MP Gallery - Markings, Signs, Graphemes; d) prolom13560rbccm5

Middle Paleolithic symbol making continues the Early Paleolithic tradition of making divergent line motifs (DLMs); in the MP these engravings seem to simplify into a few radiating lines. Middle Paleolithic examples include:

• Prolom II, Crimea, Micoquian, c. 100,000 BP; four engraved bone objects: saiga phalange engraved with set of 7 'fan-like' divergent radial stroke marks; horse canine, polished, with 5 deeply engraved subparallel strokes from one end; triangular bone fragment, with 2 strokes radiating from point; fragment of bone with two parallel but not adjacent strokes (Stepanchuk 1993)

Examples from Prolom II shown below.

Illustration © Robert Bednarik. Bednarik, R. (1995). Concept-mediated marking in the Lower Paleolithic. Current Anthropology 36,4:605-634; figure 5.