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Lascaux
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Lascaux cave painting of aurochs

Discovered in 1940, Lascaux is a series of caves in southwestern France (near
Montignac) that is famous for the numerous Paleolithic cave paintings contained on
its walls. In 1979, the caves at Lascaux were designated a UNESCO (United Nations
Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization) World Heritage site, along with
147 prehistoric sites and 24 painted caves located in the Vézère Valley.
Contents

[hide]
1 History
2 Inside the Caves of Lascaux
2.1 The Great Hall of the Bulls
2.2 The Painted Gallery
2.3 The Lateral Passage
2.4 The Chamber of Engravings
2.5 The Shaft of the Dead Man
2.6 The Main Gallery
2.7 The Chamber of Felines
3 Technique and Purpose
4 Notes
5 References
6 External links
7 Credits
Due to concerns over deterioration of the paintings, the caves were closed to the
public, and only qualified researchers were given permission to enter. A replica
was constructed to allow visitors to experience and appreciate these magnificent
Stone Age artworks, which link us to our ancestors of long ago, without endangering
the original paintings.

History

Map of Lascaux cave

The Lascaux caves were discovered by chance on September 12, 1940 by seventeen
year-old Marcel Ravidat, accompanied by three of his friends: Jacques Marsal,
Georges Agnel, and Simon Coencas. Word traveled quickly, and it was not long before
leading archaeologists were contacted. Abbé Henri Breuil, a prominent
archaeologist, was one of the first to study the site, where he found bone
fragments, oil lamps, and other artifacts, as well as the hundreds of paintings and
engraved images.

There was a great deal of public interest in the paintings at Lascaux, and the
caves drew a great number of visitors. Included among those fascinated by the art
of "primitive" human beings was Pablo Picasso. To his amazement, however, the
paintings produced thousands of years ago were not primitive in comparison to
contemporary art. On leaving the cave he is said to have exclaimed "We have learned
nothing in twelve thousand years."[1]

After World War II, the site entrance was enlarged and the floors lowered to
accommodate the nearly 1,200 tourists per day who came to see the art of
Paleolithic man. By 1955, the paintings had begun to show signs of deterioration
due to the amount of carbon dioxide exhaled by visitors as well as moisture and
other environmental changes that occurred when the caves were opened, and so the
site was closed to the public in 1963. The paintings were restored, and are now
monitored with state of the art technology. Unfortunately, though, fungi, molds,
and bacteria have entered the caves and threaten to destroy the paintings and
engravings.[2]

Soon after the caves were closed to the public, construction was begun on a
painstakingly exact replica of a portion of the caves, located only 200 meters from
the original caves. Called "Lascaux II," the replica opened in 1983. Copied down to
the texture of the rock, this nearly identical replica allows a large number of
people to experience the cave paintings without posing a threat to their longevity.
Exact replicas of individual paintings are also displayed in the nearby Center of
Prehistoric Art at Thot.

Inside the Caves of Lascaux

The Lascaux caves contain nearly 2,000 painted and engraved figures. There are
animals, human figures, and abstract signs. Notably, though, there are no images of
landscapes or vegetation.

The Great Hall of the Bulls

Great Hall of the Bulls

Upon entering the caves, there is an initial steep slope, after which one comes
into the Hall of the Bulls. The walls of this larger rotunda are covered with
paintings of stags, bulls, and horses. Except for a small group of ochre stags,
three red bovines, and four red horses, the figures are all painted in black.

Did you know?

There is a prehistoric cave painting of a "unicorn" in the Hall of Bulls
The first image in the Hall of the Bulls is that of "the Unicorn," named because of
the way the two horns in profile view appear almost to be one large horn, like the
mythical unicorn. In front of the "unicorn" is a herd of horses and an incompletely
drawn bull. Three large aurochs, an extinct type of wild ox, can be found on the
opposite side of the chamber. Most drawings in the Hall of the Bulls consist of
pictorial representations of animals; there is no representation of foliage or
landscape, and the only symbols present are groupings of black dots and variously
colored dashes.

The Painted Gallery

Considered by some to be the pinnacle of Paleolithic cave art, the Painted Gallery
is a continuation of the Great Hall of the Bulls.[3] The walls of the Painted
Gallery depict numerous horses, aurochs, ibexes, as well as a stag at the entrance
to the gallery and a bison at the back.

The Lateral Passage

Engraved stag
Branching off to the right of the Great Hall of the Bulls is the Lateral Passage,
which connects the Great Hall of the Bulls to the rest of the chambers. The ceiling
in this passage is fairly low, even after excavation of the floor after World War
II. The walls in this area have deteriorated due to corrosion predating the site's
discovery, leaving few paintings or engravings readily visible. It is thought that
paintings and engravings once covered the entire surface of this gallery as well as
the other galleries.[4]

The Chamber of Engravings

Off the right of the Lateral Passage is the Chamber of Engravings, a smaller
rotunda filled with over 600 engravings and paintings. The engravings predominate,
and are separated into three sections. On the lower third of the walls are aurochs,
above them are deer, and covering the entire dome are horses. There is more
overlapping of figures here than in any other chamber, making it difficult to
accurately make out the various figures.

The Shaft of the Dead Man

Scene of the Dead Man

Several meters lower than the back of the Chamber of Engravings is the Shaft of the
Dead Man. Here is found the only figure of a human being on the walls of Lascaux.
This painting, entitled "Scene of the Dead Man," is a triptych of a bison, a man,
and what appears to be a rhinoceros. The man appears to have had a confrontation
with the bison, and is pictured lying prone on the ground with a broken spear next
to him. To the left of the spear lies what looks like a stick with a bird on the
top, a fact made more significant by the observation that the man also appears to
have a bird-shaped head. Also present is the hook sign, which may represent a spear
thrower.

