LASCAUX -- MOVEMENT, SPACE, AND TIME |
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Discovery, Research and Conservation
193 Entrance to the Lascaux Cave at the end of September, 1940. From left to right: Leon Laval, Marcel Ravidat, Jacques Marsal and Henri Breuil. Successive alterations would bring about an important widening of the entrance, enlarging it from the sub-vertical shaft through which the discoverers had entered the cave for the first time, to the entire breadth of the gallery.
194 Visit to Lascaux by Abbot Breuil and Count Begouen, on 24 October, 1940. Sitting in front of them, Jacques Marsal, left, and Marcel Ravidat, right. The escapade that led to the discovery of one of the most prestigious pieces of archaeological evidence in French prehistory resembles a work of fiction. On 12 September 1940, four adolescents -- Jacques Marsal, Georges Agnel, Simon Coencas and Marcel Ravidat, under the leadership of the latter (the eldest among them) - went towards the commanding hill to the south of the town of Montignac. One of the incentives driving this small team was a desire to finish off unblocking a 'foxes' earth', which they had begun the preceding Sunday. According to the stories of the village elders, this foxes' earth led via an underground passage to the manor of Lascaux, located down on the western slope. After enlarging the passage, they threw a stone into the narrow hole they had made. It rolled for quite a long time, indicating that the hole was very deep. After much discussion and hesitation, it was Marcel Ravidat who decided to cross this first obstruction. He slipped into the vertical hole and set foot on a steeply sloping floor, which he traversed over a distance of several tens of metres. The very low ceiling forced him to crawl at first, but it was succeeded by a space of increasingly more comfortable size and proportions. Having arrived at the foot of a large scree deposit, which had until that day covered the original entrance to the cave, he called to his friends to follow him. Once assembled. they ventured into a much larger space, today known as the Hall of the Bulls, the entire breadth of which was occupied by a series of petrified pools, surrounded by natural dams of calcite, which caught the percolating water streaming over the scree from the entrance. After progressing several tens of metres they arrived at the entrance of a noticeably rectilinear gallery, which was higher than it was broad: the Axial Gallery. The greater confinement here and familiarity with the darkness, discreetly disturbed by the light of an unsteady flame, were bound to favour the observation and recognition of the first animal figures, painted on the ceiling and the walls. During this preliminary visit exploring almost the entire system, it dawned on them that this must be one of the most magnificent collections of Palaeolithic parietal art to date. 13 September 1940 With the greatest possible secrecy, they returned to the site in order to continue their exploration, particularly beyond the Apse and the Shaft. Using the most rudimentary means - a simple rope they had brought with them - they descended some 6 to 7 metres. In the single underlying gallery they recognized a panel with a man and a bison: the Shaft Scene. 18 September 1940 They invited their teacher, Leon Laval, to share their discovery, but the opening to the cave was too small. He was unable to enter until the following day, after the passage had been widened. 21 September 1940 The first scientists of the day travelled to the locality - Henri Breuil, in the company of Doctor Cheynier and the Abbe Bouyssonie. Maurice Thaon had preceded them the day before and had made some preliminary sketches to give a first impression. According to Andre Glory, in one week 1,500 visitors entered the sanctuary, under the supervision and guidance of Ravidat and Marsal. He added, 'that ... the visitors ... did not ransack the cave due to the devotion of these young boys.' The portable objects littering the floor and the ledges of the walls required the same amount of care and attention as the parietal works. According to the descriptions of the first initiates to look over the different galleries of this cave, there were numerous remains of bones and stone artefacts, which singles out this site even more, since, with a few rare exceptions, such evidence is always very limited in this type of setting. For example, in Cussac in the Dordogne, the last decorated cave to be discovered, a very low quantity of material was discovered on the floor. Some uncommon flakes and blades of flint form the portable material at this site, at least to date. In order to avoid the dispersal, indeed the destruction of the portable material, Ravidat and Marsal, together with Laval, began to collect the most vulnerable stone and bone objects. This collection, a significant group of material, includes a long and decorated reindeer antler rod, bone points, shells and some flint artefacts. October 1940 Fernand Windels initiated the first campaign to photograph the parietal works of art at the site. The sanctuary attracted numerous personalities (ill. 194), but also a whole host of curious people from the entire Department and beyond. Abbe Breuil worked in the cave until mid-December (ill. 193). December 1940 Lascaux was classed as an historic monument. 