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Jewellery, Pottery, Tools and other artifacts from Dolni Vestonice

Jewellery

Necklace of pierced Arctic Fox teeth.

Photo: Don Hitchcock 2008

Source: Apparently originals, display, Dolní Věstonice Museum

Necklace of shells. Some appear to be from the nearby Jurassic limestone hills, dug from the ground at the time of completion of the necklace, and are typically a dull or white colour.

I have marked with a red spot some others which may be contemporaneous with the original construction of the necklace, taken from the far distant seashore some 27 000 years ago. If that is the case, they would have been very valuable at the time.

If you click on the image you may see the necklace in a larger format, without the red spots. Most images on this page have a high definition version, obtained by clicking on the thumbnail.

Photo: Don Hitchcock 2008

Source: Apparently originals, display, Dolní Věstonice Museum

(left) Necklace made of fossil Dentalium badense shells and teeth of the arctic fox, Dolní Věstonice.

Photo: Jelinek (1975)

(right) Necklace of fossil Dentalium badense shells. These would have come from the large deposits of Jurassic Limestone which form the peaks just behind the Dolni Vestonice / Pavlov deposits.

Photo: Don Hitchcock 2008
Source: Apparently originals, display, Dolní Věstonice Museum

Dentalium badense fossil shells, one of the ammonites, but not coiled as most classical ammonites are.

Their modern descendants are still highly prized as jewellery, and are commonly used by Native North American artists. They are often referred to as tusk shells or tooth shells, and are used in indigenous jewellery and personal decoration in Western Canada and the United States.

The modern equivalent is Dentalium pretiosum, which occurs from Alaska to Baja California, but were mostly harvested, because of (only just!) suitable local tidal and sea conditions, off the coast of Vancouver Island. They were regarded as very precious, and were widely traded.

Dentalium shells in the trade now are mostly Asian, and of inferior quality.

Carved ornament, possibly for the neck, forehead, or head.

Photo: Don Hitchcock 2008

Source: Facsimile, display, Dolní Věstonice Museum

Necklace made of small perforated and decorated cylinders of mammoth ivory, Dolní Věstonice.

Photo: Jelinek (1975)

Carved pendant.

Photo: Don Hitchcock 2008

Source: Facsimile, display, Dolní Věstonice Museum

Fragment of what may have been an item worn around the neck, or a decoration on the head or forehead. From the shape, I would expect it would have been worn horizontally, with a hole for a thread at each end.

Body ornaments of this type are believed by some researchers to confer protection of some kind, depending on the particular design.

But perhaps they were worn for adornment only, as is the case today.

Photo: Don Hitchcock 2008

Source: Facsimile, display, Dolní Věstonice Museum

Pendant representing an owl.

Photo: Don Hitchcock 2008

Source: Facsimile, display, Dolní Věstonice Museum

Close beside the first owl, and under the same magnifying glass, was this very similar owl pendant, I believe by the same sculptor.

These are fascinating objects. In some societies, such as British and Japanese, the owl is seen as wise. In others, such as the Romanian society, seeing an owl is a foretelling of a death in the family.

In the 1967 novel by Margaret Craven, "I Heard the Owl Call My Name" about a young missionary in a remote area of British Columbia, hearing an owl "call your name" is a foretelling of your own imminent death to the indigenous Canadian people.

I can't help but wonder how the owl was perceived in the Dolni Vestonice / Pavlov area, 27 000 years ago.

Was the owl seen as wise, perhaps? And if so, was the amulet worn in order to distinguish a wise person, or in order to confer wisdom?

Or did it have some other significance entirely? Did it confer protection of some kind? Surely we shall never know.

Photo: Don Hitchcock 2008

Source: Facsimile, display, Dolní Věstonice Museum

This relatively large carved object may have been worn on the chest, or, given its curvature, as a headpiece.

Photo: Don Hitchcock 2008

Source: Facsimile, display, Dolní Věstonice Museum

necklace fox

Necklace made of teeth from arctic foxes, Dolní Věstonice.

Photo: Jelinek (1975)

Necklace of spiral shells.

These may be fossil shells extracted from the Jurassic limestone deposit nearby, presumably by the original inhabitants. It is also possible that they are fresh water specimens obtained from the nearb Dyje River, at the time of the original construction of the necklace.

