The ''Swimming Reindeer'' is a 13,000-year-old
Magdalenian
The Magdalenian cultures (also Madelenian; French: ''Magdalénien'') are later cultures of the Upper Paleolithic and Mesolithic in western Europe. They date from around 17,000 to 12,000 years ago. It is named after the type site of La Madel ...
sculpture of two swimming
reindeer
Reindeer (in North American English, known as caribou if wild and ''reindeer'' if domesticated) are deer in the genus ''Rangifer''. For the last few decades, reindeer were assigned to one species, ''Rangifer tarandus'', with about 10 subs ...
conserved in the
British Museum
The British Museum is a public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is among the largest and most comprehensive in existence. It docum ...
. The sculpture was made in what is now modern-day France by an unknown sculptor who carved the artwork from the tip of a
mammoth
A mammoth is any species of the extinct elephantid genus ''Mammuthus'', one of the many genera that make up the order of trunked mammals called proboscideans. The various species of mammoth were commonly equipped with long, curved tusks an ...
tusk
Tusks are elongated, continuously growing front teeth that protrude well beyond the mouth of certain mammal species. They are most commonly canine teeth, as with pigs and walruses, or, in the case of elephants, elongated incisors. Tusks share ...
. The sculpture was found in two pieces in 1866, but it was not until 1904 that
Abbé Henri Breuil realised that the two pieces fit together to form a single artwork of two reindeer swimming nose-to-tail.
Discovery
The pieces of the sculpture were discovered by a French engineer, Peccadeau de l’Isle, in 1866 while he was trying to find evidence of early man on the banks of the
River Aveyron, although contemporary accounts attributed the find to Victor Brun, a local antiquarian. At the time, de l'Isle was employed in the construction of a railway line from
Montauban
Montauban (, ; oc, Montalban ) is a commune in the Tarn-et-Garonne department, region of Occitania, Southern France. It is the capital of the department and lies north of Toulouse. Montauban is the most populated town in Tarn-et-Garonne, ...
to
Rodez
Rodez ( or ; oc, Rodés, ) is a small city and commune in the South of France, about 150 km northeast of Toulouse. It is the prefecture of the department of Aveyron, region of Occitania (formerly Midi-Pyrénées). Rodez is the seat of th ...
, and while digging for
artefacts in his spare time he found some
prehistoric
Prehistory, also known as pre-literary history, is the period of human history between the use of the first stone tools by hominins 3.3 million years ago and the beginning of recorded history with the invention of writing systems. The us ...
flint tools and several examples of late
Ice Age
An ice age is a long period of reduction in the temperature of Earth's surface and atmosphere, resulting in the presence or expansion of continental and polar ice sheets and alpine glaciers. Earth's climate alternates between ice ages and gre ...
prehistoric art
in a rock shelter of
Bruniquel
Bruniquel (; Languedocien: ''Borniquèl'') is a commune in the Tarn-et-Garonne department in the Occitanie region in southern France.
Geography
The tiny fortified village of 561 inhabitants is at an altitude of by the river Aveyron. The river ...
. The finds took the name of the rock shelter : "abri Montastruc" (Montastruc rock shelter). The hill was estimated to be high, and the artefacts were found beneath an overhang that extended for about along the river and enclosed an area of 298 square yards (249 m
2). De l'Isle had to dig through of material to get to the level where the artefacts were found. At this time it was thought that there were two separate carvings of reindeer as it was not obvious that the two pieces fitted together.
[The swimming reindeer; a masterpiece of Ice Age art](_blank)
Jill Cook, bradshawfoundation.com, accessed 2 August 2010
De l'Isle wrote a paper on his discovery, and his finds were exhibited in 1867 at the
Exposition Universelle in
Paris
Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. Si ...
. People were intrigued to see the sophistication of his finds and this sculpture in particular. The carvings were remarkable in that they illustrate
reindeer
Reindeer (in North American English, known as caribou if wild and ''reindeer'' if domesticated) are deer in the genus ''Rangifer''. For the last few decades, reindeer were assigned to one species, ''Rangifer tarandus'', with about 10 subs ...
, which no longer live in France. Dating was possible as the two reindeer were carved in the ivory of an extinct animal. This dated the find as ancient and required a re-evaluation of the life of humans in the late Ice Age.
This find was particularly astounding, as at that time no
cave paintings
In archaeology, Cave paintings are a type of parietal art (which category also includes petroglyphs, or engravings), found on the wall or ceilings of caves. The term usually implies prehistoric origin, and the oldest known are more than 40,000 y ...
had been discovered, and it was to be some years before those that were found were accepted as genuine.
[The Swimming Reindeer](_blank)
, British Museum Objects in Focus, accessed 3 August 2010, In fact it was only the work of
Henry Christy
Henry Christy (26 July 1810 – 4 May 1865) was an English banker and collector, who left his substantial collections to the British Museum.
Early life
Christy was born at Kingston upon Thames, the second son of William Miller Christy of Woodbi ...
and
Edouard Lartet that had recently persuaded informed opinion that mankind had lived during the ice age and coexisted with mammoths.
The evidence for coexistence came not only from the reindeer but also from a carved spear thrower which was found in the same location. This device was used to gain extra leverage when throwing a spear. In this case it was made from a piece of reindeer antler that had been carved into the shape of a mammoth.
