Page:Excavations at the Kesslerloch.djvu/62

Rh on the nape, so that we may conclude that the artist intended to draw the heads of two horses. The eye in one of the figures is very much more artistically drawn than in the other. We find not merely a circular depression, but we can even distinguish the eyelid and the eyeball—here, however, the ears are wanting; while in the other drawing there is an erect ear terminating in a point. Even the hairs about the nostrils are given. On the whole both drawings have been executed with much skill.

We have one more drawing on a piece of coal, but the meaning of it cannot be deciphered. The piece is elliptic in form; the greater diameter is about 2$1⁄4$ inches, and the smaller diameter 2 inches. The lines are clearly marked, but run together quite confusedly (Plate IX. fig. 50).

But drawings of entire animals from the Thayngen cave lie before us. On a piece of the main branch of a reindeer's horn about 12$1⁄2$ inches long and 1$1⁄2$ thick, three figures of animals have been engraved, but unfortunately have suffered from the decay of the horn (Plate X. figs. 66 and ). The upper and broader end of this piece of horn is perforated, and the hole is nearly an inch in diameter. One of the figures has its head immediately above the hole; the other two stretch their heads in an opposite direction. The figure mentioned first is best preserved, and though the execution is decidedly defective, yet it is unquestionably better than the other two. The head is drawn very much more neatly, and the eye more especially shows a marked improvement, if we may venture so to speak, for it is hard to say whether these drawings are the productions of the same artist. If the same person had made both, most decidedly the difference between the two first and this one is so great that we may almost conclude that a great many intermediate attempts of this kind must have been lost outside of the cave, or have been destroyed, and that only the smallest portion has come down to us. But if, on the other hand, the art of drawing was a common qualification of our cave-dwellers, then the drawing of the animal under consideration must have been executed by a very advanced artist. The long erect mane on the nape of the neck, the beard under the throat, and the tail (of which part only remains) indicate very decidedly the wild horse of that day. The hind legs are very stiff, while the front legs are drawn much more naturally. The whole weight of the fore part of the body rests for a moment on the left fore-leg, which in fact bends a trifle, while the right leg has made