Central Connecticut Grotto
The Underground Movement
Volume 12, Number 3
March 2012
The Underground Movement
Volume 12, Number 3
March 2012
IN THIS ISSUE
The Central Connecticut Grotto (CCG) is a local chapter of the National Speleological Society (NSS) dedicated
to the exploration, scientific study, and conservation of
caves and all aspects of the underground environment as
well as promoting a spirit of camaraderie and fellowship
among cavers. Membership is open to anyone who shares
these interests. Regular membership dues are $5.00 per
year. Non-voting youth or full-time student membership
dues are $2.00 per year. Institutional membership is free.
Please visit www.caves.org/grotto/ccg/join.htm for additional membership information. Grotto meetings, consisting of a short business meeting followed by a caving
presentation, are usually held on the 3rd Tuesday of each
month, starting at 7:00 p.m. However, the date, time, and
location of meetings may vary, so please check the CCG
website (www.caves.org/grotto/ccg/) or contact grotto
chair Jonathan Le May (203-560-0308) for any updates.
From the Editor’s Desk..……………………………..….3
Art - A Poem of the Ice Age……………………………..4
Altxerri Cave in Spain……….……....….…...…………..5
In the Land of Grog…….………………………………14
Underground Archaeology News………………. ......…15
The Enduring Mysteries of Prehistoric Art….….14
Black Fungus Threatens Lascaux Paintings….…16
Chauvet Cave: A Controversial Antiquity……...17
Psychoanalysis and Prehistoric Cave Art…….…18
From the Bookshelf…………………………………….19
The Creative Corner……………….…………………...33
Post-Historic Cave Paintings…………………....33
Rare Cave Sculpture Discovered……………......34
Calendar of Events/Photograph of the Month………….35
The Underground Movement is the official newsletter of
the CCG. Material for publication in the newsletter can be
contributed by both grotto members as well as friends of
the grotto. Opinions expressed in articles are not necessarily a reflection of the official position of the CCG and
NSS or shared by the newsletter editor, CCG officers, or
grotto members. Unless it is independently copyrighted
(indicated by ©), material published in The Underground
Movement may be reprinted in any NSS-affiliated publication, provided appropriate credit is given and either a
hard copy or digital file made available to the author.
Cover Image - Altamira Cave
This is an Adobe® Photoshop-generated re-creation
of one of the famous bison paintings found in
Spain’s Altamira Cave. With artwork dating to approximately 18,000 years ago, Altamira was the first
decorated cave to be discovered in modern times.
Submissions to The Underground Movement, including
original or reprinted articles, photographs, and letters to
the editor are welcome. Digital files, composed in Microsoft Word with minimal formatting, should be sent to the
editor at underground_newsletter@yahoo.com. Images
should be sent as jpegs or tiff files. The CCG cannot publish copyrighted material without written permission of
the copyright holder. Contributors are responsible for
determining whether material is copyrighted as well as
for securing appropriate permission.
CENTRAL CONNECTICUT GROTTO
OFFICERS (2012)
©
Chair:
Vice Chair:
Treasurer:
Secretary:
Webmaster:
Membership:
Safety:
Conservation:
Vertical:
Equipment:
Member at Large:
Newsletter Editor:
In conjunction with ongoing efforts to help diminish
the spread of white-nose syndrome among hibernating
bats, the Central Connecticut Grotto encourages all
cavers to follow recommended gear-cleaning and disinfection protocols. These can be found on the NSS
White-Nose Page (www.caves.org/WNS/). Your continued cooperation and support is appreciated.
Jonathan Le May
Steve Millett
Norm Berg
Bob Simmons
Norm Berg
Emily Ray
Doug Truitt
Bob Simmons
Felicia Millett
Steve Millett
Jansen Cardy
Danny Brass
Grotto officers can be reached through the CCG email
address (info@ctcavers.org). The newsletter editor can be
reached at underground_newsletter@yahoo.com.
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Volume 12, Number 3
FROM THE EDITOR’S DESK
March 2012
From the Editor’s Desk
I would like to express my thanks to those who contributed to the last several issues of The Underground Movement as well as to everyone who contributed to this
month’s issue. It is only through continued submissions
from the membership and friends of the grotto that a viable newsletter can be sustained.
I am delighted to produce an issue of The Underground
Movement devoted entirely to prehistoric cave art. I am
especially pleased that Gayle Heney has shared some of
her beautiful poetry and Barbara Olins Alpert has shared
some of her interesting experiences visiting decorated
caves in France and Spain. Having actually seen such
caves with her own eyes, she provides a perspective not
available to armchair prehistorians, such as myself, who
know these sites only from the vantage of a library setting.
