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The Hall of the Bulls, Part 1
Taking into account the morphology, the
texture of the lithic support and the works of art themselves (mainly
paintings and drawings), the walls of the Hall of the Bulls can be
subdivided into three superimposed levels. Only the middle section is
decorated. This long panel, following a horseshoe-shaped trajectory,
circles the entire hall between the ledge at its base and the ridge
marking the beginning of the upper panel. Its width increases from 1
metre at the entrance to 4 metres at the back of the hall, and its
inclination gradually becomes mote pronounced, reaching an angle of 70°
(relative to the vertical) at its most developed. The decorated surface
gradually turns into a ceiling formation, although this is difficult to
capture in a photograph. When you look at the scene as a whole, however,
the animals depicted at this angle are clearly distorted. Only by
standing at the base of each figure can you see their true shape. A
carbonate crust covers the entire rock surface. The uniformity of this
covering is only disturbed at a few points, where scars have been left
by flaking and corrosion.
The iconography of the Hall of the Bulls
extends from the Unicorn - or, more precisely, from the black head and
neck of the equid located on the left wall immediately after the
entrance (ill. 45) - to that of the sixth bull on the opposite wall
(ill. 46). The decoration is very scanty over the first few metres of
the composition, on both sides of the hall, bur becomes denser as you
move through the hall, and reaches its maximum towards the middle of the
hall.
The Hall of the Bulls contains a total of
130 figurative and geometric images (ill. 47). There are 36 identified
representations of animals, which can be divided into four types: 17
horses, 11 bovines, 6 stags and one bear. The identity of the remaining
two animals - a quadruped and the Unicorn - has been more difficult to
determine with any accuracy. There are some 50 signs in total, most
often grouped together, bur they have less of a visual impact. They fall
into two classes: dots and linear figures, such as bars and nested or
branching forms.
47 Overview of the ensemble of
figures in the Hall of the Bulls.
As though forming a prelude to the
iconography of both the Hall of the Bulls and the cave as a whole, the
Unicorn appears to be pushing all the participants on the left wall
towards the back of the gallery (ill. 48). It occupies a relatively
elongated rectangle (2.35 metres by 1.08 metres, including its two
frontal appendages), and its nature is accentuated by its shape
(primarily by the fact that it is somewhat inclined to the front). Its
general morphology gives it an undulating appearance, which is
reinforced by the double curve of the cervical-dorsal the undulating
outline, the square head, very prominent withers, a highly distended
belly, ring-like patterns on the flanks, robust feet, and above all the
straightness of the lines replacing the horns and their positioning on
the forehead - have prompted numerous interpretations, some of which are
very fanciful (reindeer). These observations have helped to maintain the
dement of confusion that surrounds this figure and its name, fuelling
its mythical interpretation.
48 An enigmatic creature, the
Unicorn appears to be pushing the horses of the two friezes. One of the
friezes is achromatic, underscoring the panel, while the second is
composed of polychrome figures.
The two frontal appendages and the body
of the Unicorn have not been treated in the same way: a brush was
used to paint the former, while the body was created by spraying
pigment. This effective break in technique might encourage us to
dissociate these two subjects, but image processing confirms that these
elements are closely associated. The end of the upper straight line is
not interrupted by the forehead, but extends some 15 centimetres into
the interior of the outline of the head, forming an arc identical to the
curvature of the cranium. This proves that the two lines belong to the
outline of the animal silhouette after all. For a long time it was
thought that the silhouette might be a feline, but more recently it has
been categorized as a fantasy animal.
This cat-like outline would imply that
the animal was deliberately depicted in an ambiguous manner, by
concealing its true features through the addition of anatomical
fragments that have little in common with the subject, and through the
omission of others that are characteristic of felines, such as ears.