1941 Breuil entrusted recording the work to Thaon, which he carried out using a camera lucida. He was to reproduce some thirty paintings and a single engraved figure. The images were reproduced at a scale of 1:5 on yellow-brown card. 1947-48 Building work, begun in June 1947, facilitated access to the decorated galleries and enabled tourists to explore the site. The site was opened to the public a year later on 13 July 1948. Windels produced the first description of the most important parietal works and published, together with Annette Laming-Emperaire, the first work on this site, illustrated with numerous photographs: Lascaux. Chapelle Sixtine de La Prehistoire. 1949 Breuil, Blanc and Bourgon began the first test excavations, carried out on this occasion at the foot of the Shaft Scene. They yielded numerous plaques of limestone used as lamps. Some of these, concave at the centre due to an artificial hollow, contained remains of coniferous charcoal. The bone industry was also represented in the form of fragments of spearheads, sometimes ornamented (grooves, convergent or parallel lines), and awls. They collected the charcoal for the first radiocarbon tests. 1952-63 Despite the extraordinary discovery of Lascaux, Breuil had only sketched our the record of a few figures in the cave. A few months before the discovery of the site an accident had deprived him temporarily of his sight, and he only recovered it a few weeks later. After this episode his activities in the Perigord slowed down. It fell upon Abbe Andre Glory to continue his work. The remarkable results of the first two years, spent carrying out an inventory of practically all of the images of the cave, and the succeeding nine years, recording the majority of the images, enabled him to raise the number of identified representations to 1,433. The inextricable tangle of the figures engraved from the Apse to the Chamber of the Felines inspired a rigorous approach using suitable equipment. Access to the upper level of the Apse required the construction of tubular metal scaffolding, which helped to trace the figures. Abbe Glory chose to trace the images on to a transparent material, in this case a film of cellulose or cellophane, impregnated with rubberized material to render it impervious to the humidity. Nevertheless, the limestone, which in places is very powdery, prohibited placing the sheet directly or entirely against the wall. A soft pencil and other, coloured ones, made the differentiation of the Palaeolithic lines and the natural contours, fissure or calcite deposits more intelligible. Painted lines were separated from the engravings and recorded on different tracing paper. Once finished, the record was stretched over a drawing board for control and to intensify the principal lines. A final assessment involved replacing the copy in its original position. Measurements taken in situ permitted the readjustment of each element of the mosaic, an operation carried out at the base of the original panel. After assembly, the montage was reduced to a scale of 1:5 or 1:10 with a camera lucida. 1955 The first signs of deterioration appeared on the walls: the formation of droplets of water which, as they trickled down, removed prehistoric pigments. A study was able to establish that an excess of carbon dioxide, produced by the breath of the visitors, brought about an acidification of the water vapour, which was condensed and corroded the underlying rock and the calcite. The phenomenon was exaggerated by natural processes, related especially to the presence, at the base of the Shaft, of an intermittent source of carbon dioxide issuing from the lower levels of the system. 1957-58 Following repeated observations of the first traces of the degeneration of the substrate, an air-conditioning system was installed below the entrance stairs, designed primarily to get rid of the excess carbon dioxide. The installation of this bulky equipment meant that the entire entrance zone of the cave had to be cleared - the whole of the cone of scree, from its foot, adjoining the Hall of the Bulls, to its summit at the present-day entrance. As a result of these measures, Glory had to keep track of the day-to-day construction work and initiate several test excavations and studies of sections, particularly in the present engine room and along the course of pipes for the extraction of air, from the Hall of the Bulls to the distal end of the Axial Gallery and from the former to the entrance of the Mondmilch Gallery. He carried out the stratigraphic recording of some fifteen sections in the sections open to visitors and in the engine room. The tatter, no less than 11 metres deep, was the most important. The air-conditioning system was designed to allow filtration and removal of carbon dioxide from the air, to stabilize temperature at a level of 14° and to provide the air with a stable level of 98 per cent humidity. The number of visits was not reduced, despite all this, and reached 1,000 visitors a day at its peak. 1960 Max Sarradet, then Conservator of French Monuments (Batiments de France) and, more particularly, of the Lascaux Cave, noticed that green stains were slowly developing on the walls. 