Contour découpé

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Animal heads as contours découpés, finds from French caves

Contour découpé ( French , literally "cut out outline") describes a type of Upper Palaeolithic small art . Contours découpés are figurative representations of animals or animal heads cut from flat pieces of bone or antler . In the narrower sense, it only refers to objects that were carved from the hyoid bone of horses .

The object is decorated with engraved or scratched details, usually on both sides. By far the most common motif is the horse , less common are the reindeer and the ibex .

Contours découpés were evidently intended for hanging (possibly as body decoration), because they usually have one or more perforations.

Contours découpés existed in the middle and younger Magdalénien , especially in the south of France , but also in Spain ( Asturias ), Belgium ( Province of Namur ) and North Rhine-Westphalia .

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