Prehistoric Horses of Europe, 79 



These indications of the existence of at least two kinds of 

 horses during the reindeer period, thus brought before us by 

 the art products of the native hunters, as well as by the 

 osseous remains of the actual animals, have been further 

 elucidated by the recent discovery of large engravings, and 

 even coloured paintings, of various animals, on the walls of 

 some newly-explored caves in the south of France, m.ore 

 especially those of Combarelles and Font-de-Gaune, both 

 situated in the Commune of Tayac (Dordogne), and within 

 a short distance of the celebrated station of Les Eyzies. 

 Obscure indications of this kind of art had been observed, 

 as early as 1875, in the cave of Altamira, near Santander, in 

 the north-east of Spain. Subsequently, and at various 

 intervals, more decided examples were notified in the caves 

 of Chabot (Gard), La Mouthe (Dordogne), and Pair-non-Pair 

 (Gironde), in all of which figures of horse-like animals 

 occurred, associated with those of other animals regarded as 

 characteristic of the Palaeolithic period. 



With regard to these earlier discoveries, I have only space 

 for a short notice of two horse-figures engraved on the walls 

 of the cave of La Mouthe {Bull, de la Soc. d'Anthropologie, 

 3rd June, 1st July, 4th and 18th November 1897, 19th 

 October 1899, and 17th October 1901). The exploration 

 of this cave has been conducted by M. E. Eiviere at various 

 periods since 1895, with the happiest results. It seems that 

 about fifty years previously the cave, then presenting an 

 open recess facing south and extending some 12 metres 

 inwards, had been formed into a kind of storeroom by 

 building a wall in front, leaving only a door for access. Its 

 contents, said to contain decayed bones and fiint imple- 

 ments, had been utilised as manure. In April 1895 it was 

 ascertained, for the first time, that the cave was not limited 

 to the space occupied by the storeroom, as, on clearing out 

 a small portion of the debris still remaining at its inner end, 

 a semicircular opening 0-37 m. in height and 0"62 m. in 

 breadth was discovered. This passage led into * wider ex- 

 pansions for some 220 m. farther. It was on the walls of 

 this inner portion that the engravings now under considera- 

 tion were detected. On the 17th October 1901, M. Eiviere 



