The Painting Is On The Wall

May 29, 2014

Each adult was asked to think about the one thing/site they wanted to see or experience while in France. The idea was that we would compare notes and then divide up into more manageable groups based on interests for various side trips. Number one on my list was a life-long interest in seeing the "cave paintings" in southwest France. I had first read about these in World History 101 in college in the 1960's and  was fascinated with the idea prehistoric dwellers actually created these more than 35,000 years ago. The most famous are the Lascaux paintings discovered by four boys in the 1940's. However, since the 60's I have  learned about 100 caves in this area of France and stretching into Spain have been discovered to harbor paintings. Some were discovered in the nineteenth century but discounted as a hoax. Only when carbon dating became a reality were they authenticated as being produced between 30,000 and 10,000 years in the past.

Because Lascaux has been closed to the public since 1963 due to deterioration of the art, we chose to visit Pech-Merle where we could view original art. The Lot portion of France was closer to home-base and it took only a couple of hours to reach Grotte Pech-Merle. The Matz family, the Joshua Thurmond family and Mimi buckled up in the Jumpy and set off to investigate the forests. After an extremely scenic journey meandering through dense forests and lush meadows encased by towering limestone cliffs , we eased into the parking lot of Centre de Prehistoire du Pech-Merle.

In 1922 two teenage boys from the nearby village of Cabrerets discovered the caves. The boys reported what they found to the local priest who happened to have an abiding interest in history and he realized the importance of the find.
Apparently the original entrance to the cave had been buried in a rock slide probably about 10,000 years ago at the end of the Ice Age but another smaller entrance afforded the boys a way into the cavern.

Now the cave is accessible only with a tour guide and the number of visitors is limited on a daily basis as even human breath can damage the pristine surfaces on which the drawings appear. This particular cave is known for its great natural beauty as well as the paintings. The best known of the paintings is the frieze of two spotted horses and the presumed signature of the artist _ stenciled handprints. Also intriguing is the fact that the artist incorporated the natural rock formation as part of the head of one of the horses making it appear three dimensional. Present also is a red fish on the back of one of the horses which is a rare motif in cave art. Of course, all is speculation as to why the paintings are there at all and their exact significance.

In addition, in the cavern one sees preserved footprints of a prehistoric adolescent boy, a rare drawing of a wounded human figure plus "cave pearls" and "spinning top" formations. These latter two were created by sand and gravel particles which have been coated by calcite and polished by the water that   dripped into the cave. As we moved deep into the cave with our group, it became harder to fathom the bravery of those long ago peoples who dared to venture into the blackness of the interior and then cleverly managed to produce the large drawings.

By promising ice cream at the end of the tour, Roby and Rider were attentive and quiet. However, Canon quickly found that he could produce an echo with his voice and regaled everyone with an abundance of chatter. Luckily our guide confessed she, too, had a baby and totally understood his enthusiasm. The visit was certainly all I anticipated.