1/18/2024 0 Comments Cave paintings near sarlat france![]() ![]() These revelations show the intellectual and technical abilities of those prehistoric artists. ![]() There are no colour paintings in this cave, but traces of dye indicate that they may have originally been in colour. The discovery was an explosive moment in the world of prehistory, revealing nearly 800 drawings, which could be divided into over 100 distinct sets. Scientists officially discovered the cave in 1901. This means that the artists had to crawl inside the cave in absolute darkness holding some kind of lighting in order to make their engravings. It had been excavated and enlarged to make it possible for visitors to walk through more easily. The guide told us that the height of the original cave was very low. We walked through a very narrow passage approximately 1 metre wide. The cave contains prehistoric drawings of animals and symbols on sandy uneven walls. The cave used to be inhabited by Cro-Magnon people (described by scientists as early modern humans) approximately 11,000 – 13,000 years ago. Having spent the night in the city of Sarlat, my journey to the cave of Combarelles near the small town of Les Eyzies-de-Tayac (pictured above), in the heart of the Vézère Valley, took only 20 minutes. The mystery of our life on earth gets even more complicated with new findings going back to 1.7 million years. We can study the marks left by our ancestors and it might be a gateway to the future and understanding our complex universe. We are often so occupied in our day-to-day routines, so busy worrying about paying bills and other ordinary matters that we forget about where we came from. I was very curious to find out about the past. I was looking to connect with those people who created the art works in the Vézère Valley. This trip meant something different to me. The story of the caves captured my mind and inspired me to come back to the area and see them with my own eyes. During my first visit, I had been told about prehistoric caves and paintings. Recommended.I landed at Brive airport in the Dordogne valley for the second time in a year. It is a pretty cool experience and, considering very few people can visit the actual cave (not even Macron), it’s as close as you can possibly get. The workshop follows the “caves” where you can get a better view of some of the art work in the “caves” and take pics, as there are no pictures allowed in the reproduction caves. All understanding is interpretive as pre-historians have been unable to conclusively nail down all the info. Wandering through the reproduction, the guide points out various features in the art work. A tour guide does a good job of immersing you in the history of Lascaux, from its discovery, through the current day. Everyone is provided with a set of headphones and a receiver. French pandemic rules were in play requiring the sanitary pass and masks indoors. There are one to two tours daily in English. You need to book tickets online and for specific time. As faithful a recreation as possible, via the use of 3D imaging and printing, it is as good as you’re ever going to see. They built the first replica, Lascaux II in the seventies. The real Lascaux Cave was closed to the public in 1963. It was delightful with incredible paintings including a beautiful one of a woman’s face peering out at you from 16,000 years ago, We went to another more famous cave with maybe more “dramatic” paintings but getting herded by them was nothing like our incredible tour with Michael as our personal guide, One of the best things you will do in the Dordogne. Michael has very good English and is quite knowledgeable explaining the paintings and the history of the cave. Michael spent almost two hours with just me and my wife taking us through the four dark caverns with only a flashlight to illuminate over 100 cave paintings. This family-owned cave is an experience like no other. The cave is only open when you owners are free to give you a tour, PLEASE NOTE that GPS will take you to a parking area that is then a 15 minute walk through the woods with tiny hand written signs pointing you to the cave entrance where you will find a locked steel door, We were about to leave at 5:20 when a man pulled up on a scooter and introduced himself as Michael. I was told it was not possible but a tour could be arranged at 5pm. On a whim during lunch, I called the number listed for this cave to see if they might have a tour available at 2:30.
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