Alphabet Key To History Of Mankind

Author(s): David Diringer
Publisher: Hutchinsons Scientific and Technical Publications

Page 24

INTRODUCTION
in various Mediterranean or other countries (Fig. 2-6). It is extremely interesting to compare the aforementioned symbols of the Azilian pebbles (Fig. 1) with the symbols of the Australian stone churingas of modern times.
The Old Stone Age paintings of Spain are mainly hidden in subterranean caves; in northern Europe and in North Africa, they have survived on the surface of the ground. Rock walls in the Atlas region and in various parts of the Sahara are adorned with rock pictures, which are either engravings (mainly in the Atlas region) or paintings (mainly in the central Saharan area). The style of the latter
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Fig. 2 Prehistoric conventionalized figures, geometric signs, and so forth, painted or engraved on stone, from Spain (1 and 2), Portugal (3), and Italy (4)
is naturalistic, animated, whereas the former contain in part conventionalized designs, crude animal outlines, and purely geometric symbols.
Scattered all over South Africa, caves and rock-shelters have been found, in which a great number of paintings are still visible. The variety of subjects are immense, including animals of all sorts and human figures in various attitudes and actions. Most interesting are a few symbols found occasionally among paintings, which have never been explained; they occur also among the stone engravings