Engraved drawing of a male figure
Pin Hole Cave, Creswell Crags, Derbyshire
Bone
Length: 20.8 cms
The British Museum
Palart.854
The figure drawn on this bone is the typical form of male figures known from the period between about 14,000 and 12,000 years ago. He is drawn in profile facing right. The face has a prominent nose and mouth but is not realistic. It may be a caricature such as the engraved faces known from the walls of Pyrenean caves such as Marsoulas and Gargas or it might represent an animal head placed on a human body to create an imaginary being transformed by contact with the supernatural.
The neck is thick and the lines of the body curve out to form a rounded figure lacking realism. The legs end at the knees and the right leg is shown slightly forward of the left. The left is arm is extended and the line across the body suggests the figure is carrying a spear. What appears to be an erect phallus is not formed by deliberately engraved lines. The suggestive shape is provided by natural corrosion of the bone surface that occurred during burial and pre-dates the engraved lines of the drawing. This is confirmed by the fact that bone is a rib of a woolly rhinoceros and these animals became extinct in Britain before 20,000 years ago when cold conditions made this part of Europe uninhabitable for humans. People returning to Britain around 13,000 years ago found and used an old bone they discovered in the cave for the drawing.
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