AR
Copyright © 2004 by Kevin Sharpe and Leslie Van
Gelder. All rights reserved.
In process.
Toward New Forms of
Severines in
Graduate College, Union Institute and University, Cincinnati, Ohio, USA
Harris Manchester College, Oxford University, Oxford, UK
Oxford Institute for Science and Spirit, Oxford, UK
kevin.sharpe@tui.edu
www.ksharpe.com
and
Leslie Van Gelder
Oxford Institute for Science and Spirit, Oxford, UK
Walden University, Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA
leslievg@btopenworld.com
In the Cave
· Catalogue the amount and occurrences of each variety of line marking.
· What percentage of the cave are of each of the different forms?
· Future work:
o Look at the Red Lounge for form.
o Look
at G
o Look down the rest of the G? (Via Sacra) and the Old Lady chambers for flutings.
· What form are the severines in the Red Lounge?
· Could separate out with respect to forms:
o The three forms (M, R, K. E) so far
o Figures and associated lines
§ Is there a repetition of associated lines? Yes, short lines in the body of the figures.
§ I.e., don’t try to fit the associated lines into the four forms.
· Questions about where lines are found:
To Include in the
Paper
· The four forms in Rouffignac cover all the flutings we’ve found there.
·
Call the G
·
Include the
cluster from G
· Need to say that different styles may imply different people or cultures, or different behaviors by the same culture.
Matters for the Analyses
· Are there repetitions of structures?
Experiment
ABSTRACT.
KEY WORDS.
CONTENTS.
Error! No table of contents entries found.
About new work on forms in Rouffignac (re-title paper).
From AR
The key distinguishing factors used here to define the
Mirian, Kirian, and Rugolean Forms are locomotion on the part of the fluter and
whether single or multiple fingers comprise most of the streams. Apart from moving
from one cluster or part of a cluster to another to create new flutings, no
lower body locomotion is required to flute in the Kirian Form. Whether other
features of the forms turn out to be decisive, remains to be seen. To relate
the forms by such factors, therefore, remains to be clarified. At first glance,
however, it appears that Mirian lines tend to be longer (several meters) than
Rugolean lines (about
Both Kirian and Mirian lines exist in Chamber E obviously
different from the use of one finger for Kirian and a stationary fluter and the
use of usually more than one and a moving fluter for the Mirian. They do overlap
however, for instance at the bottom of Cluster C ??? and beyond
Cluster ??? . Many of the Mirian
lines have three-fingered widths of
Another type of relationship between the forms lies in where they are found in the cave. This has yet to be explored more fully. One striking example is found in the Room of Undulating Flutings: at the very beginning of the left hand wall in the chamber, on the edge of the low ceiling or wall, perhaps the only Rugolean lines in this room greet the visitor.
Telling if a fluter is standing still or is moving her or his legs could raise the issue of the investigator’s subjectivity. How can the difference be ascertained? It may be obvious when a stream moves way beyond any stationary human’s reach or with a vertical stream that would probably move sideways if the fluter were moving. The issue requires further investigation, but probably it will require isolating further indicators that relate to the fluter moving or standing on one spot. One avenue that may prove fruitful is to seek what might be called jogs in Mirian lines. Taking a step while a fluting may leave an unevenness in the fluting; its continuity might in some way be interrupted.
This raises the broader question of subjectivity in analyzing or isolating the forms as this paper attempts to do. It is hoped that the division of flutings by fluter locomotion and whether one or more than one finger is a useful tool for studying flutings. It may be that this division helps a great deal or it may prove more confusing than helpful. The stylistic division is offered as a hypothesis whose usefulness requires further investigation.
It is not suggested that the Mirian, Kirian, and Rugolean Forms are the only ones in Rouffignac Cave. Further investigations may help isolate others. For instance, there may be a form that is associated with certain figures drawn in the cave. The zigzag lines within some of the mammoths may indicate a form.
It ought to be mentioned that this stylistic analysis pertains to Rouffignac. It may shed light on the flutings in other caves, but at this stage we can only claim it may prove useful in Rouffignac. // Can the stylistic analysis be extended to other caves, locally in the area of Les Eyzies or further away, within southern France or further afield? In other words, do the three forms suggested in this paper make sense of at least some of the flutings in other caves? It is not assumed that this analysis is universal, but it may form a useful platform for understanding the fluting phenomenon.
How might forms be told apart when they occur close together…how to justify separating them stylistically. Does this call the form differentiations into question? It may be that a very close intermingling of lines of the supposedly different forms counts against this stylisitic analysis, because then it may make little sense in a description of the finger flutings in Rouffignac.
This analysis is a suggestion; it may turn out that there are no differentiable forms in Rouffignac, or that other variables than fluter locomotion and the number of fingers are more important. This paper, therefore, is meant to be suggestive for future research and discussion.
The locomotion of the Mirian markings and its absence in the Kirian and Rugolean markings may suggest that the act of making the Mirian lines was more important to the fluters than to the others, and that the final appearance in some way was more important to the Kirian and Rugolean fluters. The analysis does not prove this, but it may suggest it.
Why do the three forms exist? It may be hypothesized that they relate to different cultures or traditions, each having a different way of fluting the cave walls. Or it may be that the different forms relate to different behaviors, or that they were made for different purposes, or in response to different needs. This could lead to a discussion on the meaning of the flutings, but this is premature at this stage of the research. On the other hand, the physical geography of the room or its position in the cave may more directly relate to the fluting form used in it and those not used in it.
Forms co-exist in some rooms in the cave and on the same parts of a room’s wall or ceiling. This need not pose a counter to the suggested analysis provided it is not suggested that the forms require different physical environments and one of these does not attain in that portion of the room. It would help the analysis in such co-existing circumstances if the flutings of different forms can be separated out and, overall, if the analysis makes sense of the bulk of the flutings in the cave.
The stylistic analysis suggested here is offered as a starting point. What is now required is a more detailed study of flutings of each form, any relationships that exist between clusters in different forms, and of flutings that do not readily fall into one of the three suggested forms. It may be that subforms of the one or other of the above three forms, for instance when in association with figures. Another line of research is to explore the lines humanly engraved in Rouffignac to see if they bear any resemblance to fluted lines and, if they do, to the forms suggested
· Are there other chambers in Grotte de Rouffignac with markings like those in Chamber E?
· Look at the ‘Great Ceiling’ for pictures that may have flutings.
· But how far down does one take a stylistic definition? It could end with each stream being in a different form.
· Look at the floor holes and wall overhangs: do these determine where the flutings are or start or end?
There appears to be an important involvement of both children and adults in the fluting, especially it appears in flutings of the Mirian Form. Further, it would appear that children primarily fluted in the Mirian Forms and adults in the other two forms. Does anything characterize the children’s markings other than their width as opposed to the adults’ markings? This general line of research requires further investigation and may offer a rich source of information.
From AR27.htm. Speculation as to the age of the Kirian lines in the Leroi Gourhan Room may be elucidated by dating the charcoal that has been deposited in some of them from the ends of burned sticks scraped over them.