Prehistory, take two.

Last Saturday Raphael and I woke up at 5am to make the 3 hour drive to Les Ezies to visit the Museum of Prehistory and the expositions available on Lascaux, the most elaborately decorated prehistoric cave in the world which was closed to the public in 1955 because of the co2 damage done to the paintings. The museum provides a well laid out introduction to prehistoric tools and art and it houses a tiny but beautiful lamp found in la grotte de Lascaux that dates back to 20,000 BCE. There are tons of skeletons of Neanderthals and Cro-Magnon men, the oldest dating to 34,000 BCE. No one knows what happened to the Neanderthals. Perhaps they were killed by our ancestors, but we have found no traces of violence, or perhaps they integrated themselves into Cro-Magnon society, and didn't go extinct at all. They had larger skeletons and craniums than the Cro-Magnons and their traits can be dated back much further ca 600,000 BCE. They were better hunters than our ancestors and they attacked their prey directly, engaging them in combat, instead of trapping them or scavenging. They also had better tools, were better at fishing, and often had sweeter dwelling spots. The only skill the Cro-Magnon man can claim over the Neanderthal is art. There are no paintings or engravings in the Neanderthal caves, whereas in the caves of the homo sapiens sapiens, the diversity of styles, themes, and tecniques is simply bouleversant. The art instinct dates to 40,000 BCE, or era that marks the rise of homo sapiens sapiens. And not surprising, the first artists were primarily interested in female genitalia. It seems that just as modern day pornography is responsible for the quick advancement of internet technology, the ancient equivalent spurred a similar advances in carving and painting tools. The Museum of prehistory has on display prehistoric vulvas of every shape and size imaginable, and as far as I can tell, we have not made significant alterations to their representation in the past 40,000 years. There is also a panel depicting, in various positions, prehistoric booty, offering us some insight into J-lo's popularity today. Raphael tried to convince me that this booty was religious booty, but in my opinion these booties have more in common with the art my 12 year old students make on their english hand-outs than something you might find in a church. So I have posted the work in question to let you make your own decisions.



After the museum we headed northwest to see the exhibitions specific to Lascaux. The Lascaux museum, in addition to documentary films and representations of the most famous panels also keeps a zoo with modern animals that are the most similar to the ancient ones represented on the cave walls. There was an adorable baby auroch who kept running up and down his pasture to the bemusement of his parents. The first painting to absorb my attention was this painting of a man wounded by a bull (or an auroch). The bull also is wounded, his intestines hanging down from his belly. And the man, very crudely drawn in comparison with the animal, has the face of a bird and an erection. There is a strange bird with a very long leg (perhaps a cane) portrayed below the man. The eyes of the bull are intense, his brow furrowed, his horns lowered, as though conscious that this act of violence will be his last. It is a strange picture. and by far my favorite of those at Lascaux.

Another painting depicted two bulls facing away from each other. It is clear that when the painter began his work he meant for the two animals to be facing the dame direction (look at their legs), but he changed his mind in the process. Many paintings show signs of superimposition, either by the same artist who changed his mind or perhaps by a second artist who thought he could do it better. The documentaries were quite informative in showing step by step how the ancient artist used and reused the same lines to form different images. This reminded me of a documentary I watched on graffiti wars in which it was explained that it was completely acceptable to draw over older works of graffiti, so long as what you created was better than that which preceded you. Its so cool how little things have changed.

If you want to see more of Lascaux and the paintings there, and dont have time to come to france, check out the site: http://www.lascaux.culture.fr/#/en/00.xml