MALLERY.] PETROGLYPHS IN SPAIN. 177 
common among the rock sculptures of the age of bronze which represent the curious 
scenes of the life of the people of that period. It is proper to note that these Seandi- 
navian and Morbihan sculptures are not synchronous; the idea of an immediate in- 
fluence of one people on the other can not be entertained. One might, however, 
maintain the identity of origin. 
The other inscriptions of Brittany are enigmatic in every respect. But they 
probably had a conventional value, a determined meaning. There is first of all a 
sort of complicated cartouche, plainly defined, having the appearance of a buckler 
or heraldic shield. Among the isolated signs it is proper to note a figure of the 
shape of the letter U with the ends spread wide apart and curved in opposite direc- 
tions. It recalls, with some aid from the imagination, the character which on the 
Scandinavian rocks represents more plainly ships and barks. 
The sculpturing of hands and feet is to be remarked in connection 
with similar characters on the rocks in America, many illustrations of 
which appear in the present work. 
B. Souché (a) in 1879 described and illustrated curious characters on 
the walls of the crypt of the tumulus of Lisiéres (Deux-Sevres), France, 
some of which in execution markedly resemble several found in the 
United States and figured in this work. 
SPAIN. 
Mr. T. Jagor (a) communicated a brochure in reference to the Cueva 
de Altamira, transmitted to him by Prof. Vilanova in Madrid: ‘‘ Short 
notes on some prehistoric objects of the province of Santander,” in 
which Don Marcelino de Sautuola describes the wall pictures and other 
finds in the cave discovered by him at Altamira. Mr. Jagor remarks 
as follows on the subject: 
The reproductions of the large wall pictures discovered in that cave displayed, in 
part, so excellent technique that the question arose how much of this excellence is 
to be attributed to the prehistoric artist, and how much to his modern copyist. Mr. 
Vilanova, who visited the cave soon after its discovery, and who regards the wall 
pictures as prehistoric, being about equal in age to the Danish Kjékken-méddings, 
states that the pictures given are pretty faithful imitations of the originals. The 
published drawings are all found on the ceiling of the first cave; on the walls of the 
subsequent caves are seen sketches of those pictures, which the artist afterwards 
completed. The outlines of all the drawings have been cut in the wall with coarse 
instruments, and nearly all the bone implements found in the cave show scratches, 
which render it probable that they were used for this purpose. The colors used con- 
sist merely of various kinds of ocher found in the province, without further prepara- 
tion. Finally Mr. Vilanova reports that in the cave farthest back there was found, 
in his presence, an almost perfect specimen of Ursus speleus. 
Don Manuel de Géngora y Martinez (a) gives the account translated 
as follows: ‘ 
The inscriptions of Fuencaliente are of great interest and importance, About one 
league east of the town, on a spur of the Sierra de Quintana, at the site of the Piedra 
Escrita, there is an almost inaccessible place, the home of wild beasts and mountain 
goats. Beyon | the river de los Batanes and the river de las Piedras, looking toward 
sunset and toward the town, the artisans of a remote age cut skillfully and sym- 
metrically with the point of the pickax into the flank of the rock and of the 
mountain, which is of fine flint, leaving a fagade or frontispiece 6 yards in height 
10 ETH 
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