LASCAUX -- MOVEMENT, SPACE, AND TIME |
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Chapter 5: The Art of Lascaux
In studying the works on the walls of this site, it is necessary to look at not only the figurative representations (animals and man) but also the schematic elements, particularly the signs, and the indeterminate figures. The marks that do nor fall into these three categories - such as traces of activities, impacts of tools, sprayed colouring materials. colours for painting, abrasions, smears or deposits of charcoal- will not be taken into account here. Lascaux boasts 1,963 registered figures, making it the most impressive Palaeolithic decorated cave. With the exception of the Mondmilch Gallery and the Silted-up Chamber, where the walls do not lend themselves to painting or engraving. and the second part of the Great Fissure, which is really only an access area, there are figures in all of the galleries and halls. The distribution of these figures is uneven (ill. 44). The majority - over half of the total number - are on the walls of the Apse, although it only accounts for an estimated 6 per cent of the total decorated surface of the cave. The density of figures here is exceptional. The Passageway has the second highest number. And yet, because these two sectors lack visual impact, it is not always easy to see the high proportions of figures on first inspection. This has as much to do with the technique used (engraving) as the poor preservation of the figures or the less favourable characteristics of the support. Humans play an inconspicuous role at Lascaux: the one human depicted is located well away from the more accessible sectors. Animal themes, on the other hand, are distributed throughout the cave and, with 915 figures, dominate the entire iconography. As some are in such a poor state of preservation, only 605 of the 915 have been accurately identified. Some species, especially the bovines, have such strikingly similar characteristics that it is very difficult to tell the bison and aurochs apart. In some cases the features by which we recognize the subject are restricted to the horns or hooves. Both the aurochs and the bison have these features, hence the high number of figures assigned to the general classification of 'bovine family'. Others have been painted or engraved in a highly ambiguous manner, such as the Unicorn. Horses are depicted the most frequently, with 364 representations, forming 60.2 percent of all identified animals, followed by stags with 90 representations (14.9 per cent). Aurochs and bison account for 4.6 per cent and 4.3 per cent respectively, plus there are 51 unidentifiable animals that are classified simply as bovines. Rare animals include 7 felines (1.2 per cent), one bird, one bear and one rhinoceros. The proportion of each animal type varies from one sector to the next, sometimes to a significant extent. The equids, with quite an even distribution excluding the Shaft, is the only group in which this is not the case. The cervids, well represented in the Hall of the Bulls and, to a lesser extent, in the Apse and the Nave, are less prominent on the walls of the Axial Gallery, the Passageway and the Chamber of the Felines. The ibexes show an inverse distribution pattern.
44 Numerical distribution of the animals represented in the Lascaux. Cave This interchange of animals is also
recorded for the bovine species. The aurochs, which are particularly
prominent in the first two sectors, both in terms of their numbers and
especially in their dimensions, are replaced by bison in the other
sectors. The very different placement of these two types of bovine is
also noteworthy. The bison occupy a marginal position in relation to the
different underground spaces, such as the Axial Gallery and the Chamber
of the The numerous signs account for almost 22.1 per cent of the ensemble. They have a similar distribution to the animals, but there are some differences. Again, it is the Apse. with 228 units, that contains the greatest number of geometric figures, followed by the Passageway with 81. There are between 25 and 35 signs in each of the other sectors. The huge diversity of the signs is based on three fundamental geometric elements: the dot, the line and surface area.
45 Sequence of the left wall of the Hall of the Bulls. As we have seen, another special feature is their close graphic relationship to the portable objects - especially the spearheads, which feature motifs that are identical to those engraved or drawn on the walls. The same is true of the pink sandstone lamp previously mentioned. Its handle, decorated with nested signs, features a geometrical image found repeatedly in the iconography of the walls. Thus, there are close connections between the parietal art and the decorations on portable objects, but there are also connections between disparate portable objects with very different functions. The number of indeterminate figures or incomplete traces in anyone sector may have been determined by their location in the sanctuary. While in the first two sectors most of these can be classed as trial paintings and unfinished outlines that are difficult to interpret, the difficulty in identifying the figures in the Passageway and the Apse lies not in their representation but in their very poor state of preservation. In the worst affected areas, the heavily corroded and distorted figures often disappear from the more exposed surfaces and only survive in concavities. Another factor that makes figures difficult to identify is the extreme superimposition of the outlines, particularly in the Apse. Whether the figures were depicted individually or in groups, positioning was influenced by several parameters constraints connected with problems of perspective or the physical environment. These constraints did not govern the choice of themes, nor did they influence how the elements in different ensembles were ordered, but they did playa major role in determining the general shape of compositions within the limits imposed by structure (the ridges, ledges or projections of the walls, for instance). The Fragmentary Depictions of the Entrance Zone Above all, the entrance zone is a means of access. Its function as a transitional space explains to a large extent why so few figures have been identified there. There are only four that have been accepted as Palaeolithic: three red figures on the left wall, and a single broad and diffuse black mark on the opposite wall. They are all situated in the modern engine room, at the same height as the present-day floor and a few decimetres above the deposit that originally filled the entry to the gallery.
46 The fourth and fifth bulls dominate the right wall graphically. The other themes remain very discreet, varied and few in number, indeed sometimes unfinished, contrasting in this aspect with the panel on the facing wall
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