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The Cave Art of Grotte de Gargas

The view from the entrance to the Grotte de Gargas. This is the sort of prospect the initial visitors to the cave would have had when looking out over the valley - though the vegetation would have been different. During colder times it would have been more steppe like, with few if any trees except perhaps along the streams. The animals drawn and painted in the cave indicate that there must have been, at least close by, herbaceous steppe country for the horse and the bison, and deciduous forest for the cervidae such as the deer. Mammoth and reindeer indicate that there was tundra within their migratory range, if not in this area. This aspect would have provided a wonderful vantage point for observing game.

Photo: Don Hitchcock 2008

Twenty five thousand or more years ago, someone for the first time entered the cave of Gargas, a small self-contained cavern close to the 700 metre elevation near the present day village of Aventignan in the French Pyrenees. Within 50 metres of the entrance, the cave became fairly dark, and at 100 metres, making a turn to the left, completely so. Our visitor lighted her way with oil or fat burning in a stone lamp. Fortunately the cave was smooth and dry, though from time to time animals had inhabited it. The sharp-clawed cave bear had even scratched on its walls. Although our visitor may have known other caves in the region, we do not know what purposes animated her first visit to Gargas. But one of her actions - and, of course, one of her purposes - was to draw, or more precisely, to make marks.

Oozing from hidden fissures, water carrying fine silts of calcium carbonate had deposited panels of moist clay on many surfaces of the cave. With her fingers together, our visitor gouged straight and curving traces, or with one finger traced somewhat more complicated zigzags and swirls. We cannot say exactly how long this activity was kept up - perhaps for generations.

Finally someone traced a simple line in the minimal form of a bison's forequarters - its horns, head, and muzzle. Later the whole outline was drawn, including details of eyes, fetlocks, and hooves, incised with a sharp stone on the harder surfaces of the cave walls. Horses, reindeer, various species of antelope and other animals were depicted with increasing differentiation, detail, and modulation, and in individually recognisable styles. At least for this people, in this part of the world, about 20 000 BC, image making had been born.

Map of the region surrounding Grotte de Gargas. I have added the red numbers to make the features easier to find.

Photo: Barrière (1976 i)

Entrance to the Grotte de Gargas.

Photo: Don Hitchcock 2008

Plan of the Grotte de Gargas.

Photo: Barrière (1976 i)

Bones and tools from Grotte de Gargas

Skull of a cavebear from the Grotte de Gargas

Photo: Don Hitchcock 2008

Source: Display, Grotte de Gargas

Jaw and skull of cave bear, Grotte de Gargas.

The inscription on the skull reads:

A.C.
Gargas
Salle IV, en surface
17 Février 1870
Ursus spelaeus

Skull of a Cave Bear, Grotte de Gargas. Found in 1870 by A. Clot.

The label reads:

Crâne d'ours des cavernes
adulte
Découverie au 1870 A. Clot.

Photo: Don Hitchcock 2008

Source: Display, Grotte de Gargas

Jaws of Cave Bears, Grotte de Gargas.

Photo: Don Hitchcock 2008

Source: Display, Grotte de Gargas

Canine teeth of cavebears from the Grotte de Gargas.

Photo: Don Hitchcock 2008

Source: Display, Grotte de Gargas

Teeth of cavebears from the Grotte de Gargas. Teeth are more often preserved than other bones.

Photo: Don Hitchcock 2008

Source: Display, Grotte de Gargas

Cavebear leg, rib, vertebrae and other bones from the Grotte de Gargas.

Photo: Don Hitchcock 2008

Source: Display, Grotte de Gargas

Lithic industries from Gargas.

The identification G.S.I indicates that a tool came from Gargas, Salle I.

Photo: Don Hitchcock 2008

Source: Display, Grotte de Gargas

(left) various blade tools.
(right) points and burins de Noailles.

The identification G.S.I indicates that a tool came from Gargas, Salle I.

Photo: Don Hitchcock 2008

Source: Display, Grotte de Gargas

(left) Grattoirs, or scrapers from Grotte de Gargas.
(right) Various stone tools from Grotte de Gargas.

The identification G.S.I indicates that a tool came from Gargas, Salle I.

Photo: Don Hitchcock 2008

Source: Display, Grotte de Gargas

Various stone tools from Grotte de Gargas.

