Chapter XXII: Section 3: Europe

In the more settled and civilized parts of Europe petroglyphs are now rarely found. This is, perhaps, accounted for in part by the many occasions for use of the inscribed rocks or by their demolition during the long period after the glyphs upon them had ceased to have their original interest and significance and before their value as now understood had become recognized. Yet from time to time such glyphs have been noticed, and they have been copied and described in publications.

But few of the petroglyphs in the civilized portions of Europe not familiar by publication have that kind of interest which requires their reproduction in the present paper. It may be sufficient to state in general terms that Europe is no exception to the rest of the world in the presence of petroglyphs.

A number of these extant in the British islands and in the Scandinavian peninsula, besides the few examples presented in this chapter, are described and illustrated in other parts of this work, and brief accounts of others recently noted in France, Spain, and Italy are also furnished.

GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND.

Nearly all of the petroglyphs found in the British islands, accounts of which have been published, belong to the class of cup sculptures discussed in Chapter V, infra, but several inscriptions showing characters not limited to that category are mentioned in “Archaic Rock Inscriptions,” (_a_) from which the following condensed extract referring to a cairn in county Meath, Ireland, is taken:

The ornamentation may be thus described: Small circles, with or
without a central dot; two or many more concentric circles; a small
circle with a central dot, surrounded by a spiral line; the single
spiral; the double spiral, or two spirals starting from different
centers; rows of small lozenges or ovals; stars of six to thirteen
rays; wheels of nine rays; flower ornaments, sometimes inclosed in
a circle or wide oval; wave-like lines; groups of lunette-shaped
lines; pothooks; small squares attached to each other side by side,
so as to form a reticulated pattern; small attached concentric
circles; large and small hollows; a cup hollow surrounded by one
or more circles; lozenges crossed from angle to angle (these and
the squares produced by scrapings); an ornament like the spine of
a fish with ribs attached, or the fiber system of some leaf; short
equiarmed crosses, starting sometimes from a dot and small circle;
a circle with rays round it, and the whole contained in a circle; a
series of compressed semicircles like the letters ∩ ∩ ∩ inverted;
vertical lines far apart, with ribs sloping downwards from them like
twigs; an ornament like the fiber system of a broad leaf, with the
stem attached; rude concentric circles with short rays extending
from part of the outer one; an ornament very like the simple Greek
fret, with dots in the center of the loop; five zigzag lines and
two parallel lines, on each of which, and pointing toward each
other, is a series of cones ornamented by lines radiating from the
apex, crossed by others parallel to the base--this design has been
produced by scraping, and I propose to call it the Patella ornament,
as it strikingly resembles the large species of that shell so common
on our coasts, and which shell Mr. Conwell discovered in numbers in
some of the cists, in connection with fragments of pottery and human
bones; a semicircle with three or four straight lines proceeding
from it, but not touching it; a dot with several lines radiating
from it; combinations of short straight lines arranged either at
right angles to or sloping from a central line; an S-shaped curve,
each loop inclosing concentric circles; and a vast number of other
combinations of the circle, spiral, line, and dot, which can not be
described in writing.

Some of the ancient “Turf-Monuments” of England are to be classed as petroglyphs. The following extracts from the work of Rev. W. A. Plenderleath (_b_) give sufficient information on these curious pictures:

Although all the White Horses, except one, are in Wiltshire,
that one exception is the great sire and prototype of them all,
which is at Uffington, just 2-1/2 miles outside the Wiltshire
Boundary and within that of Berkshire. * * * The one mediæval
document in which the White Horse is mentioned is a cartulary of
the Abbey of Abingdon, which must have been written either in the
reign of Henry II or soon after, and which runs as follows: “It
was then customary amongst the English that any monks who wished
might receive money or landed estates and both use and devolve them
according to their pleasure. Hence two monks of the monastery at
Abingdon, named Leofric and Godric Cild, appear to have obtained
by inheritance manors situated upon the banks of the Thames; one
of them, Godric, becoming possessed of Spersholt, near the place
commonly known as the White Horse Hill, and the other that of
Whitchurch, during the time that Aldhelm was abbot of this place.”

This Aldhelm appears to have been abbot from 1072 to 1084, and
from the terms in which the White Horse Hill is mentioned the name
was evidently an old one at that time.

Now it was only two hundred years before this time, viz, in
871, that a very famous victory had been gained by King Alfred over
the Danes close to this very spot. “Four days after the battle of
Reading,” says Asser, “King Æthelred, and Alfred, his brother,
fought against the whole army of the pagans at Ashdown. * * * And
the flower of the pagan youths were there slain, so that neither
before nor since was ever such destruction known since the Saxons
first gained Britain by their arms.” And it was in memory of this
victory that, we are informed by local tradition, Alfred caused
his men, the day after the battle, to cut out the White Horse, the
standard of Hengist, on the hillside just under the castle. The
name Hengist, or Hengst, itself means _Stone Horse_ in the ancient
language of the Saxons, and Bishop Nicholson, in his “English
Atlas,” goes so far as to suppose the names of Hengist and Horsa to
have been not proper at all, but simply emblematical.