This type of misrepresentation seems to be common in the depiction of
carnivores. The bear painted on the facing wall, for example, shows
another form of dissimulation: its silhouette is almost totally hidden
by the ventral line of a bull to which it is attached. The feline head
in the Axial Gallery, which is assembled from four black smears, follows
a different pattern: this is the most minimalist figure, and both the
most artificial and the most discreet, because leaving aside anyone of
these smudges of colour makes its identification impossible. A fourth
type of dissimulation locating the figure far from the most easily
accessible areas - is more classic and applies to the lions in the
Chamber of the Felines.
With the exception of the emblematic
figure of the Unicorn, the iconography of the hall is dominated by four
great bulls divided between the two walls. They have been drawn facing
each other in an asymmetrical fashion, with one very large and
incomplete aurochs on the left set against a group of three others to
both sides of the entrance to the Axial Gallery. The entrance to the
gallery does not interrupt the equilibrium of the frieze, as it unfolds
across the mid level of the wall in the pronounced overhang. The
composition is completed by heads of bulls, one at each end of this long
creation. These, the most monumental masterpieces of Palaeolithic
parietal art, occupy the entire width of the facade. The base line,
marked by a horizontal abutment of the wall and by a change in the
colour of the underlying rock, has been used as an imaginary floor for
the majority of the animal figures in the hall. The elements of this
composition remain graphically similar, suggesting that they were all
executed by the same person. One could say the same about each of the
themes at the core of a single composition, whether they be stags or
horses.
The first image of a bull -- a head -- is
located on a large flake of rock that had fallen to the ground before
the cave was discovered. The impression left by it (ill. 49) fits
between the Unicorn and a bichrome horse. The large block (116
centimetres by 90 centimetres) has the general shape of a lozenge. As it
had become an encumbrance during various alterations to the cave, it was
moved. As a result, the flake, bearing two images - that of the bull and
the neck of a horse - has become dirty very rapidly, a process that
cannot be easily reversed. Today, it is difficult to ascertain anything
from these traces: only some unclear black traces can be distinguished,
buried in a mixture of sandy clay. The first photographs taken do,
however, provide a better insight into these works. Here, one sees the
fundamental lines of the two figures, the one created by spraying
pigment (the equid), the other by a drawn line. Only the ear and poll
from the upper part of the aurochs's head and the muzzle from the lower
part still survive on the wall. The photographs show that part of the
remaining upper section was painted directly on to the rock, proof that
a first phase of exfoliation had taken place before prehistoric humans
were present.
49 Photographic repositioning
of the head of the first bull. The image of this bull was
preserved on a flake of rock that had fallen to the ground.
The virtual repositioning (on a computer)
of the block into its original parietal context on the wall allows
a more advanced morphological and technological study, even though the
quality of the record is not the best and the obtained image of the
outline of the animal not entirely free of ambiguity. It was identified
as a bovine by Henri Breuil, Annette Laming-Emperaire and Andre Glory,
but this was recently contested [21] with the suggestion that it is in
fact a horse: the horns and the eyebrow are missing, in contrast to the
other representations of bulls in the hall, and the line marking the
outline of the mandible seems to resemble that of an equid. At
first sight, these arguments appear to be justified. Nevertheless,
the absence of a line intended to emphasize the specificity of a theme
more clearly, for example that of the horns, is not sufficient proof to
reject identification. Moreover, the line depicting the lower jaw, which
extends as a steady curve right up to the ear, appears far too developed
to be interpreted as a correction. This type of line does not appear on
any of the equids.
There are further signs that this is an
outline of a bovine. The head is large and can be compared to those of
the other five aurochs in the hall, whereas not one of the painted or
engraved equid heads at this site measures more than a third of the
length of this head. Moreover, the technique used to create the outline
- the combination of the outline and internal markings - fits with this
thematic group. This can be seen in the depiction of the skin in the
jowl area, where a scattering of dots bears a striking resemblance to
similar markings on the more intact aurochs. This similarity in the form
of these animals suggests the use of the same or at least a similar type
of tool.
