connaitre lascaux (ang)

by Delluc B-Delluc G

Caves in Lascaux, discovered in 1940, and their drawings.

Genres: Research, Nonfiction

77 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1990

Reviews

[Paul Weiss · Rating 4 out of 5]

An awesome artifact of Cro-Magnon prehistory!

During a recent trip to southern France, I was privileged to enjoy a tour of Lascaux II, the replica of the original grotto whose dazzling white walls of calcite were decorated by Cro-Magnon man with a series of some 600 paintings and 1500 engravings. "Prehistoric man chose it as a sanctuary 17,000 years ago, decorating it with a breathtaking display of wild oxen, horses, bison, stags, wild goats and a multitude of enigmatic geometric symbols".

But the context of a very crowded tour conducted in French (a language I understand reasonably well but it is not my mother tongue) simply didn't allow for a full, quiet, contemplative appreciation of the wonders of this fascinating piece of live history. So it seemed appropriate to purchase a book to bring home as a memory and a way of better appreciating the paintings, the science involved in the discovery and exploration of the cave and perhaps the complexity of the lives of the Cro-Magnon artists who crafted this beautiful artwork so many millennia ago.

DISCOVERING LASCAUX is a short read that will occupy barely longer than the time it took to tour the cave but the enjoyment really rests with the photographs of the paintings and the etchings.

Whether or not you've been lucky enough to actually take the tour in the flesh, anyone interested in the cultural anthropology of pre-history will enjoy DISCOVERING LASCAUX. This "collection" of richly detailed paintings show that the residents of the Vézère river valley, despite their obvious intimate detailed knowledge of the fauna around them, chose to render them with an artistic style that was every bit as formalized as Picasso's cubism or Raphael's Renaissance works.

Recommended.

Paul Weiss

[Sense of History]

This primarily is a visual guide, with minimal textual explanation about the history of the cave, the discovery and a description of the paintings. The illustrations come into their own, although unfortunately they are limited to the spectacular rock paintings; the much more abundant engravings are virtually absent. The most characteristic of Lascaux is that the paintings, unlike many other caves, were made in a relatively limited period, about 17,000 years ago, and therefore are remarkably homogenic in style. Yet the similarities with, for example, the cave of Chauvet remain very striking, and to consider that the latter is about 20,000 years (yes, twenty thousand years) older, that’s fabulous. The authors end up with a very speculative conclusion: «"Lascaux, by its complexity, by its graphic, symbolic and archaeological homogeneity, clearly appears today as the work of a few religious professionals, from one or more Magdalenian families, during one or more generations"»(63-64). By the way, they also add that the artists were necessarily only men, because the animals depicted could only be known from hunting, which "naturally" was practiced by men. In doing so, they contradict their own conclusion that the majority of the animals depicted (horses, bears, lions, aurochs, etc.) were not hunted at all.

[Turi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great!