The Uffington horse measures 355 feet from the nose to the tail
and 120 feet from the ear to the hoof. It faces to sinister, as do
also those depicted upon all British coins. The slope of the portion
of the hill upon which it is cut is 39°, but the declivity is very
considerably greater beneath the figures. The exposure is southwest.

The author then describes the White Horse on Bratton Hill, near Westbury, Wilts, now obliterated, the dimensions of which were, extreme length, 100 feet; height, nearly the same; from toe to chest, 54 feet, and gives accounts of several other White Horses, the antiquity of which is not so well established. He then (_c_) treats of the Red Horse in the lordship of Tysoe, in Warwickshire, as follows:

This is traditionally reported to have been cut in 1461, in
memory of the exploits of Richard, Earl of Warwick, who was for many
years one of the most prominent figures in the Wars of the Roses.
The earl had in the early part of the year found himself, with a
force of forty thousand men, opposed to Queen Margaret, with sixty
thousand, at a place called Towton, near Tadcaster. Overborne by
numbers, the battle was going against him, when, dismounting from
his horse, he plunged his sword up to the hilt in the animal’s side,
crying aloud that he would henceforth fight shoulder to shoulder
with his men. Thereupon the soldiers, animated by their leader’s
example, rushed forward with such impetuosity that the enemy gave
way and flew precipitately. No less than twenty-eight thousand
Lancastrians are said to have fallen in this battle and in the
pursuit which followed, for the commands of Prince Edward were to
give no quarter. It was to this victory that the latter owed his
elevation to the throne, which took place immediately afterwards.

The Red Horse used to be scoured every year, upon Palm Sunday,
at the expense of certain neighboring landowners who held their land
by that tenure, and the scouring is said to have been as largely
attended and to have been the occasion of as great festivity as that
of the older horse in the adjoining county of Berks. The figure is
about 54 feet in extreme length by about 31 in extreme height.

The best known of Turf-Monuments other than horses is the Giant, on Trendle Hill, near Cerne Abbas, in Dorsetshire. This the same author (_d_) describes as follows:

This is a figure roughly representing a man, undraped, and with
a club in his right hand; the height is 180 feet, and the outlines
are marked out by a trench 2 feet wide and of about the same depth.
It covers nearly an acre of ground. Hutchin imagines this figure to
represent the Saxon god, Heil, and places its date as anterior to
A. D. 600. * * * Britton, on the other hand, tells us that “vulgar
tradition makes this figure commemorate the destruction of a giant
who, having feasted on some sheep in Blackmoor and laid himself
to sleep on this hill, was pinioned down like another Gulliver
and killed by the enraged peasants, who immediately traced his
dimensions for the information of posterity.” There were formerly
discernible some markings between the legs of the figure rather
above the level of the ankles, which the country folk took for the
numerals 748, and imagined to indicate the date. We need, perhaps,
scarcely remark that Arabic numerals were unknown in Europe until at
least six centuries later than this period.

SWEDEN.

Mr. Paul B. Du Chaillu (_a_) gives the following (condensed) account describing, among many more “rock tracings,” as he calls them, those reproduced as Figs. 137 and 138:

There are found in Sweden large pictures engraved on the rocks
which are of great antiquity, long before the Roman period.

These are of different kinds and sizes, the most numerous being
the drawings of ships or boats, canoe-shaped and alike at both ends
(with figures of men and animals), and of fleets fighting against
each other or making an attack upon the shore. The hero of the
fight, or the champion, is generally depicted as much larger than
the other combatants, who probably were of one people, though of
different tribes, for their arms are similar and all seem without
clothing, though in some cases they are represented as wearing a
helmet or shield.

On some rocks are representations of cattle, horses, reindeer,
turtles, ostriches, and camels, the latter showing that in earlier
times these people were acquainted with more southern climes. The
greatest number and the largest and most complicated in detail of
the tracings occur, especially in the present Sweden, in Bohuslän,
“the ancient Viken of the Sagas,” on the coast of the peninsula
washed by the Cattegat. They are also found in Norway, especially in
Smaalenene, a province contiguous to that of Bohuslän, but become
more scarce in the north, though found on the Trondhjem fjord.

Fig. 137 is a copy of a petroglyph in Tanum parish, Bohuslän, Sweden. The large figure is doubtless a champion or commander, the exaggerated size of which is to be noted in connection with that of the Zulu chiefs in Fig. 142, infra, from South Africa, and Fig. 1024, infra, from North America. There are numerous small holes and footprints between the chief and the attacking force. Height, 20 feet; width, 15 feet.

