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above: Painted bison on the walls of the Chauvet cave (Ardèche, France). According to Leroi-Gourhan’s hypothesis, the most frequently represented animals in the painted caves are the bison (sometimes substituted by the bull) and the horse. This pair of animals is often found in the central parts of the paintings in a cave and implies, according to the French scholar, a symbolism linked with a distinction by genders: the bison is oftentimes accompanied by female signs, whereas the horse is put beside male symbols. The global message of cave art seems thus grounded upon a symbolic male/female dualism (Leroi-Gourhan 1958). The painted image dates back to the Aurignacian period (33/30,000 years B.P.). [Image: www.archaiologia.gr] Figure below: In Ice Age Europe was diffused a fauna destined to extinction during the subsequent climactic changes: in this period one finds animals generally associated with extra-European countries, such as lions and rhinos, or now extinct, like the mammoths. At that time, bison were numerous, and nowadays they survive in only few specimens under protection in the forests of Poland and Belarus. [Image: http://www.altotero.com/2013/04/bisontes-europeos/#.Ug8qE1f4u70] |
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