[Home ] [Home B ] [Evolve ] [Viva! ] [Site Map ] [Site Map A ] [Site Map B ] [Bulletin Board ] [SPA ] [Child of Fortune ] [Search ] [ABOL ] help * * *LASCAUX -- MOVEMENT, SPACE, AND TIME* *Lighting* Palaeolithic man used several types of lighting to explore the underground environment. The narrowness of the cave entrance - limiting the penetration of daylight to only a few metres - and the nature of the system of galleries made it necessary to use some form of lighting. In some caves, marks on walls, ledges or floors, where Palaeolithic man snuffed our torches and lamps, and traces of hearths survive to this day. Different types of lighting were used for different activities: hearths illuminated one whole sector, torches aided passage through the cave, and lamps produced a more defined light for artistic activities. We know that lamps were certainly used at Lascaux. The other forms of lighting, based on calcined organic material, are more difficult to locate and identify. However, the huge number of charcoal fragments recovered -- moved and dispersed by the flow of underground water or the movement of man -- would suggest that there were indeed hearths. They were not preserved in their original condition, but pieces of charcoal from them were carried away by water and scattered, or trampled. As for torches, no traces of smuts have been discovered on the walls at Lascaux. The high density of the figures painted and engraved on the walls and respect for the art and the walls might explain this absence. Lamps at that time were made of durable minerals, and many have survived. Chance discoveries and excavations have yielded more than a hundred specimens. The majority are simple limestone slabs, sometimes with a slight concavity where the combustible material (animal fur) would have been placed. This natural depression makes it easy to identify these objects as lamps, but often there are also black carbonaceous residues and, in cases of prolonged use, even red colouration. /40 Lamp of rose-coloured sandstone, found at the foot of the Shaft Scene during excavations by Andre Glory, 1959. It bears two signs on the upper face of the handle/ Two of the portable objects recovered during Andre Glory's excavations in the Shaft merit closer inspection. One, a tallow-burning lamp made of pink sandstone (ill. 40), is intact, but the other, a rim, is just a fragment of a second lamp. The complete lamp is much more elaborate than the other examples. Measuring a maximum of 22.4 centimetres by 10.6 centimetres and with an average depth of 3 centimetres, it was manufactured in the shape of a tennis racket. There are remains of combustion in the concave section, identified as carbonized fragments of juniper and coniferous wood. The edge of the hollow is blackened over several centimetres. The handle is decorated with two nested engraved symbols, identical to those found on the walls of the Apse, the Axial Gallery, the Nave and the Chamber of the Felines, as well as on a spear. An engraved longitudinal line runs between and separates the two sets of incisions. The fragmentary rim bears similarities to the intact lamp as they were both manufactured in the same way. The majority of these objects were found at the foot of the Shaft Scene and the panel of the Great Black Cow in the Nave. These two locations also have the highest levels of carbon dioxide in the cave: here, the concentration of carbon dioxide often lies between 1 and 3 per cent, or indeed more, and ir can exceed 6 per cent in the Shaft. These concentrations vary during the year, reaching their highest in summer and autumn. It may just be a coincidence that the majority of lamps were found where carbon dioxide levels are at their highest. However, it is possible that the high concentration of carbon dioxide necessitated the use of the numerous lamps found in those locations, as the flame of a candle or oil lamp would be affected by a carbon dioxide concentration of 2 per cent and is often extinguished when it exceeds 3 per cent. *Dating Lascaux.* The relatively important assemblage of portable objects recovered in situ and the limited number of incursions into the deep galleries of the cave during the entire Upper Palaeolithic have helped in working out the chronology of Lascaux. The inaccessibility of the entrance -largely due to its position on the mid-slope of a smooth-faced hill, where it has been subject to extensive solifluction, and its instability - ensured that the cave remained relatively undisturbed. During certain periods, the entrance was entirely closed up. The entrances to cave systems in this type of topographical relief ate always of modest dimensions and thus difficult to locate, limiting access and human intrusion. In areas characterized by steep walls and high overhangs, such as the