Ice Age Europe: Zaraysk Bison Sculpture (21,000 years old)
A female bison carved in mammoth ivory from Zaraysk, Osetr Valley, Russia. It is c. 21,000 years old.
The bison, sculpted in mammoth ivory and coloured with red ochre, is one of the largest ivory sculptures of the Ice Age. Its distinct naturalism is exceptional. Archaeologists also know that the two left legs of the sculpture were deliberately broken before it was carefully buried.
Discovered at Zaraysk, Russia, and dated at roughly 20,000 years, this piece depicts a female bison and was fully sculpted in the round. The shape and taper of the tusk has been used efficiently, capturing the variation of form - between the forequarters and the hindquarters and between the high shoulders and the lower central back - and giving the piece a subtle naturalism and sense of movement. The slight angle of the head from the front view produces the same effect.
Damaging a successful piece that would have taken time and skill to create before burying it is a significant gesture, one charged with symbolism and emotion.
Zaraysk Museum of Art & History, Russia.
The bison, sculpted in mammoth ivory and coloured with red ochre, is one of the largest ivory sculptures of the Ice Age. Its distinct naturalism is exceptional. Archaeologists also know that the two left legs of the sculpture were deliberately broken before it was carefully buried.
Discovered at Zaraysk, Russia, and dated at roughly 20,000 years, this piece depicts a female bison and was fully sculpted in the round. The shape and taper of the tusk has been used efficiently, capturing the variation of form - between the forequarters and the hindquarters and between the high shoulders and the lower central back - and giving the piece a subtle naturalism and sense of movement. The slight angle of the head from the front view produces the same effect.
Damaging a successful piece that would have taken time and skill to create before burying it is a significant gesture, one charged with symbolism and emotion.
Zaraysk Museum of Art & History, Russia.
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