Axial Gallery

In this passage, approximately thirty meters long, figures are distributed along both walls. On the right side, three panels can be found: the Chinese Horses Panel, the Falling Cow Panel, and the Red Panel, featuring two horses and a bison. On the left side, the Red Cows Panel, the Large Black Bull Panel, the Onager Panel, and, at the far end, the Reversed Horse Locus.

The gallery contains 161 graphic elements, including 58 figurative depictions, primarily of animals, alongside 46 geometric signs—quadrangular, tree-like, rectilinear, nested, scattered with punctuations, or cross-shaped. Additionally, there are 57 indeterminate figures, which could be interpreted as signs or as sketches of animal forms.

This space is often referred to as the "Sistine Chapel of Prehistory," representing one of the pinnacles of human creative intelligence.


© Ministère de la Culture/Centre national de Préhistoire. Norbert Aujoulat


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