Female figure on a pebble
Courbet Cave, Penne-Tarn, France
Stone
Height: 6.1 cms
The British Museum
Palart.517
This well-rounded, siliceous river pebble was quite distinct from the limestone fragments that incorporated the occupation debris in Courbet Cave. It natural shape fortuitously indicates the lines of the female profiles known from at site in the engraving on the bottom a broken lamp and ivory beads. There is some abrasion between the widest point and the base of the figure suggesting an attempt at modification, improvement or perhaps preparation to drill a hole for suspension.