The identification G.S.I indicates that a tool came from Gargas, Salle I.

Photo: Don Hitchcock 2008

Source: Display, Grotte de Gargas

Sources of the tools of Grotte de Gargas. Most material came from a long way away from the area, and gaining lithic raw materials would have required long journeys or a lot of trading. It may be that the site of Gargas was never a year-round area, but was principally used during the summer months. I have not seen any evidence one way or the other on this question. More research, and in particular some modern techniques applied to a new dig is obviously required to resolve this and other questions. There may be other sites in the area which would repay solid archeological digs.

Photo: Foucher (2005)

Bone Industry of the Grotte de Gargas

Figure 8. "Sagaies d’Isturitz" provenant de Gargas et d’Isturitz.
a, b et c: exemplaires entiers d’Isturitz (d’après SAINT-PÉRIERR. & S. 1952). -
d: probable extrémité distale n°261, assemblée “virtuellement” à la base n°1146 (e) (Gargas, coll.BREUIL-CARTAILHAC-IPH).

Original Source for the sketch: Saint-Périer (1952), reprinted in: Foucher (2005)

The caption reads:

Fig. 2. Gargas, industrie osseuse gravettienne: côte gravée n°236-IPH, collection BREUIL-CARTAILHAC (dessin C. SANJUAN-FOUCHER).

Gargas bone industry, a decorated rib.

It was described by Breuil & Cheynier (1958) as "a large curved piece, rounded at the end, which had been used as a retoucher. It is the left rear rib of either Aurochs or Bison"

Photo: San Juan-Foucher (2005)

The caption reads:

Fig. 3. Gargas, industrie osseuse gravettienne: côte gravées
1) n°1281-IPH

2) n°1153-IPH
collection BREUIL-CARTAILHAC (dessin C. SANJUAN-FOUCHER).

Photo: San Juan-Foucher (2005)

Cave Bear Bones

Gargas, Aurignacian level - Cave bear fibula sawn by prehistoric men: IPH-90 (Breuil & Cheynier, 1958, p. 359, Pl. VIII, 90), distal part of a left fibula with the same red patina as Ursus spelaeus bones from the bottomset clay layer
(Pictures: P. Foucher, 2006).

The sawn section may have provided blanks for tubes or tubular beads.

The fibula has the same red patina as the Ursus spelaeus bones from the bottomset clay layer, where it was probably picked up by the Aurignacian before being modified (note that the sawing marks have not the same red colour as the surface of the bone).

Photo: Vercoutère et al (2006)

Gargas, Aurignacian level - Cave bear fibula sawn by prehistoric men: MHNT 99.38.33 (Breuil & Cheynier, 1958, p. 361, Pl. IX, 112), distal part of a left fibula with cutmarks probably due to the 'cleaning' of the bone to make the sawing easier
(Pictures: P. Foucher, 2006).

Photo: Vercoutère et al (2006)

(left) Gargas, Gravettian level - Cave bear tooth modified by prehistoric men: IPH - 1778, canine with elongated impact scars resulting from knapping (Pictures: P. Foucher, 2006) (right) Gargas, Gravettian level - Cave bear tooth modified by prehistoric men: IPH - 1787, canine with man-made striae (Pictures: P. Foucher, 2006)

Photo: Vercoutère et al (2006)

Gargas, Gravettian level - Cave bear tooth modified by prehistoric men: IPH-298 (Breuil & Cheynier, 1958; p. 378, Pl. XVIII, 298), pierced lower left third incisor (Picture: P. Foucher, 2006).

This tooth appears to have served as a pendant.

Photo: Vercoutère et al (2006)

Gargas, Gravettian level - Cave bear tooth modified by prehistoric men: a & b IPH-1001, engraved canine longitudinally split
(Drawings: C. San Juan-Foucher; Pictures: P. Foucher, 2006).

Photo: Vercoutère et al (2006)

Gargas Radiocarbon Dates

Hand stencils, Paintings and Engravings from Grotte de Gargas

The cave art of Gargas is made up of two different elements, but from the same period:

- painted hands
- animal paintings and engravings.

The hands are painted in black, red or less frequently in ochre, particularly visible at close sight, and often grouped in large numbers, the hands provide a spectacular sight for the visitor, and a horrible sight, when it becomes clear, on closer inspection, that many of them are amputated and severely deformed.

