We woke this morning to more showery rain which lasted all day, with the only change being in its intensity. Today is a good day to go underground. This valley is renowned for its fantastic prehistoric caves, many of which contain the finest examples of cave art ever found. There are over 175 known sites around here and as you drive down the narrow country roads, there is another signpost every couple of hundred meters directing you to the next grotto or cave.
We started by going to the Museum to give us some background before heading into the caves. Here we saw reconstructions of animals that roamed this area (Megaceros – huge deer – 3m antler span), bones, artifacts, weapons and arrowheads of the people that lived here thousands of years ago. We learnt that the Neanderthal man wasn’t as simple as we had thought, they lived in societies, they buried their dead (the first to be known to have done this) and they cared for their sick and elderly. This is an incredible museum with thousands of exhibits with not enough time to explore them all. This was evident in the way that we were virtually hered out at their closing time of 12:30pm. We could certainly feel them breathing down our necks … literally.
From here it was a choice of which cave to visit first. We decided to go to Lascaux II first. This is a reconstruction of a cave that has been closed (for preservation reasons) but the bulk of which has been reconstructed with an accuracy of within 5mm. This took 10 years to complete (opened in 1972) and reconstructed in original materials. The cave has two chambers and is 200m long.
The paintings in this cave are incredible, showing bulls, cows, horses, and man. What is incredible is that these paintings were completed about 17,000 years ago and yet they manage to depict movement, perspective, depth of field, detail, and even an element of cubism that Picasso would have been proud of. With the majority of the elements they included the form of the rock walls to create the form, bulk and shape of what they were painting. You can imagine what they would have looked like under their flickering candles and lamps, they really would have looked like they were running.
What we liked about the commentary that went with this tour was that they didn’t pretend to know all the answers (there are many unanswered questions), but they gave the opinion of various scientists and what they may mean.
Regarding the original cave, it was discovered in 1940 by an 18 year old boy who was out walking his dog, when his dog fell down a hole. He went back the next day with three of his friends and climbed down the hole and discovered the cave and its paintings. They made a vow between themselves that they would keep it a secret to themselves until they died. The secret lasted for three days. And the rest is history. It has changed the lives of the villages around here forever.
We finished the day today wandering around a couple of the villages in this valley, Montignac and Sarlat. Both very cool little villages with light sandstone houses draped in creepers and vines, narrow little lanes and back alleys, and a people so helpful and friendly that they quickly dispel any reputation that you may have heard about the rudeness of the French. As we wandered around it made us think about how many little undiscovered towns there must be in a county like this. Probably towns that time has completely bypassed. Makes you wonder what would have happened in this area if those four boys had managed to keep their secret.
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