Bovid graffito, plaster cast

The exhibit refers to a cast made in 1939 by the artist Paolo Conte on the stylised incised figure at the entrance to Grotta Romanelli, representing a Pleistocene bovid (Bos primigenius) pierced by several spears.
The figure comes within the context of Mediterranean art which is developed in the Salento territory in the final phases of the Palaeolithic (15-10 thousand years).
Unlike the Franco-Cantabric art, characteristic of the Hispanic-French regions, the art which develops on the Italian territory is strongly schematised, often with extremely abstract and symbolic motifs. The figure, which measures 45 cm wide and 33 cm high, is made with few and decisive furrowed lines which describe the enormous body of the bovid of a rectangular shape with a slightly humped back, ending with a very small head surmounted by two short horns. The front legs are represented only with some vertical lines, whereas the whole terminal part of the animal is not described. On the ribs there are two oblique converging lines from above and interpreted as spears; other lines and horizontal and parallel marks occupy the rear portion of the body.