The analogies of form are equally
noteworthy. This is especially true of the quadrangular muzzle, crossed
by a line at a right angle to the forehead, which also indicates
variations in the hair and the arch of the lines of skin separating the
muzzle from the rest of the head. Another detail had so far escaped
observation. This is a curved line, underlining the mandible and
representing the more or less developed crease of the neck connecting
the lower lip and the throat. It is obscured by the mane of the horse
immediately underneath, but this graphic feature essentially widens the
angle of the face, and has otherwise only been used on aurochs, for
example on the first and fourth bulls.
50 The mirror image of its
twin, located on the facing wall, the third black bull is painted with a
red cow and a young bovine.
The first large figure in the cave is
located directly in front of this head. This second representation
of an aurochs, facing towards the bottom of the gallery, measures 3.5
metres in length from the far end of the line of the back to the muzzle.
The numerous equids and cervids that surround or cover the aurochs can
detract from its sheer size. The extremely dense representations of
horses around the aurochs meant that many of the animal's rear features
were not completed. Indeed, only its forequarters are depicted. The
figure uses all the available height, some 3 metres in total. The image
was centred as accurately as possible, and all of its extremities, the
horns, the line of the back and the hooves, reach the edges of the
panel. (...)
Compared with the fragmentary character
of the work as a whole, the rendition of the head and the neck of the
aurochs is very accomplished. There is a huge amount of detail: the eye,
the trapezoidal ear, the very dense poll, the muzzle with a detailed
outline and the use of pigment to render the hide. This assemblage of
graphic elements occurs repeatedly in this hall and in the second third
of the Axial Gallery. (...) The horns, unusually, show an almost
symmetrical curvature. The one in the foreground continues
uninterrupted, rather than having the 'S'-shaped form of the other
figures.
Because of the techniques used to create
these aurochs, there are further similarities of shape. For all the
aurochs in the hall, Palaeolithic man painted the more accessible areas
of the animal by spattering colouring matter, switching to a brush or
swab for the upper sections. Between the two methods there is also a
mixture of procedures - notably for the muzzle, where pulverized pigment
was applied with a stencil to create a smooth surface, in sharp contrast
to the mote abrupt depiction of the forehead. The mandible is always
shown by a double line and completed with a series of eight small
circular dots in a row. The same is true of the right limb, which is
marked out by a line of identically sized and clearly distinct dots at
each edge. The aurochs are then depicted with a vertical bipartition of
techniques.
Whereas the majority of the outlines have
a neutral black colour, the two hooves and the dewlap of the second
aurochs look slightly more brown. This is down to the choice of pigments
used, rather than a lower density of colouring matter or a variation in
the method of its application. This figure also stands our from the
other aurochs through the use of red to emphasize the withers, the two
horns and the poll (i.e. the lines located on the upper part of the
body). The colour was applied to the black at a later stage.
The third bull (ill. 50) is, together
with the fifth one of this very long frieze (on the facing wall), the
most imposing figure of Palaeolithic art. The frame enclosing these
animals extends over a surface of 13 square metres for a field of
activity of 4.6 metres. The overhang of the wall is at its greatest
here, reaching a gradient of almost 70° to the vertical. A group of
stags separates the second aurochs from its neighbouring herd of black
horses and the third bull. Three figures obscure the latter's ventral
line and hindlimbs: the most important is a red bovine; the other two
are less conspicuous, representing a head of a calf and a small
incomplete silhouette of a horse (partly hidden by the right hind hoof).
The monumental proportions of this work
of art certainly influenced the technique used - here restricted to
drawing. The bull shares this technique with the ibex, notably those
depicted in the panel of the Falling Cow. Effectively only the outlines
have been drawn. In the past, the shape of this third bull has been
criticized, but the proportions are in fact accurate. The pronounced
overhang of the wall makes the images look compressed and somewhat
top-heavy, with massive forequarters and weaker hindquarters. Almost all
of the anatomical details of the aurochs are present, although the front
right hoof is missing, cur off at the pastern. The developed horns
protrude from the head in the form of a divided semi-circle. The are
fewer dots around the eye compared with the other aurochs. They simulate
the curly hair specific to the bulls, while the rest of the body has
a smooth coat. The penile sheath is portrayed distinctly.