The National Speleological Society (NSS) is a nonprofit organization dedicated to the scientific study of
caves and karst; protecting caves and their natural contents through conservation, ownership, stewardship, and
public education; and promoting responsible cave exploration and fellowship among those interested in caves.
Books on cave art continue to be popular among cavers,
speleologists, artists, art historians, archaeologists, and
students of human evolutionary history (now referred to
as paleoanthropology). While some are now out of print,
many interesting and very well-written texts are still available. These include both oversized, coffee-table art books
as well as more scholarly titles. In this regard, I have included reviews of some of the more interesting works that
have been published over the last few years. Collectively,
they provide insight into the rich diversity of ideas concerning the nature and meaning of Paleolithic cave art.
Close to 200 regional member organizations (called grottos) make up the backbone of the NSS. Grottos are devoted
to the training of both novice and advanced cavers, as well
as to the continued development and refinement of equipment and technique for safe underground exploration. Grottos conduct meetings, organize training programs, and
sponsor caving trips on a regular basis. Interested beginners
are welcome. Information on membership in the NSS and
its various programs and activities can be found at
www.caves.org/.
Although membership in the NSS is not a requirement for
joining the CCG, all CCG members are strongly encouraged to join the NSS. In terms of educational opportunities available, acquisition of caving skills and experience,
and the potential for networking with other cavers on a
local, regional, or even global scale, the benefits to cavers
of NSS membership are incalculable.
Regrettably, most of these caves are now closed to visitation because of damage being done to delicate paintings
by subtle alterations in the cave environment. However, a
handful of sites do remain accessible to the public and
some have been partially replicated. I hope you will come
to find decorated caves as fascinating as I do. Perhaps
some day you’ll even have an opportunity to visit one.
CAVE SOFTLY
Take Nothing But Pictures
Leave Nothing But Footprints
Kill Nothing But Time
I would like to express my appreciation to Norm Berg, Krysten
Civitelli, and Dr. Nathan M. Appel for their editorial assistance.
Special thanks to Merrill Ann Gonzales for generously allowing
the CCG to use her beautiful illustrations.©
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Volume 12, Number 3
A POEM OF THE ICE AGE
March 2012
ART by Gayle C. Heney
Blanketed in blackness,
vistas speak on serpentine
caves’ painted patina
in red, black, sienna.
Paleolithic hands painstakingly reveal
horns’ curves, hooves’ speed,
watchful eyes of powerful
creatures. Overhead, spears
find their mark. Herds of antelope
flee in passages claimed by our ancestors
through torchlight, creativity, need.
Bison and horses stampede into our
consciousness, reborn.
A Poem of the Ice Age
Gayle C. Heney is the poet laureate of North Andover, Massachusetts. Her poems have appeared in Moments Falling
Open, The Writer’s Block, and Peace Poetry 2009, 2010, and 2011. Ms. Heney judged and selected the poems included
in the poetry anthology Voices of Haverhill. She created the Poetry Wall, which featured 284 original poems from Massachusetts residents. Ms. Heney has taught poetry at libraries, senior centers, schools, the Essex Art Center, Rolling
Ridge Conference Center, and retirement communities. She has given poetry workshops attended by more than 825
adults and children, resulting in many poetry readings, companion TV programs, and North Andover’s first poetry slam.
In 2011, Ms. Heney judged the Memorial Hall Library’s 7th Annual Teen Poetry Contest; the North Andover High
School Robert Frost Poetry Awards, which she created and administers; and the Greater Haverhill Poets Childhood
Memories Contest. She has also produced Tangible Poetry, an exhibit featuring North Andover High School students’
poetry and art. She is the recipient of the “Producer of the Year Award” for her cable TV show, Write Now, from Haverhill Community TV. As a potter, Ms. Heney’s artwork has been exhibited in over forty individual and group exhibitions
in galleries, art centers, libraries, and museums. In 2012, she will be the judge of Memorial Hall Library’s 8th Annual
Teen Poetry Contest, teach poetry at the Brooks School, and be the featured speaker at Kittredge School’s Poetry Night.
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March 2012
ALTXERRI CAVE IN SPAIN
— Barbara Olins Alpert —
Looking over a small valley in the town of Aia in Northern Spain, I could see one of the steep limestone peaks so
prevalent in this land of karst formations. Bolted to it, like
a huge zipper was a long, thin, metal ladder extending, I
later learned, fifty feet up from the valley floor. At the
top, I saw a small dark blur. That, I thought, must be the
gash in the rock that served as the entrance to the cave I
would be visiting: the cave of Altxerri (the x is pronounced like sh). Mounting the ladder and entering the
cave would evidently present me with an occasion to experience acrophobia and claustrophobia almost simultaneously.
