THE AUTHORS Muriel Mauriac, author of the preface, is the curator of the Lascaux cave. Yves Coppens, author of the foreword, is a palaeontologist and co-discoverer or co-signatory of six new hominids including “Lucy” (Australopithecus afarensis). Professor at the Collège de France and the Muséum national d’Histoire naturelle, member of the French Academies of Sciences and Medicine, he presided the International Scientific Council of Lascaux from 2010 to 2017. Pedro Lima, author of the texts, is a scientific journalist specializing in prehistory. He has visited many of the major sanctuaries of Palaeolithic cave art, including Lascaux and Chauvet-Pont d’Arc, and records in his works the beauty of these sites belonging to the shared heritage of humanity. Philippe Psaïla, principal author of the images and the multimedia content, is a photographer and videographer specializing in reportages on knowledge, science and discovery.
© Éditions Synops, 2017 ISBN : 978-2-9542888-9-5 This book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, resold, hired out or otherwise circulated without the publisher’s prior written consent in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser. All rights reserved including rights of reproduction for the text and design. Translation © Venetia Bell www.synops-editions.fr
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LASCAUX Pedro Lima - Philippe Psaïla With Yves Coppens Preface by Muriel Mauriac
Translated from the French by Venetia Bell
ENTRANCE
APSE
HALL OF THE BULLS
SHAFT SCENE
AXIAL GALLERY
NAVE
PASSAGEWAY
CHAMBER OF FELINES
CONTENTS
Preface
Introduction
Foreword
A MASTERPIECE TO BE PASSED DOWN TO FUTURE GENERATIONS
LASCAUX: A WORK OF LIFE AND HUMANITY
FROM THE ORIGINS OF MANKIND TO THE ORIGINS OF ART
By Pedro Lima
By Yves Coppens
By Muriel Mauriac
10 - 11
15
18 - 33
01
02
03
LASCAUX REVEALED
UNDER THE SIGN OF THE BULL
THE SISTINE CHAPEL OF PREHISTORY
From Discovery to Closing
The Hall of the Bulls
The Axial Gallery
34 - 51
52 - 79
80 - 111
04
05
06
IN THE HEART OF THE PALAEOLITHIC SANCTUARY
A FORGOTTEN LASCAUX EMERGES FROM THE SHADOWS
THE LAST SECRET OF LASCAUX
The Passageway and the Apse
The Nave
112 - 125
126 - 157
07
Conclusion
FACSIMILES: THE GREAT ADVENTURE
THE COMPLEXITY OF HOMO SAPIENS
Lascaux II, III and IV
170 - 201
By Pedro Lima
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The Shaft Scene
158 - 169
P R E FAC E
A Masterpiece to be passed down to future generations
access to the cave and an end to biocide treatments, have resulted in the relative stability of the cave today, the various phenomena that perturbed it have not yet all been explained.
Veritable masterpiece of parietal art, inestimable treasure, the Lascaux cave arouses passion and fascination like no other. Accidentally discovered on 12 September 1940 by four young boys, George Agniel, Simon Coencas, Jacques Marsal and Marcel Ravidat, in a country bruised by war, Lascaux was very quickly to gain worldwide fame as much for the beauty of its painted and engraved works as for its problems of conservation.
It is with an interdisciplinary approach in the interest of the conservation of the cave that scientific research, diversified but complementary, has been initiated. This research has made it possible to achieve remarkable advances in scientific knowledge. It aims to correlate climatic, microclimatic and microbiological data but also to gain more insight into the geological functioning of the cave at the level of the karstic massif in which it is located.
Immediately considered to be a major event – the author Georges Bataille spoke of the birth of art – this discovery was to offer the world a cave untouched by exploration, eliciting the enthusiasm of the international scientific community and the general public. But its opening to visitors, and its incredible popularity rapidly destabilized its fragile natural environment. From crises to solutions, Lascaux was to become the site of multiple experiments that have made it, most unwillingly, a laboratory for the conservation of decorated caves.
