Eiszeitkunst oder moderne Darstellung?

Eine Bovidengravur auf einer Buntsandsteinwand in Reinhausen (Lkr. Göttingen)

Abstract

In 2014 the engraving of a bovine on a wall of new red sandstone in Reinhausen was reported and led to an interdisciplinary investigation by a working group. Especially the theme and style of the engraving threw up the question of whether this was a Palaeolithic representation, the more so as in the 1980s late Ice Age layers had been discovered by K. Grote in the Allerberg abri, which lay only a few metres below the rock face. In this paper the results of the investigations are critically discussed and traces of quarrying on the rock face involved are more closely explained. The authors reach the conclusion that the engraved wall originates from mediaeval or modern-day quarrying and the unusual animal depiction was very probably created in the 20th century. Finally, the authors discuss the state of research on Ice Age art in Central Europe.