An Atlantean Fire-arm?
 
This is how the French palaeontologist Stephane Lwoff had interpreted one of the 1,500 Stone Age engravings from the site of La Marche, France. Lwoff sees something like a dancing violin player.   The bearded man wears a loose tunic, a hat, and interesting amulets around the neck. The man's genitals are protruding through an opening in the tunic. We also see a hatchet, which is affixed to the tunic.

                                


What are we to make of the fact that the man's feet are in a straight line, as they would appear if they were planted flat on the ground?  Did Lwoff  just bypass this version? Let's check it out.

         
           Atlantean gunman

                             

I believe that like this, the figure looks far more natural. I've also chosen to follow a less detailed, but more proportional head outline.
The right elbow bends at a right angle. There is continuity to some of the main lines separated by white spaces - For instance, the right forearm comes to another right-angled stop, but its outside line seems to resume a short distance below, this time as the hatchet My guess is that a square is indicated in the just described area, and with it some interesting underlying geometry. Meanwhile, the figure has acquired a  menacing appearance.  The stance is right out of a Hollywood western - a gunfighter in the process of drawing his gun. So, by the looks of it, we have a warrior, here. But, what is he doing? Looks like he is about to launch the bat like it was a javelin. Of course, bats are not made for throwing. However, with the change in our reading of the head, the warrior now seems to be looking into a scopelike device, rather than throwing it. Trick shooter looking into a mirror? 
What about his strange right-hand fingers? The hatchet is unconventional, too. It should be laced directly to the handle, but it is not.
Looking at the figure portrayed with both feet on the ground, my strongest impressioon is that of a gunman ready to draw. Indeed, the hatchet looks somewhat like a big handgun. Next, follow the inside line of the right arm from the funny finger up to the armpit and then down the side to the hatchet. This line is just like an outlined butt of a rifle, although one part of the line, which should be there is missing. However, it is quite possible that the line can be found on  the original engraving, but Lwoff had dismissed it as extraneous, in pursuing his interpretation.


 
There are some details, which are exactly right, if the object was indeed to be a rifle, such as the sights. The fingers, and even the genitals look more like cartridges than anything else.
The right-hand finger fits inside the alleged penis (which is not even central, but is off-centre between the legs), and is as long. Both pieces of ammunition fit the gun's barrel, as shown below.

 
In my opinion, the image really does show a firearm If we could see all the engraved lines, no matter how fine, we might see versions of it from primitive to sophisticated ones In any case, this is probably the oldest image of a firearm in the world.
  

Read some of my old, old Usenet articles

 Part 1 - Sweet Sixteen
Part 2 - Great Pyramid's Ramp 'Theory' Refuted
 
 Denial of the Pyramid's 70 ton Blocks
 
      The Coffer's Condition
      Who Would Want the Lid?
      The  Mini_Pyramids
      The Granite Forts
      The Coffer & the Osiris Numbers
      Leedskalnin's Brain Power
      Leedskalnin's Name as a clue

            3  If All Were Able To Work,  All At The Same Time
            4  Quitt While A Head
          5  A Mechanical Disadvantage (topples the cathedra)
 
Possible use of the Wheeled Block method in the Great Pyramid's
Grand Gallery

     Pyramid's Unique Features
     Realistic Pyramid Builders 
     Sphinx In a Pond
     Rock Rapidly Rotting In Dry Sand
     Sahara - Where/What is it?
     Sahara - end of discussion
     Plato -  Ecology - Desertification of Sahara
    Modern Scientists Shrink From Ancient Challenges
 
How To Make Miles Long Straight Lines by Lo-Tech