Provider: Moravian Museum, Brno, Czech Republic

TY  - JOUR
JO  - Anthropologie (Brno)
TI  - "Ethnographical" contribution to the interpretation of the Laussel Paleolithic relief
AU  - Jelínek J
Y1  - 2012
VL  - 50
IS  - 2
PB  - Moravian Museum, Brno, Czech Republic
SN  - 0323-1119
SP  - 249
EP  - 253
KW  - Rock art
KW  - Paintings
KW  - Coitus
KW  - Childbirth
KW  - Laussel
KW  - Paleolithic
KW  - Arnhem Land
KW  - Northern Australia
N2  - 
N2  - The famous Laussel Paleolithic relief has in the past attracted much discussion and has been dealt with in many studies. According to some authors, it represents coitus, according to others, childbirth. The relief has also been interpreted as having been completed at later date or as being incomplete. Here, several examples of coitus and childbirth scenes in rock paintings of Northern Australia are presented. These depictions of sexual themes were found during anthropological research by the Czechoslovak Anthropos Expedition to Arnhem Land in 1969 and 1973. Although these North Australian paintings cannot be connected with European Paleolithic art, I feel that the striking psychological analogy deserves consideration. We can summarize, that as a result of a similar psychology; the similarity of the media of expression; and the economic and cultural basis in hunting societies; we can find much in common between them, which can be of great assistance in the study of the oldest European art. This article is a reprint of a previously published article (Jelínek J., 1974: Anthropologie (Brno) 12, 3: 227-229).
ER  -