region around Les Eyzies-de-Tayac, the situation could not be more different. These formations favour permanent access to the underground realm. Located at the foot of a cliff, the caves are less susceptible to natural phenomena and have been much easier to find over the course of time. Thus, at Font-de-Gaume, just as at La Mouthe, La Greze or Oreille-d'Enfer, parietal art and excavations reveal several occupations of the same site, from the Aurignacian up until the Upper Magdalenian (ill. 41). (...) /41 Chronology of parietal art during the Upper Palaeolithic./ Henri Breuil and Denis Peyrony were the first to assess the chronology of Lascaux, looking at parietal art and portable objects respectively. Both of them established an association with the Upper Perigordian (known today as the Gravettian). For Breuil, the chronology of the Palaeolithic parietal art depended on two cycles: one Aurignacian- Perigordian, the other Solutrean-Magdalenian. Using the stratigraphy of decorated rock from Abri Labattut and Abri Blanchard (Aurignacian), he was able to date Lascaux's art. The blocks from Abri Labanut and Abri Blanchard depicted a cervid and a bovine, and aurochs or bison respectively. For Breuil, the morphology of the animals and the technique of their engraving bore striking similarities to works in the Hall of the Bulls or the Axial Gallery. But the most marked difference lay in the use of perspective, particularly in the horns and hooves of the bovines. Breuil noticed a distortion of the contours of the great aurochs: the right horns follow a simple curve, whereas the left horns are marked by a double curve. Furthermore, the hooves seem to face the onlooker. Annette Laming-Emperaire drew a different conclusion from Breuil's findings, pointing out that the features of this iconography could in fact be attributed to both of the two major cycles. Severin Blanc, on the other hand, thought that part of the art was probably Solutrean-Magdalenian in origin. In support of his thesis, he quoted certain conventions that have little in common with Perigordian art, particularly the treatment of the limbs in the background - the way in which they ate separated from the body through the use of a blank, and the animation given to the animals in the double inflection of the legs. Each theory had its advocates and detractors. In 1951, one of the very first radiocarbon tests was carried out. Fragments of charcoal from excavations in the Shaft were analysed in Chicago at the laboratory of Willard Libby, who pioneered the method. The results seemed to corroborate the second theory, assigning a date of c. 15,500 BP (Magdalenian) to Lascaux. (BP stands for 'Before Present'.) After some controversy, the theory developed by Henri Breuil was subsequently abandoned. Andre Glory refused to be swayed either way. Then, as his research was at quite an advanced stage, he collected a lot more data and started to develop his own chronology. Furthermore, when he had new samples of charcoal from his excavations in the Passageway and the Shaft dated, the results yielded dates of 17,190 ± 140 BP and 16,000 ± 500 BP respectively, which backed up the theory that the portable objects belonged to an ancient phase of the Magdalenian. On the other hand, the charcoal washed into the cave and found immediately below the calcited basins of the Hall of the Bulls and the Passageway, together with that recovered from the debris cone in the entrance woe, showed a possible occupation of the site during the Mesolithic. This last attempt to enter the cave, which was perhaps merely an occupation close to the entrance, has left absolutely no trace of portable objects or colouring matter. The weighted mean of the five more recent dates is 8380 ± 60 BP. Another theory carne from the prehistorian Andre Leroi-Gourhan. Distancing himself from Breuil, Leroi-Gourhan subdivided the evolution of prehistoric art into five periods: a prefigurative period, followed by four phases or styles. His work, though not focusing on Lascaux, made reference to its iconography in the definition of Style III (defined as the end of the Solutrean to the Lower Magdalenian). This Style III possesses specific characteristics: '... animals with inflated bodies and diverging short feet, horns of bovines in which the front horn is a simple curve whereas the rear horn is sinuous, bison horns depicted in front-view, deer antlers in a specific perspective, the brow tine in the background parallel to the beam of the antler in the foreground, and with a double or triple brow time.' The well-dated sites of Fourneau-du-Diable and Roc-de-Sers served as reference points. They enabled Leroi- Gourhan to specify that, 'it would be... rational to think that Lascaux is Solutrean and it cannot be ruled out that the most ancient figures are