Photo: Don Hitchcock 2008

Source: Apparently originals, display, Dolní Věstonice Museum

Presumably fossil shells extracted from the Jurassic limestone deposit nearby. I assume they were found in the Pavlovian deposits.

It would be interesting to know how the shells were extracted from the limestone with such minimal damage. They may have been extracted naturally by acid water lying on the limestone in swamps, and then been available for the taking.

Photo: Don Hitchcock 2008

Source: Apparently originals, display, Dolní Věstonice Museum

The display was beautifully put together, with a combination of modern materials such as hair and wood and leather and feathers, mixed with the recovered artefacts.

Photo: Don Hitchcock 2008

Source: Apparently originals, mixed with modern materials, display, Dolní Věstonice Museum

This display, though lacking an interpretation card, shows some of the materials used by the inhabitants of Pavlov and Dolni Vestonice, as well as some of the artefacts they created.

On the mammoth scapula we can see a hammer stone beside a piece of what may be iron pyrites, FeS₂ which when struck by the stone would produce a spark sufficient to start a fire in specially prepared dry tinder.

There is also a brightly coloured iridescent specimen of the much less common Peacock ore, which may be either chalcopyrites CuFeS₂ or the true peacock ore, Bornite, Cu₅FeS₄. Marcasite has the same chemical formula as Iron Pyrites, but occurs in a different crystalline structure, and may be better in some cases to create fire.

Photo: Don Hitchcock 2008

Source: Apparently originals, mixed with modern materials, display, Dolní Věstonice Museum

Carved bones. The object on the right is part of the oldest recorded map, shown in more detail below. It shows the Dyje river and the slopes of the Dolni Vestonice hills.

Photo: Don Hitchcock 2008

Source: Facsimiles, display, Dolní Věstonice Museum

Enlargement of the part shown of the mammoth tusk on the right of the photograph above.

Photo: Don Hitchcock 2008

Source: Facsimiles, display, Dolní Věstonice Museum

This may be the earliest map ever found. It is a drawing of an engraving on a mammoth tusk. The mammoth tusk was found in 1962 at Pavlov, near Dolni Vestonice.

The map is printed in a leaflet kindly sent to me by Fritz Lange, obtained from the "Weinviertel-Museumsdorf", in the building called "Suedmaehrerhof", where there was in 2008 a replica of the Venus von Unterwisternitz (or Dolni Vestonice) and an exhibition about the finding of the Venus. The drawing is probably taken from a book by the eminent Austrian scientist Irenäus Eibl-Eibesfeld, founder of the field of human ethology, and former student of Konrad Lorenz.

Source: Leaflet from the "Weinviertel-Museumsdorf"

This mammoth tusk in the Dolní Věstonice Museum appears to be a replica of the original, on which the map was engraved, and (translated from the leaflet): After conservation in the laboratory it was recognised as the oldest map of the Pavlovian/Dolni Vestonice landscape, with the Dyja river interpreted with meanders, the ridges and erosion gullies of the loess slopes, and the rocky peaks all shown. Amidst this is a double motif of a complete circle and a half-circle. It is assumed that this marks the home of the hunters. The engravings show a striking agreement with the landscape formation (view from the north, looking south).

Photo: Don Hitchcock 2008, expertly enhanced by Fritz Lange 2010.

Source: Facsimile, Dolní Věstonice Museum

The plaque which accompanies this display may be translated as:

Moravia, which includes the Dolni Vestonice/Pavlov sites, is one of the major centres of the oldest art. In light of the new discovery, it seems as if the first art was suddenly created and "ready" at a time when people of a modern type first colonised Europe. Undoubtedly this is related to underlying changes in thinking, including consciousness of space and time.

Another carved mammoth tusk

Photo: G. Clark, 'The Stone Age Hunters'

Photo: J Jelinek, 'The Evolution of Man'

Stylised figure of a woman engraved on a mammoth tusk from Predmost, an area close to Dolní Věstonice. Height 15.5 cm

From the book 'Plains of Passage' by Jean Auel, p537:

Attaroa's speaking staff

The staff itself was quite unusual. It was not newly carved, that much was obvious. The color of the mammoth ivory had begun to turn creamy, and the area where it was usually held was gray and shiny, caused by the accumulated dirt and oils of the many hands that had held it. It had been used by many generations.