In Bohuslän the tracings are cut in the quartz, which is the
geological formation of the coast. They are mostly upon slightly
inclined rocks, which are generally 200 or 300 feet or more above
the present level of the sea, and which have been polished by the
action of the ice. The width of the lines in the same representation
varies from 1 to 2 inches and even more, and their depth is often
only a third or fourth of an inch, and at times so shallow as to
be barely perceptible. Those tracings, which have for hundreds,
perhaps for thousands, of years been laid bare to the ravages of the
northern climate, are now most difficult to decipher, while those
which have been protected by earth are as fresh as if they had been
cut to-day. Many seem to have been cut near the middle or base
of the hills, which were covered with vegetation, and were in the
course of time concealed by the detritus from above.

Fig. 138 is from the same author (_b_) and locality. Height, 29 feet; width, 17 feet. The large birds and footprints and a chief designated by his size will be noticed, and also a character in the middle of the extreme upper part of the illustration which may be compared with the largest human form in Fig. 983, infra, from Tule valley, California.

FRANCE.

Perrier du Carne (_a_), gives the following account (translated and condensed) of signs carved on the dolmen of Trou-aux-Anglais, in Épone:

This dolmen, situated in the commune of Épone, in a place called
Le Bois de la Garenne, was constructed beneath the ground; it was
concealed from view and it is to this circumstance, no doubt,
that its preservation is due. Nothing indicates that it has been
surmounted by a tumulus; in any case this tumulus had long since
disappeared, and the ground was entirely leveled when the digging
was commenced some years ago. * * *

The characters (Fig. 139) are carved in intaglio on the
farthest stone of the entrance, on the left side. The whole of the
inscription measures 1^{m}, 10 in height and 82 centimeters in
width, and may be divided into two groups, an upper and a lower one.

The upper character represents a rectangular figure divided into
three transverse sections; in the third section and almost in the
center is a cupule.

The lower character is more complicated and more difficult
to describe. The first, or left-hand portion, represents a stone
hatchet with a shaft; there is no doubt as to this, in my mind,
as the outlines are perfectly clear, the design of the hatchet
being very distinct. This hatchet measures 0^{m}, 108 in length
and 38^{mm} in width to the edge of the blade. These are precisely
the most common dimensions of the hatchets of our country. As to
the remainder of the character, I think an interpretation of it
difficult and premature.

On the whole, the result of an examination of these inscriptions
leaves the impression that the author did not seek to cover a stone
with ornamentation, for these outlines have nothing whatever of
the ornamental, but that he wished to represent to his people, by
intelligible symbols, some particular idea.

É. Cartailhac (_a_) begins an account of petroglyphs in the Department of Morbihan, in the old province of Brittany, translated and condensed as follows:

It is hardly possible to give a description of the designs in
the covered way of Gavr’ inis. They are various linear combinations,
the lines being straight, curved, undulating, isolated, or parallel,
ramified like a fern, segments of concentric circles, limited or
not, and decorating certain compartments with close winding spirals,
recalling vividly the figures produced by the lines on the skin in
the hollow of the hand and on the tips of the fingers.

In the midst of accumulated and very oddly grouped lines, which
no doubt are merely decorative, there are found signs which must
have had a meaning, and some figures easy to determine.

The hatchet, the stone hatchet and no other, the large
hatchet of Tumiac, of Mané-er-Hroèg, and of Mont Saint Michel, is
represented in intaglio or in relief, real size. A single pillar of
Gavr’ inis bears eighteen of them. Less numerous groups are seen on
some other blocks of the same covered way.

On a little block placed under the ceiling in order to wedge
up one of the covering slabs, is seen the image of a hatchet with
handle, conformable to a type found in the marsh of Ehenside in
Cumberland, England. On many other monuments the presence of
the same figures of hatchets, with handles or without, has been
observed. The most curious slab is certainly that of Mané-er-Hroèg.
It had been broken, and its three pieces had been thrown in disorder
before the threshold of the crypt. One of its faces, very well
smoothed off, bears a cartouche in the form of a stirrup, filled
with enigmatic signs and surrounded above and below by a dozen
hatchets with handles, all engraved.

One other sign, the imprint of the naked foot, is to be noted,
found only once on this slab. Two human footprints are traced on
one of the pillars of the crypt of the Petit-Mont in Arzon. They
are said to be divided off, by a slight relief, from the rest of
the granite frame on which they are sculptured, and which contains
other drawings. Similar figures, engraved on rock or on tombstones,
are cited from abroad, in lands far apart. In Sweden, the prints
of naked or sandaled feet are common among the rock sculptures
of the age of bronze which represent the curious scenes of the
life of the people of that period. It is proper to note that these
Scandinavian and Morbihan sculptures are not synchronous; the idea
of an immediate influence of one people on the other can not be
entertained. One might, however, maintain the identity of origin.