Beyond the scientific rigour indispensable for the management of such a site, how can one not be sensitive to the beauty of these paintings and engravings, and their abundance in such a small space? How not to catch one’s breath before the face to face of two aurochs as powerful as they are monumental, which are in such contrast with the delicacy and extreme refinement of the engravings? How not to be amazed by the galloping horses and ponies whose graphic treatment reinforces the impression of movement? If the deeper meaning of these works escapes us today, they are undeniably the product of sophisticated thought and great technical prowess, bringing them closer to us in a common search for universality.
The bioclimatic crisis experienced at the beginning of the 2000s returned the cave to a state of emergency and again forced the French Ministry of Culture to develop a preventive conservation programme for the cavity and its greatly perturbed ecosystem, which had become resistant to repeated biocide treatments. If the measures implemented, in particular highly restricted
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All Lascaux
everyone to be a necessity, another one that leads to sharing knowledge and understanding opened in December 2016 with Lascaux International Centre for Cave Art.
The various compositions decorating the cave do not seem to us to be connected to each other. It is however quite likely that they may have been speaking to each other, in a subtle dialogue making sense: arranged by species, the animals of each group are depicted facing in the same direction and the incidence of isolated animals is rare. Should we see here a desire to create coherence within a group? But what raises even more questions is the extreme simplicity with which the only human figure in the cave has been portrayed. Is it the result of a social taboo forbidding the representation of man? The aptitude of Homo sapiens to develop complex concepts, to organise his kind within a social group, to use his powers of observation in his natural surroundings: all these qualities contributed to the creation of this masterpiece.
Today’s humans are greatly reproached for profoundly changing and even destroying their environment and the planet. By painting and engraving the walls of the Lascaux cave, our ancestors showed their sensitivity to the life that surrounds us and left a trace of the genius of humanity. It is up to us to preserve it!
The importance and the renown of the Lascaux cave, the various bioclimatic episodes since its discovery in 1940, the complexity and the number of scientific variables entering into play to establish diagnostics and treatments all recommend method, prudence et circumspection. If we are not able to return the cave to the equilibrium that it enjoyed in its initial isolation, everything is undertaken in order to ensure the conservation of this jewel, as well as possible, as long as possible. And if today closing the bronze door of the Lascaux cave to the public is considered by
Muriel Mauriac Curator of the Lascaux cave
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A Harmonious polychromatic quartet
The Ceiling of the Axial Gallery
the years following the uncovering of the cave, in effect holes corresponding to fixing and solidifying such a structure were identified on the walls, for example between the feet of the Great Black Bull. Installed on this solid edifice, the painters could then prepare their colours on palettes made from thin slabs of limestone that were also found in the archaeological strata. This consisted of scraping compact blocks of mineral pigments, ochre and manganese dioxide, originating in deposits close to Lascaux, before mixing the powders they obtained and adding a little clay or water in order to arrive at the proper consistency. Dozens of fragments of coloured matter, in the form of blocks, powders or “crayons” have been found inside the cave. Once blended together, they enabled the painters to compose a particularly rich palette, consisting of some twenty-odd hues. The paint was then applied with a brush made from animal hairs, as seen in the delicate horns of the two-coloured cows.