The design carved into the straightened tusk was a geometric abstraction of the Great Earth Mother, formed by concentric ovals to shape the pendulous breasts, rounded belly, and voluptuous thighs. The circle was the symbol for all, everything, the totality of the known and unknown worlds, and symbolized the Great Mother of All. The concentric circles, especially the way they were used to suggest the important motherly elements, reinforced the symbolism.

The head was an inverted triangle, with the point forming the chin, and the base, curved slightly into a domelike shape, at the top. The downward pointing triangle was the universal symbol for Woman; it was the outward shape of her generative organ and therefore also symbolized motherhood and the Great Mother of All. The area of the face contained a horizontal series of double parallel bars, joined by laterally incised lines going from the pointed chin up to the position of the eyes. The larger space between the top set of double horizontal lines and the rounded lines that paralleled the curved top was filled in with three sets of double lines that were perpendicular, joining where eyes would usually be.

But the geometric designs were not a face. Except that the inverted triangle was placed in the position of a head, the carved markings would not even have suggested a face. The awesome countenance of the Great Mother was too much for an ordinary human to behold. Her powers were so great that Her look alone could overwhelm. The abstract symbolism of the figure on Attaroa's Speaking Staff conveyed that sense of power with subtlety and elegance.

Tools and Carved Bones, Antlers and Tusks

The flints and quartz tools seemed to be originals, and were certainly not facsimiles. The reproduction spears, meant for throwing, given the fletching of feathers, are much thicker than I would have expected.

If they were to be thrown using a spear thrower or atlatl, they would normally be much thinner and lighter than this.

Photo: Don Hitchcock 2008

Source: Apparently originals, mixed with modern materials, display, Dolní Věstonice Museum

Flint tools from Dolní Věstonice
Photo: Jelinek (1975)

Hammer stones, hand axes, and blades, made of flint.

Photo: Don Hitchcock 2008

Source: Apparently originals, display, Dolní Věstonice Museum

These crystal clear quartz tools would have been highly prized for their workability and beauty. They are extremely difficult to photograph.

Later flint knappers were able to make exquisite tools from this material, as techniques improved.

Photo: Don Hitchcock 2008

Source: Apparently originals, display, Dolní Věstonice Museum

A fine array of Gravettian flint blades, very well made.

Photo: Don Hitchcock 2008

Source: Apparently originals, display, Dolní Věstonice Museum

Carved bone.

I am uncertain of the purpose of this large object. The simplicity and regularity of the incisions make me think that it may have been a record of something, perhaps days of a cycle such as the moon. There are 24 incisions in the bottom row, 24 (some appear doubled) in the middle row, and 17 visible in the top row of this photograph.

Photo: Don Hitchcock 2008

Source: Facsimile, display, Dolní Věstonice Museum

Carved bone.

This antler seems to have some minimalist carvings on it, and has been sharpened to a flat point at one end. It may have been used to dig post holes for huts.

Photo: Don Hitchcock 2008

Source: Facsimile, display, Dolní Věstonice Museum

Carved bone.

This antler also seems to have some minimalist carvings on it, and has been sharpened to make it suitable as a pick for digging in the earth.

Photo: Don Hitchcock 2008

Source: Facsimile, display, Dolní Věstonice Museum

These two bones appear to have been carefully shaped for some purpose. The right hand end of the larger has had a U shape carved out of it, which I find puzzling, but it is like a modern spade handle without the cross piece for the hand.

Certainly the larger bone has been shaped like a spade at one end.

However the juxtaposition of the smaller bone in the display case makes it appear that it is perhaps a mallet for hitting the larger at the U shaped depression, possibly to hammer the spade into hard earth.

Photo: Don Hitchcock 2008

Source: Facsimile, display, Dolní Věstonice Museum

This spade has had a large number of chevrons carved into its surface as decoration.

Photo: Don Hitchcock 2008

Source: Facsimile, display, Dolní Věstonice Museum

This spade seems to have been strictly utilitarian, although there are traces of what may have been a decoration on the right hand end. Perhaps it was originally decorated, but has seen hard use.

Photo: Don Hitchcock 2008

Source: Facsimile, display, Dolní Věstonice Museum

All four tools in the display case, to give some idea of relative sizes.

Photo: Don Hitchcock 2008

Source: Facsimile, display, Dolní Věstonice Museum

Bone awls. Some of these appear to be originals.

Photo: Don Hitchcock 2008

Source: Some may be originals, display, Dolní Věstonice Museum

Apparently a spike carved from a mammoth tusk. It may have formed the end of a killing spear for mammoths, when trapped against the rock wall of the neighbouring limestone cliffs.

