Академический Документы
Профессиональный Документы
Культура Документы
The entrance to Lascaux is halfway up the side of a hill. The cave is no more than
250 metres deep, with a drop in level of about thirty metres.
The research carried out during the past decades has placed the iconography of
Lascaux at the beginning of the Magdalenian Age, that is, 17,000 years before
today. However, certain indications, both thematic and graphic, suggest that
certain figures could belong to a more recent period. This is borne out by dating
with Carbon 14 (around 15,000 years old)
1940 0TKRIA
A teenage jaunt on the hill overlooking the village of Montignac was to materialise
into one of the most renowned archaeological discoveries of the XXth Century.
In the middle of the woods, above the Lascaux manor, a hole had opened up
following the fall of a big pine tree several years before.
Large red cows, yellow horses, bulls and black stags, all in
uncoordinated movement
Research showed that this deterioration was caused by the intensive development
of this site. The Ministry of Cultural Affairs, headed by Andr Malraux, had the
cave closed on April 20 1963.
Once the visits to the cave had been cancelled, the causes of the changes
eliminated, and the original climatic conditions recreated, the Lascaux cave art
returned to the state it was in on the day of its discovery.
At present, the site, in particular the walls and cave drawings, is checked daily. The
protocol used to monitor the state of conservation was developed by the
Laboratoire de recherche des Monuments Historiques (L. R. M. H. Historic
monuments research laboratory). It has set up a computerised system which uses
remote metering to record the least variation in temperature, hygrometry, and
carbon dioxide gas pressure in the cave.
However, the biological equilibrium of the cave remains fragile. Throughout the
summer of 2001, colonies of micro-organisms, mushrooms and bacteria developed
on the rock edges and on the floor of the cave. Fungicides and antibiotics, as well
as the application of quicklime, were immediately used to treat the affected areas.
This new problem has now been contained.
The authorities decided to create a life size copy of this Palaeolithic sanctuary to
compensate the general public for the loss caused by the closing of the cave. In
March 1980, the Dordogne Department tourism authority was given responsibility for
the work. They decided to reproduce the two most representative sections of the
site, the Great Hall of the Bulls and the Painted Gallery.
The reproduction is a half-buried structure enclosing a cement shell which
corresponds exactly in shape to the interior of the original. This shape was
achieved by using isometric curves calculated by the I.G.N. (National Geography
Institute), to create a series of transverse sections made up of square iron bars
placed side by side at intervals of 50cm.
Several layers
of wire mesh
were laid over
this metal
framework.
The mesh was
fine enough to
hold the
cement
projected onto
the framework
to create the
skin of the
copy.
II DIO
INDENTIFIKACIJA FIGURA
(1/3)
(2/3)
[Pass the mouse over the photo to see the head and shoulders.]
Aurochs :
Large wild ox, now extinct.
Protom :
Reprsentation de la tte et de l'encolure
d'un tre vivant.
TEHNICAL
drawing.
Rouffignac (Dordogne)
Drawing of a mammoth.
Analyses of the reveal that mainly metal oxides, iron and manganese,
were used. At the present stage of research no trace of charcoal has been found
contrary to the caves in Lot, Arige or Ardche. The present day history of the
Prigord as well as our many prospecting expeditions show that this region has
many manganese deposits, a phenomenon which didn't escape the notice of
Palaeolithic man.
The Palaeolithic artists did not confine themselves to the more promising sectors
of the cavern, which were often easily reached. Certain figures required tedious
work that sometimes involved advancing along a twisting ledge as at Fontanet
(Arige) or creeping along for several tens of metres as at Gabillou, La Fret or
Combarelles (Dordogne). Besides, the decorated surfaces could also be several
metres above the floor, and therefore inaccessible except with scaffolds or simple
poles.
From their
very even
distribution
we may
deduce that
a (certainly
temporary)
wooden
structure
could have
been
inserted,
anchored at
such a level
as to permit
access to the
surface of
the vault and
making it
easier for the
painter's
work to
evolve.
Intrados :
Surface intrieure d'une vote.
Registre :
Division arbitraire d'une surface orne.
Vire :
Palier trs troit qui rompt la verticalit de
la paroi.
OSVJETLJENJE
At the end of the XIX Century, there were numerous opponents to the recognition of
Palaeolithic Cave Art. One of the arguments cited was the question of lighting. For
some it seemed very unlikely that man could have done paintings or engravings in
the further reaches of the cave far from the light of day. He was thought to be
incapable of creating an instrument which would be both portable and capable of
giving off sufficient light to allow him to work under the conditions imposed by the
natural environment.
Nevertheless, four years after the
discovery of the wall art in the La
Mouthe Cave (Dordogne) E. Rivire,
who had recognised the discovery
in 1895, found a sandstone object
decorated with an engraved ibex at
that site. On the opposite side a
circular depression had been
hollowed out. Its base was covered
with a carbon deposit. Analysis
revealed the presence of
inflammable matter with an animal
fat base. La Mouthe (Dordogne) Entrance to the sanctuary
This was the first prehistoric lamp
recognised as such.
The excavations carried out by Abbot A. Glory at Lascaux at the foot of the Scene
of the Dead Man, were to lead to the discovery of another lamp, made out of one
piece of red sandstone whose handle was decorated with an engraving.
