Unknown geometric design
Font-de-Gaume
Our first day in the Dordogne region, being a Sunday, we had to get up early (unfortunately) to visit the grocery store (only open for 3 hours on Sundays we found out last Sunday to our hunger and disappointment) and make out 10:30 appointment at the Font-de-Gaume cave. Font-de-Gaume was a cave I had never heard of but before leaving Kodiak I ran into someone who had visited this region 10 years ago and recommended it, so I emailed and asked for an appointment. Come to find out, tickets are very hard to arrange as they only allow 180 people into the cave each day- AND its the last cave (in the world!) with paleolithic paintings that is open to the public! Most think it will be closed in the next ten years. Even Lascaux has been closed to the public (people's breath raised the temperature and moisture level of the cave to a point that was eroding the art work). We felt very lucky... even two months ago there was only one tour with spots available!
The cave was absolutely incredible! It was something like 120 meters long and 4 stories high, although there were times we had to duck around stalagtites, and our guide informed us that the very back part of the cave is so narrow that it is impossible not to touch the walls, and the top part of the cave narrows to just a few centimeters in spots. Apparently, the cave is covered with 230 figures, although archaeologists believe many more will be discovered. There are 80 bison, 40 horses, and more than 20 mammoths paintings. Our favorite- 2 reindeer, one (female probably) laying on the ground, and another (male, most likely) standing over her licking her head. All of the animals found (in all cave paintings around the world) are depicted sensitively, never fighting or being butchered. There are no people or wildlife, or even mountains or streams, depicted in the cave- only animals. And they are nearly 15,000 years old, which is mind-boggling. The other amazing fact about the art in the cave is that much of it is properly 3-dimensional, which is something that WE did not figure out how to do until the Renaissance- 600 years ago! Not just this, but they also employ twisted perspective in a few of the images (showing a side view of the animal with a full frontal face, for example) which is something that Picasso played around with in cubism in the early 1900s and allows the viewer to view the subject from multiple perspectives.
Another aspect that we found interesting is contextual. Our guide, Jean-Marie, commented on how little we can say for sure about the caves since it is so obviously pre-written history. We don't know why the paintings were created or by whom. But what we do know is that people did not live in these caves and that they are artistically very advanced. When we view the paintings in textbooks and as seen in photos they look flat, but as we walked through the dark cave we saw (as pointed out by our guide) that the drawings actually conform to the natural texture and shape of the cave walls. And of course the original art would not be seen by flashlight or floodlight (similar to how we've seen photographs of the area)... Jean-Marie commented that when lit from below (like a fire, as the original light source would have been) that the animals appear to move through the cave, and the dark recesses are heavily shadowed. What a dream it was to see this amazing site!
Our first day in the Dordogne region, being a Sunday, we had to get up early (unfortunately) to visit the grocery store (only open for 3 hours on Sundays we found out last Sunday to our hunger and disappointment) and make out 10:30 appointment at the Font-de-Gaume cave. Font-de-Gaume was a cave I had never heard of but before leaving Kodiak I ran into someone who had visited this region 10 years ago and recommended it, so I emailed and asked for an appointment. Come to find out, tickets are very hard to arrange as they only allow 180 people into the cave each day- AND its the last cave (in the world!) with paleolithic paintings that is open to the public! Most think it will be closed in the next ten years. Even Lascaux has been closed to the public (people's breath raised the temperature and moisture level of the cave to a point that was eroding the art work). We felt very lucky... even two months ago there was only one tour with spots available!
The cave was absolutely incredible! It was something like 120 meters long and 4 stories high, although there were times we had to duck around stalagtites, and our guide informed us that the very back part of the cave is so narrow that it is impossible not to touch the walls, and the top part of the cave narrows to just a few centimeters in spots. Apparently, the cave is covered with 230 figures, although archaeologists believe many more will be discovered. There are 80 bison, 40 horses, and more than 20 mammoths paintings. Our favorite- 2 reindeer, one (female probably) laying on the ground, and another (male, most likely) standing over her licking her head. All of the animals found (in all cave paintings around the world) are depicted sensitively, never fighting or being butchered. There are no people or wildlife, or even mountains or streams, depicted in the cave- only animals. And they are nearly 15,000 years old, which is mind-boggling. The other amazing fact about the art in the cave is that much of it is properly 3-dimensional, which is something that WE did not figure out how to do until the Renaissance- 600 years ago! Not just this, but they also employ twisted perspective in a few of the images (showing a side view of the animal with a full frontal face, for example) which is something that Picasso played around with in cubism in the early 1900s and allows the viewer to view the subject from multiple perspectives.
Another aspect that we found interesting is contextual. Our guide, Jean-Marie, commented on how little we can say for sure about the caves since it is so obviously pre-written history. We don't know why the paintings were created or by whom. But what we do know is that people did not live in these caves and that they are artistically very advanced. When we view the paintings in textbooks and as seen in photos they look flat, but as we walked through the dark cave we saw (as pointed out by our guide) that the drawings actually conform to the natural texture and shape of the cave walls. And of course the original art would not be seen by flashlight or floodlight (similar to how we've seen photographs of the area)... Jean-Marie commented that when lit from below (like a fire, as the original light source would have been) that the animals appear to move through the cave, and the dark recesses are heavily shadowed. What a dream it was to see this amazing site!
Buffalo frieze.
(previous photographs taken from Font de Gaume website. No photos allowed inside.)
Waiting for the tour to start.
Nearby town of Les Eyzies. Wow!
After a quick lunch of traditional Dordogne foods (cassoulet and a nut tart) we headed to yet another cave, this one lined with sculpture that would have been painted (horses, buffalo, etc).By this time the kids and Balika were pretty burned out but luckily this was the one weekend of the year when they offered activities for kids, so we were saved for a little while by watching an archaeologist start a fire using traditional methods (flint and iron oxide sparking shaved mushrooms then stuck inside a bundle of dry grass), make spear points and bone needles. Sven got stuck for a while with a wonderful retired archaeologist who showed the kids how to make goat fur bracelets and wooden needles, then we all got involved in engraving slate (except Bubbe who played Scrabble on her ipad). It was a bit much for the girls' brains and short attention span but Sven was in paleolithic heaven! And the cave's carved animals was really quite touching.
Eilidh working on her slate chicken necklace.
Bella making her goat fur bracelet.
"Daddy Monster" slate necklace.
Cutting chevre hide with a flint blade.
Happy Bubbe playing scrabble.
Making a wooden needle with dad.
First the flint and iron, which you hit together to spark the shaved mushroom.
Then blow the sparks into a bundle of dried grass.
Voila! Fire. Kids floored.Completely tired out and ready for bed, we headed home for dinner and early bedtime....
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