The other inscriptions of Brittany are enigmatic in every
respect. But they probably had a conventional value, a determined
meaning. There is first of all a sort of complicated cartouche,
plainly defined, having the appearance of a buckler or heraldic
shield. Among the isolated signs it is proper to note a figure
of the shape of the letter U with the ends spread wide apart and
curved in opposite directions. It recalls, with some aid from
the imagination, the character which on the Scandinavian rocks
represents more plainly ships and barks.

The sculpturing of hands and feet is to be remarked in connection with similar characters on the rocks in America, many illustrations of which appear in the present work.

B. Souché (_a_) in 1879 described and illustrated curious characters on the walls of the crypt of the tumulus of Lisières (Deux-Sèvres), France, some of which in execution markedly resemble several found in the United States and figured in this work.

SPAIN.

Mr. T. Jagor (_a_) communicated a brochure in reference to the Cueva de Altamira, transmitted to him by Prof. Vilanova in Madrid: “Short notes on some prehistoric objects of the province of Santander,” in which Don Marcelino de Sautuola describes the wall pictures and other finds in the cave discovered by him at Altamira. Mr. Jagor remarks as follows on the subject:

The reproductions of the large wall pictures discovered in
that cave displayed, in part, so excellent technique that the
question arose how much of this excellence is to be attributed to
the prehistoric artist, and how much to his modern copyist. Mr.
Vilanova, who visited the cave soon after its discovery, and who
regards the wall pictures as prehistoric, being about equal in age
to the Danish Kjökken-möddings, states that the pictures given are
pretty faithful imitations of the originals. The published drawings
are all found on the ceiling of the first cave; on the walls of
the subsequent caves are seen sketches of those pictures, which
the artist afterwards completed. The outlines of all the drawings
have been cut in the wall with coarse instruments, and nearly all
the bone implements found in the cave show scratches, which render
it probable that they were used for this purpose. The colors used
consist merely of various kinds of ocher found in the province,
without further preparation. Finally Mr. Vilanova reports that in
the cave farthest back there was found, in his presence, an almost
perfect specimen of _Ursus spelæus_.

Don Manuel de Góngora y Martinez (_a_) gives the account translated as follows:

The inscriptions of Fuencaliente are of great interest and
importance. About one league east of the town, on a spur of the
Sierra de Quintana, at the site of the Piedra Escritá, there is an
almost inaccessible place, the home of wild beasts and mountain
goats. Beyond the river de los Batanes and the river de las Piedras,
looking toward sunset and toward the town, the artisans of a remote
age cut skillfully and symmetrically with the point of the pickax
into the flank of the rock and of the mountain, which is of fine
flint, leaving a facade or frontispiece 6 yards in height and
twice as wide, and excavating there two contiguous caves, which are
wide at the mouth and end in a point, making two triangular niches
polished on their four faces. On the two outer fronts to the left
and right appear more than 60 symbols or hieroglyphs, written in
a simple and rustic way with the index finger of a rude hand, and
with a reddish bituminous pigment. The niches, about a yard and
a half in height, 1 yard deep, and half a yard at the mouth, are
covered by the exceedingly hard and immense rock of the mountain.
There is formed, as it were, a vestibule or esplanade before the
monument, and it is defended by a rampart made of the rocks torn
from the niches, strengthened with juniper, oaks, and cork trees.
The half-moon, the sun, an ax, a bow and arrows, an ear of corn, a
heart, a tree, two human figures, and a head with a crown stand out
among those signs, the foreshadowings of primitive writing.

The inscription on the first triangular face of the second cave is reproduced here as the left-hand group of the upper part of Fig. 1108, infra, and that “on the outer plane to the right, which already turns pyramidally to the north,” is reproduced as the right-hand group of the same figure. They are inserted at that place for convenient comparison with other characters on the figure mentioned and with those in Figs. 1097 and 1107.

ITALY.

Mr. Moggridge (in Jour. Anthrop. Inst. Gr. Br. and I., VIII, p. 65) observes that one of the designs, _q_, reported by Dr. Von Haast from New Zealand (see Fig. 133), was the same as one which had been seen on rocks 6,900 feet above the sea in the northwest corner of Italy. He adds:

The inscriptions are not in colors, as are those given in Dr.
Von Haast’s paper, but are made by the repeated dots of a sharp
pointed instrument. It is probable that if we knew how to read them
they might convey important information, since the same signs occur
in different combinations, just as the letters of our alphabet recur
in different combinations to form words. Without the whole of these
figures we can not say whether the same probability applies to them.