The painters' tools pads brushes, stencils... all made of organic materials (wood,
skin, horsehair) have deteriorated as a result of natural weathering. On the other
hand, for this type of site a large number of flint tools have survived: blades,
backed bladelets and flakes. More than 350 pieces have been found, some of
which bear the marks of having been specifically used for engraving.
DETERIORATION
Caves are considered to be
the sites offering the best
conditions for the
conservation of different
vestiges of human activity.
Nevertheless, deterioration of
this heritage occurs due to
numerous causes. These can
be of natural, animal, or
human origin and take
different forms :
rainwater.
(2/5)
Entrance of Vielmouly
(4/5)
When there are several natural entrances to the cave, air masses circulate more
easily causing corrosion of the walls. The moisture-laden air combines with the
excess carbon dioxide in the cave to form carbonic acid which dissolves the
limestone.
Wall corroded by carbonic acid
Rainwater seeping into the cave combined with certain thermal conditions and a
different concentration of CO2 from what is in the fissures of the rock are so
many factors that encourage the formation of on the walls and therefore
on the paintings or engravings.
Distribution of alterant phenomena
DATOVANJE
The range of methods and tools used to date the cave art is somewhat limited,
partly because the figures are not in a position favourable to stratigraphic dating
most of the time and also because of the nature of the materials used. In the
eventuality of a single period of Palaeolithic occupation of the site as at Fontanet
(Arige), Combarelles or Rouffingnac (Dordogne), and to some extent, at Lascaux,
it is reasonable to note the contemporaneousness of the wall paintings and the
material found on the floor of the cave. Whether lithic or bone, or in the form of
products of combustion, these elements are more easily dated.
An identical approach applies to the which had fallen to the ground
during the painting or drawing. They have been sealed in the archaeological
levels, at the foot of the decorated walls and are therefore contemporary with the
datable archaeological artefacts, and can be dated using radiometry (bone,
carbon) or possibly typology (lithic or bone industry). During the past few
decades several attempts have been made at direct dating of the paintings using
the radiocarbon method (J. Clottes and M. Lorblanchet). The ever-improving
performance of radioactive measuring instruments today allows analyses to be
made of matter weighing only a few milligrams. Nevertheless, only the paintings
and drawings which incorporate charcoal can be studied in this way; in most of
the Perigord caves, as at Lascaux, typing of the shows that the basis of
the material used on all the figures is metal oxides, iron or manganese, materials
that are impossible to date using the suggested methods.
BIBLIOGRAFIJA
This bibliographical and multimedia guide will help you to learn more about
the cave, the literature and the research carried out over many years at
Lascaux.
Aujoulat (N.)
Le relev des oeuvres paritales palolithiques, enregistrement et
traitement des donnes.
DAF n 9, Ed. Maison des Sciences de l'Homme, Paris, 1987.
Bataille (G.)
Lascaux ou la naissance de l'art.
Skira, Genve, 1955.
Breuil (H.)
Quatre cents sicles d'art parital.
C.E.D.P. Montignac, 1952.
Brunet (J.)
quilibre climatique dans les grottes.
Site web "Sciences et patrimoine culturel"
Laming-Emperaire (A.)
La signification de l'art rupestre palolithique ; Mthodes et applications.
Ed. A. et J. Picard & Cie, Paris, 1962.
Leroi-Gourhan (A.)
Prhistoire de l'art occidental.
Mazenod, Paris, 1965.
Ministre de la Culture
L'art des cavernes : atlas des grottes ornes palolithiques franaises
Paris : Ministre de la Culture et de la Communication, Imprimerie Nationale,
1984.
Ruspoli (M.)
Lascaux, un nouveau regard
Bordas, Paris, 1986.
ISTRAIVANJA
Abbot Henri Breuil
TEME
(1/4)
There are very few sanctuaries where the human figure is reproduced several times.
Lascaux is true to this tradition: in fact, there is only a single anthropomorphic
representation at this site, in the Shaft of the Dead Man.
.(
The signs which are often associated with animals, make up a schematic group
that we can divide into two categories.
Common to many
sites the first consists
of simple shapes
made up of dots
(isolated dots,
concentrated or in a
line) or linear (lines,
curves, striations...).
The second is more
elaborately drawn
(quadrangles,
triangles, circles,
pentagons, branched
chains...) and is only
found at a few sites.
Because of the complexity of some signs
we can make comparisons between
sanctuaries both in space and time. Thus
the quadrangular signs we find several
times on the walls of Lascaux are
comparable in every way with those found
in the Gabillou (Dordogne) painted cave.
This similarity allows us to argue in
favour of some contemporaneity in the art
of the two sites. The Painted Gallery
Most of these techniques are found in the Bison Diptych in the Main Gallery :
arou
nd the
hindquarters
to make a
clear
demarcation
between
subjects
arou
nd the joints
in limbs in
the
background
This technique reaches its pinnacle when the artist distorts his subject in order to
give normal proportions to an animal depiction very high up on the wall, so that
from the floor, the picture's lines are in perspective.
For information on the region: visit the Conseil gnral du Prigord Web Site.