Historic assemblages

[Drager Meurtant]

Many of us think that assemblages were first constructed one century ago, when Pablo Picasso
created cubist constructions. Other names, attached to the art form are Marcel Duchamp,
Louise Nevelson, Robert Rauschenberg, Kurt Schwitters and (first using the name of
assemblage) Jean Dubuffet. For a more complete listing of 20th century assemblagists, see
wikipedia: Artists_primarily_known_for_assemblage.
But, looking from a different perspective, assemblages were created much earlier. And - as
demonstrated in a recent article in PLOS One (May 1st, 2013, Soledad Domingo et al), at the
basis were even non-human mammalian species.
Thus, archeologists from the USA and Spain, have found so-called carnivoran assemblages in
caves (called Battalones-1) in mountain areas of Spain, giving the chance to provide
information of presence and diversity of animals that lived there long ago. The animals, are
believed, got trapped, probably after chosen entry (searching for cadavers of other animals, for water, or
a hide-out?), in a cave and died.. . Many skeletal remains - preserved in the dry conditions -
have been found and classified. Prominent taxa are sabertoothed cats. The period: Late
Miocene or more than 10 million years ago.

Note, in archeology, the presence of different components at sites, are also seen as
assemblages.

Origin of an Assemblage Massively Dominated by Carnivorans from the Miocene of Spain
M. Soledad Domingo, M. Teresa Alberdi, Beatriz Azanza, Pablo G. Silva, Jorge Morales
PLOS One, May 01, 2013, DOI: 10.1371