[Illustration: FIG. 163. The long, overhanging cliff of Laussel on the Beune is a typical rock shelter, first sought in Acheulean times, and also visited during the Mousterian, Aurignacian, and Solutrean stages. Photograph by N. C. Nelson.] [Illustration: FIG. 164. Section of the rock shelter of Laussel, showing the superposed industrial layers from Acheulean to Solutrean times. After Lalanne.] In the grotto of La Grèze overhanging the Beune, a small tributary of the Vézère, was found an archaic Aurignacian outline of the bison deeply incised on the limestone walls. The grotto of Gargas,[AR] Hautes-Pyrénées,(39) is one of the most famous stations; it was entered in closing Mousterian times and was occupied at intervals during the Aurignacian stage. Beneath the Mousterian layer is a deep deposit of entire skeletons of the cave-bear without any traces of human industry. These layers lie beyond the grotto in the vast foyer which opens above into a great chimney, so that this is one of the true cavern habitations. The drawings along the walls of the cave include a large number of figures in a very unequal style, which belong chiefly to middle and upper Aurignacian times. Among these are two figures of birds, several mammals, a few primitive drawings of wild cattle, the bison, the ibex, and numerous representations of the horse. A long serpentine band of color meanders among some of these drawings. Most interesting are the silhouettes of the hand in black and red produced by pressing the hand against the limestone wall and covering the surrounding surface with color. It would appear that the fingers were mutilated or cut off at the middle joint, because one, two, three, and four of the fingers are wanting, but the thumb is never mutilated. This mutilation of the hand may be compared with similar practices prevailing among some Australian tribes. In the cavern of Marsoulas, on the headwaters of the Garonne, the conditions are altogether different; the parietal art here represents two cultural stages, the late Aurignacian and the late Magdalenian. There is a small entrance grotto with two hearths, corresponding to these two industries. The entrance to the cave is well up on the side of the hill, and the drawings which belong with the upper Aurignacian culture are somewhat damaged. Again, we find designs extending along the wall below the drawings. There are numerous outlines of the bison in black, the entire side of the body being covered with splashes of red. [Illustration: FIG. 165. Bas-relief of a woman with a drinking horn, sculptured on the face of a boulder within the shelter of Laussel, and attributed to the late Aurignacian. After Lalanne. About one-eighth actual size.]