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.
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.
The great abri of Laussel, on the Beune, was first visited by the Neanderthals, for there are two Mousterian layers and above them two Aurignacian layers, the lower belonging to the middle Aurignacian industry and the upper to the closing Aurignacian period. This long, overhanging cliff of Laussel is a typical shelter, first sought in Acheulean times, revisited in Mousterian times, then again in middle or late Aurignacian, in Solutrean, and finally in Magdalenian times. As these successive layers rise they approach the shelter of the cliff, so that the Magdalenian flint workers were directly beneath the overhanging rock shelter, which opened outward toward the sun.
Fig. 166. Bas-relief of a spear thrower or hunter, sculptured on the face of a boulder within the shelter of Laussel. After Lalanne. About one-sixth actual size.
In the upper Aurignacian layer Lalanne discovered two bas-reliefs representing the figures of a man and of a woman. The bas-relief of the woman represents a nude figure holding the horn of a bison in the right hand; this is cut from a block of limestone with a relief of about two centimetres, and it measures forty-six centimetres in height; with the exception of the head, the entire body is polished, and at certain points there remain traces of red coloring. A little farther on the artist had modelled the figure of a man in three-quarter view in the attitude of casting a spear or of an archer drawing the bow; the top of the head and the extremities of the limbs have been broken away; the figure measures forty centimetres in height. These bas-reliefs of Laussel are regarded as sincere representations, for the artist has presented as accurately as possible the contemporary human figure; both the man and the woman are represented in motion. On the technique employed in this primordial sculpture, Doctor Lalanne observes that we find at Laussel a series of tools perfectly adapted to attain this result, many of which would have been inexplicable unless found to occur in connection with the sculpture itself. It is curious to note how many analogies there are between the flint utensils of the primitive sculptor and those of the sculptors of our own day. First, we find tools designed to remove the rock, there are points, pickaxes, chopping tools for shaping the rock, saws, and coarse stone planers; all of these are perfectly adapted to the hand, from which we may conclude that our artist was right-handed. There is a great number of graving-tools, or burins, all forms being represented—plain, double, fine, coarse, and combinations of the burin and grattoir. Some of the burins show the sharp-angled point centred at the extremity of a blade; these are the ordinary types; but in many the blade ends with a terminal retouch, which may be transverse, oblique, concave, or convex with the point to one side. The grattoirs, or planers, are equally numerous, with examples of all the known forms. Many of these are formed at the end of a blade; a few are circular, and others are at the opposite end of a pointed blade; the latter are particularly fine and are retouched around the entire edge. But the artist did not merely carve his subjects; he also coated them with a paint made of ochre and manganese; he crushed his coloring matter on a palette of schist, and we have found one of these unbroken and still bearing the red and ochre colors. This palette is 10½ inches long and 6 inches wide; it is oblong in form.
Distribution of the Solutrean Industry