“Does the associative curve of human figures (different from that of animal figures and diminishing at regular intervals) mean anything and if so, what? To expand the topic, it has seemed essential to approach the foundation of the problem and question the nature of what pre-historians label, as a whole, the ‘anthropomorphs,’ a vestigial term from a time when we still asked questions about their possible humanity.

After reviewing the topic, we have around 75 parietal figures and about as many mobiliary figures with the exception of genital figures, which will be considered together with signs: In fact, each morphological transition from vulva to triangle or oval render the distinction rather precarious.

Figurative states. Research into morphological characteristics produces an initial appreciation of the figurative level of works spanning from pure geometric to figurative geometric, figurative synthetic and figurative analytic.

It is possible to apply figurative states to representations of humans but it is difficult to describe them in detail given the small number of witnesses. Pure geometric does not contain any figures whose characteristics of human representation can be established by any procedure, so we are limited to admitting this shortcoming. One exception may be the small figurines from Mezine whose genital contours are still identifiable as those of feminine figures, whereas the decoration around them is purely geometric.

There are hardly any better examples of the figurative geometric. The man at Lascaux is the most convincing. Note that, located at the base of the ‘shaft’ between the rhinoceros and the bison that has attacked it, the ‘wiry’ man is, in terms of his figurative state, at least one degree above his two partners. The figurative synthetic is, however, the ordinary state of numerous parietal and mobiliary figures. At this level, the curves have an overall and simplifying modulation but, while animal attributes are always rendered to a sufficient degree to ensure identification, a fair number of the human figures are ambiguous (a solitary head, phantomatic contours…).

The figurative analytic is primarily attested in sculpture. It involves a detailed analysis of anatomical curves, even if the assembly of these curves leads to unusual volumes. The statuettes of Kostenki and Lespugue provide the possible extremes of a curve analysis.