Cast Of Mammoth Sculpture, Part of Spear Thrower
date: label: Accession Date
content: 29 Jan 1904
name: label: Donor Name
content: Thomas Wilson
label: Site Name
content: Montastruc
notes: label: Notes
content: Cast of object in British Museum collections, # Palart.551. British Museum catalogue identifies the original as: "Part of a weighted reindeer antler spear thrower broken across the shaft below the carving of a mammoth which forms the weight of the thrower. The mammoth has been ingeniously carved from the palmate part of the antler where the shaft broadens out and branches to the upper tines. The character of the raw material prevented the artist from producing a fully three-dimensional naturalistic but the resulting caricature is clearly identifiable. Originally the animal's tail curled over to form the hook of the spear thrower which, when in use, fitted into a depression or 'nock' on the end of a spear shaft. When the tail hook broke the weapon was repaired by its original users by carving a diagonal hole from the top of the back outwards between the back legs and inserting a replacement. The line of the mammoth's back follows the line of the shaft and its tusks are cut in low relief along this, in an unnaturally forward position, while the tip of its trunk and four feet are joined together at the extremity of the weight. There are deep round holes on each side of the head above the base of the tusks which look like eyes although they are disproportionately large and not in the correct anatomical position. On both sides of the trunk above the tusks there is a notch with 4-5 vertically incised lines above and below. Magdalenian." A8148 is another cast of the same object.
label: Record Last Modified
content: 25 Aug 2020
label: Specimen Count
content: 1
place: label: Place
content: Bruniquel, Tarn-Et-Garonne, France, Europe
topic: label: Topic
content: Archaeology
culture: label: Culture
content: Magdalenian
setName: label: See more items in
content: Anthropology
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: NMNH - Anthropology Dept.
identifier: label: Accession Number
content: 042207
label: USNM Number
content: A136681-0
objectType: label: Object Type
content: Atlatl