ELEMENTS OF FORMAL GRAMMAR FOR EUROPEAN P ALEOLITHIC CAVE ART

The figurative component of European Palaeolithic Cave Art may be anal ysed in 14 main motifs. A data base consisting of 416 polythematic pan els (from 2 to 6 different themes) was collected and analysed from a s tatistical and structural point of view. Factor Analysis and Ascending Hierarchical Classification led to a partition in 5 classes, one of w hich being hierarchically dominating (Horse, Bison, Ibex). Moreover, o nly a small number of the possible combinations have been produced and the selection is not fortuitous. It was taken advantage of these regu larities for building two formal models capable of producing the exist ing patterns. One of these models, the probabilistic one, makes use of five ''rewriting rules'' automatically written which account for 3/4 of the panels; the other one, which is more deterministic, is based on a ''regular'' grammar to which ''constraints'' are added (structural contraints limiting the class combinability and individual contraints using two logical connectors : implication and incompatibility). These two models show that inter-thematic links were governed by semantic c hoices which have been relatively stable during Upper Palaeolithic in Western Europe.