaboration de Bourges, F., Fosse, P., Langlais, M., & Lacombe, S. (2009). Le Sanctuaire Secret des Bisons. Il y a 14000 ans, dans la Caverne du Tuc d'Audoubert. Paris: Editions d'Art Somogy et Association Louis Bégouën.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bolger, D. (Ed.). (2013). A companion to gender prehistory. Malden, MA and Oxford, UK: Blackwell.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bourrillon, R., Fritz, C., & Sauvet, G. (2012). La thématique féminine au cours du Paléolithique supérieur européen: permanences et variations formelles. Bulletin de la Société Préhistorique Française, 109(1), 85–103.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Brumbach, H., & Jarvenpa, R. (1997). Woman the hunter: ethnoarchaeological lessons from Chipewyan life cycle dynamics. In C. Claassen & R. A. Joyce (Eds.), Women in prehistory: North America and Mesoamerica (pp. 17–32). Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Buisson, D., Fritz, C., Kandel, D., Pinçon, G., Sauvet, G., Tosello, G. (1996). Analyse formelle des contours découpés de têtes de chevaux: implications archéologiques. In Delporte,H. et Clottes,J. (dir.), Pyrénées Préhistoriques, Arts et Sociétés. Actes du 118e Congrès National des Sociétés Historiques et Scientifiques, C.T.H.S., Paris, pp. 327–340.

  • Capitan, L., Bouyssonie, J. (1924). Un atelier d’art préhistorique: Limeuil, son gisement à gravures sur pierres de l’âge du renne. Publications de l’Institut International d’Anthropologie, 1, Librairie Emile Nourry, Paris

  • Cartailhac, E., & Breuil, H. (1907). Les oeuvres d’art de la collection de Vibraye au Muséum National. L'Anthropologie, 1–2(XVIII), 1–36.

    Google Scholar 

  • Charbonnier, G. (1961). Entretiens avec Claude Lévi-Strauss. Plon Julliard, Paris: Collection les Lettres Nouvelles.

    Google Scholar 

  • Chazine, J.-M., & Noury, A. (2006). Sexual determination of hand stencils on the main panel of the Gua Masri II cave (East Kalimantan-Borneo-Indonesia). International Newsletter on Rock Art, 4, 21–26.

    Google Scholar 

  • Clottes, J. (2003). Chauvet Cave, the art of earliest times. Salt Lake City, UT: University of Utah Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cohen, C. (2003). La Femme des Origines. Paris: Images de la Femme dans la Préhistoire Occidentale. Belin Herscher ed.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cohen, C. (2005). La moitié "invisible" de l’humanité. Colloque Mnemosyne, Lyon, IUFM, 8 mars 2005.

    Google Scholar 

  • Conkey, M. W. (1980). The identification of prehistoric hunter-gatherer aggregation sites: the case of Altamira. Current Anthropology, 21(5), 609–630.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Conkey, M. W. (1984). To find ourselves: art and social geography of prehistoric hunter-gatherers. In C. Schrire (Ed.), Past and Present in Hunter Gatherer Studies (pp. 253–276). FL.pp: Academic Press, Orlando.

    Google Scholar 

  • Conkey, M. W. (1987). New approaches in the search for meaning? A review of research in “Paleolithic art”. Journal of Field Archaeology, 14, 413–30.

    Google Scholar 

  • Conkey, M. W. (1990). L’art mobilier et l’établissement de géographies sociales. In J. Clottes (Ed.), L’art des objets au Paléolithique supérieur: les voies de la recherche. Colloque de Foix-Le Mas d'Azil (1987) (pp. 163–172). Paris: Direction du Patrimoine.

    Google Scholar 

  • Conkey, M. W. (1991). Contexts of action, contexts for power: material culture and gender in the Magdalenian. In J. Gero & M. Conkey (Eds.), Engendering Archaeology: Women and Prehistory (pp. 57–92). Oxford: Blackwell.

