440 



ENGRAVINGS OF GROTTO LA MOtlTHE. 



Table of classification — Continued. 



For nearly ten years M. Riviere has devoted time to the exploration 

 of these eaves. His first paper was read before the Academie des 

 Sciences, Paris. 



Perhaps the most interesting- feature connected with the Dordogne 

 caves is that upon their walls have been found, from time to time, fig- 

 ures of animals cut into the rock or painted on the surface with ocher. 



In 1878 L. Chiron called the attention of archaeologists to a grotto 

 in the department of Gard, showing many lines cut into the sandstone 

 wall; but it was in 1895 that M. Riviere explored another grotto or 

 cavern — that at La Mouthe, Ta} T ac, Dordogne. This remarkable 

 cavern revealed, along with remains of bear and hyena, deposits of 

 Mousterian and Neolithic relics, and also its walls and ceilings were 

 garnished with sculptures cut in the rock and paintings in ocher. 



Francois Daleau also brought to the attention of the public his dis- 

 coveries in the grotto of Pairnon-Pair at Marcamps, Gironde, which 

 was filled with archaeological deposits. Here the walls also were 

 adorned with figures of animals cut in, and the interior had been filled 

 up by Magdalenian deposits quite to the ceiling. This deposit rested 

 upon Solutrean and Mousterian layers below, and on the walls of these 

 there were no engravings. This fact locates the engravings some- 

 where between the Mousterian and the Magdalenian; that is, in or 

 about the Solutrean. the horse epoch of ancient France. 



The carvings illustrated in this paper tire in continuation of Riviere's 

 former explanations. They represent a portion only of the sculptures 

 revealed; others will be reported on later by him. 



O. T. Mason. 