Photo: Two left hands, possibly from the same individual, with all fingers except the thumb shortened. From a brochure advertising the Grotte de Gargas.

The first hands were discovered in 1906 by Félix Régnault. Breuil and Cartailhac counted more than 150 of them. Dr Salhy recorded 217. Claude Barrière noted 231, although some of them previously reported have disappeared as a result of natural erosion and present-day vandalism.

The 231 hands can be grouped as follows:

• 143 black hands
• 80 red hands
• 2 bister (yellowish to dark-brown colour) hands
• 5 ochre hands
• 1 white hand

Many are poorly visible - visibility depends greatly on the degree of moisture in the air and on the rock - or incomplete. One can therefore count for certain only:

• 22 right hands
• 136 left hands
• 10 intact hands
• 144 mutilated or sick hands

The dimensions enable us to attribute these hands to male adults, women or adolescents, and to babies for two of them.

These hands were created by projecting a coloured liquid, blown from the mouth, on the hand flat against the rock. One often sees the fine mist of droplets making a halo around the hand.

They are in 10 groups in the first room of the lower cave. Panels 6 and 8 are the most important, panel 8 on the left wall alone contains 43 hands in black, red and bister. Another important group is found further on, in room III, inside and on the other side of the hollow rock mass, covered with stalagmite, for this reason called the 'hand sanctuary'. On the front facade to the left of the entrance you can see the attractive black left hand, with two phalanges missing on the four fingers, called the 'alcove hand'. Inside are 32 black and red hands.

Clinical studies by Dr A. Sahly have shown that the Gargas hands were either deformed by illness or amputated. This was confirmed by the discovery at Gargas of finger stumps thrust into the soft clay. In other caves, such as Lascaux, accidental prints of mutilated hands left in clay now hardened by calcite have been discovered.

Some of the hands are deformed as a result of diseases deformative rheumatism, chronic evolving polyarthritis, or pathologic deformations.

Many hands have had one or more fingers amputated, with the exception of the thumb, which always remains intact. That can be explained by the consequences of accidents, frostbites, and chilblain, which cause the loss of fingers through gangrene. The thumb, which is better supplied with blood vessels, is more resistant to this problem.

Various diseases can also be involved, such as Ainhum's disease, Raynaud's disease, or perhaps leprosy. An amputation rite may have existed, but it would not have been carried that far - a hand deprived of two phalanges on four fingers is too serious a handicap for a hunter for amputation to have been accepted voluntarily.

The negative hand impressions were the work of a small number of individuals.

Table of digital possibilities with their frequency. The possibilities not represented at Gargas are shown with a cross.

(What stands out loud and clear is the overwhelming preponderance of the case of all fingers except the thumb being missing. To me, this is clear evidence for frostbite as the primary reason for the loss of finger joints. The thumb is better supplied with blood than the other digits.

Intentional mutilation of joints on this scale is ruled out in my opinion on the basis of the negative effect on the community of this maiming. It should be remembered that this community was in the foothills of the Pyrenees at a time of great cold, very close to huge glaciers. They hunted ibex, elk (moose) and mammoth in very difficult conditions - Don.)

Photo: Leroi-Gourhan (1967)

The stylistic evolution of the animal carvings at Gargas

• Phase I
  
  Use of the line drawn with a single finger, and carving in a simple line. In the beginning the animal figures are reduced to the head alone which may or may not be followed by the neck and withers. Horns and antlers are presented in twisted or semi-twisted perspective, and occasionally in full profile. The general posture is stiff and, on occasion, angular and is not anatomically true.
  
  The animals portrayed are almost exclusively made up of Bison and Bovidae, between which it is sometimes difficult to distinguish.
  
  
• Phase II
  
  So far the figures were limited to the head, neck and withers. From this point, the outline is gradually completed by the forequarters followed by the hind-quarters.
  
  There is increasing evidence of a pursuit of realism in the outline and above all in the details (eye, ears, hair, joints and even hooves).
  
  However, some perceptible differences are noticeable: some figures remain stiff, and are somewhat schematic, while others show a concern for greater suppleness with more curvilinear drawing; some of these are very clumsy while others are more successful. This results in a sort of mixture, sometimes in the same figures, of archaic and more highly developed characteristics.
  
