It was not only on the staves of office that the men of the Stone age exercised their talent. Many and varied are the subjects which have been found engraved on plaques of ivory or on stone, and incised on bears’ teeth or on stag horn. We represent one forming the hilt of a dagger ([Fig. 36]), and another representing a bear with the convex forehead, characteristic of the species, engraved on a piece of schist ([Fig. 37]), and a mammoth engraved on an ivory plaque with its long mane, trunk, and curved tusks ([Fig. 38]). The artist who depicted these animals with such faithful exactitude evidently lived amongst them. The first discovery of this kind was made by Joly-Leterme in the Chaffaud Cave (Vienna); it was a reindeer bone on which two stags were represented.[24]
Figure 36.
Carved dagger-hilt (Laugerie-Basse).
Figure 37.
The great cave-bear, drawn on a pebble found in the Massat Cave (Garrigou collection).
In the Lortet Cave was found the bone of a stag on which could be made out a representation of fish and reindeer, whilst at Sordes was discovered a bear’s tooth with a seal engraved upon it ([Fig. 39]), at Marsoulas a piece of rib on which is depicted an animal said to be a musk-ox ([Fig. 40]), and at Feyjat (Dordogne) a bird’s bone bearing on it a drawing of three horses moving rapidly along. I am obliged to pass over many other most interesting examples, but I must not omit to mention the magnificent examples which form part of the Peccadeau collection at Lisle. Cartailhac mentions some chamois, an ox, and an elephant; some engraved on the bones of deer and others on fragments of ivory, or on reindeer antlers. The art of the cave-men was now at its zenith.
Figure 38.
