Hyoid bone pendant
Personal ornaments
TLaugerie Basse type, Dordogne
Beginning of the Magdalenian,
Around 21 000 years
Y. Taborin, Fiches typologiques de l'industrie osseuse préhistorique, C.N.R.S. 1991
Among objects with an obvious means of suspension, several of the smaller examples seem to have had no other function than that of a sign with symbolic value…/blockquote]
Commentary :
At the onset of the Magdalenian, personal ornaments become abundant and diverse. They include shells, beads, contour cut-outs and pendants.
Bone pendants are made on unusual anatomical parts such as hyoid bones.
This bone, located at the base of a horse’s tongue, makes it is easy to obtain a thin, regular slab that is transparent and smooth like a precious stone. This bone element is the only preserved part of a composite ornament that included soft, perishable materials, such as tendons, horn, feathers and plants.
Personal ornaments can indicate social status or group membership, but are above all an individual accessory of consistent beauty.
They accompany and complement daily life, and draws its emotional power from the ephemeral.