PARIS.- Over several months, a team of Inrap archaeologists excavated in the Angoulême train station zone. This research, prescribed by the State (DRAC NouvelleAquitaine), had already revealed three prehistoric occupations dated from the Final Paleolithic to the Mesolithic. Three days before the end of the excavation, the archaeologists exhumed a sandstone block decorated with an engraved horse, four other herbivores, and geometric motifs. An Azilian date (12,000 years ago) has been proposed but remains to be verified.

Horse, red deer and aurochs
This rock is engraved on its two faces and associates geometric and figurative representations. It is a local siliceous sandstone and measures 25 cm long, 18 cm wide and approximately 3 cm thick. Part of the cobble was voluntarily removed by breaking it.

The parallel incisions on its two edges form typical Late Azilian geometric motifs.

They leave a central space for an animal silhouette, probably an aurochs.

The most visible engraving, that of a headless horse turned to the right, occupies half of the surface. The rump and ensellure follow the curves of the natural edge of the stone. Very fine incisions suggest the horse’s hair. The four legs are depicted, but only three hooves are represented (the posterior right one is missing). The feet and hooves are very realistic, with the hock, knee, cannon and perhaps the fetlock feathers on one of the front legs. The legs in the background are advanced in the ambling position and detached from the body to show the perspective. This horse seems to have been engraved before the geometric motifs.

Other smaller animals are more lightly incised. These are a probable headless cervid and a nearly complete horse represented in a more schematic style. On the other face, the incised lines are very fine and suggest the posterior half of a horse.

Unexpected figurative art
Azilian art is often seen as an abrupt change in artistic style, with figurative art being replaced by abstract art. Recently, the Early Azilian (ca. 14,000 years ago) site of Rocher de l’Impératrice (Plougastel-Daoulas) already revealed an astonishing iconographic continuity with the preceding periods (especially the Magdalenian). Contrary to all expectations, the rock with five herbivore depictions from Angoulême is now the only evidence of naturalistic art dating to an even later period, the Late Azilian (12,000 years ago).

The portable art of Angoulême and that of Plougastel-Daoulas thus shares some features, including the technique of perspective used for the horse limbs. The art at Angoulême shows the continuity of this naturalistic figurative artistic expression just before the appearance of new graphic codes imposed by a new culture.

12,000 years ago: The Late Azilian site of Angoulême
The prehistoric site of Angoulême is an Azilian “hunting site” dedicated to the processing and consumption of carcasses, as is shown by the presence of domestic tools (end scrapers, retouched pieces, etc.). The occupation level extends across the entire excavated zone and is 40 to 80 cm thick. Several anthropogenic features were uncovered, including four combustion features (fireplaces), heated pebble concentrations, bone remains, and a flintknapping station. It appears that the main objective of the flintknappers was to make projectile points. Many of these “curved-backed points” display impact marks and fractures attesting to their use. The faunal remains are relatively well preserved, especially cervid antlers and metapodials.

The study of this art object is in its early stages. Future research will contribute new information on this piece, its precise age, and its interpretations.