Ancient Art, Modern Anxieties

When we started planning our trip to Southern France, visiting the prehistoric painted caves were my mother’s only requests.  Unfortunately, all the painted caves close on November third.  Luckily for us, Pech Merle, the cave with the best prehistoric art in the region, reopened for the Armistice Day long-weekend.  In our efforts to ensure ourselves of a tour, we were early for the first time in Lertzofsky history and arrived to an empty parking lot. 

Mammoth at Pech Merle

25,000 years ago artists and people on spirit quests wriggled through narrow chasms and subterranean passages.  They would have found themselves in magical interlocking chambers full of surreal shapes and unexplainable phenomenon.  To sanctify the space, they painted meaningful images from their lives and imagination.  At least, this is what leading archeologists have guessed.  All that is left of these moments are the paintings, some of which are highly abstract and figurative.  For instance, the bison-woman is either a woman or a bison, depending on the angle you tilt your head, as proclaimed by eminent French archeologist André Leroi-Gourhan. 

Detail from the Black Frieze

The prehistoric artists were truly artists as we define the word today.  In many images we saw, they used the natural curvature of the rock to define a mammoth’s trunk or the rough texture of the wall to give the impression of a bison’s pelt.  Another mammoth image appeared to pop out from the rock as the light shone at it from underneath.  These artists were also masters of implying form.  One artist painted a mammoth using only three lines.

Pech Merle is most famous for its spotted horse painting.  Two near life-sized horses stand back to back on an isolated rock face.  One’s head is defined by the edge of the rock and has a faded pike stenciled onto its back.  The two horses are surrounded by a multitude of hands—left by the artist as a signature? added by others? random symbolism lost in time?  These mysterious horses are filled-in with a plentitude 

Comparisons of Modern and Ancient Horse Phenotypes

 

of black dots that have had many theories since Pech Merle was discovered in 1922.  The most commonly accepted explanation of these special spotted horses was that they were mystical spiritual beings.  However, recent DNA analysis shows that spotted horses actually existed in this region during the Paleolithic.  So these paintings are a representation of actual spotted equine life 25,000 years ago. 

Lacave Formations

Here is the link to a New York Times article that explains the research in terms that you and I can understand.  http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/08/science/spotted-horses-in-cave-art-werent-just-a-figment-dna-shows.html. 

Get Me Out of Here!

I discovered that I am claustrophobic—while walking through caves 150m below the surface of the earth.  We were taking a tour of the Lacave caves in the northern part of the Department of Lot.  To access this particular cave, you first need to take a train from the surface through a very small, extensive tunnel.  When we got out of the train, there were more small tunnels in front of us and no apparent guide.  Then, behind us, the train started driving back to the surface.  I think that the combination of small dark tunnels and no organization prompted my feelings of fear.  Then the guide found the group and we started the tour, me battling my feelings of panic the whole time. 

Perfectly Still Pools

Dripping Stalactites

Lacave is a series of 12 interlinking chambers connected by small passageways.  As we descended deeper into the cave system, the formations became more and more fantastical and eerie.  There were perfectly still pools that acted as mirrors to the ceilings above creating the impression of profound, infinite depths.  Tiny crystalized calcite flowers sparkled in the lamplight and looked like stars glittering on the ceiling.  My favorite formations were les draperies, draperies, wavy lines of stalactites that followed the curves and cracks of the ceiling.  They truly looked like careless folds of cloth. 

Defying all rules of gravity, some stalactites grew horizontally.  They had a weird branching form that resembled coral, tree branches, and something entirely alien.  For a structure that forms itself by dripping water, any formation that isn’t vertical should be impossible.  Speleologists (cave scientists) have no idea why, or how, the stalactites grow like this. 

Examples of Columns

There were examples of three different types stalactite/stalagmite columns.  In the first example, stalagmites and stalactites both grow towards each other and join to form a single pillar.  Second, stalagmites can grow to behemoth proportions and bond with the ceiling.  Some of the stalagmite pillars we saw had the girth of redwoods.  Thirdly, the pillars can form from the ceiling as stalactites.  Stalactites in general are finer and resemble gigantic icicles.  These formations grow three centimeters every century.  If you touch or break a stalactite or stalagmite in France, you can go to prison. 

