Aurignacian Genius : Art, Technology and Society of The First Modern Humans in Europe New York, USA – April 8 – 10, 2013
INTERNATIONAL SYMPOSIUM
Aurignacian Genius : Art, Technology and Society of The First Modern Humans in Europe
New York University April 8-‐10, 2013 New York, USA
Monday, April 8 and Wednesday, April 10: Hemmerdinger Hall, 100 Washington Square East, New York, NY 10003
Tuesday, April 9: Kimmel Center, Room 914, 60 Washington Square South, New York, NY 10003
In the light of important advances in knowledge over the past few years concerning the Aurignacian culture, the Partner University Fund project Aurignacian Genius, led by Randall White and François Bon, announces an international symposium entitled “Aurignacian Genius: art, technology and society of the first Modern Humans in Europe.” This symposium, which will take place at New York University, April 8-‐10, 2013, seeks to bring together scientists engaged in primary research on the Early Upper Paleolithic of Europe, with the more specific goal of addressing the question of the social, technological and environmental contexts of Aurignacian symbolic production. Inserted between two days of scientific meetings (April 8 and 10) restricted to the broader scientific community at NYU and beyond, a session for the general public (April 9) seeks to render accessible current scientific knowledge concerning the origins of the arts in Europe. Riches des réflexions menées sur l’émergence de la culture aurignacienne, depuis ces dernières années, autant en Europe qu’aux Etats-‐Unis, dans le cadre d’un projet dirigé par Randall White et François Bon (centré sur l’Aurignacien du Sud de la France) et financé par le Partner University Fund, un symposium international intitulé « Aurignacian Genius : art, technology and society of the first Modern Humans in Europe », se tiendra à New York University du 8 au 10 Avril 2013. Cette rencontre a pour vocation de réunir les scientifiques engagés, pour partie, dans ce projet, et dont les travaux sont consacrés à une période charnière de la Préhistoire, celle du début du Paléolithique supérieur, mais plus particulièrement, d’aborder la question des production symboliques au travers de leurs différents contextes sociologiques, technologiques et environnementaux. Les journées du 8 et 10 avril sont réservées à la communauté scientifique ; l’après-‐midi du 9 avril sera, quant à elle, consacrée à la diffusion des connaissances sur l’origine de l’art en Europe auprès de l’ensemble de la communauté scientifique et du grand public.
Organizing Committee
Randall White, NYU, CSHO, CNRS-‐UMI 3199 Raphaëlle Bourrillon, UMR 5608, CREAP Valérie Dubois, CNRS-‐UMI 3199
Scientific Committee
Randall White, NYU, CSHO, CNRS-‐UMI 3199 Raphaëlle Bourrillon, UMR 5608, CREAP François Bon, UMR 5608
An international Symposium organized and funded by generous support from:
1
Aurignacian Genius : Art, Technology and Society of The First Modern Humans in Europe New York, USA – April 8 – 10, 2013
Monday, April 8
Art and Society in the Aurignacian Hemmerdinger Hall, 100 Washington Square East, New York, NY 10003
Moderator : François Bon (TRACES-‐UMR 5608, Toulouse, France) 8h30 :
Registration of participants
9h00 :
Welcoming of Participants by Camille PERETZ, Attaché for University Cooperation and Executive Director, PUF program, Cultural Services of the French Embassy
9h15 :
Welcoming of Participants by Terry HARRISON, Chair, Department of Anthropology and Director, Center for the Study of Human Origins (CSHO), NYU
9h30 :
Opening of the Symposium by Randall WHITE (NYU, CSHO, UMI 3199:CNRS-‐NYU, New York, USA)
9h45 :
The Diffusion of The Aurignacian in Europe: Paleo-‐Sociological and Paleo-‐Historical Implications of Current Evidence François BON (TRACES-‐UMR 5608, Toulouse, France)
10h30 : 10h45 : 11h25 : 12h15 : 14h :
Coffee break The Aurignacian Viewed From Africa Christian TRYON (CSHO, NYU, New York, USA) Origin and Development of Aurignacian Osseous Technology: a Review of Current Knowledge and Questions Elise TARTAR (ArScan-‐UMR 7041, Nanterre, France) Lunch break (Torch Club buffet lunch for participants) The Les Cottés Transitional Sequence: New Insights Into the Early Aurignacian Social Landscape William RENDU (TRACES-‐UMR 5608, Toulouse, France), Morgan ROUSSEL (Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany), Solange RIGAUD (University of Ferrara, Italy and PACEA-‐UMR 5199, Bordeaux, France), Morgane LIARD (INRAP, France), Sylvain RENOU (Archéosphère, Bordeaux, France), Marie SORESSI (University of Ferrara, Italy and INRAP, France).
