THE ART OF PREHISTORIC MEN 



5i 



relief on the rock. These are the only statues of any 

 size, executed by the Reindeer men, yet discovered. 



The representations of men are rare among these 

 earliest works of art, and less successfully carried out than 

 those of animals. But several small statuettes of women 

 in bone, ivory, and stone of the early 

 Aurignacian horizon are known. They 

 suggest, by their form of body, affinity 

 with the Bushmen race of to-day (Fig. 25). 

 The all-round carving of a female head 

 (Fig. 26) also suggests Ethiopian affinities 

 in the dressing of the hair. Some regard 

 this hair-like head-dress as a cap. Here 

 and there badly executed outline en- 

 gravings of men, some apparently wear- 

 ing masks, have been discovered. 



The fact that the " Reindeer men " 

 were skilful in devising decorative design 

 — not representing actual natural objects 

 — is shown by the carving drawn in Fig. 

 29 and in many others like it. 



The later horizons of the Reindeer 

 period or Upper Pleistocene yield some 

 beautiful outline engravings of red deer 

 and reindeer (Fig. 16) on antler-bone, as 

 well as of other animals. One celebrated 

 carving I have described in the first 

 chapter of this book. It is now regarded 

 as probable that whilst the art of the Aurignacians persisted 

 and developed in the South of France and North- West of 

 Spain until and during the time of the Magdalenian horizon, 

 yet a distinct race, with a different style of art, spread 



bribing his workman and secretly carrying off these valuable specimens to 

 Germany, where (it is stated) they were sold to the museum of Berlin for a 

 large sum. 



Fig. 26. — Drawing 

 (of the actual size 

 of the original) of 

 an ivory carving 

 (fully rounded) of 

 a female head. 

 The specimen was 

 found in the 

 cavern of Bras- 

 sempouy, in the 

 Landes. It is of 

 the earliest Rein- 

 deer period, and 

 the arrangement 

 of the hair or cap 

 is remarkable. 



