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The figurine, found at a site called Lingjing
in Henan Province in central China, depicts a standing bird on a
pedestal and was crafted using stone tools employing four
sculpting methods - abrasion, gouging, scraping and incision,
the researchers said.
It is the oldest-known three-dimensional art from China and all
of East Asia by 8,500 years, although there are primitive
abstract engravings on bone and stone and personal ornaments
made of animal teeth and shells predating it.
The bird sculpture, the product of an Ice Age hunter-gatherer
culture, is six-tenths of an inch (1.5 cm) long, apparently
representing a songbird.
"Examining this figurine under the microscope and looking at its
high-resolution 3D reconstruction is a moving experience. It
opens a window on micro-gestures made by a great artist," said
archeologist Francesco d'Errico of the French National Centre
for Scientific Research, who is also attached to the
Universities of Bordeaux and Bergen.
Humankind's earliest-known three-dimensional carvings, made of
mammoth ivory, date to 40,000 years ago from southern Germany.
The bird was so expertly crafted from the bone of an
unidentified mammal that the artist made the tail slightly
oversized so the figurine would not fall forward, indicating an
understanding of achieving balance, said d'Errico, a senior
author of the research published in the journal PLOS ONE.
It is still unclear whether three-dimensional artwork arose
independently in various locales or by diffusion from a
prehistoric center of origin. The figurine differs in size,
style and technology from older and contemporaneous carvings
from Europe and Siberia, d'Errico said, suggesting it belongs to
a distinctive Chinese artistic tradition.
(Reporting by Will Dunham; Editing by Peter Cooney)
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