14h40 :
Factors Controlling Aurignacian Settlement in the Vézère Valley: the Example of the Vallon de Castel-‐Merle Matthew SISK (Adelphi University, Garden City, NY, USA), Romain MENSAN (TRACES-‐UMR 5608, Toulouse, France)
15h20 :
Early Aurignacian Graphic Arts in the Vézère Valley : Contextual and Technological Evidence Raphaëlle BOURRILLON (TRACES-‐UMR 5608, CREAP, Toulouse, France), Randall WHITE (NYU, CSHO, UMI 3199:CNRS-‐NYU, New York, USA)
16h : 16h10 :
Coffee break The Blanchard and Castanet Lithic Industries (Dordogne, France): Addressing Questions of Aurignacian Inter-‐Assemblage Variability Laurent CHIOTTI (Museum d’Histoire Naturelle de Paris, Paris, France), Catherine CRETIN (CNP, Périgueux, and PACEA-‐UMR 5199, Bordeaux, France), André MORALA (Musée National de Préhistoire, Les Eyzies-‐de-‐Tayac, France)
2
Aurignacian Genius : Art, Technology and Society of The First Modern Humans in Europe New York, USA – April 8 – 10, 2013
16h50 :
Archaic to Early Aurignacian in the Grotte d'Isturitz (Pyrénées-‐Atlantiques, France): Discontinuity or Gradual Change? Christian NORMAND (SRA Aquitaine, France), Nejma GOUTAS (ArScan-‐UMR 7041, Nanterre, France), Magen O’FARELL (PIP, Les Eyzies-‐de-‐Tayac, France), Carolyn SZMIDT (University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK), Randall WHITE (NYU, CSHO, UMI 3199:CNRS-‐NYU, New York, USA), with the collaboration of Aude LABARGE (Grotte d'Isturitz, France), Arnaud LENOBLE (PACEA-‐ UMR 5199, Bordeaux, France), Marie-‐Cécile SOULIER (TRACES-‐UMR 5608, Toulouse, France), Jean-‐Pierre TEXIER (PACEA-‐UMR 5199, Bordeaux, France)
17h30 :
POSTER SESSION (between 5 and 10 min PER POSTER), closing remarks of the first day of symposium and reception Exploring Holocene Impacts on the Record of Aurignacian “Genius” in the Vézère Valley Zenobie GARETT (NYU, CSHO, New York, USA) Old Excavations and New research at the Abri de la Souquette, Dordogne, France John O’HARA (NYU, CSHO, New York, USA) Ochre and the Aurignacian: the Hide Working Myth and Symbolic Reality Joelle NIVENS (NYU, CSHO, New York, USA) New Approaches to Aurignacian Ornaments from Southwestern France Claire HECKEL (NYU, CSHO, New York, USA), Emilande APCHAIN, Katharina MÜLLER, and Ina REICHE (LAMS-‐UMR 8220, Ivry-‐sur-‐Seine, France) The Verpillière Caves at Germolles and the Aurignacian Occupation of Burgundy Harald FLOSS (Universität Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany), Claire HECKEL (NYU, CSHO, New York, USA) and Christian HOYER (Universität Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany) Aurignacian in North-‐West Europe : Reappraising the Chrono-‐Cultural Sequence Damien FLAS (Université de Liège, Liège, Belgium) Aurignacian(s) in the Mas d'Azil Cave (Ariège, Pyrénées, France) : First Results and Perspectives of New Field Surveys Marc JARRY (INRAP and TRACES-‐UMR 5608, Toulouse, France), Laurent BRUXELLES (INRAP and TRACES-‐UMR 5608, Toulouse, France), François BON (TRACES-‐UMR 5608, Toulouse, France), Carole FRITZ (TRACES-‐UMR 5608, CREAP, Toulouse, France), Sébastien LACOMBE (Binghamton University, New York, USA), Laure-‐Amélie LELOUVIER (INRAP and TRACES-‐UMR 5608, Toulouse, France), Hélène MARTIN (INRAP and TRACES-‐UMR 5608, Toulouse, France), Céline PAILLER (INRAP and ASM-‐UMR 5140, Montpellier, France), Manon RABANIT (INRAP and PROTEE, France), Gilles TOSELLO (TRACES-‐UMR 5608, CREAP, Toulouse, France), Julia WATTEZ (INRAP and DMOS-‐ UMR 5140, Montpellier, France), Vincent ARRIGHI (INRAP, France), Fabien CALLÈDE (INRAP), and Christian SALMON (INRAP). Faunal Evidence for Differential Usage of Clothing in the Mousterian and Aurignacian Lia TARLE, Dennis SANDGATHE, Mark COLLARD (Human Evolutionary Studies Program, Department of Archaeology, Simon Fraser University, British Columbia, Canada)
