LAUSR

Abstract Several arguments show that in the iconography of Paleolithic art, horse played a role that was different from that of other species. It appears to be the main image in what can be interpreted as a hierarchy of animal images chosen for depiction by the paleolithic image-makers and in what may be seen as a conceptual dominance and a key image in the organizing principles for image making. Horse comprises more than one quarter of the bestiary and it is present in more than three out of four sites with great constancy throughout the Upper Paleolithic in all regions of Europe. Horses are often highlighted by their remarkable locations, size and what appears to us as the aesthetic quality of their representations. The development and compilation of a database of more than 4700 animal representations enabled me to perform numerous quantitative analyses. These analyses show that horse depictions are markedly different from those of other animal species starting in the Aurignacian and continuing throughout the Upper Paleolithic, and across all of the Franco-Cantabrian area. I infer from this that there was a significant and expansive cohesiveness in the underlying beliefs and artistic expression of these Paleolithic hunters-gatherers. This cohesiveness can be taken as an indicator of the existence of “exchange” networks or connections, despite the multiple and significant changes that occurred across time and space. The regional variations that we observe are mainly stylistic and thematic. Even the higher number of hind depictions in the Cantabrian region or the “preference” for mammoth depictions in the Perigord do not undermine the primacy of the horse as the preferred subject.