I was troubled not by the ladder but by my footgear. On
the trip this past November, one of our suitcases had been
stolen while we were picking up our rental car in Madrid.
It contained mainly my husband’s possessions, but it also
had our camera, other electronic equipment and my hiking boots. Because of our tight schedule for meeting people and visiting sites, we did not have time to replace any
of the missing items. I had been improvising with sneakers. In the caves I had been into up to this point, the terrain was not difficult, but, even there, I had found that the
smooth-bottomed sneakers were extremely slippery and
About the Author
Barbara Olins Alpert is an artist and art historian. She taught
prehistoric art at the Rhode Island School of Design from 1988 2000. For many years, she has been engaged in field research
on rock art in the United States, France, Spain, Sweden, South
Africa, India, and Australia. Her articles on Ice Age art have
appeared in museum journals, including Anthropologie published by the Moravske Museum, Brno, Czech Republic, and
L'Anthropologie published by the Musée de l'Homme, Paris.
Alpert's understanding of and approach to Ice Age art is deepened by an empathy drawn from her own experience in working
with materials not unlike those used by Ice Age artists. She
works in a variety of media related to drawing, painting, and
sculpture. In addition to exhibitions of her work in the United
States, she has shown work in Malta, Russia, China, and Japan. Alpert is a member of Phi Beta Kappa, a summa cum
laude graduate of Brown University, and Life Member of the Art
Student's League. She is listed in the UNESCO publication
Who's Who in Rock Art. She is also the author of an intriguing
book on cave art: The Creative Ice Age Brain: Cave Art in the
Light of Neuroscience (2009), Foundation 20 21, NY, a review
of which can be found in the book-review section of this issue of
The Underground Movement. In this general, human-interest
article, she shares some of her personal experiences investigating several of the decorated caves of southwestern Europe.
Ladder climb to Altxerri. Sketch by the author.
made even the simplest mud-slick trails dangerous. Since
my footgear did not supply sufficient traction, I tried to
compensate by testing each footstep before putting down
weight, and, where necessary, by crouching to steady myself as I grabbed an available boulder.
There are now about 350 known decorated caves dating
from about 30,000 to 10,000 years ago. The major concentration of these caves is in Southwestern Europe, specifically in France and Spain. Many of the important
decorated caves in Northern Spain are situated in a crescent along the Cantabrian Sea. This area is blessed with a
limestone topography that presents spectacular jagged
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my friend and mentor the science writer John Pfeiffer,
who is best known for his book The Emergence of Man.
The letter was to the renowned archeologist Jesús Altuna,
then director of the Department of the Society of Sciences
of Aranzadi at San Sebastián. He gave me permission to
visit the normally closed Basque cave of Ekain and assigned a young colleague named Angel to act as my
guide.
When Angel asked where I was from, I replied
“Providence, Rhode Island.” Even some people from
other parts of the United States are puzzled by the whereabouts of Rhode Island. Some confuse it with a similarly
named island near Turkey. Generally, I have to explain
that it is near Boston or on the way to Cape Cod. So I was
surprised to hear our young guide say that Providence was
a place he was very interested in. I asked why. He replied
that it had significance for him because it had been the
home of the horror writer H.P. Lovecraft.
When I got home, I located Lovecraft’s tomb. I discovered that it was a special site for some aficionados of the
genre and that on Halloween a group of Lovecraft devotées would gather there to read horror stories. Finding
it, I produced the only tombstone rubbing I have ever
made. I sent this to Angel.
Ekain Cave is a jewel containing both paintings and engravings. Thirty-three out of 71 figures are of horses, but
other animals are also shown although in much fewer
number: bison, stag, hind, ibex, and salmon. The horses
are given further importance because they are depicted
with great skill and with the intent is to make them look
as visually real as possible. In this respect, European Ice
Age art is highly unusual and not what we term
‘primitive.’ The term for this kind of depiction is
‘naturalism.’ Ekain is a cave that is obsessed with horse
imagery. I will not forget my sudden realization that a
natural formation in the center of the main chamber replicated the forepart and head of a horse. A careful viewer
would find only one small possible human-made carved
mark to make it an even more perfect likeness. Signs of
modification are important. Such evidence of the human
hand at work confirms that the Paleolithic artist indeed
saw this stone mound as a horse, just as I had perceived it.
I could only imagine what awe the artist who worked in
that cave must have felt when confronting such a naturally occurring configuration. Vicariously, I felt I could
experience the same sense of wonder that must have over-
Alpine karst of the Picos de Europa. Sketch by the author.
peaks, such as the Picos de Europe in the West and the
Basque mountains in the East. It also provides an abundance of caves. The provinces and autonomous communities in this region are, from West to East, Asturias, Cantabria, and the Basque provinces. These latter provinces
are not only politically autonomous, but are also distinguished by having their own language. So the province of
Bizkaia in Basque is also referred to as Vizcaya in Spanish and the province of Gipuzko in Basque is referred to
as Guipúzcoa in Spanish.
