Bird panel IV.
Since the announcement of our discovery of Palaeolithic parietal engravings in Church Hole cave, Creswell Crags (Nottinghamshire) (Bahn et al. 2003), a great deal of new research has been carried out, and the number and importance of figures detected in this site have increased dramatically. At the same time, our methodology has changed considerably in adaptation to the new circumstances.
On 14 April 2003 we spotted what we thought were three figures, as reported in Antiquity. In our second campaign in late June/early July 2003 this total was increased to twelve engravings, two of which were on the ceiling of the entrance chamber, and we felt fairly confident that we had now seen most of what the cave contained.
However, in April 2004 we gathered at the cave once again in order to check and finalise the tracings made from photographs, before the international conference on 'The Cave Art of Creswell Crags in European Context' which was held in Creswell village from 15 to 17 April. During this stay we were blessed with fine weather (unlike in 2003), and quickly ascertained that natural light, especially on sunny mornings and evenings, provided perfect conditions for seeing and detecting figures - often far better than the artificial lights which we had used hitherto. In particular, we recognised that some enigmatic shapes which we had previously noticed on the ceiling were not, as we had assumed, natural, but instead bas-reliefs - most notably a beautiful and unique depiction of a bird-head with a long curved bill. This was totally unexpected, especially in our first British decorated cave, but once our minds and eyes became attuned to the new phenomenon, the natural morning light began to reveal a whole series of bas reliefs carved into this soft and very sandy Magnesian limestone. In many cases, artificial light makes these harder to see, or even totally invisible.
Bison panel III.
Currently, the total of figures detected is about 90, all of them (with the exception of the 5 motifs in the 'bird panel', in total darkness down the passage) located in the entrance chamber and visible in daylight, as is normal for carvings in European caves and shelters. Moreover, a high proportion of these figures (58) are located on the ceiling which makes them particularly difficult to detect and study since they have a wide variety of orientations and sizes. Since bas-reliefs on cave ceilings are extremely rare even on the continent (the single depictions at the Abri Pataud and the Abri du Poisson come to mind), it is obvious that Church Hole possesses the most richly carved and engraved ceiling in the whole of cave art, and this within quite a small surface area (c. 14m²).
Some important modifications to our initial assessment of the large 'ibex' engraving must be emphasised here. First, it has now become clear that it is a red deer stag; its anatomy always seemed somewhat ambiguous, and when it is lit obliquely from the right (as opposed to the left which brings out most of the animal most vividly) one can make out two protuberances on the front of the 'horn', including the point of the lowest tine, a few centimetres to the left, and the next tine above it. In addition, we have observed that some of the figure's outline (notably the forehead and muzzle, chest, and anterior part of the left front leg) was produced not in simple deep engraving, like the rest, but with bas-relief, now much eroded.
Horse panel IV.
Church Hole is of huge importance not only because of its quantity of figures, but also their variety (at least six kinds of animal, plus two or three species of bird, together with 'vulvas', etc). In addition, a few of the many peculiarities observed so far can be mentioned: e.g. the fact that, with the exception of the large stag and the first bison engraving detected nearby, which are complete, most figures comprise only parts of the animal, primarily the head or forequarters: as so often in cave art on the continent, the artists often used natural shapes in the rock, and merely added ears, eyes or muzzles by engraving.
We have already identified a new phenomenon which we have named the 'Creswell eye', since several of the figures have an eye which is neither engraved nor pecked, but rather abraded or scoured into a small round cupule. There are also some conventions, such as the combination in several figures of bas-relief and engraving. We have two bison heads which are so similar in size, orientation, execution and appearance that they are almost certainly by the same hand. And we also have a new example of the famous phenomenon from Pech Merle cave (Lot, France) where a rock with a completely natural horse-head shape was used as the setting for a painting of a horse, its tiny head placed inside the natural one. In Church Hole we have a rock-shape on the ceiling which was clearly modified to enhance its natural resemblance to a bison head, and inside it the artist(s) inserted not one but two superimposed quadruped heads of different sizes.
Photo of stag panel.
Photo and drawing of stag panel.
The proceedings of the successful conference held at Creswell in April 2004 will be published in 2005, as will a complete monograph on our findings in Church Hole, though work in the cave continues and may yet produce more surprises.
