June 9, 192 1] 



NATURE 



463 



the similarly conventionalised drawings of this 

 Spanish group 3. Further, there is a painting of a 

 man armed with a sickle, and another with what 

 must have been a metal hatchet. Stone hatchets 

 are, however, also occasionally figured. Again, a 

 painting of a man occurs at Pena Tii, convention- 



FiG. 3. — Two groups of rock engravings on the shores of I,ak- Oiu^a (N. 



Bronze a^e. 



alised in the same way as some found carved on 

 certain menhirs, etc. ; and in another rock shelter 

 there is a painting of a man leading an animal, 

 which indicates that domestication of animals had 

 been learnt. 



The object for which they were made would seem 

 to be rather different from that of the Palaeolithic 

 groups. It may be noted, first, 

 that the animals are no longer 

 naturalistic, and, secondly, that 

 the human form is the common- 

 est object figured. At the same 

 time, these rock paintings were 

 not made for decorative pur- 

 poses, for in many cases they are 

 painted in situations difficult of 

 access and impossible as homes. 



Two examples of this may be 

 given. In the western region 

 there is a small cave called Las 

 Figuras. This takes the form of 

 a short tunnel about 10 yards 

 long which opens some 15 ft. up 

 on the side of a precipice. From 

 the entrance the tunnel slopes up 

 so steeply that it is with difficulty 

 one can avoid slipping back over 

 the edge of the entrance. The 

 walls and roof of the tunnel are covered with 

 paintings, and there are no signs left in the cave 

 walls that any wooden constructions had ever 

 existed, such as would have been necessary if 

 man had ever inhabited the tunnel. The posi- 

 tion of Las Figuras, opening as it does on the 

 NO. 2693, VOL. 107] 



side of a prominent bluff, jutting out into a wide 

 valley, made it eminently suitable for some form 

 of temple, but the ritual could no longer have 

 been a simple, sympathetic magic to ensure a 

 good catch of game. Was there an element of 

 real religion, and were these drawings, although 

 apparently not orientated one to 

 another, of the nature of picto- 

 graphic writing? The other ex- 

 ample is near Velez Blanco, 

 where there is a small rock 

 shelter known as Gabal. It con- 

 tains no paintings, but a niche 

 over the entrance, reached to-day 

 by a ladder, contains quite a 

 number. Are these the sacred 

 emblems of the household ; a pro- 

 tecting talisman for the " Home " 

 below ? 



Group 4. The Western Scan- 

 dinavian engravings. This in- 

 teresting group of rock carvings 

 on hard, glacier-worn surfaces of 

 rock is found fringing the 

 western coast of Scandinavia 

 from Narvik, in the north, to 

 Vingen Fjord, in the south. 

 Occasionally, when the mountains 

 of the interior open out, they are 

 to be found stretching back, even 

 into Sweden. They consist of a number of 

 carvings of semi-naturalistic animals, the best 

 of which is the well-known reindeer at Bola. A 

 few paintings of this age are also known, includ- 

 ing some conventionalised human figures at Leka. 

 Prof. Breuil has always considered that there is 

 some connection in culture, if not in time, between 



!.u>siaj. Probably of 



Fi ;. 4. — One^a (siie B). A s*an with wing fe\thers indicated. 



the folk who made these carvings and the 

 Maglemose civilisation of the Baltic areas. 

 This group is certainly earlier than the next 

 Bronze-age group, for at Bardal, near 

 Trondhjem, the latter is found superposed upon it. 

 On the other hand, it has been thought that the 



