ABSTRACT
The magnificent parietal art of the Franco-Cantabrian Upper Paleolithic has challenged interpretation for over a century. This chapter focuses on paintings in Lascaux and Altamira as examples of the depiction of herd animals being driven into corrals. Altamira's principal chamber appears to one of the most direct representations of a bison pound. The chamber itself is shaped like a corral. In the middle of the corral—the center portion of the Painted Ceiling area—are bison apparently already dead, crumpled on their bent legs. The drive lanes consist of poles or cairns several meters apart up to the wings of the corral. Corrals may be rectangular, or circular. The Plains Indians considered the construction of a corral with its drive lane to be the most arduous work a man was called upon to perform. A Kutchin caribou corral and drive lane is estimated to have required 10,000 poles in its construction.
