Manners and Monuments of Prehistoric PeoplesNadaillac, Jean-François-Albert du Pouget, marquis de
History
Manners and Monuments of Prehistoric Peoples
Nadaillac, Jean-François-Albert du Pouget, marquis de
Archaeology; Prehistoric peoples
I referred above to ail exceptional example of prehistoric art found
beyond the borders of France. In excavations in the Thayngen Cave, on
the borders of Switzerland and Wurtemberg, twenty most remarkable
examples were found, in which it is easy to recognize the horse (Fig.
41), the bear (Fig. 42), and the reindeer grazing (Fig. 43).25 All,
especially the last named, are rendered with such perfection, that it
was at first supposed that they were the work of a forger. A searching
inquiry has proved that they are nothing of the sort; a skilful
zoölogist would have been needed to represent the _Ovibos moschatus_
(Fig. 44), which retired many centuries ago towards the extreme north.
If we do find a few rare attempts at art in other districts, they are
absolutely rudimentary. The staff of office found in the Goyet Cave is
of very rude workmanship. The Brussels Museum contains a few other
specimens, of which the most important is a fragment of sandstone from
the Frontal Cave, on which a few uncertain scratches represent what
looks like a stag. Some indistinct traces of engraving have been made
out on the bones found in the Altamira Cave, near Santander, and
recently a bone on which a kind of horse was engraved, was picked up at
Cresswell’s Crags, Derbyshire, in a cave known in the district as
_Mother Grundy’s Parlor_. This specimen, as were those of Thayngen, was
associated with numerous bones of Quaternary animals, amongst which
those of the hippopotamus were the most curious.
[Illustration: 43.]
Reindeer grazing, from the Thayngen Cave.
The representation of the human figure is extremely rare. I have
already mentioned the young man trying to strike an aurochs which is
running away from him; and the woman wearing a necklace. The former
(Fig. 45), found at Laugerie, is engraved on a piece of reindeer antler
about twenty-five centimetres long. The aurochs with its head down and
quantities of bristling hair, widely open nostrils, arched and uplifted
tail, presents the appearance of a terrified animal endeavoring to
escape the danger threatening it. The man is naked, and has a round
head, his hair is stiff and seems to stand up on the top of his skull;
on the chin a short beard can clearly be made out; the face expresses
the delight and excitement of the chase. The neck is long, the arm
short, and the spine of unusual length. In the other example of the
representation of the human figure, that of the woman wearing a
necklace, drawn on a piece of a shoulder-blade of a reindeer, she is
seen lying by a stag, and would seem to be in an advanced state of
pregnancy. The piece of bone however is broken, and the head of the
woman is lost, which of course greatly lessens the value of the relic.
[Illustration: 44.]
Head of _Ovibos moschatus_ engraved on wood, found in the Thayngen
Cave.
[Illustration: 45.]
Young man chasing the aurochs, from Laugerie.
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