Dolní Věstonice (archaeology)

Location of Dolní Věstonice in the Czech Republic

Dolní Věstonice (often without diacritics as Dolni Vestonice) refers to an archaeological site near village Dolní Věstonice in the Czech Republic. The site is unique in that it has been a particularly abundant source of prehistoric artifacts (especially art) dating from the Gravettian period, which spanned roughly 27,000 to 20,000 B.C. In addition to functional gear, the artifacts found at Dolni Vestonice include carved representations of animals, men, women, personal ornaments, enigmatic engravings.

Particularly striking is a sculpture which may represent the first example of portraiture (i.e., representation of an actual person). This contrasts with the more highly abstracted and exaggerated styles of representation which were nearly universal until the dawn of high civilization. The figure, carved in mammoth ivory, is roughly three inches high. The subject appears to be a young man with heavy bone structure, thick, long hair reaching past his shoulders, and possibly the traces of a beard. Originally found in 1891, there was concern that the finding might be a hoax. However, particle spectrometry analysis conducted at the University of Kansas Space Technology Center placed the date of the carving (as opposed to the age of the mammoth ivory itself) at around 29,000 years ago.

The Dolní Věstonice artifacts also include some of the earliest examples of fired clay sculptures, including the Venus of Dolní Věstonice. The remains of a kiln have been uncovered. Thousands of clay figurines have been recovered, most of them shattered into fragments. One hypothesis is that these figurines had magical significance, and were intentionally fashioned from wet clay so that they would explode when fired.

One of the burials revealed a human female skeleton, ritualistically placed beneath a pair of mammoth scapulae, one leaning against the other. The bones and the earth surrounding it contained traces of red ocher, a flint spearhead had been placed near the skull and one hand held the body of a fox. This evidence indicates that this was the burial site of a shaman. This is the oldest site not only of ceramic figurines and artistic portraiture, but also of evidence of female shamans.

References

• Jelínek, J., Pictorial Encyclopedia of the Evolution of Man, Prague: Hamlyn (1975).
• National Geographic Magazine, The National Geographic Society, October 1988.
• Shreeve, James, The Neandertal Enigma: Solving the Mystery of Modern Human Origins, New York: William Morrow and Company (1995).
• Tedlock, Barbara, "The Woman in the Shaman's Body; Reclaiming the feminine in religion and medicine", New York: Bantam Dell, 2005.