AR54. 9 August 2004
Copyright © 2004 by Kevin Sharpe and Leslie Van Gelder.
All rights reserved.
Proposed for a conference presentation.
Graduate College, Union Institute and University, Cincinnati, Ohio, USA
Harris Manchester College, Oxford University, UK
10 Shirelake Close, Oxford OX
kevin.sharpe@tui.edu
www.ksharpe.com
and
Leslie Van Gelder
Walden University, Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA
10 Shirelake Close, Oxford OX
lvangeld@waldenu.edu
ABSTRACT.
This paper uses an empirical methodology to examine finger flutings in Rouffignac and Gargas Caves, France, asking what they might reasonably tell about the people who made them. Flutings can be divided into four forms, Mirian, Rugolean, Evelynian, and Kirian.
· An initial result for a chamber of Mirian flutings from Rouffignac Cave is that many of the flutings were probably made by young children held aloft to touch the ceiling. Those holding the children were at times not only walking, but moving rotationally from their hips, perhaps in whole body movement. This may be the first demonstrated case of Paleolithic cave ‘art’ made by children. The number of people involved in fluting in this chamber can be ascertained, the shapes they preferred to create can be cataloged, and previous interpretations of the flutings can be challenged.
· An initial result for two clusters of Rugolean flutings in Rouffignac Cave indicates the ages, heights, genders, and number of fluters involved. Further, the application of Zipf’s Law from communications theory, based on the number of fingers used in each unit of a cluster, suggests that these flutings were a form of inter-subject communication.
· An initial result for a panel of Kirian flutings in Rouffignac Cave is that the vertical flutings appear in sets of approximately seven or fourteen; they were probably made right to left; that stick scoring and clay reapplication were involved; and that several shapes repeat across the clusters in this form.
· Initial results from several clusters of flutings from Gargas also suggest the role of children in the fluting of Mirian lines and the inappropriateness of many previous interpretations of the flutings. The differences and similarities between flutings found in Gargas and those researched in Rouffignac are instructive.
Applying similar methodologies to the flutings found in
other areas of these two caves and elsewhere may further elucidate the
behaviors behind their manufacture.