of this period'. [14] This implies multiple occupation of the cave at different periods, suggesting a certain heterogeneity of the works of art involving both the animals and the geometric signs. Leroi-Gourhan emphasized this: 'Lascaux would comprise...three phases: the phase of partitioned rectangular signs... the phase of bracketed signs, which are few in number and correspond to the period in which the Chinese Horses were executed in a style already close to that of the old Style N and, finally, the phase of true claviform signs which is already in the old Style N .... This scheme of suppositions is accordingly concrete enough to locate the entire art of Lascaux between the second half of the Solutrean and the beginning of the Middle Magdalenian.' [15] Nevertheless, a few years later, study of the lithic and organic portable objects and the stratigraphic analysis of the sections cut by Andre Glory brought further changes to Leroi-Gourhan's scheme. Arlette Leroi-Gourhan and Jacques Allain [16] directed the work, which narrowed down estimates of the chronology and attributed Lascaux to the Magdalenian II. The study convinced Andre Leroi-Gourhan that the sanctuary was created over a limited period of time with stylistically homogeneous figures. These successive corrections show the difficulties in establishing a precise and secure chronological scheme. Furthermore, a radiocarbon result of 18,600 ± 190 BP, obtained in 1998 [17] on a sample removed from a fragment of a reindeer antler baton from the excavations of Henri Breuil and Severin Blanc at the foot of the panel of the Shaft Scene, [18] rends to raise the former age estimates, placing the art at the boundary between the Upper Solutrean and the Badegoulian. This new information calls for a review of the preceding hypotheses. Unfortunately, the paintings and drawings of Lascaux do not contain charcoal. We therefore have to use other methods of analysis and compare our results with data from better-dated Palaeolithic sites. This comparative analysis is based on a broad range of data, ranging from the portable lithic and organic objects to the formal characteristics of the figures in the paintings and the composition of the panels. The themes depicted in the art and the landscapes surrounding the cave are also important factors to take into consideration. Analysing the lithic assemblage brought into the cave by Palaeolithic man requires a different approach to the study of habitation sites) be they temporary or permanent, in the open or under rock shelters. The cave functioned as a type of filter, encouraging the painters and engravers to select only part of the range of tools available to them. This is why it is misleading to classify the portable objects by looking merely at the quantities recovered, such as the high number of backed bladelers. Moreover, the majority of collected objects, including the backed bladelets, needles and spearheads, could just as well belong to the Solutrean as the Magdalenian. As Andre Leroi-Gourhan originally pointed out, analysing the forms depicted at Lascaux suggests that the cave's parietal art could date back to the Solutrean. The paintings and engravings do call to mind the works at Fourneau-du-Diable or Roc-de-Sets, which have been convincingly identified as Solutrean rather than Magdalenian art. This analysis, based upon morphological comparisons between the outlines of the animals, was recently criticized after radiocarbon tests carried out in other caves seemed to raise doubts over the accuracy of the method. Such was the case at the Chauvet Cave, although careful study of the Chauvet figures shows that the most accomplished ones, particularly those in the panel of the Horses or the End Chamber, do not fit into any defined framework. Indeed, some of their characteristics are unlike any other known specimens. Form-based comparisons continue to be used today to date parietal art, without recourse to radiocarbon tests. A whole host of decorated caves discovered over the last ten years were originally dated by hypotheses rather than physical methods, including Cussac, Pestillac and Lagrave (Lot) and Cosquer. When radiocarbon dates have been obtained later (as is the case with Cussac and Cosquer), they have confirmed the initial attributions. Geometrical signs tend to back up the connection made between the Lascaux art and the Solutrean. In the cave of Le Placard (Charente), Louis Duport discovered a long panel, engraved with numerous depictions of animals and signs. Excavations directed by Jean Clottes [19] placed these works in the Solutrean. Among them, he recognized several signs, which he called the 'Placard type'. They are identical in their form to the 'chimney' signs in the caves of Cougnac and Pech-Merle (Lot). Furthermore, he noticed the