A
few weeks after the article was translated my companion
and I loaded up the van and drove four hours northeast
to a beautiful and cold campground above the Vezere valley.
Known in the Lonely Planet guidebook as 'the cradle of
civilization' the Vezere valley is home to most of France's
prehistoric sites.
The
road to Lascaux turned uphill at sharp angles and ended
in a parking lot dotted with tourist busses. At the obligatory
gift and bookstore where we bought tickets for about $5
US we were told that all tours of Lascaux were guided
tours and, but of course, in French. “Sorry, no translation
or printed material available”. Then they said the
Lascaux cave was closed! (yes, Mercury was retrograde)
So
Lascaux was closed, at least to us. Later I found out
why. In the years between 1940 (when it was first discovered)
and 1955 more than a million people visited the cave,
which caused grave damage to its' previously protected
environment. The large number of so many bodies inhaling
oxygen and exhaling carbon dioxide brought about a growth
of mold and calcite crystals on the cave walls which caused
the paintings to begin to disintegrate at an alarming
rate.. In order to save the paintings Lascaux was closed
permanently to the public in l963. Since then the French
government has installed equipment to assure maintenance
of constant temperature, humidity and carbon dioxide levels
and restricted visitors to five per day. If you want to
be one of the privileged five you must secure a permit
from the government which involves about five miles of
red tape.
However,
all was not lost. There is a cave called Lascaux II which
was located a convenient two hundred meters away from
the original cave (now called Lascaux I). Before leading
us into Lascaux II our guide gave us some interesting
information. What we were about to see was built in l983
by the French government as an exact but smaller replica
of its namesake. Lascaux II is an underground cement tunnel
suspended in a larger ancient cave and is home to state-of-the-art
reproductions from two of the areas in the original: the
Hall of Bulls and the Axial Gallery. The government spared
no expense to ensure its complete authenticity. The contours
of the original walls of Lascaux I were first measured
and photographed and then painstakingly reconstructed.
Artists used organic paints and animal hair brushes similar
to those of Cro-Magnon man when transferring the paintings
to the reproduced cave.
The
guide also informed us that there have been many theories
about why men in the Cro-Magnon era painted animals on
the walls deep in a cave. Scholars agreed that there was
a conscious intention to preserve them, but for what purpose?
One of the most popular speculations, especially with
art historians, was the “hunting magic theory”.
“Hunting magic” was based on the idea that prehistoric
men conducted some kind of ritual before they went out
to hunt for food. Part of this ritual was the painting
of pictures of the animals to “call” them to
their death and ensure good luck in the hunt. According
to our guide, this theory was laid to rest when archeologists
analyzed the remains in the caves and discovered that
Cro-Magnons did not live in the caves where paintings
were found. Their research also showed that most of the
animals that were painted were not a food source for our
ancestors. (The case for the prehistoric planetarium was
getting stronger!)
With
these explanations in hand, it was time to start the tour.
As directed, we obediently followed our guide down a slope
into the opening of Lascaux II. The first thing I noticed
was the air temperature immediately dropped about 15 degrees.
It was cold and it was dark, very dark. As we moved downward
into the Hall of Bulls and the safe and light-filled world
dropped behind us, it felt as if we were moving back in
time.
Suddenly
my eyes were drawn upward in the dim lighting to paintings
of enormous bulls on the ceiling and upper walls, painted
with incredible precision. The artists were obviously
not only immensely talented but also ingenious as they
had used the contours of the walls to define and emphasize
the shapes of the animals. (Symbols and Signs)
As
we moved into the Axial Gallery (see Map)
the walls and ceiling were covered with animals. There
were no landscapes, no vegetation and very few humanoid
shapes. Enormous bulls were snorting, horses jumping and
falling and delicate reindeer walking in lines. In some
places geometric signs mysteriously appeared.
It
was a puzzle. Even though I knew it was a reproduction,
visiting Lascaux II was like seeing a sacred site. Surrounded
by the majestic grandeur of the images, I wondered if
I'd stumbled into an underground animal version of the
Sistine Chapel. Or maybe it was a subterranean library
with books in an ancient language that I couldn't read
but might remember at any moment.
After
seeing the workmanship, the orientation to the space and
relationships of the animals to one another, I'm still
not sure whether Lascaux I was a primitive planetarium.
But by translating the article and visiting the site I
discovered something else. The paintings, which are masterpieces
of art, also contain irrefutable evidence that an order,
a knowledge of mathematics and a consciousness of the
nature of the universe was firmly in place 17,000 years
ago. If the scientific community accepts this concept,
Astrology might prove to have more in common with pre-historic
caves than I could ever imagine.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Discovering
Lascaux by Brigitte and Giles Delluc, Editions Sud
Ouest, English edition
Caves of Lascaux, http://www.culture.gouv.fr/culture/arcnat/lascaux/en/
http://witcombe.sbc.edu/sacredplaces/lascaux.html
Oxford
American Dictionary, Heald Colleges Edition 1980
http://www.mazzaroth.com/ChapterOne/LascauxCave.htm
Science & Vie, "L'accelerateur du savoir"
#999 December 2000, titled Lascaux planetarium prehistorique?
by Pedro Lima
The Cro-Magnon Hotel, photo credit, Daniel Harris
Thanks
for assistance from Agnes Elicagaray, Bertrand Barbaste
and Anne Marie Coutant in France
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