Lascaux Cave painting reproduced by Thomas Baker

The original of this painting, on the cave wall at Lascaux, has the distinction of being the earliest known representation a human being in color, discovered deep in a subterranean chamber of the cave in southern France. The scene shows the dramatic ending of a bison hunt in which a wounded bison attacks and apparently kills the hunter. The hunter's barbed spear, badly aimed, has ripped open the bison's belly, causing its entrails to spill out. The dying animal has turned on the hunter, who has dropped his spearthrower (a throwing stick with a hook on the end) and lowers its head to gore him with its horns. The meaning of the bird on the stick is unknown, but some have suggested that it might represent the soul of the hunter, his clan symbol, or perhaps his totem animal.