  There are signs of an attempt to express movement by the arrangement of the legs which come close to and occasionally conform to normal perspective, by depicting the figure rearing up or other details such as the bison's raised tail. In certain cases the twisted perspective of the legs seems to be arrived at suggesting a three-quarters full face view of the animal. At any rate it seems fairly certain that it took at least two "hands" to execute the Phase II figures which make up the most important collection at Gargas.
  
  - one seems to be responsible throughout Phase II, for the stilted, stiff figures, executed in simple strokes with angular abrupt lines e.g. horse no. 1 and the e member of the bovidae no. 2 in the apse of the Camarin.
  
  - the other is fond of the continuous, curvilinear line ("fine wire" style) as if following on from the simple macaroni line traced in clay; the figures thus appear more "real" but are still clumsy e.g. horse no. 1 in the Oubliette Gallery, bison no. 8 in the Crevasses sector.
  
  The animal portrayed are much more varied than before. They comprise Bovidae, Bison, Ibex, Horses, Mammoths, and perhaps birds.
  
  During this phase it would seem that when a new species is drawn for the first time, a certain return to the archaic style occurs with the first drawings of the new species, which they contrast with contemporary figures of old species (the bovidae and the bison being the case in point). For example, ibex no 1 in the Vestibule of the Camarin, the first of this species, contrasts, apart from the two horns which are in almost normal perspective, with the bovidae and bison over which it is superimposed by its stilted style and absence of detail.
  
  This phenomenon seems to affect all new species, horses, ibex, elk, and cervidae, mammoths which follow one another in quick succession in the life of the artists of Gargas.
  
  The sequence of events seems to be that the artists who had become accustomed to reproducing from memory the outlines of bovidae and bison and were already expert in this, were taken aback by the new forms, and so returned to a clumsy and archaic technique. Then, once familiarised with the new animals, and with their visual memory accustomed to these forms, they returned very quickly to the more sophisticated level of style.
  
  
• Phase III
  
  During this phase one can see, after a first period when species and forms are plentiful, a relative reduction in their number; finally all that remain are Bovidae, Bison, Ibex and Horses
  
  They are, on the whole, larger; the largest figures belong to this phase e.g. the great horse and the great bull in the vestibule of the Camarin which are more than 1.50 m long.
  
  The technique of hatching goes beyond the portrayal of those parts which are shaggy. Some figures are given this treatment all over: the ibex heads on the Pierre Noire, the panel of the Great Bull, and the left hand wall in the Camarin, and figures 3 and 4 on the right hand wall of the Camarin.
  
  The Men of Gargas seem to have taken to this technique to such an extent that they drew bands of hatching, which seem to be simply manes, all over the walls in the Camarin.
  
  Also, however, at the very end of the phase, (judging by the superimposed figures) the line itself becomes broad and scratched: a new technique appears which probably exploits the different colours of reliefs which is normal in carving. This technique is employed in the most recent figures such as the Great Bull in the Vestibule of the Camarin, the head of Horse no. 5 in the oubliette Gallery, and the long bands of scratching and scraping in the Camarin.
  
  It would seem that this technique of scratching and scraping, which at the time created a play of contrasting colours more evident then than now (a bright scraped area against the darker rock) must be paralleled with the appearance of paint, especially since at Gargas, painting seems fairly closely associated with a preliminary scraping of the rock, as can be seen on the Bison in black in the rising passage linking the two parts of the cavern.
  
  There seems to be a return to less complete figures, the hind-quarters are often sacrificed, neglected or missing: there are many heads on their own, as in the early phase, more or less complete, the mouth and nostrils being the most frequently detailed parts. However there were also entire figures, and it was even at this point in time that legs were executed complete with the feet in an attempt to obtain a certain amount of anatomical realism.
  
  Certain drawings show a very clumsy outline, while others reveal great mastery of technique.
  
  The impression is given of work done in a very short space of time by several artists, who were however, small in number, and fairly skilled, who put together their frequently uncompleted drawings.
  
  

Classification of species according to the stages in the stylistic evolution

The classification of species according to the stages in the stylistic evolution of the cave art at Gargas gives us a much more interesting picture of the animal scene.