The signs may have smaller dimensions
than this great bull, but they make up for it in their number. Several
types of signs are concentrated in the area between the shoulder and the
chest and nowhere else. Dots are used both individually and in groups -
most notably in the arc of a circle at the proximal end of the limb,
which is composed of five dots. There is also a hooked sign of three
lines, and a red linear mark, although the latter may just be what
remains of a draft of a figurative drawing. Finally, some distance away,
above the withers and at the top of the subject, there is a brick-red
sign composed of a line and three oblong dots.
The fourth aurochs is located on the wall
linking the entrance to the Axial Gallery to that of the Passageway
(ill. 46) further down. Here, only the lines of the forequarters are
visible, possibly because the artist did not wish to obliterate the
fifth bull, which is located directly behind it. This would have given
the artist an extremely limited space to work with, insufficient for the
depiction of the entire animal. Several other clues support this
hypothesis. The ends of the upper and lower lines stop a few centimetres
before the aurochs to its right and the pelvic region of the red cow,
which overlays the same fifth bull. Furthermore, there is an abnormal
elongation of these two lines compared with the shape of the complete
aurochs figures. (... ) The anatomical details are consistent with the
other depictions of aurochs: the use of pointillism for the hide,
extending from the head to the withers, and the double line of the
mandible, indicating the folds of skin. There is one unique feature,
however: an oblong shape at the base of one of its horns, which may
represent the outline of the bull's left ear. It is shorter than it
would be in real life, but its position at the base of the horn reflects
the bovine anatomy. (... )
There are traces of fine scraping to both
sides of the bull's right knee. This is where the artist tried to rub
out the black colour of an existing painted horse in order to make the
bull's joint stand out from the dark background. This bull differs from
the other bovines in the Hall of the Bulls through the abnormal length
of its front limbs, particularly the right one. Unlike the body and the
head of this animal, which are located on the overhanging wall of the
Hall of the Bulls, the two feet stand at the entrance to the Axial
Gallery.
An ensemble of sixteen associated
depictions includes both figurative and geometric elements. Their
spatial distribution is limited to the thoracic region of the fourth
bull. They consist of a relatively large number of figures of small
dimensions: a group of signs located towards the top of the figure, on
the withers, and six animals bordering, indeed fusing with the lower
line. The thematic associations recorded here reveal striking
similarities with its alter ego, the aurochs located immediately in
front, on the facing wall: the presence of the stag, the horse, the cow
and a young bovine. Only the bear strikes a different note.
The fifth aurochs boasts exceptional
dimensions. Measuring no less than 5.6 metres from the point of the
right horn to the tip of the tail, this is the most imposing work of
Palaeolithic parietal art discovered to date. It is also noted for the
huge number of signs, lines and dots found in its immediate vicinity,
particularly around the head, the horns and the ventral line.
51 Head of the fifth bull,
constructed on the basis of a sequence of black dots placed close enough
together to appear as a line.
All of the anatomical details
conventionally associated with and specific to this theme are
represented, but some are exceptional, particularly the head. The eye is
highlighted by the arc of the orbit, and there is an outline of a
second, identically shaped form (ill. 51) just a few centimetres above
on the forehead. The detail in the lines of the mandible and the dewlap,
or folds of the neck, is also remarkable. The developed horns, with
their very ample curvature, nevertheless demand a closer look --
particularly at the bases, where the horns connect to the top of the
head. A curving line running parallel to the poll causes some confusion
of perspective, making the horn on the right look as if it were attached
to the opposite side of the skull. On closer inspection, however, this
line does not seem to be linked to the horn, and the impression that it
gives of the slightly shorter horn being in the foreground is perhaps
accidental. (...)
Spray and brush techniques were used to
create the black outline of this fifth aurochs. Pigment was sprayed on
to the lower, more accessible part of the body -- more specifically the
axis connecting the snout and the ventral line -- but a brush was used
on the upper areas. Different methods of application are apparent on the
upper body, including the juxtaposition of single dots. The curving line
on the forehead has a special character. It is composed of a series of
dots sufficiently close to one another to give them a linear appearance
and limit their punctuated impact. The diameter of the dots generally
ranges from 2 to 3 centimetres, apart from the tracing of the
supra-orbital arch, the poll and the horns where it is 1 centimetre.
