Magdalenian Art Animated By Firelight

VR simulations showed firelight would make images on engraved stones move and flicker.

While working on the construction of a railway, French engineer Peccadea de L’Isle found some flint tools and some artifacts like a carved spear thrower in the shape of a Mammoth and a Swimming Reindeer sculpture. Along with some engraved flat stones, these artifacts were created by Magdalenian people between 16,000 to 13,500 years ago. These engraved flat stones, made of limestone, have been analyzed by a group of archaeologists from the United Kingdom and they published their results in PLoS One¹.

Photographs (a, b) and digital tracings (c, d) of plaquettes 675 and 677 from Montastruc. Needham et al., 2022, PLOS ONE/CC-BY-4.0

These authors concluded the makers of these engraved limestone plaques placed them around hearths. The flicker of the fire would animate the engraved images and make the images come to life.