    Google Scholar 

  • Conkey, M. W. (1992). Les sites d'agrégation et la répartition de l'art mobilier, ou: y a-t-il des sites d'agrégation magdaléniens ? In J. Rigaud, H. Laville, & B. et Vandermeersch (Eds.), Le Peuplement Magdalénien, Paléogéographie Physique et Humaine. Actes du Colloque de Chancelade, 10–15 octobre 1988, Éditions du CTHS, Paris (pp. 19–25).

    Google Scholar 

  • Conkey, M. W. (1997). Mobilizing ideologies: Paleolithic “art”, gender trouble, and thinking about alternatives. In L. Hager (Ed.), Women in Human Evolution (pp. 172–207). London and New York: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Conkey, M. W., & Spector, J. (1984). Archaeology and the study of gender. In M. Schiffer (Ed.), Advances in Archaeological Method and Theory, 7 (pp. 1–38).

  • Corchón, M. S. (2004). Europa 16500–14000 A.C.: un lenguaje común. In P. Arias Cabal & R. Ontañón Peredo (Eds.), La Materia del Lenguaje Prehistórico (pp. 105–126). Instituto de Prehistoría, Santander: El Arte Mueble Paleolítico de Cantabria en Su Contexto.

    Google Scholar 

  • Deffarge, R., Laurent, P., & de Sonneville-Bordes, D. (1975). Art mobilier du Magdalénien supérieur de l’Abri Morin à Pessac-sur-Dordogne (Gironde). Gallia Préhistoire, 18(1), 1–64.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Delluc, G. (2012). Nutrition et sexualité au Paléolithique. Médicine Clinique et Endocrinologie diabète. Hors series. Mars, 2012, 21–28.

    Google Scholar 

  • D’Errico, F. (1994). L’art gravé azilien. De la technique à la signification. 31e suppl. à Gallia Préhistoire, CNRS éditions, Paris.

  • Dîaz-Andreu, M., & Lucy, S. (2005). Introduction. The archaeology of identity. approaches to gender, age, status, ethnicity and religion (pp. 1–12). Oxon and New York: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dobres, M.-A. (1995). Gender and prehistoric technology: on the social agency of technical strategies. World Archaeology, 27(1), 25–49.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dobres, M.-A. (2000). Technology and social agency: outlining an anthropological framework for archaeology. Oxford: Blackwell.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dobres, M.-A., & Hoffman, C. (1994). Social agency and the dynamics of prehistoric technology. Journal of Archaeological Method and Theory, 1(3), 211–258.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dyble, M., Salali, G. D., Chaudhary, N., Page, A., Smith, D., Thompson, J., Vinicius, L., Mace, R., & Migliano, A. B. (2015). Sex equality can explain the unique structure of hunter-gatherer bands. Science, 348(6236), 796–798.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Figuier, L. (1876). 4ème édition. Paris: Librairie Hachette éd. L'Homme primitif, ouvrage illustré de quarante scènes de la vie de l'homme primitif dessinées par Emile Bayard et de 256 figures représentant les objets usuels des premiers âges de l'Humanité. 451p.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fortea Pérez, J., Fritz, C., Garcia, M.-A., Sanchidrián Tortí, J. L., Sauvet, G., & Tosello, G. (2004a). L'art pariétal paléolithique à l'épreuve du style et du carbone-14. In M. Otte (Ed.), La Spiritualité (pp. 163–176). Liège: ERAUL 106.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fortea Pérez, J., De La Rasilla Vives, M., & Rodríguez Otero, V. (2004b). L'art pariétal et la séquence archéologique paléolithique de la grotte de Llonín (Peñamellera Alta, Asturies, Espagne). Préhistoire, Art et Sociétés, LIX:, 7–29.

  • Foulds, F. (2010). Investigating the individual? An experimental approach through lithic refitting. Lithics: The Journal of the Lithic Studies Society, 31, 6–19.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fritz, C. (1999a). La gravure dans l'art mobilier magdalénien. du geste à la représentation. Documents d'Archéologie Française (D.A.F.), 75, Edition de la Maison des Sciences de l'Homme, Paris.