(... )
Slightly apart from the two great bovines
on the tight wall, at the extreme right of this panel, there is the
large head of an aurochs (ill. 52) facing towards the entrance. The
entrance to the Passageway lies at its base. Here, the wall has
deteriorated so much that only a few fragments of the original image can
be identified - notably the tips of the horns, rounded off by a scatter
of very faint dots evoking the initial outline, the forehead, the tip of
the nose and the beginning of the mandible. Of the poll, only a small
group of dots with a diffuse border survives. Despite the advanced state
of deterioration, this figure can be compared to the other aurochs. It
was drawn entirely in black, using a brush. A small number of dots and
an indeterminate triangular drawing mark the end of the panel.
52 The broken line of the very
badly preserved head of the six aurochs was drawn on a surface exposed
to processes of corrosion. It is located at the point where the
exchange of air from the outside, between the present entrance and that
located at the end of the Great Fissure, was at its greatest
Two red female aurochs are also depicted
on the panel and accentuate the outlines of the third and fifth bulls
respectively. Each is accompanied by a small bovine in its immediate
vicinity, one black (for the left cow) and the other red. The first
female is 1.1 metres tall and 2 metres long. Its forelimb touches the
incomplete shape of a small black horse, whose head disappears behind
one of the bull's hooves. Five black dots and a hooked symbol are also
clearly visible. The identification of this first red female has been
the subject of much debate and wavers between aurochs and bison. There
are many convincing arguments to suggest that it is in fact an aurochs.
The tail is very long and falls vertically to the floor - a feature that
is consistently present in all the representations of cows at Lascaux.
The line of the back is sub-horizontal and marked by a depression midway
along, before extending to the pronounced base of the tail. The lower
half of the flank has not been painted, which softens the animal's
outline and exaggerates its anterior-posterior dimorphism. Metrical
analysis of the image shows that the relationship between the dimensions
of section of their twisted lines, again support this identification.
This figure is without any doubt a representation of a female aurochs.
53 The outlines of this red cow,
painted over the forelimbs of the fifth aurochs, are partly in contact
with the upper line of a male aurochs drawn in black.
As a matter of fact, Henri Breuil had
correctly analysed it when he suggested that it was a depiction of an
animal collapsing, its muzzle touching the floor. In fact, at this
position, the lower line of the head merges with that of the chest,
resulting in a somewhat shapeless mass, such as is rarely depicted in
Palaeolithic art. The shape of the wall contributes to this. The sharp
bend in the rocky ledge is exaggerated by the opening of the Axial
Gallery below, producing an image of the floor falling away below the
feet.
Above the internal edge of the line of
the belly of the third bull there is an incomplete animal. The red cow
described above masks the entire painted surface at the level of the
withers. Despite these modifications, it is possible to make out the
outline of a head and the beginning of the neck of an animal turned
towards the left. A stocky head, a convex brow, a deep muzzle - in
outline a quarter-circle - and the lower forehead marked by a hollow are
all elements characteristic of bovines. Moreover, the apex of the skull
is marked by a poll and, some centimetres behind this a leaf-like
appendage rises from the line of the neck. This looks like it may be a
horn, although its position is not quite right, or an ear. It is clearly
a representation of a juvenile bovine, although it is not possible to
specify whether it is an aurochs or bison.
The massive red silhouette of a bovine
(ill. 53), the second cow in this hall, looms up on the facing wall. Its
somewhat male characteristics - including the great depth of the head,
which has a similar facial angle to that of the bulls - accentuate its
size. However, the delicacy of the horns and the four limbs tell us that
it is a female, as does the pelvic region, where the base of the tail is
more marked and projecting than in a male. The extremities of the feet
and the tail are not depicted and seem to vanish below the imaginary
floor line. The red colour applied to the entire silhouette is unusually
even.
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