ANTIQUITY OF MAN IN EUROPE—MACCURDY. 563 
served by reason of their distance from the entrance, the absolute 
calm, and the uniform temperature of air and walls. 
One of the striking features about paleolithic art is its realism. 
This is especially true of the phases leading to the period of its 
highest development. Recent investigations confirm in the main 
Piette’s views as to the evolution of Quaternary art, although the 
successive stages overlap more than he had supposed. Sculpture ap- 
peared in the lower Aurignacian, but continued without interruption 
through the Solutréan and to the middle of the Magdalenian—a much 
longer period than Piette had in mind. Although beginning but 
little earlier than engraving, sculpture came to full fruition first. 
Engraving, on the other hand, developed more slowly at first, not 
reaching its zenith till the middle Magdalenian, when it supplanted 
sculpture. 
The sculptor’s problem is in many respects the simpler, his oppor- 
tunity of success greater. Not confined to a single aspect of his 
model, he has as many chances of succeeding as there are angles from 
which to view his work. The engraver or painter, on the other hand, 
must seize the likeness at the first attempt or else fail. His model 
was almost always an animal form, generally a quadruped. The 
most striking, as well as the most complete, single aspect of a quad- 
ruped is its profile. This happens to be the view that can be most 
easily represented on a plane surface. 
In dealing, however, with the human form the problem is more 
complex. So far as the head is concerned, the profile presents fewer 
difficulties and at the same time is quite as characteristic as the front 
view. With the body it is just the reverse, the view from the front 
being the most complete and characteristic as well as the easiest to 
manage. This element of complexity in a given aspect of the human 
form must have confused the primeval engraver and painter not a 
little, although it was not of such a nature as to disturb the sculptor. 
Herein may le the reasons why the latter chose as models man and 
four-footed animals indifferently, while the former’s predilections 
for quadruped forms were so pronounced. At any rate, the fact is 
that a large majority of paleolithic engravings and practically all 
the paintings are animal profiles. The earliest ones are in absolute 
profile, thus simplifying the problem of representing the legs with- 
out materially detracting from the general effect. 
By degrees more freedom entered into the execution of the figures 
and more or less successful attempts were made at bringing out de- 
tails of anatomy by means of incised lines or color or both. The 
artist, however, retained his predilection for profiles. Attempts at 
rendering any other aspect are rare even in the Magdalenian. One 
of the most creditable efforts is the front view of a reindeer incised 
on a piece of reindeer horn (fig. 18). That the artist was ignorant, 
