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Female
Symbols |
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According to Leroi-Gourhan’s interpretation, the cave itself can
also have played the role of a female symbol, as an opening that introduces
into the womb of the earth. In some of the caves, natural niches and
crevices have been found which are supposed to have been regarded by
prehistoric visitors as female sexual organs: some of them have been
highlighted with red ochre painting. Moreover, the presence of several
genital symbols in deep passages of the caves reinforces the hypothesis
of a woman-cave. “It could be presumably supposed that the cavern
appeared to the eyes of Paleolithic men as a mysterious complex of female
shapes” (Leroi-Gourhan, 1981). |