The reindeer sculptures were again exhibited in 1884 in Toulouse, when it is speculated that a French buyer might have been found, but they were eventually procured by the British Museum in 1887.
De l'Isle initially offered his finds to the British Museum for the large sum of 150,000 francs, which would have a value in excess of half a million pounds in 2010. The offer was considered much too high and was not accepted by
Augustus Franks, an enthusiastic antiquarian who was in charge of the north European collection at that time. Franks had been known to fund the museum's acquisitions himself, and he sent
Charles Hercules Read
Sir Charles Hercules Read (6 July 1857 – 11 February 1929) was a British archaeologist and curator who became Keeper of British and Mediaeval Antiquities and Ethnography at the British Museum, and President of the Society of Antiquaries of L ...
to negotiate with de l'Isle. Read successfully managed to bring the price down to £500 (about £30,000 today). The purchase was funded by the Christy Fund, a £5,000 bequest by
Henry Christy
Henry Christy (26 July 1810 – 4 May 1865) was an English banker and collector, who left his substantial collections to the British Museum.
Early life
Christy was born at Kingston upon Thames, the second son of William Miller Christy of Woodbi ...
who had also left his own collections to the museum.
It was not until 1904 when
Abbé Breuil saw the sculptures whilst visiting the British Museum that he realised that the two pieces fitted together, and were in fact two parts of a single sculpture.
The sculpture is kept in a controlled atmosphere and is rarely moved. The ivory is now very fragile and it is feared that it could "turn to dust" if it were treated roughly. Unlike the mammoth spear thrower, the reindeer sculpture has no practical purpose, and is considered to be the oldest piece of art in any British museum.
[
]
Age
The finds came from the late Ice Age, which Henry Christy
Henry Christy (26 July 1810 – 4 May 1865) was an English banker and collector, who left his substantial collections to the British Museum.
Early life
Christy was born at Kingston upon Thames, the second son of William Miller Christy of Woodbi ...
and Edouard Lartet originally called the "age of the reindeer".Europe p.200
Peter N. Peregrine
Peter N. Peregrine (born November 29, 1963) is an American anthropologist, registered professional archaeologist, and academic. He is well known for his promotion of the use of science in anthropology, and for his popular textbook ''Anthropology' ...
, Melvin Ember, accessed 7 August 2010 That is notable as the carving of mammoth ivory depicted reindeer and the mammoth spear thrower was carved from a reindeer antler. That fixes the co-existence of reindeer, mammoths and man at a time that the area had a climate similar to that of
Siberia
Siberia ( ; rus, Сибирь, r=Sibir', p=sʲɪˈbʲirʲ, a=Ru-Сибирь.ogg) is an extensive geographical region, constituting all of North Asia, from the Ural Mountains in the west to the Pacific Ocean in the east. It has been a part ...
today.
[
Later, this period became known as ]Magdalenian
The Magdalenian cultures (also Madelenian; French: ''Magdalénien'') are later cultures of the Upper Paleolithic and Mesolithic in western Europe. They date from around 17,000 to 12,000 years ago. It is named after the type site of La Madel ...
, named after a French cave, Abri de la Madeleine
The archaeological site Abri de la Madeleine (Magdalene Shelter) is a rock shelter under an overhanging cliff situated near Tursac, in the Dordogne ''département'' of the Aquitaine Région of South-Western France. It represents the type site of ...
, where similar art to the ''Swimming Reindeer'' were found.
Appearance
The sculpture shows a female reindeer closely followed by a larger male reindeer. The larger male is indicated by his size, antlers and genitals, whilst the female has her teats modelled. The reindeer are thought to be swimming in illustration of the migration of deer that would have taken place each autumn. It is known that it would be autumn as both reindeer are shown with antlers, and only during autumn do both male and female reindeer have antlers.[Transcript of Episode 4]
''History of the World in 100 Objects'', BBC, accessed 9 August 2010 At this time of year reindeer would be much easier to hunt, and the meat, skin and antlers would be at their best.[Swimming Reindeer](_blank)
bbc.co.uk, accessed 2 August 2010 Each of the reindeer has been marked with a burin to show different colouring and texture in the deer's coat. Oddly there are ten deeper cuts on each side of the back of the leading female reindeer. These may have been intended to indicate coloured markings, but their purpose is unclear.
Former Director of the British Museum Neil MacGregor says of the manufacturing process:
Gallery
Swimming reindeerDSCF6976.jpg
Sleeping Reindeer 4512630872 d31dcb1207 o.jpg
GLAM Ice Age 238.jpg
GLAM Ice Age 235.jpg
''History of the World in 100 Objects''
This sculpture was chosen as object 4 in the '' History of the World in 100 Objects''. This was a series of radio programmes created in a partnership between the BBC and the British Museum.
See also
*Art of the Upper Paleolithic
The art of the Upper Paleolithic represents the oldest form of prehistoric art. Figurative art is present in Europe and Southeast Asia, beginning between about 40,000 to 35,000 years ago.
Non-figurative cave paintings, consisting of hand ...
* List of Stone Age art
References
Bibliography
*''The Swimming Reindeer'', Jill Cook, 2010, British Museum Objects in Focus series, .
{{Prehistoric technology, state=expanded
Art of the Upper Paleolithic
Prehistoric objects in the British Museum
Prehistoric sculpture
Deer in art
1866 archaeological discoveries
Ivory works of art