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First Epigravettian Ceramic Figurines from Europe (Vela spila, Croatia)

Recent finds of 36 ceramic artefacts 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 BP (before present). 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 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 artefacts provide evidence of a new social context in which ceramics developed and were used to make art in the Upper Palaeolithic.

Epigrawettian; Ceramic Figurines; Croatia

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