While the cave was spectacular, I was thrilled when we arrived back at the surface.  I am happy that I voyaged into the entrails of the earth; now I have great memories.  But I am definitely happier to see the caves in my mind and in our pictures than in reality. 

Cervid and Mysterious Symbols in Lascaux II

Perhaps the most famous of the prehistoric painted caves is Lascaux.  Discovered in 1940 by four teenagers and their dog, Lascaux is unique in the quantity and quality of its art.  During the years after Lascaux was opened, 1,200 visitors per day flocked there to ogle the art.  The stampede of humans had two disastrous consequences for the paintings.  Mold and algae were introduced to the cave environment, soon prehistoric cave conservationists started noticing a green film growing on the images.  The other problem brought in with the tourists was called “The White Disease”.  The CO₂ expelled from people’s lungs caused increased precipitation of calcite on the images.  Conservationists noticed paintings fade as if from behind thick fog as the calcite crystals grew.  Because of these dangers to the 17,000 year-old paintings, Lascaux Cave was closed to the public in 1963. 

The Chamber of Bulls

In 1978 the idea for Lascaux II was born.  Only 50m of the original Lascaux Cave were replicated in Lascaux II, as this one small section contained 90% of the art found in the original.  The process to build the reproduction was long and complicated and must have cost millions of dollars.  First, a metal cage was molded into the exact contours of the cave, then concrete was poured over it to give the cave its dimensionality, and next artists recreated the texture and colour of the rocks.  Finally, a team of artists worked for many years to repaint the prehistoric art.  All the art in Lascaux II is painted using, as close as can be determined, the same techniques and pigments as were used 17,000 years ago.  Lascaux II was opened in 1983 as the exact replica of the original—with under 5mm of error. 

A Two Meter-Long Bull

I was expecting Lascaux to be a large system of “caves” covered with art similar in style to that found at Pech Merle.  I also thought that since we were in a human construct, the paintings would feel less special and that we would feel like we were in a museum.  I was completely wrong on every count. 

As we stepped into the “cave” the temperature dropped and it was like we had actually been transported beneath the earth.  Lascaux II is small; there are only three chambers.  Then I glanced upwards and my gaze was fixed to the ceiling for the rest of the tour.  The Bull’s Chamber is covered in vibrant images that almost seem prepared to jump of the rock.  There is a swirling mix of animals including giant aurochs, horses (no spots), deer with swirling ornate antlers, and a multitude of strange symbols that resembled hieroglyphics. 

Like the "Sistine Chapel"

As in Pech Merle, the 5-10 prehistoric artists of Lascaux used the contours of the rock to add personality and perspective to their paintings.  Horses march along in single file across a rocky plateau formed by a natural rock protrusion.  Antlers are only hinted at in textured rock striations.  Heads are given definition by shadow and light.  Unlike Pech Merle, the animals portrayed in Lascaux are comparatively realistic and detailed.  Some animals have painted in bodies and most resemble the animals as they would have seen them in reality.  In Pech Merle, the artist seemed to strive for a minimum of lines to capture the animals, while in Lascaux the artists used many more lines to create vibrant and alive images. 

No claustrophobia plagued me in Lascaux II.  Perhaps my subconscious recognized that we were not truly in a cave.  Or maybe, the magic of the paintings and history diverted my psyche enough so that I could enjoy to fantastic images of the “Sistine Chapel” of painted caves.  

Photos of Pech Merle and Lascaux courtesy of: 

http://www.dinosoria.com/hominides/pech-merle-4.jpg
http://www.dkiel.com/SouthofFrance/Dordogne/PechMerle/Cave35.jpg 

Pruvosta et al. 2011, PNAS

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/96/Lascaus%2C_Megaloceros.JPG

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/1e/Lascaux_painting.jpg 

http://www.plazacmeteo.fr/img/lascaux.JPG 

http://www.live2times.com/imgupload/event/107395/080411160852/normal/lascaux-ii-ouvre-ses-portes-au-publiclascauxii-.jpg