ABSTRACT
This chapter aims to draw attention to the extent, much greater than was believed to date, of a phenomenon formerly known about, of course, but whose breadth and manifestation have been underestimated: the modification of anatomy in Palaeolithic art. Discoveries of recent years reinforce the idea that the number of what people refer to as composite creatures is much greater than the thought at the time of the GRAPP study. Three consequences are inferred by the repetition of the phenomenon in parietal and portable art from the Aurignacian to the Magdalenian such as, First, it once more emphasises the conceptual unity of Palaeolithic art. Then, it guarantees that the transcription of a different reality from that normally observed was deliberate and not an error arising through inability or artistic licence. Finally, it throws light on the conception of a world where humans were not so distinct from animals, where transformations operated at different levels.