Photo: Don Hitchcock 2008

Source: Facsimile, display, Dolní Věstonice Museum

Two tools, one of enigmatic use, the other apparently a trowel like object.

Photo: Don Hitchcock 2008

Source: Facsimile, display, Dolní Věstonice Museum

Tools of mammoth tusk. The thinner ones may be spear points

Photo: Don Hitchcock 2008

Source: Facsimile, display, Dolní Věstonice Museum

Other Objects

Young Mammoth tooth. This is graphic evidence that the people of Dolni Vestonice were opportunistic hunters, and chose this juvenile mammoth presumably for its tender flesh and ease of capture.

Photo: Don Hitchcock 2008

Source: Probably a facsimile, given the lustre of the piece, but extremely well done, display, Dolní Věstonice Museum

Mollusc shells. I am unsure of the reason for these shells being in the deposits, but perhaps they were for jewellery. They may be fresh water specimens obtained from the nearby Dyje River.

Photo: Don Hitchcock 2008

Source: Possibly originals, display, Dolní Věstonice Museum

Fish vertebrae. The hunters must have had traps or harpoons to catch the fish in the Dyje River.

Photo: Don Hitchcock 2008

Source: Possibly originals, display, Dolní Věstonice Museum

Four musical instruments made by the mammoth hunters at Dolní Věstonice. On the left are three transversely cut and smoothed hollow bones which are thought to be flutes, and on the right a pipe made from the toe bone of a reindeer.
Photo: K. Sklenar, 'Hunters of the Stone Age'

female pendant

Stylised female figurine used as a pendant, height 8.6 cm, made from mammoth ivory.
Photo: J Jelinek, 'The Evolution of Man'

More than 2 000 shards of burnt clay, ceramic figures and fragments have been found during the excavations conducted in Dolni Vestonice. The extant ceramic figures are mostly zoomorphic: bear (7.5 cm), bear head (4.7 cm), rhinoceros head (4.2 cm), lioness head (4.5 cm), horse head (8 cm), reindeer head (3.8 cm) and two miniature mammoth figures.

Pottery head of a rhinoceros, Dolní Věstonice
Photo and text: J Jelinek, 'The Evolution of Man'

lion head

Pottery head of a lioness, showing a wound just above the ear, from Dolní Věstonice
Photo: J Jelinek, 'The Evolution of Man'

Originals and museum quality facsimiles of pottery figurines, and other artefacts found in the Dolní Věstonice / Pavlov area

Entry to the Dolní Věstonice Museum, Archeologický Ústav Av ČR, Dolní Vestonice 49 691 29 Dolní Vestonice, Česká republika 519 517 637

Dolní Věstonice, called Unterwisternitz at the time of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and during WWII when it was incorporated into Nazi Germany, has an excellent museum with high quality reproductions of many of the famous objects found at Dolní Věstonice or at nearby Pavlov (called Pollau in German) and other sites in the area.

Photo by Aleš Soldán, at Panoramio from Google Earth.

The ticket to the museum is no ordinary ticket! It is a work of art all by itself.

Photo: Don Hitchcock 2008

The sign on the exhibit in the Dolni Vestonice Museum says:

Puvodni keramicka produkce paleolitickych lidi z Donich Vestonic

Which translates into English as:

The original pottery of the Palaeolithic people from Dolní Věstonice

However, I believe that those on display at the Dolni Vestonice Museum are museum quality casts, superbly crafted and hand coloured, apart from the posters of what look like originals, with a red background, as shown in the first four photographs.

I found some originals, however, in the Vienna Natural History Museum, which appear below.

Mammut
Pavlov, Mähren
25 - 27 000 Jahre
Ton
Original, Naturhistorisches Museum

Which translates as: Mammoth from Pavlov in Moravia, 25 - 27 000 BP, ceramic, original held in the collections of the Vienna Natural History Museum.

Photo: Don Hitchcock 2008

Source: Original, display, Vienna Natural History Museum

Mammut
Dolní Věstonice, Mähren
25 - 27 000 Jahre
Ton
Kopie, Leihgabe: Archäologisches Institut der Akademie der Wissenschaften, Dolní Věstonice

Which translates as: Mammoth from Dolní Věstonice in Moravia, 25 - 27 000 BP, ceramic, facsimile on loan from the Archaeological Institute of the Academy of Sciences, Dolní Věstonice.

