Mask of la Roche-Cotard

The so-called Mask of la Roche-Cotard, also known as the "Mousterian Protofigurine", is a purported artifact dated to the Mousterian period, 33,000 years ago or earlier, found in 1975^[1] in the entrance of a cave named La Roche-Cotard, territory of the commune of Langeais (Indre-et-Loire), on the banks of the Loire River.^[2]^[3]

The artifact, possibly created by Neanderthal humans,^[4] is a piece of flat flint that has been shaped in a way that seems to resemble the upper part of a face. A piece of bone pushed through a hole in the stone has been interpreted as a representation of eyes. Paul Bahn has suggested this "mask" is "highly inconvenient", as "It makes a nonsense of the view that clueless Neanderthals could only copy their cultural superiors the Cro-Magnons".^[5] Though this may represent an example of artistic expression in Neanderthal humans,^[6] some archaeologists question whether the artifact represents a face,^[7] and some suggest that it may be practical rather than artistic.^[8]

References

↑ Marquet, J C; M Lorblanchet (2003). "A Neanderthal face? The proto-figurine from La Roche-Cotard, Langeais (Indre-et-Loire, France)". Antiquity. 77.
↑ Amos, Jonathan (2 December 2003). "Neanderthal 'face' found in Loire". BBC News. Retrieved 2009-05-15.
↑ Palmer, Douglas (6 December 2003). "Neanderthal art alters the face of archaeology". New Scientist. Retrieved 2009-05-15.
↑ Marquet, Jean-Claude; Lorblanchet, Michel (1 December 2003). "A Neanderthal face? The proto-figurine from La Roche-Cotard, Langeais (Indre-et-Loire, France)". Antiquity. 77 (298): 661–670. doi:10.1017/s0003598x00061627. ISSN 0003-598X.
↑ Bahn, Paul (23 August 2003). "A bone to pick". New Scientist (2409).
↑ Pettitt, Paul B (2003/4). "Is this the infancy of art? Or the art of an infant? A possible Neanderthal face from La Roche-Cotard, France" (PDF). Before Farming. Western Academic & Specialist Press. 11 (3). ISSN 1476-4261. Check date values in: |date= (help)
↑ Chase, Philip G (2006). The emergence of culture: the evolution of a uniquely human way of life. Birkhäuser. p. 217. ISBN 9780387305127.
↑ "But is it art?". Science. AAAS. 302 (5652): 1890. 12 December 2003. doi:10.1126/science.302.5652.1890a.

M. Lorblanchet, La naissance de l'Art. Genèse de l'art préhistorique, Errances, 1999
Marquet J.-C., Lorblanchet M: Le "Masque" moustérien de La Roche-Cotard, Langeais (Indre-et-Loire). Paléo 2000, 12:325-338
Laurence Nicoud: L'art néandertalien: réalité et énigme. Archéologia (Paris): 407:6, January 2004
The Mousterian Protofigurine from La Roche-Cotard (France)

Coordinates: 47°20′12″N 0°25′34″E / 47.33667°N 0.42611°E / 47.33667; 0.42611

Prehistoric technology

Tools

Farming

Food processing

Hunting

Arrow Boomerang throwing stick Bow and arrow history Nets Spear Spear-thrower baton harpoon woomera Schöningen Spears

Projectile points	Arrowhead Bare Island Cascade Clovis Cresswell Cumberland Eden Folsom Lamoka Manis Site Plano Transverse arrowhead

Systems	Game drive system Buffalo jump

Toolmaking

Other tools

Architecture

Ceremonial	Göbekli Tepe Kiva Standing stones megalith row Stonehenge Pyramid

Dwellings	Neolithic architecture British megalith architecture Nordic megalith architecture Burdei Cave Cliff dwelling Dugout Hut Quiggly hole Jacal Longhouse Mud brick Mehrgarh Neolithic long house Pit-house Pueblitos Pueblo Rock shelter Blombos Cave Abri de la Madeleine Sibudu Cave Stone roof Roundhouse Stilt house Alp pile dwellings Wattle and daub

Water management	Check dam Cistern Flush toilet Reservoir Water well

Other architecture	Archaeological features Broch Burnt mound fulacht fiadh Causewayed enclosure Tor enclosure Circular enclosure Goseck Cursus Henge Thornborough Oldest buildings Megalithic architectural elements Midden Timber circle Timber trackway Sweet Track

Arts and culture

Material goods	Baskets Beadwork Beds Chalcolithic Clothing/textiles timeline Cosmetics Glue Hides shoes Ötzi Jewelry amber use Mirrors Pottery Cardium Grooved ware Linear Jōmon Unstan ware Sewing needle Weaving Wine Winery wine press

Prehistoric art	Art of the Upper Paleolithic Art of the Middle Paleolithic Blombos Cave List of Stone Age art Bird stone Bradshaw rock paintings Cairn Carved Stone Balls Cave paintings painting pigment Cup and ring mark Geoglyph Golden hats Guardian stones Megalithic art Petroform Petroglyph Petrosomatoglyph Pictogram Rock art Stone carving Sculpture Statue menhir Stone circle list British Isles and Brittany Venus figurines

Burial	Burial mounds Bowl barrow Round barrow Mound Builders culture U.S. sites Chamber tomb Severn-Cotswold Cist Dartmoor kistvaens Clava cairn Court tomb Cremation Dolmen Great dolmen Funeral pyre Gallery grave transepted wedge-shaped Grave goods Jar burial Long barrow unchambered Grønsalen Megalithic tomb Mummy Passage grave Rectangular dolmen Ring cairn Simple dolmen Stone box grave Tor cairn Tumulus Unchambered long cairn

Other cultural	Astronomy sites lunar calendar Behavioral modernity Origin of language Prehistoric medicine trepanning Evolutionary musicology music archaeology Prehistoric music Alligator drum flutes Divje Babe flute gudi Prehistoric numerals Origin of religion Paleolithic religion Prehistoric religion Spiritual drug use Prehistoric warfare Symbols symbolism

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Mask of la Roche-Cotard

See also

References

Further reading