Magdalenian

Refers to the period and culture of Upper Paleolithic Europe that is named after the rock shelter of La Madeleine in Dordogne, France, and existed from roughly 17,000 to 11,000 Before Present. The culture is characterized by the establishment of permanent or seasonal settlements, the exploitation of a wide variety of plant and animal food sources, including the use of snares and traps, and great ingenuity in toolmaking, decorative forms, and art. Tools were made of bone and stone and include geometrically shaped blades and other implements set into bone and antler handles, burins, needles, scrapers, borers, backed blades, harpoons, and leaf-shaped projectile points. Artistic production includes monumental cave engraving and painting, engraving of bone tools, sculpture, and jewelry. The earlier theme of animals is continued in art of this period, but the style is distinguished from earlier art in mural painting by lively realism, expressive poses, and successful rendering of volume, and in portable works by delicate carving of detail and the development of cohesive compositions through the depiction of multiple animals together as if in a scene.