The Mystery of the Lascaux Caves

By Pat Knepley
On a warm September day in southern France in 1940, four teenage boys and a dog named
Robot went exploring in some woods, hoping to find an adventure. The teens had heard
stories of a cavern that ran under the nearby riverbed. They had mused about finding the
access point and it possibly leading to a treasure. Little did they know that the treasure
these teens would stumble upon would be an archeological find of such lasting significance
the Lascaux Caves! When the dog, Robot, started digging in a trench under a pile of leaves,
the boys decided to use their penknives to chip away at some stones in the same area.
Pretty soon a hole opened up, and the boys climbed down one by one to an amazing sight
of bulls and horses 4 feet tall, drawn on the walls as if they were floating.1
The history of art did not start with the ancient Romans or Ancient Greeks and their love of
beautyit goes much further back than that. Making images with materials on a surface
drawinggoes as far back as the creation of man! The Lascaux Caves contain several
thousand images of human figures, animals, and symbols drawn onto the walls and ceiling.
The purpose of these drawings is not immediately clear, and although this prehistoric form
of art can tell us something about the world at that time, there are still quite a few
questions remaining. And we may not have many years left to find the answers.
Back in 1940, the four boys knew they had stumbled onto something extraordinary. So they
shared their secret with one of their teachers, who realized right away the significance of
the find. Scientists soon discovered that the complex series of rooms that connected deep in
a rocky ledge contained thousands of drawings and engravings dating back from the earliest
civilization, the Paleolithic Age.2 The images of animals in motion, some now extinct, such
as the ibex and the auroch, move us because we recognize that this is the expression of the
earliest people groups with a story to share for the ages. And it is not that different from
our own.
Unfortunately, the Lascaux Caves are in peril. Molds, fungi, and bacteria began plaguing the
walls and ceiling of this hidden treasure within just a dozen years of its discovery. 3 No one
knows why the invasive life forms have taken hold so aggressively. Is it because humans
had not been in those caves for thousands of years and human presence has been toxic?
Was it the polluted air of France in the modern age? Over the years, authorities in France
have tried several solutions to control the climate in the caves, but some believe the
remedies have only made the problem worse.
Great pains are being taken to restore the caves to their original condition. Public access is
severely limited so that since 2006, only researchers and restoration experts have been
allowed to visit the caves in person. There is a museum called Lascaux II that was built just
a few miles away to duplicate the original images found in the two main caverns. 4 These
duplications were drawn using the same materials used in the original artwork, and the
museum is open to the public. Perhaps the best way to experience the Lascaux Caves now
is to take a virtual tour via this link: www.lascaux.culture.fr/?lng=en#/en/02_00.xml .
When studying ancient civilization, the home educator has a lot of great resources with
which to visit the Lascaux Caves. Take one of several virtual tours available on the
Internet to see images from one or all of the many rooms in the Caves.

Once your students have experienced Lascaux, they can make their own cave drawing.
The materials you need are a brown paper grocery bag, some chalk pastels (black, red,
brown, rust, beige, white), and some cheap hairspray!
Step One: Tear out (dont cut) a shape out of one side of a brown paper shopping bag. Use
the non-printed side.
Step Two: Crumple up the brown paper bag piece in to a tight ball in your fist. Then uncrumple it and smooth it flat. This bumpy, weathered surface will mimic the cave wall.
Step Three: Using a black chalk pastel, outline the image of an animal that is found in the
caves of Lascaux. Remember that the drawings were primitive, so focus on basic shapes
rather than details. Options include a Chinese horse, a bull, an ox, and a red deer.
Step Four: Once you are pleased with the outline, fill in the upper part of the torso and head
with red, brown, or rust pastel, and then blend the colors. Use just one finger to blend the
brownish color up against the black outline, and spread and press the chalk pastel into the
brown paper.
Step Five: Use a lighter pastel, such as beige or white, on the belly portion of the animal.
Use a clean finger to blend the lighter pastel gently into the darker color used on the
animals body.
Step Six: Go back and outline again in black pastel.
Step Seven: Spray the finished drawing with a light coat of cheap aerosol hairspray from at
least 12 inches away.
Pat has been drawing and painting since she was able to hold a crayon. Pat has a degree in
art education, a teaching credential, and has taught art in Pennsylvania and California. In
addition to being the master artist for the See the Light ART CLASS and ART PROJECTS DVD
series, Pat teaches art and chorus at a charter elementary school in the Los Angeles area.
Pat lives in a windy part of southern California with her husband and two almost-grown
sons.
Endnotes
1.
2.
3.
4.

http://www.savelascaux.org/Legacy_Finding.php
http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/lasc/hd_lasc.htm
http://www.savelascaux.org/crisis_overview.php
http://www.sacred-destinations.com/france/lascaux-caves

Copyright 2013, used with permission. All rights reserved by author. Originally appeared in
the January 2013 issue of The Old Schoolhouse Magazine, the family education magazine.
Read the magazine free at www.TOSMagazine.com or read it on the go and download the
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