Upper Palaeolithic figures as a reflection of human morphology and social organization

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

E-ISSN: 1745-1744|67|254|83-91

ISSN: 0003-598x

Source: Antiquity, Vol.67, Iss.254, 1993-03, pp. : 83-91

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Abstract

Whilst there is no evidence that human representations in Palaeolithic art are an accurate reflection of contemporary social demography, they can yield valuable data on Palaeolithic populations and their social organization. The paper analyses a group of Palaeolithic figures which show that women seem to have been accorded a privileged role in hunter-gatherer society, based on their physiological functions as mothers and sexual and social partners.