Paleolithic Limestone "Figure Stone"

Formerly in the collection of artist Tony Berlant (b. 1941).

With EU license 2025DMF0222 permitting export, issued by the French Ministry of Culture

First Sculpture: Handaxe to Figure Stone. 27 January - 29 April 2018. Nasher Sculpture Center, Dallas, Texas.

The Origins of Sculpture. 27 September 2023 - 7 January 2024. Benaki Museum, Athens, Greece.

Berlant, Tony, and Thomas Wynn. First Sculpture: Handaxe to Figure Stone. Nasher Sculpture Center, 2018, Cat. 66.

Galanidou, Nena, et al., editors. The Origins of Sculpture: Archaeological Finds from the Old World and Lesbos 2.5 Million to 50,000 Years Before Present. University of Crete/Benaki Museum, 2023, Cat. 73.

A REMARKABLE NEANDERTHAL FIGURE STONE WITH DISTINCT BIRD-LIKE FORM FROM FONTMAURE

Recovered from the important Paleolithic site of Fontmaure in central France, this evocative limestone nodule belongs to a small and highly intriguing group of objects often described as “figure stones.” Unlike fully worked tools, such pieces appear to have been selected for their natural form and only minimally modified to emphasize suggestive shapes.

Figure stones have long occupied a controversial place in Middle Paleolithic archaeology. Once dismissed as detritus from Neanderthal sites, these often strikingly aesthetic and sculptural stones have received considerable reevaluation in recent years, as scholars have reconsidered the cognitive and representational abilities of Neanderthals, and thus reconsidered their ability to create and appreciate what we may consider "art" or "sculpture." Archaeologist Thomas Wynn, once a critic of figure stones as early attempts at aesthetic representation in Neanderthals, has since become one of the most forceful exponents of Neanderthal representational ability, as evidenced by his co-curation of the exhibition First Sculpture: Handaxe to Figure Stone at the Nasher Sculpture Center in Dallas in 2018, where this piece was prominently displayed.

The present example is particularly clear in its reading. The naturally-occurring form of the stone closely resembles that of a small bird, with a gently rounded body, projecting head, and tapering tail. A small cavity has been accentuated to serve as an eye, while subtle working around the beak and tail further reinforces the impression. The role of the maker here appears not to have been to impose form, but to recognize and refine one already present.

Fontmaure is well known for its distinctive materials and for the large number of Paleolithic objects recovered from the site. In rare instances such as this, however, the selection of a stone seems to have been guided as much by its inherent character as by its practical potential. The present piece sits at this boundary, where natural form and human intervention converge.

Its inclusion in both the Nasher Sculpture Center’s landmark 2018 exhibition First Sculpture: Handaxe to Figure Stone and the Benaki Museum’s The Origins of Sculpture underscores its importance within this small and much discussed group of Neanderthal objects.

Objects of this type remain the subject of ongoing discussion. While their precise function is unknown, their deliberate selection and subtle modification suggest a significance beyond the purely practical. As such, they offer a rare and compelling glimpse into the perceptual world of Neanderthals, and into some of the earliest surviving evidence for representational thought.

 Accompanied by a copy of Tony Berlant and Thomas Wynn, First Sculpture: Handaxe to Figure Stone, Nasher Sculpture Center, where the present piece is illustrated.