Page:Excavations at the Kesslerloch.djvu/63

Rh a step forwards and is just about to touch the ground again. This position of the animal gives life to the whole, and indicates a considerable amount of observation. The form of the foot is singular, as it resembles that of the reindeer more than that of the horse. The two other figures, which are also drawn stepping forwards, can only be known to represent animals by coarse and broken outlines. They may probably have been intended for reindeer; at all events the short and stumpy tails, which are rather indistinctly shown, incline me to this opinion. In both figures the head is entirely wanting.

The real artistic production of that age is the drawing of the reindeer, which is already well known, and which has been previously published (Plate XII. fig. 71). It is engraved on the 'beam' of a reindeer's horn, more than 7 inches long and 1$1⁄6$ of an inch wide. This 'beam' is not in good preservation, in fact it is broken off at both ends, and yet at one end it was perforated, as half of the hole shows. The hole was nearly an inch in diameter. This fragment, with the perforation, was at first taken to be a complete portion of a reindeer's antler. The whole horn is finely scraped. Round the perforation, and on the under side, there are a great many scratched lines, and also one tolerably deep and broad furrow, which is not to be found in the other similar instruments. Evidently the only use of this furrow was, as before mentioned, to divide the antler into pieces in the usual way; but during this operation it occurred to the workman to employ the antler for another purpose, and he drew upon it the likeness of an animal which was continually before his eyes. This figure, even at a superficial glance, may at once be recognised as a reindeer. The horn with its brow-antler and side 'tynes,' the mane on the front part of the neck, and the short, stumpy tail, are unmistakeable characteristics of this animal. The lines of the back and the hind-legs are the most strongly marked. The fore-legs, the line of the body, the head, and the antlers are less decided. The neck and the breast are very indefinite, so that the connection between the head and the rump is but faintly made out. The outlines of the hoofs also have lost their distinctive character. The three lines under the body are very singular. Though an artist of the present day might have much to find fault with in this figure, yet it would be impossible not to wonder how man, thousands of years ago, should have made such progress in art as to produce these drawings with such