There are five kinds of artistic work of Palæolithic age found in the
caverns of France and Spain; namely (1) small solid carvings (complete
all round) in bone, ivory, or stone; (2) small engravings in sunk
outline on similar material, rarely with relief of the outlined figure;
(3) large stone statues, 2 ft. to 6 ft. across, in high relief, with
complete modelling of the visible surface; (4) rock engravings and
paintings on the walls and roofs of caverns or rock shelters, often
partly outlined by engraving and scraping of the surface, and then
completed in black or red paint or in several colours (black, red,
yellow, white); they are of large size, from 2 to 5 ft. in cross
measurement; (5) models in clay, one side only shown, the other resting
on rock; a few incomplete clay models of this nature representing the
bison of about 2 ft. in length, have recently been discovered in one
of the French caverns, and are the only examples of modelling in clay
by the Palæolithic men yet discovered.
[Illustration: FIG. 8.–Outline engravings of mammoths on the wall of
the cavern known as the "Font de Gaume," near Eyzies (Dordogne). Each
figure is about 2 ft. long.]
Our figures of the mammoth are (excepting Fig. 7) all of the
fourth class–namely, rock-paintings in one colour (black or red)
partly engraved and scraped. The originals are from 1½ ft. to 2½
ft. long. The mammoths given in Fig. 8 are carefully copied from
engravings discovered, reproduced, and described by M. Breuil and his
fellow-workers. They are on the walls of the cavern known as the "Font
de Gaume," in the commune of Tayac in the Dordogne. Those copied in
Fig. 9 and Fig. 10, A, were discovered on the walls of the cave of Les
Combarelles in the same district.
[Illustration: FIG. 9.–Similar engravings from the neighbouring cave of
Combarelles. The lower figure is an enlargement of the smaller of the
two above it.]
Fig. 10, B, is from a cave at Bernifal, near les Eyzies, in the
Dordogne, and shows a mammoth enclosed in a triangular design, which is
believed to represent a trap, or else a cage. Such triangular figures
with upright and also bent supports are found in various degrees of
elaboration on both small and large engravings of this period, and are
generally accepted as representing huts or enclosures supported by
wooden poles. They are called "tectiforms" by the French explorers.
[Illustration: FIG. 10.–_A_, similar engraving from the cave of
Combarelles. _B_, Mammoth enclosed by plank-like structure–supposed to
be either a cage or a trap. (Called tectiform structures, and often
seen in these wall engravings.) From the cave of Bernifal, five miles
from Eyzies.]
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