The sample of 15 figurines breaks down as in Table 2:
Raw Material Number of Figurines
Fossil Ivory 1
Bone or subfossil ivory 2
Light green fibrous serpentine 2
Dark green fibrous serpentine 5
Dark green chlorite 4
Yellow talc 1
Table 1: The raw material breakdown for the 15 Grimaldi sculptures.
All of the soft stone materials are from relatively local alpine sources, that is, within 100 km from the Grimaldi sites. Hardnesses vary from 1 to 4 on the Mohs scale. Several other objects from the Grimaldi sites, especially beads and pendants, are manufactured in similar soft stones. Ivory and soft stone are the same materials that dominate the sample of Gravettian female images across Europe. Although the use of these silicates, such as talc, steatite and serpentine, can be explained by their being relatively easy to work, they also have remarkable tactile qualities. Especially when polished, they are indistinguishable to the touch from the warm lustrous sensation of polished ivory. I propose that, as in the case of Aurignacian beads discussed above, in our pursuit of the meaning of Gravettian female representations, we have focused too little attention on carefully chosen and constructed tactile qualities that had/have enormous evocative potential.
The ivory, constituted of unmineralized to partially mineralized mammoth tusk, was probably obtained from known geological exposures (Giraudi 1981, 1983). Mammoths were not present in Italy during the late Pleistocene, although a small number of ivory objects, notably pendants, have been recovered from Upper Paleolithic sites in Northern Italy. Exchange with groups farther north is certainly a possibility.
Certain raw materials are conspicuously absent, although they are key constituents of organic and lithic tools such as spear points, awls, lamps etc,. Notably, bone, antler and limestone are absent. This severe choice may have nothing to do with workability, as some of the substances ignored are more plastic than those chosen for figurine production. Raw material choice may have responded to the pursuit of visual and tactile qualities, and to the cosmology surrounding certain substances.