An ethological view on representations of chamois (Rupicapra rupicapra) from the European Upper Palaeolithic art

Abstract

The chamois belongs to the family Bovidae and to the species chamois (Rupicapra). The chamois was rarely figured by the artists of the European Upper Palaeolithic. The figures of chamois can be distinguished from those of ibex especially by the form of their horns and by the colour difference of the head which is sometimes indicated by a dark stripe the so-called the jugal band. All known figures are from sites located in France and the Iberian Peninsula.

In this article six representations of chamois from Upper Palaeolithic cave and portable art are analysed from an ethological point of view.