Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1903-02-07
ANCIENT ART.
Discoveries Made Showing Early Mans
Idea Of Drawing.

From Science Siftings.
Some interesting discoveries which have
been made in the cavern of Combarelles,
near Tayar Oordogne), which consists of
long trench about 200 feet in length, from
three feet to six feet In breadth and about
seven feet in height. The figures which
adorn it's walls were discovered by DR..
Captain. They begin at about 400 feet from
the mouth Of the cavern and cover both
sides of the wall for an approximate length
of 300 feet. The floor Is always covered.
and the walls frequently. with thick
layer Of stalactites or stalagmites; but this
fact alone cannot enable US to estimate
their age, as the formation of stalagmite
varies greatly according to atmospheric or
chemical conditions, and cannot carry any
gertrude.
The figures in the cavern Of Combarelles
are more numerous than in any other cav
ern yet explored, but they are often so
mixed up that 1t is with difficulty one fol-
lows the exact lines. and with still
greater difficulty that one is able to pho
tograph them with the aid Of electric lamps.
On some Of the figures the stone has been
scraped so as to make the head appear
with certain relieve. The technical part
is the same as on the worked fiints and
bones numerous in the south Of France,
and dating from the Magdalenian period.
These stones or bones, representing, either
serpents, man himself are only found, with
one exception, in the south of France. The
exception is Thayngen, Switzerland, where
some Of the best specimens Of the work
of the Troglodytes were found. The rea-
son why the figures remained SO long with
out being brought to light after the first
exploration Of the cavern, is easy to eX-
plain. The Trogiodytes always remained at
the entrance of the cavern which they in
habited, where they did their cooking and
their daily work, and where their remains
are now found. Some stragglers went fur
Their, and to them are due the figures (per-
haps the protecting deities Of the tribe)
now found. 1t is impossible to give a name
to many Of them. In certain places they
are engraved on the rock to depth Of
quarter of an inch, in others they are COW
cred with stalactites; but wherever they
were, the workmen who executed these re-
markable drawings had only at their dis
posal stone, horn or bone tools, miserably
pointed.
The animals which they reproduced GER
tainly lived among them. On this point no
doubt is possible. We had the mammoth
(elephas primigenius) TIL nearly the end OF
the quarternary period. and he was certain
ly the contemporary Of the man who traced
him on the walls of what was his habita-
ton. There have been found at Combar-
elles drawings Of fourteen primeval ele-
plants Of different ages. with or without
hair on their bodies. The most numerous
animals depicted are horses. Two distinct
races were known to the Troglodytes. Some
have the thick head Of our wagon horses,
the straight name, the tail abundantly COW
cred with hair Others have a smaller head
and more delicate forms. and the nose is
less curved. The horses are not only no.
ticeable for the correctness Of their forms,
which is astonishing If we go back in
thought to the time in which they lived.
but still more by the new light they throw
on an incalculable past. One of them car
ries the remnants of a, bride, perhaps Of
halter; another sort Of covering; still an
other cord; two others have private
mark, which is doubtless a sign of propri-
etorship. Must we not, therefore, conclude
that the contemporaries Of the mammoth,
the oldest known inhabitants of our part
of the world, living In caves, having only
arms or tools in stone perhaps, without the
use of pottery, were not barbarians just re-
moved from animality, but that even at
this early period they had already succeed
ed in demonstrating horses and other mem
bers Of the equine tribe.