Chauvet Painting Descriptions
Panel of the Sorcerer
Medium
Black drawing on rock
Size (Length)
Height 100cm
Cave Location
End Chamber
Age / Period
Aurignacian
Right at the very end of the End Chamber a hanging rock formation reaches down from the ceiling to a metre off the ground. This striking natural relief, as you might expect, is adorned with black drawings and engravings: four lions, one horse, two mammoths, one musk ox and a composition creature - half human and half bison - referred to as the Sorcerer. Beside it there is drawn the front view of a womanís lower body with long tapering legs. Her pubic triangle and her vulva are clearly drawn. The Sorcerer's figure folds around and faces in to the pubic triangle. This is certainly a powerful composition, perhaps symbolising a relationship between a mortal woman and a supernatural animal spirit.