  • Fritz, C. (1999b). Towards a rebuilding of the Magdalenian artistic processes: the use of microscopic analysis in the field of miniature art. Cambridge Archaeological Journal, 9–2, 189–208.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fritz, C., & Tosello, G. (2004). Marsoulas: une grotte ornée dans son contexte culturel. In L’art du Paléolithique supérieur. Actes du Colloque UISPP, Liège, Sept. 2001. ERAUL, 107, 55–67.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fritz, C., Tosello, G. (2005). Entre Périgord et Cantabres : les Magdaléniens de Marsoulas. In Jaubert, J. and Barbaza,M. (eds), Territoires, Déplacements, Mobilité, Echanges Durant la Préhistoire, Terres et Hommes du Sud. Actes du 126e Congrès des Sociétés Historiques et Scientifiques, Toulouse, 2001, pp. 311–327

  • Fritz, C., Tosello, G., & Sauvet, G. (2007). Groupes ethniques, territoires, échanges: la notion de “frontière” dans l'art magdalénien. In N. Cazals, J. González Urquijo, & X. Terradas (Eds.), Frontières naturelles et frontières culturelles dans les Pyrénées préhistoriques (pp. 165–181). Santander: Publican-Ediciones de la Universidad de Cantabria.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gamble, C. (1999). Paleolithic Societies of Europe. Cambridge. UK: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gamble, C. (2007). Origins and revolutions. Human identity in earliest prehistory. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Gamble, C. (2013). Settling the Earth. The archaeology of deep human history. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Gamble, C., & Gittens, E. (2004). Social archaeology and origins research: a Paleolithic perspective. In L. Meskell and R. Preucel (Ed.), A Companion to Social Archaeology (pp. 96-118). Malden, MA and Oxford, UK: Blackwell.

  • Gell, A. (1998). Art and Agency. An Anthropological Theory: Oxford University Press, Oxford, UK.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gero, J. (1991). Genderlithics: women’s role in stone tool production. In J. Gero and M. Conkey (Ed.), Engendering Archaeology. Women and Prehistory (pp.163-193). Oxford: Blackwell.

  • Guthrie, D. (1984) Ethological observations from Paleolithic art. In Bandi, H.G.,Huber, W., Sauter, M-R., and Sitter,B. ( eds), Contribution de la Zoologie et d’Ethologie á l’Interpretation de l’Art des Peuples Chasseurs Préhistoriques. Editions Universitaires Fribourg Suisse,Saint-Paul Fribourg, pp. 35–74.

  • Guthrie, D. (2005). The Nature of Paleolithic Art. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ipiens, A., Salgues, Th. avec la coll. de Chalard, P., Du Fayet de la Tour, A., Geneviève, V., Jarry, M., Sablayrolles, Ph. (2001). Faycelles, abri de Lagrave (Lot). Bilan scientifique 2000, DRAC Midi-Pyrénées, Service Régional de l’Archéologie, pp. 106–108

  • Heinz, H. J. (1978). Namkwa; life among the Bushmen. London: Cape Publishers.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jarvenpa, R., & Brumbach, H. (Eds.). (2006). Circumpolar lives and livelihood: a comparative ethnoarchaeology of gender and subsistence. Lincoln, NE and London: University of Nebraska Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jarvenpa, R., & Brumbach, H. (2009). Fun with Dick and Jane. Ethnoarchaeology, circumpolar toolkits and gender “inequality”. Ethnoarchaeology, 1, 59–78.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jodry, M. (1998). The possible design of Folsom ultrathin bifaces as fillet knives for jerky production. Current Research in the Pleistocene, 15, 75–77.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kuhn, S. L., & Stiner, M. C. (2006). What’s a mother to do? The division of labor among Neanderthals and modern humans in Eurasia. Current Anthropology, 47(6), 953.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lamotte, C. (2006) Les empreintes de mains se donnent un genre. Journal du CNRS, n°192 http://www2.cnrs.fr/presse/journal/2569.htm

  • Lave, J., & Wenger, E. (1991). Situated Learning. Cambridge, UK: Legitimate Peripheral Participation. Cambridge University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Manning, J. T. (2002). Digit Ratio. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Manning, J. T., Scutt, D., Wilson, J., & Lewis-Jones, D. I. (1998). The ratio of 2nd to 4th digit length: a predictor of sperm numbers and concentrations of testosterone, luteinizing hormone and oestrogen. Human Reproduction, 13, 3000–3004.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Moro Abadía, O., & González-Morales, M. (2008). Paleolithic art studies at the beginning of the twenty-first century: a loss of innocence. Journal of Anthropological Research, 64, 529–552.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Owen, L. (2005). Distorting the Past. Gender and the Division of Labor in the European Upper Paleolithic. Tübingen: Kerns Verlag.

