View source for Bison Licking Insect Bite

{{Short description|Prehistoric carving found in France}}
{{italic title}}
{{Infobox artefact|image=F07 0054.Ma.JPG|created=c.15,000 years before present|material=[[Reindeer]] antler|location=[[Les Eyzies]], [[Dordogne]], [[France]]|width=10.5 cm|caption=Bison carved on reindeer [[antler]] fragment, [[National Museum of Prehistory (France)|National Museum of Prehistory]] in [[Les Eyzies]]|discovered_place=[[Tursac]], [[Dordogne]], [[France]]}}

'''''Bison Licking Insect Bite''''' is a [[prehistoric art|prehistoric carving]] from the [[Upper Paleolithic]], found at [[Abri de la Madeleine]] near [[Tursac]] in [[Dordogne]], [[France]], the [[type-site]] of the [[Magdalenian]] culture, which produced many fine small carvings in antler or bone.

Created sometime between 20,000 and 12,000 [[Before present|BP]] (15,000 BP according to the museum), it was formerly in the [[National Archaeological Museum (France)|Musee des Antiquites Nationales]], [[St. Germain-en-Laye]], but has been transferred to the expanded National Museum of Prehistory in [[Les Eyzies-de-Tayac-Sireuil]] that opened in 2004, not far from its findspot. It is a carved and engraved fragment of a [[spear-thrower]] made of [[reindeer]] antler. It depicts the 10.5 cm figure of a [[bison]], of the now extinct species [[steppe wisent]] (''Bison priscus'') with its head turned around and showing its tongue extended. It is thought the spear-thrower was broken into roughly its present shape before the carving was made from the fragment, hence the need to show the turned-back head of the animal in order to fit the existing structure.<ref>[http://musee-prehistoire-eyzies.fr/en/collection/tid-4/cid-5/collection-bison-se-lechant, "Collections", National Museum of Prehistory] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150430045958/http://musee-prehistoire-eyzies.fr/en/collection/tid-4/cid-5/collection-bison-se-lechant%2C |date=2015-04-30 }} in Les Eyzies-de-Tayac-Sireuil (in French)</ref>

== See also ==
* [[List of Stone Age art]]

== References ==
{{reflist}}

== External links ==
* [http://www.onlineartcenter.com/prehistoric.html ''Bison Licking Insect Bite'']

{{Prehistoric technology| state=expanded}}

[[Category:Archaeological discoveries in France]]
[[Category:Prehistoric art in France]]
[[Category:Art of the Upper Paleolithic]]
[[Category:Sculptures of bison]]
[[Category:Bone carvings]]


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