Paleolithic Flint "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. 62.

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. 70.

A STRIKING NEANDERTHAL FIGURE STONE WITH STRONGLY DEFINED FACIAL FEATURES FROM FONTMAURE

Recovered from the important Paleolithic site of Fontmaure in central France, this compelling flint nodule belongs to a small and much discussed 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 lightly modified to bring out suggestive imagery.

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 notable for the clarity and intensity of its facial reading. A pronounced central ridge forms a nose-like projection, while two depressions suggest eyes, one of which is more open and clearly defined than the other, giving the face a distinctly asymmetrical and expressive character. The intervention appears limited, with only slight adjustment serving to clarify features already present within the stone.

As with other examples from Fontmaure, the interest lies in the relationship between recognition and modification. The maker has responded to a naturally-occurring configuration, reinforcing certain elements while leaving much of the surface untouched. The result is not a fully imposed image, but one that emerges through careful selection and minimal intervention.

Its inclusion in both the Nasher Sculpture Center’s landmark exhibition First Sculpture: Handaxe to Figure Stone and the Benaki Museum’s The Origins of Sculpture places it within a key group of objects central to current discussions surrounding the origins of representation in early human history.

While interpretations necessarily remain open, the immediacy of the facial reading in this example sets it apart. Pieces such as this suggest an early capacity not only to recognize forms within the natural world, but to emphasize them in a way that heightened their visual impact.