1960-61 Glory resumed excavations at the foot of the Shaft Scene. He dug up other lamps and, in particular, the lamp of pink sandstone and the fragment of a second lamp that had been made in exactly the same way. 1962 During the winter of 1962-63, it became noticeable that green stains immediately next to some of the figures were developing more rapidly. They showed the presence of colonies of algae brought in by tourists and the artificial air- conditioning system. The phenomenon was sustained by inadequately subdued lighting and the ambient temperature, which was several degrees too high. 1963 Despite ozone filters having been inserted in the air-conditioning system, the colonies of algae increased. A decision was taken to stop the machine. Faced with the proliferation of micro-organisms, the Minister of State in charge of Cultural Affairs had the cave closed to the public in April and, in the same year, appointed a scientific investigation committee for the preservation of this national heritage. An antibacterial chemical treatment helped to combat the contamination, and a decline was recorded. Some time later, the 'green leprosy', as it had been called, disappeared completely. By cancelling the visits, eliminating the causes of deterioration and restoring climatic conditions, the works of Lascaux were able to return to their original brilliance, at least that at the time of their discovery. As a result, far more stringent regulations were implemented regarding public access to caves and rock shelters. The number of visits was limited, determined specifically by the particular cave in question, and surveillance of the walls and floors was increased in those caves in France open to the public. 1965-67 Initial work was carried out to dismantle the air-conditioning machine, and equipment was installed to control and regulate temperature and humidity levels. By taking this approach, the natural conditions of circulation of the masses of air by convection were recreated. A low temperature was maintained in the engine room - before the earliest construction work, the underground stream that used to flow over the scree cone at the entrance had played this role. A protocol for the surveillance of the cave was set up. A chronicle of the measurements of different parameters was established -- covering temperature, humidity and CO2 levels. This has since been carried out by the Historic Monuments Research Laboratory and the Laboratory for Hydrogeology of the University of Bordeaux 1. 1966-70 As a prophylactic measure the Conservation authority of the French Monuments of Aquitaine (Batiments de France d'Aquitaine) asked the National Geography Institute to carry out the stereo-photogrammetric recording of all the decorated sections of the cave. The possibilities for reproduction offered by this type of recording prompted a suggestion: the construction of a replica of the cave. 1972 The civil society, which owned the Lascaux Cave at that time, purchased the replica project. Parr of the funds necessary for financing such a project came from the sale of the original to the state in the same year. The entrance to a quarry 200 metres downhill from the original cave was chosen as the site. Only the Axial Gallery and the Hall of the Bulls, the most representative sectors of the monument, would be replicated.
1975-76 On the initiative of Arlette Leroi-Gourhan, the excavation data and records of Abbe Glory, who had died prematurely in 1966, were re-examined. The multidisciplinary team assembled on this occasion was to present its contribution to the study of the geology of the site and the stratigraphy of the soils, and to proceed to the analysis of the portable objects found since the discovery, the lithic industry, the lamps, the bone industry, the shells, the fauna and colourants. 1979 Lascaux inconnu was published under the direction of Arlette Leroi-Gourhan and Jacques Allain. 1980 The civil society, which was in charge of the replica, handed over its rights to the Department of the Dordogne. Under the directorship of Daniel Debaye, the Departmental tourist service took up the torch. A concrete construction, covered eventually by a layer of arable soil, served as a receptacle for the copy. Inside this building, a concrete shell, some 10 centimetres thick, was constructed, which gave a good approximation of the internal volume of the original. Its dimensions were established using cross sections specified by the IGN. Once the metal framework and its concrete lining (ill. 195) were in place, the relief was created in two stages: the study and materialization of exceptional positions on the wall, followed by their modelling. The National Centre of Prehistory (CNP) was entrusted with relaying information, from the in situ recording of morphochromatic data to their transferral into the heart of the replica. Monique Petral was to devote herself to the work of reproducing the entire collection of drawings and paintings of the two sectors forming the subject of this construction, the Hall of the Bulls and the Axial Gallery. Towards the end of the decade, the Departmental tourist service extended this action at the site of Thot (Thonac) by taking on Renaud Sanson to create a copy of the Shaft Scene and the two great panels on the left wall of the Nave: the Crossed Bison and the Great Black Cow. A second team, directed by Jean-Francois Tournepiche, was entrusted with the reproduction of the frieze of the Swimming Stags. 