30 THE AMERICAN MUSEUM JOURNAL 



Teyjat, Laussel). Caverns that were accidentally sealed at the close of the 

 Quaternary or Pleistocene by falls of earth and rock, when opened, are 

 found to contain these parietal works of art (Altamira, La Mouthe, Bernifal, 

 Gargas, Niaux). In caverns that have been open continuously from the 

 palaeolithic to the present time, if there are any parietal figures, there are 

 always vestiges of palaeolithic culture in the floor deposits (Font-de-Gaume, 

 Venta de la Perra, Covalanas, La Haza, Salitre, Castillo, Santian, La Pasiega 

 Hornos de la Pefia, etc.). On the other hand when vestiges of neolithic 

 culture only are present, there is never any parietal art. 



The list of caverns and rock-shelters with palaeolithic mural decorations 

 increases from year to year. One of the most notable additions to the list 

 during 1912 is the cavern of Tuc d'Audoubert, near St. Girons (Ariege), 

 discovered on July 20th by Count Begouen and his three sons. The present 

 entrance is by a subterranean stream bed, that of the Volp. By means of 

 an improvised canoe Count Begouen and his sons ascended the stream bed 

 for a hundred meters; by walking and bridging they continued for a like 

 distance, when they found a small opening which they entered by means of a 

 short ladder and which led into a great gallery hung with myriads of cream 

 white stalactites and stalagmites. Traversing this they entered other 

 corridors leading to other galleries equally beautiful. In a corridor they 

 found engraved figures of various animals. One gallery was reached only 

 after the breaking away of large pillars of stalagmite. In it they found 

 skeletal remains of the cave bear, from the jaws of which all the canine teeth 

 had been extracted to serve as ornaments or otherwise. A few flints and 

 a perforated tooth (Bovida?) were picked up from the cavern floor. Im- 

 prints of human feet (bare) were seen in some places superimposed on foot- 

 prints and claw marks of the cave bear. At the very end of this gallery and 

 nearly a kilometer from the entrance to the series of galleries traversed, 

 Count Begouen found two figures of the bison modeled in clay — a female 

 followed by a male, sixty-one and sixty-three centimeters in length respec- 

 tively. They seemed to rise from the sloping earth out of which they were 

 fashioned. Near were human heel prints suggestive of a ceremonial dance. 



This was evidently a palaeolithic shrine and symbolizes, as does the whole 

 remarkable manifestation of cave art, the passing of a culture whose food 

 supply was based on hunting and fishing. This art was called forth in 

 response to an economic need and incidentally to satisfy an aesthetic sense. 

 As the population increased — and no one who has visited the Yezere valley 

 for example can fail to be impressed by the evidence pointing to a relatively 

 dense population — the game decreased in ratio. In order to readjust the 

 supply to the demand recourse was had to magic. The animal figures are 

 votive offerings for success in the chase and for the multiplication of game. 

 In the end magic was bound to fail. It was superseded by the domestica- 

 tion of animals and plants which appeared with a new culture, the neolithic. 