Photo: Don Hitchcock 2008

Source: Facsimile, display, Vienna Natural History Museum

Eule
Pavlov, Mähren
25 - 27 000 Jahre
Ton
Original, Naturhistorisches Museum

Which translates as: Owl from Pavlov in Moravia, 25 - 27 000 BP, ceramic, original held in the collections of the Vienna Natural History Museum.

Photo: Don Hitchcock 2008

Source: Original, display, Vienna Natural History Museum

Saigaantilope
Wachtberg bei Krems, NÖ
27 000 Jahre
Ton
Original, Leihgabe: Akademie der Wissenschaften, Wien

Which translates as: Saiga Antelope from Wachtberg bei Krems in lower Austria, 27 000 BP, ceramic, original, on loan from the Academy of Sciences, Vienna.

This is a very important piece, as it shows that the pottery created in Dolni Vestonice was carried or traded at least 100 kilometres from where it was made.

Photo: Don Hitchcock 2008

Source: Original, display, Vienna Natural History Museum

Rhinoceros head.

Nashornkopf
Dolní Věstonice, Mähren
25 - 27 000 Jahre
Ton
Kopie, Leihgabe: Archäologisches Institut der Akademie der Wissenschaften, Dolní Věstonice

Which translates as: Rhinoceros head from Dolní Věstonice in Moravia, 25 - 27 000 BP, ceramic, facsimile on loan from the Archaeological Institute of the Academy of Sciences, Dolní Věstonice.

Photo: Don Hitchcock 2008

Source: Facsimile, display, Vienna Natural History Museum

Rhinoceros head.

Copies, left from the Vienna Natural History Museum, right from the display at the Dolní Věstonice museum, of the same original.

Nashornkopf
Dolní Věstonice, Mähren
25 - 27 000 Jahre
Ton
Kopie, Leihgabe: Archäologisches Institut der Akademie der Wissenschaften, Dolní Věstonice

Which translates as: Rhinoceros head from Dolní Věstonice in Moravia, 25 - 27 000 BP, ceramic, facsimile on loan from the Archaeological Institute of the Academy of Sciences, Dolní Věstonice.

Photo: Don Hitchcock 2008

Source: Facsimile, display, Vienna Natural History Museum

Rentierkopf
Dolní Věstonice, Mähren
25 - 27 000 Jahre
Ton
Kopie, Leihgabe: Archäologisches Institut der Akademie der Wissenschaften, Dolní Věstonice

Which translates as: Reindeer head from Dolní Věstonice in Moravia, 25 - 27 000 BP, ceramic, facsimile on loan from the Archaeological Institute of the Academy of Sciences, Dolní Věstonice.

Photo: Don Hitchcock 2008

Source: Facsimile, display, Vienna Natural History Museum

The Reindeer head above seems to be of the same original as this copy in the Dolní Věstonice Museum.

Reindeer head.

Photo: Don Hitchcock 2008

Source: Facsimile, Display, Dolní Věstonice Museum

This appears to be a member of the weasel family, possibly a mink.

Photo: Don Hitchcock 2008

Source: Facsimile, Display, Dolní Věstonice Museum

Mammoth. This figure has been created as a bas relief sculpture, rather than as a full three dimensional representation.

The body, the legs, the trunk and distinctive head have been shown, but not tusks.

Photo: Don Hitchcock 2008

Source: Facsimile, Display, Dolní Věstonice Museum

This enigmatic figure, possible a feline, seems to have been made so that it could be worn as a pendant, with an artificial groove at one end for attaching a cord.

Photo: Don Hitchcock 2008

Source: Facsimile, Display, Dolní Věstonice Museum

Most likely a mammoth with the trunk broken off either during firing or later.

Photo: Don Hitchcock 2008

Source: Facsimile, Display, Dolní Věstonice Museum

lion head

Pottery head of a lioness. This is a famous piece, 4.5 cm long.

The facsimile on the right has been mounted using oversized red rods to show that there is a hole right through the figure at two places, at the eye, and just above the ear.

Photo: (left) J Jelinek, 'The Evolution of Man', (right) Don Hitchcock 2008

Source: Facsimile, Display, Dolní Věstonice Museum

Zoomorphic pottery figurine, possibly an Ibex.

These were different facsimiles in the Dolní Věstonice Museum, but apparently of the same original.

