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The Horse of Lourdes
The Horse of Lourdes
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Material and technics:
Ivory of mammoth
Origin and date:
Grottes des Espélugues, (Lourdes, Hautes-Pyrénées)
Around 13,000 BC
Around 13,000 BC
Artiste(s):
Dimensions :
7,3 cm
The Espélugues Caves was much frequented. This small horse was discovered in 1886 in a fissure in the rock. Many other tools and decorated objects have also been discovered in this cave-shelter.
This small statuette has been carved longitudinally from a mammoth’s tusk. Mammoths measured between 2.80 and 3.50 metres. Their upper incisors, developed into tusks, could reach 3 metres in length. To compensate for a lack of wood, prehistoric man in Eastern Europe used these bones as frames for their tents. Mammoths disappeared from Europe around 8,500 BC.