The Main Gallery

Copy of the "Swimming Stags" in the Lascaux cave, Musée d'Aquitaine, Bordeaux,
France
Off to the left of the Chamber of Engravings is the Main Gallery, a series of
chambers that descend in size. Within these chambers are several panels, mostly
found on the left wall, and each having distinct characteristics. "The Panel of the
Imprint," for example, contains horses, bison, and square symbols, while the "Black
Cow Panel" has a single black cow with seven ibexes. Some of the square symbols are
polychromatic, using shades of yellow, red, and violets to divide the larger square
into smaller squares. In the rear of the Main Gallery, the Panel of the Back-to-
Back Bison is the most typical example of three dimensional perspective. One bison
overlaps the other, and reserves (small areas left blank) surround the rear bison
as well as the back limbs of each animal. The three dimensional effect is
heightened by the fact that the painting is situated in an area where the rock wall
curves out on either side. On the right wall there is only one group of stags,
named the "Swimming Stags." Only the heads and shoulders of the stags are visible.

The Chamber of Felines

Chamber of Felines
Past the Main Gallery, deep in the cave, is the Chamber of Felines. Here, as in the
other chambers, are horses and bison, but unlike other areas, there are felines, as
well as an absence of aurochs. This chamber is similar to the Chamber of Engravings
in that it contains more engravings than paintings. The figures in this chamber
have been poorly preserved, and are sometimes difficult to make out. At the end of
the chamber is a group of three sets of two red dots, which may suggest a means of
marking the end of the sanctuary.

Technique and Purpose

The cave painters at Lascaux, like those of other sites, used naturally occurring
pigments to create their paintings. They may have used brushes, though none were
found at the site, but it is equally as likely that they used mats of moss or hair,
or simply chunks of raw color. Some parts of the paintings were painted with an
airbrushing technique; hollow bones stained with color have been found in the
caves. Since the caves have no natural light, torches and stone lamps filled with
animal fat were used to illuminate the caves.

Research places most of the paintings around 15,000 B.C.E., although the subject
matter and style of certain figures suggests that they may be somewhat more recent,
perhaps only 10,000 B.C.E.[4] Thus, although containing some of the most famous
Paleolithic artworks in the world, Lascaux does not contain the oldest; the Chauvet
Cave discovered in 1994 in the Ardèche region of southern France contains paintings
dating back as far as 32,000 B.C.E.

The true purpose of the images found in all these caves is a matter of debate. Due
to the inaccessibility of many of the chambers and the size and grandeur of the
paintings at Lascaux, many believe that the caves served as sacred spaces or
ceremonial meeting places.[5] Animals may have been drawn in order to ensure a
successful hunt, or they may have been drawn afterwards to provide a resting place
for the spirits of the slain animals—a practice that would point to an animistic
religion. Others argue that the cave paintings were nothing more than a type of
graffiti drawn by adolescent boys, a theory partially supported by the measurements
of hand prints and footprints found in Paleolithic caves.[6]

The "Shaft of the Dead Man" has also sparked numerous theories as to its purpose.
Some believe that the bird-like head of the man is evidence of shamanism, and that
the caves may have served to facilitate trance-like states (particularly if the
caves contained high levels of carbon dioxide). Others argue that the painting is
narrative, and describes an event that took place in life or in a dream.

As for the true meaning of the paintings, the number, style, and location of
paintings (both in Lascaux and other nearby sites) have led most experts to believe
that the images served some sort of spiritual or ceremonial purpose. It is also
possible that more than one theory has validity; for example, adolescent boys may
have added their marks to the painted walls made by adults in preparation for the
hunt. Whatever their original purpose may have been, cave paintings now serve as a
priceless link between modern and Paleolithic man.

Notes
↑ Gregory Curtis, The Cave Painters: Probing the Mysteries of the World's First
Artists (Anchor, 2007, ISBN 1400078873).
↑ International Committee for the Preservation of Lascaux, Famous World Heritage
Site in Peril. Retrieved March 16, 2010.
↑ The Lascaux Caves Sacred Destinations. Retrieved July 16, 2007.
↑ 4.0 4.1 The Cave of Lascaux. French Ministry of Culture and Communication.
Retrieved July 16, 2007.
↑ 2000. Lascaux ca. 15,000 B.C.E. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Retrieved July
16, 2007.
↑ William H. McNeill, Secrets of the Cave Paintings. The New York Review of Books,
2006. Retrieved July 16, 2007.
References
Aujoulat, Norbert. Lascaux: Movement, Space and Time. Harry N. Abrams Pub., 2005.
ISBN 0810959003
Aujoulat, Norbert. The Splendour of Lascaux. Thames & Hudson Ltd., 2005. ISBN
0500051356
Curtis, Gregory. The Cave Painters: Probing the Mysteries of the World's First
Artists. Anchor, 2007. ISBN 1400078873
Ruspoli, Mario. The Cave of Lascaux. Harry N. Abrams Pub., 1987. ISBN 0810912678

External links
All links retrieved June 21, 2018.

Lascaux Cave Official Lascaux Web site, from the French Ministry of Culture.
The Dawn of Prehistoric Rock Art An article summarizing the earliest known rock
art, with a focus on recently discovered painted caves in Europe, Grotto Cosquer
and Grotto Chauvet.
Lascaux Cave — Saving Beauty Notes on damage inflicted on the cave
Credits
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