Using mammoth ivory, these pendants are carved as flying swans with their necks and wings outstretched. Thirteen such pendants varying in size from 4.5 to 15 centimetres long were found on the campsite. One of the pendants was found with the skeleton of a child but if they were worn together as a necklace, with the largest at the centre, they would also display the flight formation of the birds. The arrival and departure of migratory birds were important seasonal markers for hunter-gatherers and may have been celebrated with special ceremonies.

Open site of Mal’ta, Irkutsk, Siberia.

Institute of Arhcaeology, St Petersburg.

Culture which succeeded the Gravettian about 22,000 years ago and lasted until 17,000 years ago in some areas. Identified at the Solutré site in east-central France near Mâcon, and found mostly in France and Spain, the Solutrean is famous for its exquisite flint-knapping.

Source: Dr Jean Clottes

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