Map of the Grotte de Gargas, showing the location of the engravings with respect to the various phases of the styles of art.

Table of all the art found at Grotte de Gargas, and its location.

Photo: Barrière (1976 ii )

Engravings at the Grotte de Gargas.

Panneau du Grand Taureau

The Large Bull Panel.

Photo: Don Hitchcock 2008

Source: Display, Grotte de Gargas

Artist: Claude Barrière

Engravings at the Grotte de Gargas.

Pierre noire et panneau de Mammouth

Photo: Don Hitchcock 2008

Source: Display, Grotte de Gargas

Artist: Claude Barrière

Engravings at the Grotte de Gargas.

Chambre du Camarin

Photo: Don Hitchcock 2008

Source: Display, Grotte de Gargas

Artist: Claude Barrière

Engravings at the Grotte de Gargas.

Conque

Photo: Don Hitchcock 2008

Source: Display, Grotte de Gargas

Artist: Claude Barrière

Hand stencils at the Grotte de Gargas.

Grande paroi des mains, Panneau 4

Photo: R. Springinsfeld, at http://grottesdegargas.free.fr/

Bovid - Aurochs or Bison

You need the eye of faith to see the engraving in this photo!

I have added what seem like reasonable estimates of the lines, but no doubt there are other interpretations.

Photo: Postcard, © Imprimerie Carret-Vene, Lourdes

Old photograph of the Grotte de Gargas.

Photo: Original photo by Eugène Trutat (1840 - 1910)

Source: Scan on Flickr by Bibliothèque de Toulouse, out of copyright.

La Chambre du Camarin, the "Small Room".

View of the right-hand group (on the right of the picture is the entrance passage, and beyond is the antechamber and then the vestibule)

Once through the very low passage one enters laterally an elongated chamber which follows the line of a fissure running parallel to the clefts in the roof of the entrance and the vestibule, and the vestibule, and shaped like a gothic arch in cross section. It has been filled by silt topped by a thick stalagmite floor which is now more or less powdery and through which an artificial passage has been dug so that visitors can stand upright.

At the far end on the right, one can see as one enters two more or less horizontal stalagmite slabs, placed one on top of the other and covered like the base of the walls with red clay. Imprints have been made in this clay and numerous finger prints, many of which are deep, have been preserved: some of them have become stalagmitic and therefore look as they originally did, others have unfortunately suffered at the hands of visitors.

(Note: It may be imprints like this that have allowed researchers to determine that many of the people who visited the cave did in fact have amputated fingers - Don.)

Photo and text: Barrière (1976 ii )

Chambre de Camarin, the Small Room.

Left side, and entrance to the apse. A cutting has been made in the stalagmitic floor and the deposit of clay to facilitate access to this part of the cave.

The Camarin was a favoured location, since it alone contains 105 definite figures out of the 148 in the cave, about 71%. There are two possible reasons for this:

1. Given the present state of the cave, which is perhaps not so different from that which existed during the early Palaeolithic period, walls suitable for carving are not readily available. The Camarin, however, offers good surfaces over almost all of its area.

2. The quiet, secluded character of the site, even though it was at that time more accessible than it is today, make it a suitable place for such images.

Photo and text: Barrière (1976 ii )

The Camarin. Right wall. Legs of a cervid No. 2.

A particularly interesting, detailed, and anatomically accurate depiction of a cervid foot. It should be noted that the foot is apparently shown as it would be after the animal has been killed, with the underside uppermost.

For comparison, I have included a deer foot cast used by taxidermists.
Apparently there is a fashion in the US to mount deer feet as gun racks.

Photo (left and centre): Barrière (1976 ii )
Photo (far right): http://www.taxidermy.com/cat/12/feet.html

(left) The Camarin. Left wall. Forelegs of Horse No. 6.

This is a remarkably detailed drawing of the forelegs of a horse, including the long hairs of the legs.

(right) Przewalski's Horse, Dubbo Wild Plains Zoo June 2005

Photo: (left) Barrière (1976 ii )

Photo: (right) Wikimedia Commons
Source (right) Author: Salvosam

Chambre de Camarin, the Small Room.

(left) Ibex No. 2 from the left wall.

This is a particularly well drawn image.

