Coual (Lot). The necessities of men dwelling in dark caverns would be likely to lead to the invention of artificial light, which light made it possible for them to depict the frescoes and engravings on the walls of their abodes.
The past ten years have witnessed a succession of remarkable discoveries by Messieurs Capitan, Breuil, Bourrinet, Ampoulange, and Peyrony, in the caverns of Les Combarelles, Font-de-Gaume, Bernifal, Teyjat, La Grèze, and La Calévie.
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Fig. 6.—Engraving of a mammoth. Cavern of Les Combarelles (Dordogne). Second phase. 17. After Capitan and Breuil.
The Combarelles cavern has a total length of 234 meters, is from 1 to 2 meters wide, and high enough to admit of walking upright for most of the way. The engravings begin at a point about 118 meters from the entrance, and occupy both walls for a distance of 100 meters.
Some of the figures are deeply incised, others are mere scratches. In some, the effect is heightened by the application of a dark coloring matter (oxide of manganese). Portions of the walls are covered by a coating of stalactite thick enough in places completely to hide engravings, while in others the more deeply incised figures are still visible. On areas devoid of incrustations, the figures are fresh and distinct. The artist sometimes had recourse to champlevé; sometimes natural prominences were utilized to add relief to the figures. Of the 109 engravings of various animals on the walls at Les Combarelles there are some forty equine figures, occurring either singly or in groups, and fourteen of the mammoth. One of the latter is reproduced in figure 6. The mural engravings belong precisely to the