    Google Scholar 

  • Péquart M., St-J. (1960–63). Grotte du Mas d'Azil (Ariège). Une nouvelle galerie magdalénienne. Annales de Paléontologie, XLVI-XLIX, Editions Masson, Paris.

  • Pigeot, N. (1987). Magdaléniens d’Etiolles, Economie de débitage et organisation sociale. (Unité d’habitation U5). XXVe Suppplément à Gallia Préhistoire, Editions du C.N.R.S., Paris.

  • Redman, C. L. (1977). The “analytical individual” and prehistoric style variability. In J. N. Hill (Ed.), The Individual in Prehistoric Studies of Variability in Style in Prehistoric Technology (pp. 41–53). New York: Academic Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Russell, P. (1991). Men only? The myths about European Paleolithic artists. In N. Willows and Walde, D. (Eds), The Archaeology of Gender (pp. 346-351). Calgary: Chacmool Archaeological Association of the University of Calgary.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sauvet, G., Fortea Pérez, J., Fritz, C., & Tosello, G. (2008). Crónica de los intercambios entre los grupos humanos paleolíticos. La contribución del arte para el periodo 20000–12000 años BP. Zephyrus, LXI, enero-junio, 33–59.

    Google Scholar 

  • Seris, J. P. (1994). La Technique. Paris: Presses Universitaires de France.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sharpe, K., & Van Gelder, L. (2004). Children and Paleolithic “art”: indications from Rouffignac cave, France. International Newsletter on Rock Art, 38, 9–17.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sharpe, K., & Van Gelder, L. (2006a). The study of finger flutings. Cambridge Archaeological Journal, 16(3), 281–295.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sharpe, K., & Van Gelder, L. (2006b). Evidence for cave marking by Paleolithic children. Antiquity, 80(310), 937–947.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sharpe, K., & Van Gelder, L. (2006c). Finger fluting in chamber A1 of Rouffignac cave, France. Rock Art Research, 23(2), 179–198.

    Google Scholar 

  • Shennan, S. (Ed.). (1989). Archaeological Approaches to Cultural Identity. London: Unwin Hyman.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sieveking, A. (2003). Groupes locaux et contacts à grande distance dans l’art paléolithique. Préhistoire, Arts et Sociétés, LVIII:, 85–97.

  • Simonnet, R. (1996). Approvisionnement en silex au Paléolithique supérieur ; déplacements et caractéristiques physionomiques des paysages : L'exemple des Pyrénées centrales. In H. Delporte & J. Clottes (Eds.), Pyrénées Préhistoriques, Arts et Sociétés (pp. 117–128). Paris: Actes du 118e Congrès National des Sociétés Historiques et Scientifiques, C.T.H.S.

    Google Scholar 

  • Slocum, S. (1975). Woman the gatherer: male bias in anthropology. In R. Rapp (Ed.), Toward an Anthropology of Women (pp. 36–50). New York: Monthly Review Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Snow, D. (2006). Sexual dimorphism in Upper Paleolithic hand stencils. Antiquity, 80, 390–404.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Snow, D. (2013). Sexual dimorphism in European Upper Paleolithic cave art. American Antiquity, 78(4), 746–761.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Soffer, O., Adovasio, J. M., & Hyland, D. (2000). The “Venus’ figurines: textiles, basketry, and gender in the Upper Paleolithic. Current Anthropology, 41(4), 511–537.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Taborin, Y. (1992). Les espaces d'acheminement de certains coquillages magdaléniens. In Rigaud, J.Ph., Laville, H., et Vandermeersch, B. (dir.), Le Peuplement Magdalénien, Paléogéographie Physique et Humaine. Actes du Colloque de Chancelade, 10–15 octobre 1988, Éditions du CTHS, Paris, pp. 417–429