(right) Ibex, border area Switzerland-Austria-Liechtenstein 11 August 2008

Photo: (left) Barrière (1976 ii )

Photo: (right) Wikimedia Author: Nudelbraut

Chambre de Camarin, the Small Room. Bison drawn in clay below the upper panel.

Photo: Barrière (1976 ii )

Room III, No. 25. Painting in black, spine and neck of a horse.

Although there is very little of the painting still visible, it is very reminiscent of paintings from Lascaux.

Photo: Barrière (1976 ii )

The Gargas mutilated hands.

Map of Gargas Cave.

Photo: Gargas et l’Atlantique: les relations transpyrénéennes au cours du Gravettien, Munibe 57, 2005
by Pascal Foucher

Profile of Gargas Cave.

Original Source for the sketch: Breuil, H. & Cheynier, A. 1958 Les Fouilles de Breuil et Cartailhac dans la grotte de Gargas en 1911 et 1913. Bulletin de la Société méridiona- le de Spéléologie et de Préhistoire V, 1954-55, 341-382 (extrait du Bulletin de la Société d’Histoire naturelle de Toulouse 93)

Reprinted in: Gargas et l’Atlantique: les relations transpyrénéennes au cours du Gravettien, Munibe 57, 2005
by Pascal Foucher

The text and photograph below come from the excellent book 'Secrets of the Ice Age' 1980, by Evan Hadingham.

The Case of the Missing Fingers

.......But the strangest ancient medical problem of all concerns hands, not heads. In well over twenty caves distributed throughout southwest France and northern Spain, there are dozens of painted hand impressions. These were created by pressing a real hand against the wall and applying colour around the edges: the result was a "negative" print like those that children still produce. In one or two small caves, these stencilled hands form the main works of art, but usually, they are relatively inconspicuous, and it is animal compositions that chiefly catch the eye of the casual visitor to the decorated caves.

Several close studies of these hand impressions have helped to explain the techniques most commonly used in their execution. In most cases, a red or black water paint has been sprayed on, resulting in an even halo of coloured droplets of various sizes around the handprint. Because the red pigment (hematite or ochre) is entirely soluble in water and the black (manganese dioxide) is not, the rock soaks up the red colouring more easily. As a result the red hands are usually more fuzzy and less clear than the black ones. It is uncertain exactly how the colour was applied; it is usually supposed that the artist took a big mouthful of paint and blew it out between pursed lips to produce a fine mist of colour. In experiments supervised by the author, the effect closest to the original hand impressions was obtained by blowing down an elementary spraying device made from a perforated reed.

Here, we might conclude, was a quaint pastime that we might attribute to idle amusement or to magical or religious rituals. In three caves, however, the bizarre nature of the hand outlines lifts the entire problem to a complicated and mysterious level. One of the three caves is called Maltravieso in northern Spain and features about thirty negative prints of hands. Only about a dozen are clearly visible, and of these, only one hand actually possesses all the joints of the fingers and thumb intact. On the other hands, there are two cases of missing thumbs and joints of the little finger. Elsewhere, in the caves of Tibiran and Gargas situated on opposite sides of the same conical hill in the French Pyrenees, more of the extraordinary mutilated hands appear.

Gargas has the most astonishing collection of these battered handprints. It is not a prepossessing cave; there are broad and rather low-ceilinged chambers, but the limestone is dull, and there are few glistening stalactites to divert the tourist. Yet in places, the sloping walls are covered with clouds of red-and-black hands, beginning close to the floor and mounting, halo after halo, almost out of convenient reach. Unlike Maltravieso, there are no thumbs missing at Gargas, but the catalogue of incomplete finger joints is long and varied. Recent censuses of the hands have resulted in conflicting figures because some are faded and difficult to see. However, there are well over 200 of them, and at least three or four times as many left hands as right. Among these are several intact prints belonging to the undamaged hands of babies only a few months old. Perhaps the most notable fact about the Gargas hands is that over 50 percent display the total loss of the upper joints of all four fingers. While it is certainly possible that the hands were intentionally mutilated because of some strange rite or superstition, the fact that the practice reduced the hand almost to a useless stump is rather surprising.

Photo from: Agenda de la Préhistoire 2002 - 2003, a superb diary with excellent illustrations sent to me by Anya. My thanks as always.

