10 president's address. 



constantly emerging from recent discoveries. The recurring ' tecti- 

 form ' sign had already clearly pointed to the existence of huts or 

 wigwams; the ' scutiform ' and other types record appliances yet to 

 be elucidated, and another sign well illustrated on a bone pendant from 

 the Cave of St. Marcel has an unmistakable resemblance to a sledge.* 

 But the most astonishing revelation of the cultural level already reached 

 by primeval man has been supplied by the more recently discovered 

 rock paintings of Spain. The area of discovery has now been extended 

 there from the Province of Santander, where Altamira itself is 

 situated, to the Valley of the Ebro, the Central Sierras, and to the 

 extreme South-Eastern region, including the Provinces of Albacete, 

 Murcia, and Almeria, and even to within the borders of Granada. 



One after another, features that had been reckoned as the exclusive 

 property of Neolithic or later Ages are thus seen to have been shared 

 by Palgeohthic Man in the final stage of his evolution. For the first 

 time, moreover, we find the productions of his art rich in human sub- 

 jects. At Cogul the sacral dance is performed by women clad from 

 the waist downwards in well-cut gowns, while in a rock-shelter of 

 Alpera,^ where we meet with the same skirted ladies, their dress is 

 supplemented by flying sashes. On the rock painting of the Cueva 

 de la Vieja, near the same place, women are seen with still longer 

 gowns rising to their bosoms. We are already a long way from Eve ! 



It is this great Alpera fresco which, among all those discovered, 

 has afforded most new elements. Here are depicted whole scenes of 

 the chase in which bow-men — up to the time of these last discoveries 

 unknown among Palaeolithic representations — take a leading part, 

 though they had not as yet the use of quivers. Some are dancing in 

 the attitude of the Australian Corroborees. Several wear plumed head- 

 dresses, and the attitudes at times are extraordinarily animated. "What 

 is specially remarkable is that some of the groups of these Spanish 

 rock paintings show dogs or jackals accompanying the hunters, so that 

 the process of domesticating animals had already begun. Hafted axes 

 are depicted as well as cunningly-shaped throwing sticks. In one case 

 at least we see two opposed bands of archers — marking at any rate a 

 stage in social development in which organised warfare was possible — 

 the beginnings, it is to be feared, of ' kultur ' as well as of culture ! 



Nor can there be any question as to the age of these scenes and 

 figures, by themselves so suggestive of a much later phase of human 

 history. They are inseparable from other elements of the same group, 



* This interpretation suggested by me after inspecting the object in 1902 

 ha/s been approved by the Abbe Breuil {Anthropologie, XIII., p. 152) and by 

 Prof. Sollas, Ancient Hunters,^ 1915, p. 480. 



" That of Carasoles del Bosque; Breuil, Anthrofologie, XXVI., 1915, 

 p. 329 geqq. 