  • Testart, A. (1986). Essai sur les fondements de la division sexuelle du travail chez les chasseurs-cueilleurs. Paris: Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tosello, G. (2003). Pierres Gravées du Périgord Magdalénien : Art, Symboles, Territoires, XXXVIe supplément à Gallia Préhistoire. Paris: CNRS éditions.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tosello, G. (2011). Le temps d’un rêve. Paris: Editions Errance.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tosello, G., Fritz, C. (2005). Les dessins noirs de la grotte Chauvet : essai sur leur originalité dans le site et leur place dans l'art aurignacien. In Geneste, J-M. (dir.), Journées de la Société Préhistorique Française 11–12 octobre 2003. Université de Lyon 1, Bulletin de la Société Préhistorique Française, Travaux 6 et Association Française de Karstologie, Mémoires 11, pp. 159–173

  • Vallois, H. V. (1928). Etude des empreintes de pieds humains du Tuc d'Audoubert de Cabrerets et de Ganties (pp. 328–335). Amsterdam: Congrès International d'Anthropologie et d'Archéologie Préhistorique, III.

    Google Scholar 

  • Van Gelder, L., & Sharpe, K. (2009). Women and girls as Upper Paleolithic cave ‘artists’: deciphering the sexes of finger-fluters in Rouffignac cave. Oxford Journal of Archaeology, 28(4), 323–333.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Vanhaeren, M., & D’Errico, F. (2003). Le mobilier funéraire de la Dame de Saint-Germain-La-Rivière et l’origine des inégalités. Paléo, 15, 195–238.

    Google Scholar 

  • Weedman, K. (2002). On the spur of the moment: effects of age and experience on hafted stone scraper morphology. American Antiquity, 67(4), 731–744.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Weedman Arthur, K. (2010). Feminine knowledge and skill reconsidered: women and flaked stone tools. American Anthropologist, 112(2), 228–243.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Whallon, R. (2006). Social networks and information: non-“utilitarian” mobility among hunter-gatherers. Journal of Anthropological Archaeology, 25(2), 259–270.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Whallon, R., Lovis, W. A., & Hitchcock, R. K. (2011). Information and its Role in Hunter-Gatherer Bands. Cotsen Institute of Archaeology Press, Ideas, Debates and Perspectives 5. Los Angeles, CA: University of California Los Angeles.

    Google Scholar 

  • White, R. (2003). Prehistoric Art. New York: The Symbolic Journey of Humankind. H.Abrams.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wobst, H. M. (1976). Locational relationships in Paleolithic society. Journal of Human Evolution, 5, 49–58.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wobst, H. M. (1978). The archaeo-ethnology of hunter-gatherers or the tyranny of the ethnographic record in archaeology. American Antiquity, 43(2), 303–309.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

The two principal authors would like to thank L. Hinton for the original translation and Meg Conkey for additional translation and authorship. This article was written thanks to the financial support of French National Research Agency (ANR) as part of the program “PREHART.” We also thank the journal editors for their patience and especially the several reviewers who offered crucial and constructive advice.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. CNRS, UMR 5608 TRACES, CREAP Cartailhac, Maison de la Recherche, 5 allées Antonio Machado, 31058, Toulouse, France

    Carole Fritz

  2. UMR 5608 TRACES, CREAP Cartailhac, Maison de la Recherche, 5 allées Antonio Machado, 31058, Toulouse, France

    Gilles Tosello

  3. Department of Anthropology, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA, 94720-3710, USA

    Margaret W. Conkey

Authors
  1. Carole Fritz
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Gilles Tosello
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Margaret W. Conkey
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Gilles Tosello.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Fritz, C., Tosello, G. & Conkey, M.W. Reflections on the Identities and Roles of the Artists in European Paleolithic Societies. J Archaeol Method Theory 23, 1307–1332 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10816-015-9265-8

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10816-015-9265-8

Keywords

Search

Navigation