Gargas (Aventignan, Hautes-Pyrénées). Main négative.



But were the mutilations genuine, or are they an illusion? For many years, one of the popular explanations for the painted hands was that the artists were indulging in visual trickery by folding back the joints on undamaged, healthy hands and blowing colour around these distorted outlines. Certain facts now make accusations of "cheating" rather unlikely. As far as anyone can tell, the very even spreads of sprayed-on colour do not appear to include patches where the handprints could have been retouched or altered after the initial outline was made. More importantly, it is physically impossible to bend down only the top finger joint, which is missing on many of the hands. Experiments also show that it is difficult to create images as sharp as some of those at Gargas using curled-up fingers. Finally, a few of the outlines display oddly flattened or pointed ends to the shortened fingers, and these do look like mutilations rather than concealed joints.

In any case, independent evidence has recently come to light of genuinely mutilated hands in Ice Age France. In 1963, medical expert Dr. Sahly, who was conducting a detailed study of the problem, discovered a handprint with a missing little finger in the soft clay of a small circular chamber not far from the main panels of hands at Gargas. The walls and ceiling of the same chamber also were covered by rows of holes where fingers had obviously been thrust into the clay. Sahly made casts of the insides of some of these holes and revealed the shapes not of rounded fingertips but of scarred stumps, with such details visible as the lips of skin where the injury had healed together. Subsequently, several mutilated handprints were noted in clay at Lascaux, several hundred kilometres north of the Pyrenees, despite the fact that no painted impressions of such hands were seen on the walls of the cave.

The existence of people with severely damaged hands seems to be more or less proven. The key question that remains is whether these injuries were the result of intentional acts or of a crippling disease. There are no clear answers, but certainly, the restricted appearance of the mutilations, concentrated in large numbers only at Gargas, is very puzzling. If it was a cultural practice, it is odd that so distinctive a custom as chopping off fingers should be confined mainly to a single site and so, presumably, to a single group of hunters. The widespread stencilling of undamaged hands at so many other caves could indicate that the cultural ideas that motivated the hand paintings were not particularly exceptional but that the physical state of the Gargas subjects was. Incidentally, there are at least twenty cases of repetition at Gargas; the same hand with the same mutilation is obviously present, so that the number of people involved in making these prints may have been quite small. All these arguments tend to favour the explanation of some disease that affected only a tiny proportion of the prehistoric population, perhaps because it was shortlived or hereditary in character. Additional support for this idea may lie in the strange, twisted outlines of so many of the stumps, which perhaps indicate the remnants not of healthy but of terribly deformed fingers.

When a full list is drawn up, there are an alarming number of illnesses (most of them fortunately rare) that have the unpleasant effect of making the fingers wither or drop off. None of the specific, hereditary ailments precisely corresponds to the condition of the painted hands. Among these, Ainhum's disease, which causes the loss of the little finger through degeneration of the bone, seems to fit the case of Maltravieso, except that. the disease leaves behind a stump midway up the joints and not between them, as the majority of the painted outlines seem to show.

A similar hereditary condition, Raynaud's disease, mainly attacks young women in their twenties or earlier, may be promoted by cold and damp, and is a promising explanation for the Gargas hands. This illness afflicts any of the fingers and causes them to wither through gangrene, while the thumb is not affected because of its better circulation. Once again, however, the effects do not strike neatly between each finger joint so that if either of these two infections are responsible it is necessary to imagine the prehistoric victims deliberately having the wasted portion chopped off, perhaps to discourage the spread of the gangrene. The symptoms of many of the other suggested ailments make equally unpleasant reading, and we cannot easily decide which, if any, were responsible for the mutilations. Frostbite, leprosy, and severe arthritis are among the most popular theories.

What sort of "affluent society" can it have been for these unfortunate people at Gargas, if it is true that they really were cripples, able to do little but grasp clumsily with their ravaged hands? Sahlins' ideal vision of hunting and gathering was intended mainly as a criticism of present-day values. Clearly, it provides an inadequate basis for a deep understanding of the ancient past, although it has inspired many recent romanticised accounts of life in prehistoric times. Indeed, we may feet that most moral judgements of hunters, ranging from the aggressive monster to the noble savage, have been subject to the swings of intellectual fashion, and at the moment, no universal model of the hunting past is entirely satisfactory. As the accumulation of material evidence grows in volume and detail, we have to look beyond simple preconceptions and come to terms with a past more complex and unfamiliar than was ever imagined by the philosophers of Turgot's era, two centuries ago.

