ANCIENT CARVED IVORIES 7 



more interesting and significant is a curious sculpture in 

 ivory unearthed near Brunn, in Moravia. This was 

 found at a depth of over four metres in the loess, together 

 with the bones of a rhinoceros, a mammoth tusk a metre 

 long, and a human skull. The ivory sculpture, which must 

 when complete have measured 22 or 23 cm. in length, rep- 

 resents the naked figure of a man; the legs had disappeared, 

 but the head, with its pronounced orbital arch, broad, nasal 

 orifice, and long chin, bears a striking resemblance to the 

 features of the human skull found in the same place.* 



One of the most interesting and important discoveries 

 in prehistoric art, for which the mammoth furnished the ma- 

 terial, was made on October 3, 1913, at La Colombiere, near 

 Poncin (Dept. Ain), France, by M. Jean Pissot.f In ex- 

 cavating an "upper Aurignac" deposit there was brought to 

 light what the finder terms "a veritable atelier, ^^ embracing 

 engraver's tools of various types and numerous specimens of 

 the material on which he worked. The object of prime 

 importance was a plaque, either from the shoulder plate or 

 the thigh of a mammoth, on which are engraved two human 

 figures, a man and a woman. This is asserted to be the 

 only example so far discovered of an engraved representation 

 of Quaternary man. The head of the man, figured in profile, 

 is the more clearly defined, and is described by M. Pissot as 

 differing absolutely from the so-called "Neanderthal type." 

 The head is large, with a bulging forehead; the face is long 

 and markedly prognathous. The chin is prominent and 

 bears a short beard, indicated by a number of fine scratches; 

 the eye is figured by two curved lines. The hairiness of the 

 body is strongly indicated. The female form has not the 



*Ibid, p. 60, Figs. 14, 15 (p. 59). 



fMM. LucienMayet and Jean Pissot, "Decouverte d'un os de Mammouth grave avec 

 figurations humaines, dans le gisement aurignacien superieur de La Colombiere, pres 

 Poncin (Ain)," in Comptes Rendus de I'Academie des Sciences, Vol. 157, pp. 655-658. 

 No. 16. October 20, 1913. 



