the immediate neighborhood was first explored. Here there is only one archeological horizon—middle Magdalenian, corresponding to the lower culture level at La Mairie. It is rich, however, both in fauna and industrial remains. The latter is characterized by the harpoon with a single lateral row of barbs, the type that was abundant at Gourdan, Raymunden, and Bruniquel (Plantade). In 1908 M. Bourrinet found at Mège a so-called bâton de commandement of stag horn (pl. 11), covered with engraved animal and semi-human figures. The piece is the large basal prong of Cervus elaphus, about one-third of a meter in length. Of the two perforations, one is nearly round and the other, which is near the point, is elliptic. Practically the entire surface was scraped and engraved with figures, including the head of a doe, serpents, swans, semi-human forms, a horse, and a colt. The engraving of the horse is among the most painstaking and complete paleolithic representations of that animal (fig. 11). The elliptic hole in the baton cuts the left hip of the horse on one side and its right hind foot on the other, as indicated by the dotted lines. The short erect mane projecting forward beyond the ears is characteristic and the anatomy of the head, neck, and shoulders is faithfully rendered, even to the fossa above the eye. The heavy line back of and below the eye is the zygomatic arch; the two parallel lines below it, reaching nearly to the corner of the mouth, mark the position of subcutaneous organs and do not represent a bridle. According to both Cartailhac and Breuil, there is no evidence that the horse was domesticated in paleolithic times. Marcel Baudouin notes a striking similarity between paleolithic representations of the Quaternary horse and a race of small horses still living on the Île d'Yeu (Vendée). This race by reason of its isolation[1] has perpetuated its primitive type: Large pendent belly, short head and neck, and erect mane.
The cavern de La Mairie has furnished some interesting bits of evidence bearing on the authenticity of parietal decorations. In the floor deposits are two Magdalenian horizons with a sterile layer between. Wall engravings were left by the first occupants. In the course of time, with the loosening of plaques of stalagmite, some of these engravings were removed. A small fragment of this sort bearing the tail and hip of a bison was found in the lower layer. Later a larger fragment with the rest of the bison was found in the sterile deposit that covers the lower archeological horizon (middle Magdalenian). The two pieces united are seen in figure 12. Other blocks of stalagmite were found to enclose engravings and when properly split disclosed their negative imprints. The feet of a horse that are
- ↑ The Île d'Yeu was a part of the mainland until near the close of the Quaternary.
