Caucasus University
Academic Doctor of Philological Sciences in Germanic Languages and the Theory of Linguistics
Tbilisi/Georgia
annameskhi@yahoo.com
Abstract
The present paper examines the interpretation of one of the finest and most complex engravings of Upper Palaeolithic, or Ice Age, art, known in specialist literature as La Femme au Renne (“Woman beneath the Reindeer”). The engraving dates to approximately 13,500–17,000 years ago and was discovered in the open rock shelter of Laugerie-Basse in the Dordogne region of France. Found in 1867–1868 by Abbé Landesque, the artefact became a major puzzle for scholars of the Palaeolithic and remains so to this day.
Despite this uncertainty, a person familiar with the Georgian legends of the Amirani cycle may readily recognise in the composition the scene of Amirani’s birth. According to the legend, a hunter must extract the solar hero from the womb of the dying Dali, wrap him in an oxhide, and leave the future deity beside the waters of Iamani.
The engraving was executed using a complex artistic method. Various episodes from the Amirani legends are represented through figures that are sometimes sharply defined and sometimes faintly outlined. Two figures are clearly engraved: a reindeer and the shape-shifting Dali lying in front of it. The “hidden” images, meanwhile, narrate episodes from Amirani’s life. Among them are his brothers, his sword, his dog Qursha, the face of the adult Amirani, his father Sulkalmakhi, the blacksmiths, an enormous image of a bull, and other figures.
The proposed interpretation of the engraving is further supported by wall paintings and compositions discovered in other Franco-Cantabrian caves. This suggests that the Georgian legends of Amirani already existed approximately 17,000 years ago and that artefacts based on their narrative were being created at that time. In addition to this considerable chronological depth, the broad geographical distribution of the theme should also be emphasised, extending beyond France to Italy.
On the basis of the evidence presented above and supported by specific artefacts, the origins of the Amirani legends should be dated to the remarkable depth of approximately 17,000 years ago, that is, to the Upper Palaeolithic period. This, in turn, means that the inclusion of the Kartvelian languages, folklore, and culture in research on the emergence and cultural development of modern humans is an exceptionally important and urgent scholarly task, not to mention their role in the development of civilisation.
Keywords: Amirani cycle, Upper Palaeolithic art, La Femme au Renne, Palaeolithic engraving, the mythological figure of Dali, birth of Amirani, Franco-Cantabrian art, Kartvelian mythology..