3
Aurignacian Genius : Art, Technology and Society of The First Modern Humans in Europe New York, USA – April 8 – 10, 2013
Tuesday, April 9 – Morning – Presentation of the UMI 3199 CNRS-NYU: Center for International
Research in the Humanities and Social Sciences (for the participants of Symposium) 4 Washington Square North, New York, NY 10003 10h30 :
12h00 :
Presentation of the Laboratory CIRHUS-‐UMI 3199 Randall WHITE (director of the UMI 3199) and Nicolas GUILHOT (deputy director of the UMI 3199) Buffet lunch at the CIRHUS-‐UMI 3199
Tuesday, April 9 – Afternoon – Session for the general public sponsored by the Cultural Services of the French Embassy
Kimmel Center, Room 914, 60 Washington Square South, New York, NY 10003
Aurignacian Genius : Origins of Art and Society in Prehistoric Europe A series of public presentations by some of the most eminent scientists working on the European origins of art and modern human culture 40 000 years ago Who were the people who created the paintings in Herzog’s Cave of Forgotten Dreams? The subject of this public symposium is the prehistoric European culture known as the Aurignacian (40 000 to 28 000 years ago), a remarkable set of innovations that permitted modern humans (Cro-‐Magnons) to replace the longstanding and successful populations of Neandertals across a vast area extending from the Arabian Peninsula and Central Asia in the East, to France and the Iberian Peninsula in the West. In France, Aurignacians left behind a record of esthetic genius in the form of engraving, painting, stone and ivory sculpture, personal ornamentation and decorated clothing. They invented the use of metallic abrasives (powdered hematite) for creating brilliant, lustrous and highly tactile surfaces. Their paintings are technically elaborate and employ complex paint mixes. The Aurignacians also invented the first wind instruments, four-‐holed flutes manufactured of vulture wing-‐bones. Aurignacian cosmology was complex and imaginative, including the presence of mythological human-‐animal figures sculpted in ivory, painted on cave walls and engraved on rockshelter ceilings. Awls and smoothing tools bear witness to clothing technology that made use of animal skins and plant/animal fibers for sewing them. There is now clear evidence that such garments were decorated with hundreds of sequin-‐like beads made of ivory and soapstone. Aurignacian weapon systems were saw ingenious ways for arming the tips of spears. The Aurignacians met the challenge of cold, glacial conditions with innovations in fire technology that included pit fireplaces lined with heat-‐ Recently discovered 37,000 year-‐old Aurignacian engraved reflecting stone slabs and fuelled with fat-‐containingbones and resinous woods. block from Abri Blanchard (Dordogne), France (Photo: A. In some cases, these fire features were sheltered behind draperies of skin, Dubouloz) anchored by cords to free-‐standing stone blocks and to the overhangs of caves and rock shelters. These fire features were the focal point for Aurignacian social interaction. Indeed, the greatest Aurignacian innovations may have been social ones, for example, far reaching social networks that involved long distance procurement of exotic materials such as amber, soapstone, marine shells and. The slowly emerging image of the Aurignacians has been accelerated in recent years by the application of a wide range of new methods in archaeology, in the context of new, longterm excavations and analyses of newly discovered painted caves. In France and elsewhere, our understanding of the Aurignacians is being changed dramatically by a new generation of young and dynamic researchers, many of whom will present in this public symposium.