Photo: Don Hitchcock 2008

Source: Facsimile, Display, Dolní Věstonice Museum

This looks for all the world like the head of a bear cub.

Photo: Don Hitchcock 2008

Source: Facsimile, Display, Dolní Věstonice Museum

rhino head

Rhinoceros head, 4.2 cm. This is a very well known piece.

Photo: (above left) J Jelinek, 'The Evolution of Man', (above right and left) Don Hitchcock 2008

Source: Facsimile, Display, Dolní Věstonice Museum

This is identified on the display as a horse's head.

Photo: Don Hitchcock 2008

Source: Facsimile, display, Dolní Věstonice Museum

Bear.

Photo: Don Hitchcock 2008

Source: Facsimile, display, Dolní Věstonice Museum

This is identified as a reindeer on the display.

The black, circular depression just above what appear to be prominent jaw bones beneath the head puzzles me, unless it was another hole to indicate where to strike the animal when hunting, or to indicate some other purpose entirely.

Photo: Don Hitchcock 2008

Source: Facsimile, display, Dolní Věstonice Museum

Zoomorphic pottery figurine, apparently the other side of the reindeer head above, cast from the same original.

Photo: Don Hitchcock 2008

Source: Facsimile, display, Dolní Věstonice Museum

Head of a bear, with the mouth pointing to the right.

Once again there is a large circular depression, this time on the top of the head, possibly to indicate a stab wound.

Photo: Don Hitchcock 2008

Source: Facsimile, display, Dolní Věstonice Museum

This is identified on the display as a bear's body with stab wounds. It is a very small object under a large magnifying glass.

Photo: Don Hitchcock 2008

Source: Facsimile, display, Dolní Věstonice Museum

Facsimiles of a zoomorphic pottery figurine, a mammoth, and a poster of the original. The mammoth was damaged in the kiln because of sudden temperature changes. Some have speculated that this was sometimes deliberate, for spiritual or magical purposes.

Photo: Don Hitchcock 2008

Source: Facsimile, display, Dolní Věstonice Museum

Posters of zoomorphic pottery figurines.

Photo: Don Hitchcock 2008

Source: Display, Dolní Věstonice Museum

Posters of anthropomorphic pottery figurines.

Photo: Don Hitchcock 2008

Source: Display, Dolní Věstonice Museum

Zoomorphic pottery figurine, possibly a mammoth.

Photo: Don Hitchcock 2008

Source: Display, Dolní Věstonice Museum

Zoomorphic pottery figurine, possibly a mammoth. Two different facsimiles of the same original.

Photo: Don Hitchcock 2008

Source: Display, Dolní Věstonice Museum

Mammoths were very important in the life of the people of Dolni Vestonice. It is believed that he hunters used the rugged terrain at the foot of the Pavlov Hills, which formed a sort of natural trap.

The hunters separated the mammoth from the herd, and forced it against the steep slope, where the hunters were able to charge at it with spears, and bring it down.

Text: Translated and adapted from the display, Dolní Věstonice Museum

Photo: Display, Dolní Věstonice Museum

Zoomorphic pottery figurine.

Photo: Don Hitchcock 2008

Source: Display, Dolní Věstonice Museum

Anthropomorphic pottery figurines. The one on the left appears to have a twisted cord or cloth around the waist or buttocks.

Photo: Don Hitchcock 2008

Source: Display, Dolní Věstonice Museum

Zoomorphic pottery figurine. Possibly a feline.

Photo: Don Hitchcock 2008

Source: Display, Dolní Věstonice Museum

Zoomorphic pottery figurine. Leg broken off a larger figure.

Photo: Don Hitchcock 2008

Source: Display, Dolní Věstonice Museum

Display case.

Photo: Don Hitchcock 2008

Source: Display, Dolní Věstonice Museum

Recreations

When I first saw these I could not believe my luck. So far as I could tell they were originals, not replicas.

As I stated above,

"Modern museum quality facsimiles are staggeringly good. In particular the casts are hand coloured to exactly match the original, and the casting itself is absolutely superb. I would love to have those skills. The only thing that gives them away is the fairly uniform surface texture and patina, and the way they reflect light, as well as the lack of extremely fine detail such as hair line fractures and similar "flaws" inherent in an object tens of thousands of years old. "

These had the marks of originals, the lack of uniformity of material, cracks impossible to duplicate by casting. Later, at home in Australia, I looked at my photographs again very carefully at maximum magnification and concluded that they were original ceramics - but they were unlikely to be the originals from Dolní Věstonice in a building supervised by one woman seated at the computer in a small ticket office just inside the front door of the museum.

