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Pitt Rivers Museum

1884.68.11

Painted plaster cast of pierced baton, possibly a spear straightener, of reindeer antler with one hole carved with horses. [SM (Verve) 22/9/2016]

On display


1884.68.11

Digital asset copyright: Pitt Rivers Museum, University of Oxford

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Collection type
Object
Description
Painted plaster cast of pierced baton, possibly a spear straightener, of reindeer antler with one hole carved with horses. [SM (Verve) 22/9/2016]
Long description
Painted plaster cast of a decoratively incised piece of reindeer antler, possibly a spear straightener. The object has a circular perforation and is decorated on one side with three horses. The other side has linear decoration. [SM (Verve) 13/6/2016]
Geographical reference
[Aquitaine Dordogne Les Eyzies-de-Tayac-Sireuil La Madeleine]
Date / Period
Date made: 15000-10000 BC Archaeological period: Palaeolithic
Date collected
?By 1880
Acquisition information
Donated: 1884
Materials and processes
Material Animal Ivory Tooth, Material Animal Antler, Material Reindeer Antler Animal, Material Plaster, Material Pigment, Process Cast, Process Incised, Process Carved, Process Perforated, Process Painted
Dimensions
Length: max 310 mm, Width: max 60 mm
Object numbers
Accession number: 1884.68.11 PR no.: 11/ 10491
Research and responses

See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baton_fragment_(Palart_310) [Dan Hicks 8/3/2017]

In Salisbury and South Wiltshire Museum Pitt Rivers ms collections there is a handwritten list [P141] headed 'A catalogue of M.General [sic - Major General] Pitt Rivers' Anthropological Collection Objects illustrating Animal Form conventionalised in Ornamentation from different countries' which seems to be a list of all items which were associated with the display entitled 'Illustrations of Human and Animal form Cases 92 - 93' in Bethnal Green and South Kensington Museums. A photocopy of this list is held by Alison Petch [AP 23/03/2005]

The original antler that this cast was made from appears in B. Plate XXX et XXXI figure 4 in Henry Christy and Édouard Armand Isidore Hippolyte Lartet, 1875 volume [also published with Thomas Rupert Jones], Reliquiae aquitanicae: Being contributions to the archaeology and palaeontology of Pèrigord and the adjoining provinces of Southern France [published in London by Williams & Norgat]. This book can be accessed online at http://www.archive.org/details/reliquiaeaquitan00lartuoft. [MJD 05/02/2014] See especially https://archive.org/stream/reliquiaeaquitan00lartuoft#page/n683/mode/2up and https://archive.org/stream/reliquiaeaquitan00lartuoft#page/182/mode/2up [Dan Hicks 8/3/2017]

Search terms: Figure, Reproduction, Tool, Animal Figure, Cast