Stone Age Cave Paintings
One of archaeology’s most exciting discoveries was made by four French boys and possibly a dog. One day in 1940, Marcel, Jacques, Georges and Simon found a hole in the ground in woods near the village of Montignac in the Dordogne region of France. Whether they had a dog called Robot with them and it chased a rabbit into the hole is uncertain.
There was a local story about a secret tunnel that led to buried treasure and the boys thought this might be it. After dropping stones into the hole to get an idea of how deep it was, one by one they went cautiously down into a narrow shaft. Their anxiety turned to awe after they had climbed down 15 metres (nearly 50ft) and found a cave decorated with paintings. Marcel said that the paintings were "a cavalcade of animals larger than life" and that they "seemed to be moving."
The boys were worried about getting back up again, but they managed it using their elbows and knees. Thrilled, they promised each other to keep their discovery a secret and to explore the cave again the next day. After that, they decided to show it to friends for a tiny admission fee.
The news spread quickly and more and more people came to see the cave. Eventually the boys told their teacher, Leon Laval, as he was keenly interested in prehistory*. He suspected it was a ruse to trap him in the hole, but when he went cautiously down and saw the paintings he immediately felt sure they were prehistoric**. So he insisted that no one must be allowed to touch them and they must be guarded against vandalism.
The sensational news spread through Europe and the rest of the world and in 1948 the family that owned the land organised daily tours that eventually brought thousands of visitors every year to see for themselves. The cave was called Lascaux Grotte. (Grotte is French for cave.)
Dated to about 15,000 bc, the paintings show a species of bull that is now extinct. They also show oxen, horses and stags as well as arrows and traps. There are more paintings in galleries that lead off from the main cave. They confirm previous discoveries, which show that, the first human beings believed in religion and magic. They buried their dead formally with equipment for another life and they may have believed in a great mother goddess, the source of all life.
As early humans were hunters, one of the purposes of the paintings may have been to to try to bring about successful hunting in real life. There is a figure of a man with a bird’s head, perhaps a shaman***, who carried out rituals in the cave.
As early humans were hunters, one of the purposes of the paintings may have been to to try to bring about successful hunting in real life. There is a figure of a man with a bird’s head, perhaps a shaman***, who carried out rituals in the cave.
The thousands of visitors to the cave did not mean to harm the paintings, but they did, simply by breathing on them. Condensation formed on the walls and ceilings, moisture ran down the paintings and lichens and mould developed. High-powered lighting added to the damage and the paintings began to fade. The cave was closed to the public in 1963 by the French minister of culture, André Malraux, and only experts were allowed in.
Lascaux II
A replica of the site was built nearby for the public in 1983 and attracts 300,000 visitors a year. Efforts to stop the damage to the original paintings are continuing. In 2009 the French ministry of culture brought together lots of experts to consider ways to stop the paintings from getting worse.
* Prehistory is the time before there were written records of events, such as the Stone Age.
** Prehistoric describes things in the time when there were no written records, eg the dinosaurs were prehistoric animals.
***A shaman is a person who is thought to have special powers to control good and evil spirits, making it possible for them to discover the cause of illness, bad luck, etc.
** Prehistoric describes things in the time when there were no written records, eg the dinosaurs were prehistoric animals.
***A shaman is a person who is thought to have special powers to control good and evil spirits, making it possible for them to discover the cause of illness, bad luck, etc.
Source: http://www.historytoday.com/richard-cavendish/lascaux-cave-paintings-discovered