Pierced Ibex Incisor

Personal ornament element

Upper Palaeolithic
44 000 to 14 000 years

Commentary : 

During the Upper Palaeolithic, large quantities of animal teeth are used to adorn the bodies of the living and dead – men, women, and children. In the same way as art, this seems to be a way to symbolically transmit ideas without resorting to oral expression.

The use of teeth from different species follows very strict choices. The incisors or canines of aurochs, bison, foxes and red deer are the most widely used. Those of horse, reindeer, and ibex are much less frequent, and therefore probably associated with more restricted territories, and cultures.

Prestigious body ornaments could be composed from ibex incisors, collected during numerous hunting episodes. They are sometimes sewn onto clothing, or suspended from different parts of the body, but are most often concentrated at a very symbolic location – the head or chest.