Mesolithic Art - Abstraction, Decoration, Messages  

Congrès, colloques, réunions

 

19-21 septembre 2019
Halle-sur-Saale (Saxe-Anhalt)

What do we know about Mesolithic art? In the Late Glacial and Early Postglacial periods the naturalistic figurative graphic depictions of animals flourishing in Ice Age Europe disappeared more or less completely. A new style - abstract and geometric - emerged, carried out using fine incisions as well as pricked and drilled dots. It is mostly found on tools, personal ornaments and other portable artefacts. In addition, rock-engravings and sculptured and painted objects are also preserved from the Mesolithic. The motifs and patterns are limited in number and often occur regionally and supra-regionally, possibly including symbols, information and communications.

 

The conference aims to investigate the new significant and distinctive style of the Late Palaeolithic and Mesolithic hunter-fisher-gatherers. We will try to explore the possible reasons for its creation; its meaning, function and possible indications of the early origin of writing. Representations of the landscape seem to have been engraved, as well as pictorial messages from one human group to another.

The conference is addressed to archaeologists working on Mesolithic art but also to art historians, anthropologists, ethnologists and psychologists. The meeting will be held at the State Museum of Prehistory (Landesmuseum für Vorgeschichte, Richard-Wagner- Str. 9, DE - 06114 Halle/Saale, Germany). The language of the meeting will be English. Poster presentations are encouraged. The papers will be collected and published as a separate volume.

More information will soon be available on the website of the Landesamt für Denkmalpflege und Archäologie Sachsen-Anhalt (http://www.archlsa.de).

 

If you are interested in participating in the conference, please send an email with the tentative title of your contribution (oral or poster) before 1st October 2018 to: JGruenberg@lda.stk.sachsen-anhalt.de

Vu sur Mesolithic Miscellany Monthly (July 2018)

 

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