Small engraved bone plate found in the Raymonden cave, located near Chancelade (Dordogne, France) and dating to the Magdalenian period, about 15,000 years B.P. The artefact shows a bison head with the backbone attached and the forelegs put in front of it. The animal is surrounded by human profiles, one of which seems to hold in his/her hand a leafy branch. The entire scene could be possibly the description of a ceremony, perhaps a kind of sacrificial rite. The presence of the branch can suggest a ritual practice linked to particular moments of the year and a symbolic connection between the death/rebirth of the animal and the blooming of vegetation in the spring. A particularly suggestive analogy is with the treatment of a bison killed by the Cheyenne using their Sacred Arrows, as described by Dorsey in 1905 (Comba 2014). The object is exhibited at the Musée du Périgord, Périgueux, France.

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