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Cave Paintings and Sculptures Page 3
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The sculptures are 63 and 61 cm long respectively from left to right. They probably cracked shortly after being made, as the clay dried. Although there are stalactites and stalgmites elsewhere in this cave system, there is no water dripping from the ceiling to destroy these sculptures. They are located at the very furthest point of a 900 metre cave, in a chamber reached only after an often uncomfortable and difficult journey.
Count Bégouën and his three sons, photographed at the entrance to Le Tuc d'Audobert in 1912, shortly after the discovery of the clay bison.
Photo: Secrets of the Ice Age by Evan Hadingham
Entrance to the sanctuary of Trois Frères at Montesquieu-Avantès in the Province of Ariège, France.
Photo:
Breuil (1979)
An engraving of a bison on a limestone pebble from Laugerie Basse. It may have been a preparatory sketch for a painting in one of the caves.
Note the way the hooves are pointed down, not in a naturalistic position. It may be that the sketch was made from 'life' - a bison kill.
Photo: Man before history by John Waechter
Head of a bison drawn with the fingers on the clay floor at Niaux, French Pyrenees. It lies over half a mile from the cave entrance. Dating from the Madalenian period, it measures 24 inches (60 cm) in length.
Photo: Man before history by John Waechter
Oiseaux stylisés de Malta (Sibérie). Collection Musée de l'Hermitage.
Stylized birds of Malta (Siberia). Collection Musée de l'Hermitage.
Photo and French text: "les mammouths - Dossiers
Archéologie - n° 291 - Mars 2004"
My thanks to Anya for access to this resource.
Click on each image to see a close up
Photo: M. Gvozdover, 'Art of the Mammoth Hunters'
Click on the image to see a close upMammoth figurine no.2, sandstone, from New Avdeevo
Photo: M. Gvozdover, 'Art of the Mammoth Hunters'
Statuette de mammouth de Kostienki 1. Collection MAE. Photo L. Iakovleva.
Mammoth figurine from Kostienki 1. Collection MAE.
Photo and French text: "les mammouths - Dossiers
Archéologie - n° 291 - Mars 2004"
Photograph L Iakovleva.
My thanks to Anya for access to this resource.
Click on the image to see a close upHorse figurine, mammoth ivory, from New Avdeevo
Photo: M. Gvozdover, 'Art of the Mammoth Hunters'
Three dimensional sculpture of a horse carved in ivory, with coat and markings shown by engraved shading, from the Grotte des Espelugues, Lourdes, Hautes Pyrenees. Length 7.5 cm. Discovered in 1886 in a crevice in the Grotte. Musee de Saint-Germain-en-Laye
Photos: (top) A. Sieveking 'The Cave Artists'
(centre) http://www.primtech.net/ivory/ivory.html
(bottom) http://www.musee-antiquitesnationales.fr/pages/page_id18167_u1l2.htm
Madgdalenian horse head carved in bone - one of the most beautiful examples of prehistoric carving. Found in a cave excavation, its date is fixed to about 14 000 BP. The structure of the bone did not allow for carving in the round, and the reverse side is flat.
Photo: Man before history by John Waechter
Abri du Roc-aux-Sorciers, cave Taillebourg, Angles-sur-L'Anglin (Vienne). Tête de cheval en deux fragments.
Abri du Roc-aux-Sorciers, cave Taillebourg, Angles-sur-L'Anglin (Vienne, France). Head of a horse in two pieces.
Photo from: Agenda de la Préhistoire 2002 - 2003, a superb diary with excellent illustrations sent to me by Anya. My thanks as always.
Caverne de Niaux (Ariège)
Salon Noir, Cheval barbu
Black room, bearded horse
Photo from: Agenda de la Préhistoire 2002 - 2003, a superb diary with excellent illustrations sent to me by Anya. My thanks as always.
Caverne de Niaux (Ariège)
Successive paintings, one on top of the other
Photo from: Man before History by John Waechter
Caverne de Niaux (Ariège), galeries profondes. Empreintes de pieds
Caverne de Niaux, (Ariège), lower galleries. Footprints
Photo from: Agenda de la Préhistoire 2002 - 2003, a superb diary with excellent illustrations sent to me by Anya. My thanks as always.
Le Portel (Ariège), Cheval
Le Portel (Ariège), Horse
Photo from: Agenda de la Préhistoire 2002 - 2003, a superb diary with excellent illustrations sent to me by Anya. My thanks as always.
A dun pony near Silver City NM, as well as his dad and brother. Note the similar markings to the dun Devonshire pony above.
Photo: Jeff and Helena Hammer, near Silver City, New Mexico, USA.
These horses have been brought back from the edge of extinction, and there is a good website describing them at
http://www.spanish-mustang.org/startsms.htm
Helena Hammer writes: It may be that Darwin's dun pony was not so much a surviving individual of a vanished equine race, but more the result of what biologists call an atavism, a throwback to a primitive trait, in this case the original coloring of horses. As I understand it, this sometimes occurs when long isolated populations are reunited. Mules (ass x horse) are an excellent example. Something akin to their common ancestor's coat pattern, as well as other interesting physical attributes, can reemerge.
A little sister and a filly with good markings. Usually colts have better markings than fillies, but this one is exceptional.
Photo: Jeff and Helena Hammer, near Silver City, New Mexico, USA.
The following information comes from http://www.spanish-mustang.org/startsms.htm
Color
Always regular dun or grulla (no red dun), typically a rather light shade. Face/muzzle dark, and dark around the eyes. A mealy mouth is not acceptable. Ears are outlined black in front and back, with whitish rim; tipped black on backside, sometimes also striped on backside. Fawn-colored tuft inside ear. Bi-colored mane and tail = the black middle part is fringed by light-colored, often almost white, hair. A dorsal stripe must be present; cobwebbing on forehead, zebra stripes on legs, neck stripes, shoulder stripes, and fishbone markings on the back are all desirable, although not always present. White markings are atypical and undesirable.
This is an excellent organisation of the drawing styles from some French and Spanish caves.
The columns left to right are of:
Signs, Bison, Aurochs, Horses, Ibex, Reindeer, Mammoths/Deer, Rhinoceros.
References
- Breuil, H., 1979: Beyond the Bounds of History, Scenes from the Old Stone Age, Gawthorn, 1979, reprinted from the edition of 1949, London.