Prehistoric Cave Paintings and a Medieval Fortified Manor Set into the Cliff

Continuing with the cave theme of recent days, we booked into a tour of Lascaux IV. In 1940 a dog chasing a rabbit and becoming stuck in a hole in the ground led teenagers to rediscover an extensive network of caves containing prehistoric cave paintings. One can no longer visit the actual caves as it was found in the 60s that significant deterioration in these important historical artifacts was ocurring. An immense project was undertaken to replicate the caves, paintings and etchings. This was what we visited. The caves and their artwork have been replicated to within a milimetre accuracy. I wasn't sure I would find this very interesting - a few scrawled line drawing of animals on a cave wall, but did not want to miss the chance to see something so old and famous, and especially seeing it was only a copy. Well I was surprised at how fascinating I found the visit and how the artists had used the contours of the wall to help show dimension and movement. Interesting that out of the hundreds of painted images and around 1500 images engraved, only 3 different herbivore animals as drawn as is the case in prehistoric painting around the globe (other than one stick figure image which may be a human). No one knows if the painting was done for spiritual reasons, as art, or what the motivation was for their creation or what meaning they had but it was interesting to hear and imagine some theory. There do not appear to be any practice images either. They all appear drawn by skilled artists. These paintings would have been done during an ice age when there were only three seasons, a very long winter and very short spring and summer. We were both surprised to learn that during these times the average human was taller than today. The cave visit included interactive displays at the end that provided more information and detail. You were not allowed to take photos in the cave, only in the interactive section. Here are a couple.

Keeping to the theme we then visited Maison Forte de Reignac which is a fortified manor built onto the side of a hill incorporating the caverns into the living spaces of the home. Steep ladder type stairs connect different levels of the home. The house was used as a residence until the mid 1930s. Seemed pretty grim to me but I imagine some later improvements were removed when it was restored. Again, the kitchen was of interest to me - Maybe this interest means that if I lived in those days maybe I would have been a cook rather than the lady of the manor!

There was an exhibition of curiosities from around the world including this mammoth tusk engraved with an image of a mammoth.

There was also an exhibition of instruments used in torture. Sad to think that in places around the world today there are still practices of torture occuring.

A last stroll around this ancient town before we pack up and leave our comfortable apartment in the old centre of town for Vienne to explore some Roman ruins.