Unique sculpture of a glutton
Jarama II (Valdesotos de Jarama, Guadalajara)
Mammoth ivory
Length: 8.5 cms
Museo de Guadalajara.
Depositado en el Museo Arqueológico Nacional, Madrid
MAN-1984/115/2
Although other rare engravings of gluttons are known from France and Spain, this sculpture from a small cave in the Jarama Valley is unique. Expertly made from mammoth ivory the proportions of the animal are accurately proportioned and to scale. The piece represents many hours of work scraping, sawing and polishing the ivory to achieve to representation with the sense of movement so typical of this animal and with the legs and tail, as well as the alert, upright ears depicted in the round. The eyes are incised.
The miniature shows all the skill, ingenuity and originality of a masterpiece. It also documents a period at least 16,000 years ago when animals naturally adapted to very cold habitats such as gluttons and reindeer were present as far south as central Iberia. They were followed there by people although the coast of Cantabria offered milder conditions.