Lesson 2 - Lascaux Cave: Take a tour of this Paleolithic art gallery

In 1940, another important piece of the puzzle of cave art was discovered in southern France. Four local teenagers and a dog named Robot were out hunting rabbits in the woods when they discovered a hole left by a fallen tree. Looking for rabbits, Robot crawled into the hole and disappeared completely. One of the boys, Marcel Ravidat, went after him into the hole. After making it wider to accommodate his size, Marcel slid down a steep-sided wall and ended up in a large cave. The other boys soon joined him. By match light, they could see an incredible sight: the walls were covered with paintings of huge animals.

The paintings at Lascaux (pronounced las-co) were immediately recognized as the work of Stone Age man. Carbon-dating, a scientific method which dates the age of plant or animal remains by the amount of carbon 14 left, was used to date the pictures at Lascaux. In this case, carbon-dating placed the paintings at about 17,000 years old - even older than Altamira. The cave was covered with a thin transparent layer of calcite, which served as a kind of protective coating over the limestone rock walls. This protective covering kept the paintings from fading in the thousands of years since they were drawn. The paintings at Lascaux were in several sections. These were later designated as six galleries: 1. The Painted Gallery 2. The Great Hall of the Bulls 3. The Chamber of Felines 4. The Chamber of Engravings 5. The Main Gallery 6. The Shaft of the Dead Man

Hall of Bulls, courtesy of ArtServe

As at Altamira, the cave paintings depict animals of the Stone Age. Here, however, the animals are on a much larger scale. In the main gallery, called the Hall of the Bulls, two white bulls facing each other are over ten feet long!

Other animals seen in the main hall at Lascaux are deer, horses, and a mysterious creature with two long horns that is called a unicorn. Like the paintings at Altamira, several colors have been used. Other paintings are outlined just in black.

Chinese Horse, courtesy of ArtServe

Reindeer, a cold-weather animal, are not found in southern France in modern times. But these were animals of the Ice Age that roamed Europe when it was mostly covered with snow and ice. Notice how the artist has indicated the curve of the animal's back by shading the top. There are also paintings of felines, rhinos, and bears. Most of the paintings are of horses. There is even a painting of a horse/donkey animal, now extinct, called a hermione. One of the most interesting paintings is found in The Painted Gallery, and called the Chinese horses. These horses were so labeled because they reminded experts of the pictures of horses found in ancient China. This horse seems to leap across the cave wall. The artist used color and shading to define the lines of the animal. He placed the feet in a running position to create the sense of movement.

The Painted Gallery at Lascaux is 3.5 meters high (about 11 feet). This means that these Paleolithic artists had to get up that high to paint the walls. How did they do it? Halfway up the walls along both sides of the gallery is a series of evenly-spaced holes. Experts think the holes once held a wooden scaffold of sorts that would allow the artist to reach the upper parts of the cave.

As at Altamira, the artists of Lascaux used the shape of the rock to their advantage. The back-to-back bison in the main gallery are painted on a curving-out wall to give a three-dimensional effect. This painting alone shows that the artist understood the use of perspective to give his work depth. As with other cave paintings, the Lascaux animals are often overlapped, and are not given a horizontal reference point. That is, many of the paintings float in space, without the modern idea of framing the painting with earth below and sky above. Often, paintings are not completely drawn, as in the painting of the swimming stags, where only the head and shoulders of the deer are drawn.

The mysterious painting, Bird Hunted Man, of the man, the bison, the spear or assegi, and the rhinoceros turning away has stumped art scholars for many years. Many theories about the meaning of the painting have been suggested. One really interesting and mysterious thing to consider is the location of the painting. It is not in the main galleries, but well hidden, in a very hard-to-reach place. This cave, called the well, could only be reached by climbing down a narrow shaft. Why is this painting hidden in such a heart-to-reach place? What makes this secret location significant? There are other mysteries as well. Why does the man have a bird face? The bison is wounded and appears to be ready to charge. Or, perhaps he has just charged. The man has fallen. Is he dead? On top of the spear is a bird. This painting, unlike the others, seems composed as a story that has a beginning, middle, and end. But what does it mean? No one is sure. One theory is that the picture is symbolic, representing a death scene.

BirdHunted Man, Lascaux, courtesy of ArtServe

To be killed while hunting was a common event for these Stone Age people who did not have guns or sophisticated weapons. Other experts believe that their painting is part of some ancient ritual - possibly a ceremony to insure good hunting. The secret location of the painting would support this idea of a secret ceremony. As for the significance of the painting, there is no doubt it was important to the artists who created it.

QUIZ:  The Cave at Lascaux: Lesson 2

PROJECT:  Make some cave art of your own!

Step 1: Grab a grocery bag or any other paper bag.
Step 2: Tear (don't cut) a piece of paper about 10 inches long and 5 inches wide.
Step 3: Crumple the piece of paper bag up as well as you can with your hands. It should start to feel soft in about 5 minutes.
Step 4: To add more wrinkles and to make it really soft, you're going to rub it against an edge (kitchen counter, table, etc.) Do this for another 5 minutes or until paper is soft as leather.
Step 5: Draw three animals that you'd like to make into cave art lightly with PENCIL. (man, horse, antelope, bison, mammoth, bear, deer, etc.)
Step 6: Apply natural paints that you used in lesson 1 and outline in black
Step 7: Paint on a glaze of glue to make it shiny and to keep natural materials in place. By making the cracks show more it will further the illusion of leather.
Student Example

TURNING IN YOUR WORK. Use a digital camera to photograph your art (or scan it), upload the image to your computer, name the file with your name and the project name and save it in JPG format, e.g., marydcavemanpaint.jpg. Then, click here to submit your work electronically; OR snail mail your artwork to me. Be sure to include a self-addressed, stamped envelope if you'd like your work returned.

You will be finished with this lesson after you take the quiz and submit your project. When done, go on to lesson three.