Fig. 211. Early painting. Galloping horse of the Celtic or of the steppe type painted in black and white, from a wall of the cavern of Font-de-Gaume. After Breuil.
Fig. 212. Opening (cross) of the cavern of Niaux, in the Pyrenees, near Tarascon.
Drawings in Various Caverns of the Early and Middle Magdalenian
The grandest cavern thus far discovered in France is that of Niaux (1906), which from a small opening on the side of a limestone mountain and 300 feet above the River Vic de Sos extends almost horizontally 4,200 feet into the heart of the mountain.[(25)] Not far from Tarascon on the Ariège it lay near one of the most accessible routes between France and Spain. Passing through the long gallery beyond the borders of the subterranean lake which bars the entrance, at a distance of half a mile we reach a great chamber where the overhanging walls of limestone have been finely polished by the sands and gravels transported by the subglacial streams; on these broad, slightly concave panels of a very light ochre color are drawings of a large number of bison and of horses, as fresh and brilliant as if they were the work of yesterday; the outlines drawn with black oxide of manganese and grease on the smooth stone resemble coarse lithography. The animals are drawn in splendid, bold contours, with no cross-hatching, but with solid masses of bright color here and there; the bison, as the most admired animal of the chase, is drawn majestically with a superb crest, the muzzle most perfectly outlined, the horns indicated by single lines only, the eyes with the defiant expression highly distinctive of the animal when wounded or enraged. Here for the first time are revealed the early Magdalenian methods of hunting the bison, for upon their flanks are clearly traced one or more arrow or spear heads with the shafts still attached; the most positive proof of the use of the arrow is the apparent termination of the wooden shaft in the feathers which are rudely represented in three of the drawings. There are also many silhouettes of horses which strongly resemble the pure Asiatic steppe type now living in the desert of Gobi, the Przewalski horse, with erect mane and with no drooping forelock; in contrast to the bison, the eyes are rather dull and stupid in expression. There are also drawings of other types of horses, a very fine ibex, a chamois, a few outlines of wild cattle, and a very fine one of the royal stag; we find no reindeer or mammoth represented. In some of the narrower passages the rock has been beautifully sculptured by water, and the artists have been quick to take advantage of any natural lines to add a bit of color here or there and thus bring out the outline of a bison.
Fig. 213. Engraved and painted horse, apparently of the Celtic type and with heavy winter coat, from the cavern of Niaux. There is a mark behind the right shoulder which has been interpreted as the sign of an arrow or spear head. After Cartailhac and Breuil. (Compare Fig. 174.)
