Maybe I wasn’t paying attention in class the day they talked about this but the first time I’d ever heard about La grotte de Lascaux (The Lascaux Cave) and the prehistoric drawings there – was when we were visiting southwest France just about a month ago. At first, I wasn’t very excited about seeing them especially because the original cave is closed to the public and you can only visit a replica of it. I know: I was lame because I thought it would be so boring. I’m glad I we took the advice of the people around us and visited it afterall because it was surprisingly far from a snorer.
Christened “The Sistine Chapel of Prehistory,” these ancient frescoes are the most spectacular prehistoric cave paintings in the world. Dating back approximately 17,000 years ago, the original cave paintings at Lascaux, near the village of Montignac, are some of the earliest known art by man. Incidentally, Cro-Magnon man was the first to show signs of artistic ability according to scientists.

If it weren’t for two teenagers in 1940 who stumbled accidentally upon the cave whilst looking for their dog (that fell into a hole leading to the cave), we may never have known about Lascaux.

Sadly, they had to close Lascaux to the public in 1963 because the walls began developing a deteriorating fungus from all the visitors’ wows, oohs and ahhhs.

Soon thereafter, the French embarked on a huge project to build an exact, inch-by-inch replica of the Lascaux cave and the drawings. It took about 11 years.

The replica, called Lascaux 2, situated just 200 meters away from the original cave, opened to the public in 1983.

I first felt a bit resentful having to see a replica but it is nearly an identical copy of the first and it is truly amazing; the guided tour was excellent as well. You will be engaged by the bulls, elk and horses that seem to trot across a cave ceiling before your eyes. You’ll be tempted to decipher symbols and stories. Note: I don’t think this would be an interesting for claustrophobes, however.

The construction of the Lascaux II was a clear opportunity for scientists, to explore their hypotheses and knowledge about how the drawings and paintings were made.

They used the same kinds of materials they believed to have been used some 17,000+ years ago. Materials such as natural pigments like ochre, charcoal, and iron oxides. The images show animals, hunts, wars, symbols and other objects not easily decipherable.

If anything, the cave tour does inspire you to wonder about the lives of these ancient peoples. What they did; how they lived; what was their relationship to the animals around them. The scientist clearly say with certainty that animals were not domesticated until thousands of years later, but some of the images seem to point otherwise. How they can say that so confidently is beyond me because in the same breath, they will note that the Cro-Magnon man was only different to us in physical attributes (longer jaws that accommodated all their wisdom teeth! and also they were taller), and not in intelligence. In other words, Cro-Magnon man was as intelligent as man today. The 40-minute tour is very detailed and fascinating, and our tour guide was very pleased that the group was quite animated and many theories emerged into lively discussion.

Though there was a lot of debate about what could have been, clearly, these prehistoric murals and artwork, at minimum, testify to the existence of ancient and well-established civilization in the south of France, which is pretty neat.

Important Note: You cannot buy tickets onsite at Lascaux II; you must purchase them in the nearby town of Montignac, next to the Office de tourisme. Admission: 8.20 € (5.20 € for kids 6-12 years old); During the high season (May through August), reserve tickets one or two weeks in advance or arrive early. The office opens at 9am until they sell all of tickets for the day. Tours are available in French and English.

Books about Lascaux
The Cave Painter of Lascaux (a book for small kids),
Cave of Lascaux: The Cave of Prehistoric Wall Paintings (Famous Caves of the World),
The Cave of Lascaux,
Lascaux: Movement, Space and Time,
Prehistoric Art: The Symbolic Journey of Humankind

For more Information
Lascaux II: Semitour Périgord, 221 bis route d’Angouleme, BP 1024, 24001
Périgueux Cedex, Tel: +33-553-519503 or +33-553-056565
E-mail: contact@semitour.com
Website: Official Site for The Lascaux 2 Cave

Related: Where to stay in Dordogne: Rent a vacation house in Dordogne

^{[photos from the original Lascaux Cave courtesy of the Delluc and Laval Collections]}