Signs and Blazons

Some signs painted in the caves have the appearance of familiar living creatures, such as butterflies, bats, or birds (see the image from Chauvet below).  However, "the presence of very similar but more geometrical shapes [led the archaeologists researching the site] to classify these paintings with the abstract motifs" (Clottes, 80-82). 


Quadrangular Blazons, Panel of the Great Black Cow, The Nave, Lascaux
Image source: http://i34.tinypic.com/339ssh1.jpg
(accessed April 12, 2014)


Signs, Red Panels Gallery, Chauvet
Image source: http://donsmaps.com/images29/eagleimg334sm.jpg
(accessed April 15, 2014)