448 



ENGRAVINGS OF GROTTO LA MOUTHE. 



discovered; a deer, spotted, or rather in part painted with ocher, whose 

 reproduction figured last year with that of two other animals — the 

 bison and a bovid, or equid — at the Universal Exposition in the section 

 of megalithic monuments, at the request of the minister of public 

 instruction. 



Such are the seven drawings which I wish to present to you to-day. 

 1 add also the reproduction of the well-made head of an ibex, which 

 we see on the outer face of the lamp in sandstone from La Mouthe 

 (fig. 8). 



As can be seen from this figure, which is identical in size with the 

 original, this head of the ibex is almost as remarkably executed as 

 that of the reindeer which we have reproduced in fig. 3. The head 



Fig. 8. 



on the lamp is that of a profile in all its details — nose, mouth, eye, 

 ear, and finally horns, which are of considerable length, measuring 

 not less than 12 or 13 centimeters, and strongly curved in a semicir- 

 cle. 11 There is nothing, even to the beard of the animal, which has not 

 been engraved. The oval of the head measures 0.035 meter in length, 

 and its greatest breadth is 0.023 meter. Two lines of unequal length, 

 but nearly parallel, one descending from the left angle of the jaw, the 

 other beginning behind the left ear, seem to attempt the representa- 

 tion of the neck. On the other hand, the body and the legs are not 

 figured. We perceive only, behind the line of the neck, several 

 engraved lines, very much defaced and without any significance. 



"The lamp in sandstone from the grotto of La Mouthe (Dordogne), by Emile 

 Riviere, 1899. 