Precision of colours, delicacy of brushstrokes, placidity of the cows in sharp contrast to the larger-than-life bulls in the previous room, sensation of plenitude that exudes from this sumptuous bestiary… The first metres of the Axial Gallery evoke a peaceful time, almost an enchanted one, perhaps a myth of origins and fertility transmitted by the artists. Whatever their actual meaning may be, the decorated panels assemble in a space of less than twenty linear metres more masterpieces than most of the decorated caves so far brought to light. To the extent of constituting, according to the prehistorian Jean Clottes, the absolute summit, or pinnacle, of Palaeolithic parietal art. Shortly after its discovery in 1940, this gallery of paintings was baptized the “Sistine Chapel of Prehistory” by Abbé Breuil, so impressed was he by the genius of the artists. More than any other, the four figures whose heads meet on the ceiling of the corridor, once past the first red and black cow, illustrate this search for perfection. This can be seen in the three other cows and one horse combining elaborate graphic techniques, using red, brown and yellow hues of ochre on the immaculately white vaulted ceiling measuring four metres in height. To gain access to this stone veil that could not otherwise be reached, the artists first built wooden scaffolding, most probably using oak beams from the surrounding forests. In
Particularly visible in this view of the ceiling of the Axial Gallery, the layer of immaculately white calcite covering the stone has detached itself at certain points, before the painters worked here.
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The Axial Gallery
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Two crossed bison in three dimensions
The Panel of the Crossed Bison
brush, stencil and the spray technique gave of his best in the rendering of perspective. Thus to take into account the anatomies of both bovines and their positions in relation to each other, in several places he used the technique of reserve, present elsewhere but reaching a higher level here. In this way, the two right legs of the left bison are separated from the rest of the body by an area left deliberately empty, creating the illusion that they are far away from each other. A reserve has also been used in a very ingenious way at the crossing of the two powerful rumps. The boundary between the two planes includes a narrow space free of black pigment, making the yellow of the underlying clayey limestone stand out. The optical effect is striking: the deliberately uncoloured space underlines the separation of the two masses, making it possible to distinguish one mammal from another at first sight.
These are the last two figures to be seen on the left-hand wall of the Nave, where the slope drops towards a narrow terminal gallery. They are two bison with crossed hindquarters that exude force, strength and vitality. To represent this Ice Age duo, the Palaeolithic painter put all his already considerable understanding of the rules of perspective to use. The two animals are clearly gendered, as indicated by the penile sheath represented under each of them. The only difference to be discerned between the two individuals are chromatic: the sexual organ of the one to the right is painted brick red, that of the bison on the left coloured in black with manganese dioxide. As for the right bovine’s coat, it is uniformly black, standing out superbly from a wall that is evener in this nook of the cavity, and which has taken on warm tones of golden yellow. The fleece of the left bison, mostly black, presents a wide band of the same brick red applied to the penile sheath of his fellow. This reddish patch may conceivably correspond to a spring coat, characterized by shedding and thus a loss in the thickness of the fleece. The symmetrical effect of the two crossed bison, undoubtedly willed by the painter, is intensified by the natural relief of the wall. Indeed, the panel is painted on two planes pointed toward the depth of the rock niche, joining precisely at the intersection of the two rumps. A view of this composition, at once simple and most impressive, and quite devoid of engravings, almost makes us believe that the artist consciously chose this very specific topography to represent two key animals from his mythical bestiary. Besides an optimum use of the relief, which also led him to exploit a bulge in the rock to give volume to the left aurochs’ hump, the painter who worked on this panel using
The final singularity of this imposing panel, which brings a close to the visit of the Nave before exploring the extraordinary Shaft Scene, resides in the crossing of the two animals. Certainly the painter or painters of Lascaux staged many animal duos of the same species in other places in the cave. We may cite for instance the two great aurochs on the left-hand wall of the Hall of the Bulls, the ibexes below the Falling Cow at the bottom of the Axial Gallery, or the two yellow-orange onagers on the left-hand wall of this same gallery. They were all represented in confrontation, perhaps symbolizing combats between males linked to rut, or rivalry between females. Much earlier in time, 37,000 years ago in the Chauvet-Pont d’Arc cave in the Ardèche, the Aurignacians had already drawn two rhinoceroses in charcoal that seem to be challenging each other in horn-to-horn combat. But here in the
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The Nave
View of the Panel of the Crossed Bison from the bottom of the Nave, with the panels of the Great Black Cow and the Imprint in the background.
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