Science Art: Magdalenian engraving of bison

Scientific illustration of a cave drawing.
M0011805 Magdalenian engraving of bison. Credit: Wellcome Library, London. Wellcome Images images@wellcome.ac.uk http://wellcomeimages.org Bison engraved on cave floor at Niaux (Ariege). Magdalenian after: Henri Breuil and CartailhacPublished: - Copyrighted work available under Creative Commons Attribution only licence CC BY 4.0 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Scientific illustration of a cave drawing.

This is a drawing of a drawing, a likeness of a bison engraved on cave floor at Niaux.

The likeness is part of the Wellcome Collection, but the original is where it’s been for around 14,000 years, in a cavern in the foothills of the Pyrenees near Foix, France in a steep-sided valley formed by the Ariege River. There are other animals on display there – weasels, ibexes, aurochs, horses, and even a bear paw-print.

It’s “Magdalenian” because that’s the name of the period of time 15,000 to 12,000 years before the present.