Symbolic innovation at the onset of the Upper Paleolithic in Eurasia shown by the personal ornaments from Tolbor-21 (Mongolia)

Abstract

Figurative depictions in art first occur ca. 50,000 years ago in Europe, Africa, and Southeast Asia. Considered by most as an advanced form of symbolic behavior, they are restricted to our species. Here, we report a piece of ornament interpreted as a phallus-like representation. It was found in a 42,000 ca.-year-old Upper Paleolithic archaeological layer at the open-air archaeological site of Tolbor-21, in Mongolia. Mineralogical, microscopic, and rugosimetric analyses points toward the allochthonous origin of the pendant and a complex functional history. Three-dimensional phallic pendants are unknown in the Paleolithic record, and this discovery predates the earliest known sexed anthropomorphic representation. It attests that hunter-gatherer communities used sex anatomical attributes as symbols at a very early stage of their dispersal in the region. The pendant was produced during a period that overlaps with age estimates for early introgression events between Homo sapiens and Denisovans, and in a region where such encounters are plausible.

Figure 1

Cultural and chronostratigraphic contexts of the pendant: (a) geographic location of the Tolbor-21 site, (b) selected artifacts from AH4: 1-subprismatic blade core, 2-convergent Levallois-like flat core, 3, 10-retouched blades, 4, 7-endscrapers, 5-retouched point on blade, 6-truncation, 8-sidescraper, 9-biface. c, profile of eastern cross-section of Pit 2 at Tolbor-21 with projected stratigraphic positions of the pendant (red triangle) and lithic artifacts (circles) from archaeological horizons and calibrated radiocarbon dates. Archaeological horizons (AH) are in bold, lithological units (LU) are in italic. The chronological range is established based on radiocarbon dates from Pit 2 using the OxCal 4.4 IntCal20 calibration curve at 68.3% probability interval. Map was created with QGIS 3.8.1. Open Source Geospatial Foundation Project. http://qgis.osgeo.org.

Figure 2

Microscopic images of the modifications observed on the graphite pendant: (a–b) mid-section groove, (c) short groove located at one extremity of the artefact, (d–e) parallel striations observed on the flat side of the artefact, (f) highly smoothed and shiny facet present on the flat side of the artefact, (g) 3D reconstruction of the mid-section groove, (h–i) profile of the mid-section groove, (j) 3D reconstruction of the groove located at one extremity of the artefact, (k–l) profile of the groove located at one extremity of the artefact.

Figure 3

Surface roughness parameters registered on the graphite pendant with confocal microscopy: (a) Double boxplots showing the four more informative parameters registered with confocal microscopy on each surface of the pendant; (b) 3D views of the surface of flat side of the pendant produced by confocal microscopy. The 3D images in the right column are filtered with a Gaussian filter with a 250 µm cut-off. The positive skewness of the distribution is visible on the grey surface on the z scale representing the distribution of the height measurements.

Figure 4

Personal ornaments and blanks from Upper Paleolithic assemblage AH4 at Tolbor-21 site: 1–4–ostrich eggshell beads ; 3, 6-serpentinite pendant and blank; 5-steatite bead; 7-pyrophyllite pendant.

Figure 5

Regional comparisons. In red, location of the sites mentioned in Table 1 where personal ornaments attributed to the early stages of Upper Paleolithic have been documented. 1-Strashnaya cave, 2-Denisova Cave, 3-Anui 2; 4-Ust'‐Karakol 1, 5-Ust'‐Kan cave, 6-Kara‐Bom, 7-Maloyaloman cave, 8-Malaya Syia, 9-Yana RHS site, 10-Gerasimova I (Pereselencheskyi punkt), 11-Mamony II, 12-Shchapova I, 13-Khotyk, 14-Kamenka, 15-Varvarina gora, 16-Tolbaga, 17-Podzvonkaya, 18-Dorolj 1, 19-Tolbor-4, 20-Tolbor-21, 21-Kharganyn‐gol 5, 22-Tolbor-16, 23-Tolbor-17. Map was created with QGIS 3.8.1. Open Source Geospatial Foundation Project. http://qgis.osgeo.org.