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The Taï Plaque and Calendrical Notation in the Upper Palaeolithic

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 December 2008

Alexander Marshack
Alexander Marshack
Affiliation:
Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, Harvard University, 11 Divinity Avenue, Cambridge, MA 02138, U.S.A.
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Abstract

Analysis of the Taï plaque, the most complex Upper Palaeolithic composition, has revealed evidence of the problem-solving and visual cueing strategies involved in the accumulation of the marks. The composition consists of a boustrophedon sequence of short horizontal containing lines or sections, each of which carries irregular subsets of marks. The analysis proceeded in stages over a period of twenty years, initially with use of a microscope, but did not involve cross-sectional analysis or counting. The theoretical assumption guiding the analysis was that notations represent a cognitive form of visual problem-solving and structuring. A test of the sequence of containing lines and their subsets of marks suggested the notation on the Taï plaque was a non-arithmetic form of lunar/solar observational recording. The analysis, if validated, carries profound implications for our understanding of Upper Palaeolithic culture, and cultural features of the indigenous European population in the periods that followed.

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Type
Articles
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Cambridge Archaeological Journal , Volume 1 , Issue 1 , April 1991 , pp. 25 - 61
Copyright
Copyright © The McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research 1991

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