I decided then that they were recreations, real pottery figurines made as close as possible to the originals, and fired in the same way. This would explain the incredible detail in the figurines, and the superb surface texture, quite different to even a museum quality casting.

Then, I came to this notice in Czech in my photograph of the display case, and translated it. It was much as I had suspected. What a wonderful project by Martina Lázníčková!

Repliky dolnovestonickych plastik z pálené hliny pokusně zhotovené skupinou lidi (amatér a profesionální keramik, dite, adoscelent, dospělý) v rámci experimentaini diplomové práce Martiny Lázničkove. Katedra antropologie Plirodovedecke MY fakulty v Brně (1995). Replika vypalovaci "pece" byla rekonstruována podle nálezu "pecovitého útvaru" v sidelnim objectu II. Dolní Věstonice (Absolon 1926)

This translates as:

Replicas of Dolní Věstonice fired clay sculptures made by an experimental group of people (amateur and professional ceramicists, children, adolescents, adults) in the experimental thesis of Martina Lázničkové, Department of Anthropology Plirodovedecke MY faculty in Brno (1995).

A replica pottery kiln was reconstructed by using the dimensions and similar materials to the original kiln found at Dolní Věstonice by Absolon in 1926.

Photograph of the kiln in use, firing the pottery figurines shown below. This documents its final shape and form.

It was a very simple structure, which was fired with wood gathered locally from coniferous and deciduous trees. The kiln was made from locally sourced loess clay mixed with water.
(Dolní Věstonice 1995)

Source: Poster, Dolní Věstonice Museum

Zoomorphic pottery figurine.

Photo: Don Hitchcock 2008

Source: Display, Dolní Věstonice Museum

Zoomorphic pottery figurine. Possibly a feline.

Photo: Don Hitchcock 2008
Source: Display, Dolní Věstonice Museum

Zoomorphic pottery figurine. Possibly a bear.

Photo: Don Hitchcock 2008

Source: Display, Dolní Věstonice Museum

Zoomorphic pottery figurine.

Photo: Don Hitchcock 2008

Source: Display, Dolní Věstonice Museum

Zoomorphic pottery figurine of a horse head.

Photo: Don Hitchcock 2008

Source: Display, Dolní Věstonice Museum

Zoomorphic pottery figurine, possibly of a feline.

Photo: Don Hitchcock 2008

Source: Display, Dolní Věstonice Museum

Zoomorphic pottery figurines of rhinoceros.

Photo: Don Hitchcock 2008

Source: Display, Dolní Věstonice Museum

Zoomorphic pottery figurine of a rhinoceros.

Photo: Don Hitchcock 2008

Source: Display, Dolní Věstonice Museum

Zoomorphic pottery figurine of a bear.

Photo: Don Hitchcock 2008

Source: Display, Dolní Věstonice Museum

Other finds

Mill stone or pestle or muller, as well as mortars used to grind ochre, with traces of red ochre, Pavlov

Source: Poster, Dolní Věstonice Museum

In Dolní Věstonice I, II, and in Pavlov I there are places where there there are many lumps of red and yellow ochres with stone slabs and stones to grind up the ochre. A flat stone with traces of ochre lay in the grave and in close proximity to the man DV XVI. (This may well be the flat stone buried with DV XVI - Don.)

Cobblestone mortar with evident traces of use for grinding ochre, Pavlov.

Source: Poster, Dolní Věstonice Museum

Well turned and finished stone disk, unknown purpose, Pavlov.

Photo: Don Hitchcock 2008

Source: Facsimile, display, Dolní Věstonice Museum

Grindstones and mullers made from river cobbles, Pavlov.

Source: Poster, Dolní Věstonice Museum

Display

Display, Dolní Věstonice Museum

Stones showing traces of use.

Photo: Don Hitchcock 2008

Source: Display, Dolní Věstonice Museum

Ceramic pellets with fabric impressions.

Photo: Don Hitchcock 2008

Source: Display, Dolní Věstonice Museum

Text below translated from the display:

In July 1996 it was shown that the ceramic fragments from Pavlov had preserved the oldest known preserved imprints of textiles in the world. To enable people to use this technology, there had to be a sufficiently stable living area, and they needed to be very familiar with their surroundings.