4
Aurignacian Genius : Art, Technology and Society of The First Modern Humans in Europe New York, USA – April 8 – 10, 2013
Tuesday, April 9 – Afternoon – Session for the general public sponsored by the Cultural Services of the French Embassy
Kimmel Center, Room 914, 60 Washington Square South, New York, NY 10003 13h00 :
Opening Remarks Discours de bienvenue Antonin BAUDRY (Cultural Counselor, Embassy of France)
13h15 :
Aurignacian Genius : the Origins of the Arts in Europe Le Génie Aurignacien : l'Origine des Arts en Europe Randall WHITE (Professor, New York University, Director, CNRS-‐UMI 3199, New York, USA)
13h30 :
Who Were the Aurignacians and From Where Did They Come? Qui Étaient Les Aurignaciens et D’où Venaient-‐Ils ? François BON (Professor, Université de Toulouse II-‐le Mirail, Toulouse, France)
14h00 :
Daily Life in the Aurignacian La Vie Quotidienne des Aurignaciens William RENDU (Researcher, TRACES-‐UMR 5608, Toulouse, France)
14h30 : 14h45 :
15h10:
Pause café / Coffee break
Aurignacian Art (37000-‐28000 BP): an Overview L’Art Préhistorique Aurignacien (37000-‐28000 BP): une Vision d’Ensemble. Raphaëlle BOURRILLON (Post-‐doctoral researcher, TRACES-‐UMR 5608, CREAP, Toulouse, France) and Randall WHITE (Professor, New York University, Director, CNRS-‐UMI 3199, New York, USA) Short Film on the Extraordinary Discovery in 2012 of an Engraved Aurignacian Block at Abri Blanchard (Dordogne), France Court Métrage sur la Découverte Exceptionnelle en 2012 d’un Bloc Gravé à L’Abri Blanchard (Dordogne), France. Marc AZÉMA (Researcher, TRACES-‐UMR 5608, CREAP, Toulouse, France)
15h35:
Sculptural Art and Musical Instruments From The Swabian Jura (Germany). Sculptures et Instruments de Musique du Jura Souabe, Germany Harald FLOSS (Professor, Universität Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany) and Sibylle WOLF (Post-‐ Doctoral researcher, Universität Tübingen, Tubingen, Germany)
16h00 :
Artists at Work in the Chauvet Cave, France Les Artistes de la Grotte Chauvet, France Carole FRITZ (Researcher, TRACES-‐UMR 5608, CREAP, France) and Gilles TOSELLO (Researcher, TRACES-‐UMR 5608, CREAP, Toulouse, France)
16h30 :
Clôture de Séance / Closing remarks
5
Aurignacian Genius : Art, Technology and Society of The First Modern Humans in Europe New York, USA – April 8 – 10, 2013
Wednesday, April 10
Toward a definition of Aurignacian art Hemmerdinger Hall, 100 Washington Square East, New York, NY 10003
Moderator : Randall White (New York University, CSHO, UMI-‐3199, New York) 9h30 : 10h10 :
10h50 : 11h00 : 11h40 : 12h30 : 14h :
Absolute Chronology of Aurignacian Art : in Search of Lost Time Georges SAUVET (TRACES-‐UMR 5608, CREAP, Toulouse, France) Early Upper Paleolithic Parietal Art : Shared Characteristics and Different Symbolic Traditions Stephane PETROGNANI (ArScan-‐UMR 7041, Nanterre, France) Coffee break Animation and Graphic Narration in the Aurignacian Marc AZÉMA (TRACES-‐UMR 5608, CREAP, Toulouse, France) Artists at Work in the Chauvet Cave Carole FRITZ, Gilles TOSELLO (TRACES-‐UMR 5608, CREAP, Toulouse, France)
Lunch break (buffet lunch at the CIRHUS-‐UMI 3199)
Aurignacian Body Art: Elements for Understanding a Cultural Esthetic Randall WHITE (NYU, CSHO, UMI 3199:CNRS-‐NYU, New York, USA) and Claire HECKEL (NYU, CSHO)
14h40 :
Hominids and Sea During the Middle and Early Upper Paleolithic in Europe: a Critical Overview of Available Evidence Esteban ÁLVAREZ (University of Salamanca, Salamanca, Spain)
15h20 :
Evaluating Aurignacian Art in Iberia... if it Really Exists Diego GARATE (TRACES-‐UMR 5608, CREAP, France), Olivia RIVERO (TRACES-‐UMR 5608, CREAP, France), Joseba RÍOS (Centro Nacional de Investigación sobre la Evolución Humana, Spain)
16h : 16h10 :
Coffee break Aurignacian Portable Art of the Swabian Jura Harald FLOSS (Universität Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany)
16h50 :
Aurignacian Personal Ornaments of the Swabian Jura. Early Ivory Working in Central Europe Sybille WOLF (Universität Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany), Nicholas CONARD (Universität Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany)
17h30 :
Closing Remarks and Discussion
6