1982-83 Cinematographic documentation of the cave was shot, directed by Mario Ruspoli. 1983 Opening of Lascaux II to the public. 1988 The Ministry of Culture suggested the production of interactive video discs about the iconography of the cave. The department of parietal art of the National Centre of Prehistory was charged with the scientific supervision of this operation. 'Lascaux: Paintings and Engravings', a programme designed for museums, universities and other research centres, assembled sequences filmed in 1982-83 by Mario Ruspoli. The CNP added a number of documents to this, including several hundred graphic and photographic items. A second programme, 'Lascaux Revisited', aimed at the general public, was produced using the same data but in a less analytical form. 1989 At the request of the urban community of Bordeaux, the National Centre of Prehistory contributed to the production of the replica of the frieze of the Stags. This was to feature under the theme 'From Lascaux to Hermes' in the Exhibition of the Pacific Countries at Fukuoka in Japan, a town twinned with the regional capital of Aquitaine. 1989-99 Norbert Aujoulat (CNP) began his studies of the parietal art of the Lascaux Cave and its physical environment. His work is the subject of this book. 1990 The symposium on the fiftieth anniversary of the discovery of Lascaux started in September at Montignac, organized by the CNP and the Superintendence of Prehistoric Antiquities of Aquitaine, Ministry of Culture and Communication, under the direction of Jean-Philippe Rigaud, the conservator at that time. 1999 At the request of the Research and Technology Mission, Aujoulat produced the official Internet site for the Lascaux Cave, which was recognized in the following year by the Webby Awards 2000 in the category 'Science'. Due to renewed alterations to the entire entrance zone of the cave, research was stopped at the beginning of autumn 1999 for an indefinite period. 2000 During June, work began in the engine room to replace the cave's climatic regulation system, which had become too obsolete. It was finished at the beginning of 2001. 2001 A short time later, at the start of summer, Bruno Desplat, the technician in charge of the supervision of the site, reported the appearance of mould in the airlocks of the site entrance. Over a few days to a few weeks, a white blanket of filaments covered the floors and ledges of all the decorated sectors except the Shaft. The most prolific pathogenic agent, Fusarium solani, was quickly identified by the research laboratory of the historic monuments research laboratory. This Fungus lives in symbiosis with a bacterium, Pseudomonas, which is able to break down Fungicides. This is why it was so difficult to eradicate these micro-organisms. Action was carried out very rapidly. Quicklime, spread over the affected floor, stopped the spread of the fungus immediately. Pads soaked in a remedial product, combining a fungicide and an antibiotic, were applied to the ledges. The biological proliferation was suppressed, but the mycelium responsible still resisted treatment. Furthermore, during May, the development of another fungus was noticed on the walls. It took the form of dark, circular patches, from 10 to 15 centimetres in diameter. They spread progressively into the cave, from the entrance airlocks towards the Apse. 2002 At the beginning of July, the Ministry of Culture and Communication created the International Scientific Committee for Lascaux Cave, under the presidency of Marc Gauthier. Within the framework of the Direction of Cultural Affairs of Aquitaine, it brought together some thirty administrative personnel and researchers, notably microbiologists, hydrogeologists, chemists, archaeologists and climatologists. 2003 Despite the permanent treatment of the floors and walls, since the first in situ interventions, the mould continued to develop. The chemical process had revealed its limitations, and as a result a programme commenced that involved cleansing the surfaces through the injection and extraction of a special material. This process allowed the removal of sediments deposited on the ledges during the course of millennia. These function as veritable collectors / gutters for organic alter material, creating a nutritive environment promoting the renewed outbreak of destructive agents. Since the summer, the materialization of these pathogenic agents has declined, and their appearances have become increasingly rare and inconspicuous. 2004 By January a clear improvement was recorded regarding the state of the cave. Nevertheless, the entire apparatus of surveillance and maintenance remains in place, as it is still unclear whether this improvement is permanent or temporary. The risks to the preservation of parietal works, and current thinking concerning the problems of conserving this heritage at Lascaux, are relevant to all the decorated caves in Western Europe, whether they are open to the public or not. These considerations can apply equally to rock art. From this perspective, these investigations may be of benefit for all the decorated sites worldwide. |
