Lascaux Cave

Lascaux Cave

Situated in southwestern France, close to the town of Montignac in the Dordogne region, Lascaux Cave is a Paleolithic cave. Near 600 artistic creations decorate the inside walls of the cave.

Most of the paintings are of animals like horses, however, deer, aurochs, ibex, bison, and even a few cats can likewise be found. Other than these artistic creations, which speak to a large portion of the significant pictures, there are additionally around 1400 inscriptions of a comparative order.

The paintings, dated to c. 17,000 – c. 15,000 BCE, falls inside the Upper Paleolithic time period and was made by the unmistakably skilled hands of humans living in the region around them. Lascaux was added to the UNESCO World Heritage Sites list in 1979, alongside other ancient prehistoric sites in its vicinity.

Table of Contents

The discovery

Four young men inspected the fox gap down on 12 September 1940 CE which their puppy had fallen on the slope of Lascaux. After broadening the passageway, Marcel Ravidat was the first to slide down to the base, his three companions trailing him.

With a temporary lamp to light their direction, they found a more extensive variety of animals than anticipated; in the Axial Gallery, they initially experienced the paintings on the walls.

The next day they returned, better arranged this time, and investigated further parts of the cave. The young men, told their teacher what they found, after which the procedure of excavating the cave initiated. By 1948 CE the cave was prepared to be open to people in general.

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The art

From the findings originated from the cave, we realize that the more profound parts of the cave were lit by sandstone lights that utilized animal fat as fuel. The cave itself indicates just provisional occupation, presumably related to creating art.

Here, the artists worked in what more likely than not been smoky conditions, utilizing minerals as colors for their pictures. Reds, yellows, and blacks are the prevalent hues.

The red color was made by hematite, either crude or as found inside red clay and ochre; yellow by iron oxyhydroxides; and dark either by charcoal or manganese oxides. The colors were made by grinding, blending, or warming, after which they were painted onto the walls of the cave.

To create the compositions they used their fingers or charcoal, applied shade with ‘brushes’ made of hair or moss, and blowing the color on a stencil or directly onto the walls with, for example, an empty bone. Other than the depictions, numerous tools were found at Lascaux.

Among these are numerous stone tools, some of which show indications of being utilized particularly to carve inscriptions into the walls. Tools made of bones were additionally present.

Animal figure at Lascaux

The art at Lascaux was both painted on and engraved into the uneven walls of the caves, the artists working with the edges and bends of the walls to improve their compositions.

The subsequent amazing depictions portray chiefly animals, yet additionally a lot of abstract symbols, and even a human can also be found. A couple of carnivores, for example, lions and bears, are likewise present.

The archeological record of the region demonstrates that the portrayed animals reflect the fauna that was known to these Paleolithic people.

The animals are appeared in side-view, however with their horns turned, giving the artworks liveliness characteristic of remarkable skill.

Up until this point, these animals are effectively identifiable, however, others are less obvious, for example, the apparently pregnant horse with what seems as though one horn on its head.

Another puzzling figure is delineated with jaguar skin, a deer’s tail, a buffalo’s mound, two horns, and a male part. Some scholars have proposed it might be a sorcerer or wizard, yet what it truly speaks to is difficult to decide.

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Animal figures at Lascaux

Cave at Present

The original cave was closed to general society in 1963 CE after it turned out to be evident that the numerous visitors caused, among others, the development of algae on the cave walls, doing permanent harm to the works of art.

And as a result, fungi spread inside the cave, and actions to control these issues and secure the art are progressing. Lascaux II, a replica of the Great Hall of the Bulls and the Painted Gallery areas, was created for those who look for an alternative experience which was opened in 1983 CE and is situated at 200 meters from the first cave.

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