Hand Mutilation by the modern Dani of New Guinea

This practice, seen in cave art, reaches back into the Stone Age. In cave art, hand prints in outline are a widespread occurrence. The hands are frequently missing one or all of the fingers; sometimes just a single digit. Was hand mutilation intentional? It indeed may be. The modern Dani of New Guinea offer crucial insight.

When the Dani avenge the death of one of their own, they kill one of the enemy. They also sever the tip of a finger of a young female relative of the victim. Some undergo this ritual for more than one dead relative. The mutilation is performed by a ritual specialist, who first ties a string tightly around the upper arm of the chosen girl. He numbs the finger by striking it hard against a rock. Then he severs one or two fingers at the first joint with a blow from a stone axe. The wound is quickly bound with leaves; she sits quietly for the rest of the day holding the hand upright so healing can begin. Many Dani women are so mutilated, but they go through life with little handicap, able to knit and weave with skill.

References

1. Barrière, C. , 1976 (Vol. i): L’art pariétal de la Grotte de Gargas / Palaeolithic Art in the Grotte de Gargas avec la collaboration de Ali Sahly et des élèves de l’Institut d’art préhistorique de Toulouse. Translated into English by W.A. Drapkin. Bilingual edition. Toulouse: Mémoires de l’Institut d’Art Préhistorique No. 3, and Oxford: British Archaeological Reports, Supplementary Series 14 (ii), Institute of Prehistoric Art of Touluse
2. Barrière, C. , 1976 (Vol. ii): L’art pariétal de la Grotte de Gargas / Palaeolithic Art in the Grotte de Gargas avec la collaboration de Ali Sahly et des élèves de l’Institut d’art préhistorique de Toulouse. Translated into English by W.A. Drapkin. Bilingual edition. Toulouse: Mémoires de l’Institut d’Art Préhistorique No. 3, and Oxford: British Archaeological Reports, Supplementary Series 14 (ii), Institute of Prehistoric Art of Touluse
3. Barrière, C. , undated: The prehistoric cave of Gargas, Institute of Prehistoric Art of Touluse
4. Breuil, H., 1953: Gravures sur schiste périgordien, Les Vachons (Charente), L'Anthropologie 52, 1-2, 1-42, 15 fig.
5. Breuil, H. & Cheynier, A., 1958: Les fouilles de Breuil et Cartailhac dans la grotte de Gargas en 1911 et 1913, Bulletin de la Société méridionale de Spéléologie et de Préhistoire V, 1954-55, 341-382 (extrait du Bulletin de la Société d’Histoire naturelle de Toulouse 93).
6. Davis, W. and Quinn, R. , 1996: Replications: archaeology, art history, psychoanalysis Pennsylvania State University Press, ISBN13: 9780271015248
7. Foucher P., 2005: Gargas et l’Atlantique: les relations transpyrénéennes au cours du GravettienMunibe (Antropologia-Arkeologia) 57, 2005 · Homenaje a Jesús Altuna
8. Leroi-Gourhan, A., 1967: Les mains de Gargas. Essai pour une étude d'ensemble Bulletin de la Société préhistorique française Année 1967, Volume 64, Numéro 1 p. 107 - 122
9. Saint-Périer, R. & S., 1952: La grotte d’Isturitz: les Solutréens, les Aurignaciens et les Moustériens. Paris : Masson, 264 p., 135 fig., XI pl. h.-t. (Archives de l’Institut de Paléontologie humaine: mémoire n°25)
10. San Juan-Foucher, C., 2005: Industrie osseuse décorée du Gravettien des PyrénéesMunibe (Antropologia-Arkeologia) 57Homenaje a Jesús Altuna 95-111 San Sebastian 2005 ISSN 1132-2217
11. Vercoutère, C., San Juan-Foucher, C., Foucher P., 2006: Human modifications on cave bear bones from the Gargas Cave (Hautes-Pyrénées, France) Scientific Annals, School of Geology Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (AUTH) Special volume 98, 257-261, Thessaloniki, 2006

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