Magdalenian

[ mag-duh-lee-nee-uhn ]

Phonetic (Standard)IPA

adjective

of or relating to the final Paleolithic culture of much of western Europe, dating from c13,000–10,000 b.c. and notable for its artifacts of bone, antler, and ivory and for the cave art of western France and northeastern Spain.

Magdalenian

/ ˌmæɡdəˈliːnɪən /

of or relating to the latest Palaeolithic culture in Europe, which ended about 10 000 years ago

Magdalenian

/ măg′də-lē′nē-ən /

Relating to the final Upper Paleolithic culture of Europe, succeeding the Solutrean and dating from about 17,000 to 11,000 years ago. Magdalenian tools and weapons are highly specialized and demonstrate skilled craftsmanship in bone and antler as well as flaked stone. The Magdalenians are best known for their sophisticated artwork, including engravings, sculpture, and polychrome wall paintings such as those found in the Altamira caverns in northern Spain.

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1880–85; < French magdalénien, equivalent to Magdalen- (Latinization of La Madeleine, the type site in SW France) + -ien -ian

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C19: from French magdalénien, after La Madeleine, village in Dordogne, France, near which artefacts of the culture were found

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The site was used by Magdalenian people, hunter-gatherers who inhabited the area between 23,000 and 14,000 years ago.

We still seem to detect the influence of a decadent, late Magdalenian style of ornament.

Dark Magdalenian layer, with reindeer harpoons, engravings, and sculptures.

New Neolithic types of culture had already entered Italy, perhaps as early as Magdalenian times.

We find in Poland the remains of a culture akin in its carvings to the Magdalenian culture of western Europe.

The Cro-Magnon race was already declining in physique and numbers during the Magdalenian.

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