They probably used nettles for thread fibres, and if they were able to spin and weave thread and textiles, they undoubtedly had related skills such as basket weaving, making fish and animal nets, and traps.

The ethnographic observation is clear that the treatment of organic materials could well be more important in their daily life than we usually conclude from the better preserved stone and bone. Additionally, it provides information about an activity probably attributable exclusively to women.

Dexterity of the First Weavers

A decade ago, experts did not dare to think about people living in the last ice age making fabric.

However, on a lump of fired clay from the Dolní Věstonice / Pavlov area were found the impressions of substances from plant fibres. The whole process of picking nettles, crushing the dried stem, preparation of tow, spinning the thread and then weaving was tested and shown to be possible using tools of the time by M. Bunatova. Urbanová (ca 1999)

Source: Display, Dolní Věstonice Museum

From Buňatová (1999) and Sosna (2000):

The new and surprising discovery of textile imprints at Pavlov I and Dolní Věstonice I,II attracted attention and opened discussions. As was the case with ceramics, the textile technologies were also tested experimentally. Soffer et al. (2000) note the following:

the weavers of Upper Paleolithic Moravia were not only manufacturing a variety of cordage types but, more important, also producing plaited basketry and twined and plain woven cloth which approach levels of technical sophistication heretofore associated exclusively with the Neolithic and later time periods

Unfortunately, much of this technology is evident only to those who have considerable experience with perishable material culture and have examined the original evidence firsthand. Regrettably, most Paleolithic archaeologists have not been trained to do so or have lacked access to the original specimens.

Artist L. Balak's recreation of textile production in the Palaeolithic.

Source: Urbanová (ca 1999)

Many bone tools were found at Dolní Věstonice with no obvious purpose, but which could yet serve as part of textile production.

Source: Display, Dolní Věstonice Museum

Text: Translated from the display.

Reconstruction of a settlement in Dolní Věstonice, from the film 'Návraty bohyně' (Return of the Goddess) 1996

Source: Display, Dolní Věstonice Museum

Text: Translated from the display.

The heading on this display is "LOV" which means Hunting.

Source: Display, Dolní Věstonice Museum

Photo: Don Hitchcock 2008

Text: Translated from the display.

Facsimiles of spear points made of mammoth ivory.

Mammoths were part of their lives. Mammoths were a source of meat, the fat provided fuel, and the skin served as a cover for their dwellings. Mammoths even provided material for decorative carvings.

The question of whether hunters actually killed the mammoths, or scavenged their carcasses after death has not been finally resolved.

Source: Facsimiles, display, Dolní Věstonice Museum

Photo: Don Hitchcock 2008

Text: Translated and adapted from the display.

Reconstruction of one possible method of hut construction, using wooden poles in a circular floor pattern. The framework would have been covered with mammoth hides. These may well have been insulated in winter with grass and mud and water, and allowed to freeze, in multiple self supporting layers.

Source: Display, Dolní Věstonice Museum

Photo: Don Hitchcock 2008

References

Buňatová, M., 1999: Textilní produkce v mladém paleolitu, experiment pro dokumentární film "Úsvit géniů", in: AR LI, Praha, 104 - 111.
Jelinek, J., 1975: The Pictorial Encyclopedia of the Evolution of Man, Hamlyn (1975), 552p
Musil, R., 1968: Stranska Skala: Its Meaning for Pleistocene Studies, Current Anthropology, Vol. 9, No. 5, Part 2 (Dec., 1968), pp. 534-539
Neustupný, E. and Neustupný, J., 1960: Czechoslovakia before the Slavs. In: Ancient Peoples and Places. Thames and Hudson, London.
Soffer, O., Adovasio, J., Hyland, D, 2000: Reply, Current Anthropology; Aug-Oct2000, Vol. 41 Issue 4, p531-537, 7p
Sosna, D., 2000: Počátky textilnictví. PhD. Dissertation, Department of Anthropology, Masaryk University, Brno.
Svoboda J., 2001. Gravettian mammoth bone deposits in Moravia The World of Elephants - International Congress, Rome 2001
http://en.sovraintendenzaroma.it/content/download/4819/62548/file/359_362.pdf
Urbanová , K., ca 1999: Textilnictví v prehistorii, http://uprav.ff.cuni.cz/pages/semi/3.prednaska.pdf

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