The Sorcerer (cave art)

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The Sorcerer is one name for an enigmatic cave painting found in a cavern known as 'The Sanctuary' at Trois-Frères, Ariège, France. It appears to depict a man dressed as a stag (or, alternatively, a half-human, half-stag). Its date is approximately 13,000 BCE.

Whether a drawing of a god, a shaman, a priest or something else the dancing figure of the "Sorcerer" is a therianthrope, a symbolic blending of human and animal forms that can be found in many cultures. Therianthropes commonly blend the human form with animals that are directly important to local culture, for example as food. Thus, the image is commonly interpreted as a shaman performing a ritual to ensure good hunting; however, this interpretation cannot be proven, nor can the image's possible connections with the much later "Horned God" of Celtic regions.

Some believe that further animals may be discerned within the image: the hands have been described as bear-like, and the face that of a bird^{[citation needed]}. What is agreed on is that the legs and arms are human, as are the genitalia, and there are parallels with other ancient images in which human limbs are attached to an animal, usually a bison, to create a bipedal figure.