similarity of the shape with the large black 'curly bracket' sign that underlines the diptych of the first Chinese horse at Lascaux. In addition, the Confronted Ibexes drawn on the right wall at the end of the Axial Gallery are not dissimilar to those shown in bas-relief at Roc-de-Sers. At this same Upper Solutrean site there is also the rare image of a man confronted by a horned animal, in this case a musk ox. This scene is repeated at Lascaux at the base of the Shaft, with the bison, so it seems, replacing the musk ox. Both of these sites also feature a bird, a theme rarely encountered in this context. /42 Depiction of two aurochs on both faces of a palmate reindeer antler, Le Placard, Vilhonneur, Charente./ /43 Aurochs executed in bas-relief (detail and overall view), Abri du Fourneau-du-Diable, Bourdeilles. Research of Denis Peyrony, 1924./ The fauna represented on the walls of Lascaux indicates a relatively temperate climate, particularly in those scenes in which aurochs are depicted. However, palaeontological research shows that almost no bone remains of this species have been found from the period in the region. This period, stretching from the Upper Solutrean to the Badegoulian, is regarded as the coldest of the Upper Palaeolithic. [20] One problem is that it is extremely difficult to distinguish between aurochs and bison bones, and a significant proportion of the total recovered remains unidentified. Nonetheless, there are several paintings that show man encountering this species. There are also depictions of aurochs at other, accurately dated sites, including Fourneau-du-Diable and 10 Placard, where a palmate reindeer antler was discovered with engravings of aurochs on both faces (ill. 42). One face of the block from Fourneau-du-Diable bears several depictions (ill. 43) in bas-relief. This contemporaneous depiction of bovines on the walls of Lascaux and on the portable objects of several Solutrean prehistoric sites suggests that this animal was observed in the vicinity of Lascaux or further south, where the recovered fauna has proved its existence. Moreover, studies carried our recently on climatic variation during the Upper Palaeolithic show that - contrary to what had been said up to the 1990s - these fluctuations in temperature were often considerable but very brief. Such abrupt changes of climate would certainly have resulted in north-south migrations of animal populations, with very short periods of stability, which would partly explain the very elusive presence of the aurochs in the Black Perigord. In a chronological study of the art of Lascaux it is always important to remember that the various hypotheses only contemplate a time scale limited to, at most, one and a half-millennia, a relatively short period of time. In the special context of parietal art, where works are only rarely associated with archaeological levels in situ, as at Pair-non-Pair or Le Placard, in particular, and in the absence of datable organic pigment, we have little chance of achieving greater accuracy. The cultural attribution is also worthy of investigation. Once again, analysis of the pictures is able to provide some of the answers. The confrontation between the man and the bison takes on its full significance when it is compared with similar images in other decorated caves. In the Vezere drainage basin, it is found in a less elaborate form at Saint-Cirq (only the head of the bison was engraved), and at Bara-Bahau (an abbreviated version, which contains the head of a bison and a phallus). A similar image can be seen at Gabillou. in the valley of the Isle, but this time the two motifs are merged into a single representation. that of the bison-man. At Villars, further to the north, in the drainage basin of the Dronne, the scene takes on a form identical to that at Lascaux. These comparisons can be taken even further, as the locations of the sites provide us with even more· information. Indeed, Lascaux. Saint-Cirq, Bara-Bahau. Gabillou and Villars, decorated caves possibly belonging to this chronological period, are all located on smoothly sloping hillsides and share similar landscapes in the immediate proximity of their entrances. This latter point distinguishes them from the decorated caves of the Middle Magdalenian Font- de-Gaume. Rouflignac, Les Combarelles or Bernifal -- which open into the heart of a far more steep-sided relief. The same is true of Solutrean-Badegoulian habitation sites, which are also located on hillsides, overlooking an open landscape, in contrast to the majority of sites of the Middle and Upper Magdalenian. These observations suggest that notions of territory, whether sacred or profane, are linked intimately and uniquely to a specific period of the Upper Palaeolithic. a concept we will need to examine more closely. Go to Next Page