Studying Cave Art Over the Years
About 25 years earlier I had visited caves in Northern
Spain. I had been armed with a letter of introduction from
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artist had portrayed this animal.
March 2012
How could the horse have been a food source for these
Ice Age people if horses were depicted as if they were
worshipped? We might ask the same question of other
cultures. As an example, in 19th-century France, an intense love and admiration of the horse is evident in the
paintings of Géricault, Delacroix, and Degas. At the same
time, horsemeat was sold in special stores called
‘boucheries hippophagiques’ and considered a delicacy
on a par with veal. The same is true in many countries in
our own time.
The experience in Ekain is still vivid in my memory after
more than 25 years. In this new visit, I was anxious to see
other caves from the Basque region. I wondered if it
would be possible to locate, after so many years, the former graduate student who had been my guide. I tried to
google him: Angel Armendariz Gutierrez. As expected,
there were a number of people with the same name. I tried
narrowing it down to an archeologist. Finally, I found a
professor at the Instituto Internacional de Investigaciones
Préhistoricas de Cantabria at the University of Cantabria
in Santander. Like throwing a bottle with a note into the
ocean, I emailed this professor. I tried to prod his memory
by reminding him that I had sent him a rubbing of H.P.
Lovecraft’s tombstone. Very quickly, I received a reply.
He said he remembered me and that he still had the rubbing. He added that he would be glad to arrange for me to
see caves and to accompany me.
Horse’s head from Commarque. Sketch by the author.
come the artist before this miraculous image of a horse.
Of all the animals in the Ice Age pantheon, perhaps the
most important animal is the horse. To have one appear
unexpectedly in the center of this chthonic space might
have seemed a sign from their gods.
An array of caves can be found in the Basque region
around the Bay of Biscay. I had previously seen Ekain
and a few others. An important one I had not seen was
Altxerri. Angel said he would try to gain permission for
me. I did not realize how unlikely this was. Later, I found
out that Altxerri is so protected that it can now only be
seen by specialists who are working on it or by serious
scholars of Ice Age art. Moreover, descriptions of the
cave state bluntly that it is only open to prehistorians who
can accredit their status with published works. The fact
that I had had a number of articles published in archeology journals and had written a recently published book on
Ice Age art served me well.
For me, the most remarkable depiction of a horse in the
Ice Age is the one in the cave of Commarque. A picture
book medieval castle was built in stages on top of this
small cave and looms over it like a vertically rising display of architectural history. The cave that underlies this
imposing structure is entered through the side of the hill,
much as one would enter a French wine cellar. Like many
of the decorated caves it is not normally open to the public.
The first time I visited it, my guide was the present Count
Hubert de Commarque, who is the descendent of the
original Counts of Commarque. The life-size engraved
horse, in low relief, has its body wrapped around the
curved surface of the cave wall. The most clearly delineated part, in somewhat higher relief, is the horse’s head. I
gazed at this magnificent head, particularly the eye, for a
long time, and marveled at the empathy with which the
It must also have helped that the request was made by
Angel Armendariz. I did not realize then that he is an important figure in Spain who works in the famed Garma
Cave, where he directs research in the Neolithic areas.
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way station in Madrid. Knowing that I would have only a
brief time to look at this complex composition, it made
sense to learn what to look for as quickly as possible. At
other times, it is not possible to do much advance preparation. My visits to Trois Frères, le Gabillou, Domme, Tuc
d’Audoubert, and many other decorated caves came as
unexpected serendipity.
When one has prepared for a specific cave, there are certainly advantages. On the other hand, I sometimes prefer
to go with no preconceived notion of what I will find. In
this way, I try to replicate the disorientation and wonder
experienced by the first explorers. In the decorated caves,
one better senses the impression of the Ice Age cave artist, who would have been surprised by the images left by
those who went before, and who may have added more to
those already there. In this case, I had to pursue the course
of unprepared discovery of the unknown because the permission to see Altxerri arrived only a short time before
my trip to Spain. I assumed it was like other caves I had
seen in the area such as Santamamiñe. I was mistaken.
The process of gaining entrance to Paleolithic decorated
caves has changed enormously since I first began to study
them in the 1970s. For those caves that were open to the
public at that time, one used to get a key from the local
farmer or pharmacist. The problem was finding out where
the caves were and how to get there and then finding out
who had a key. Often, the store or inn was closed and the
farmer was busy or away. Then, one’s only recourse was
to convince the farmer’s wife to leave her chores and
show you the cave. Occasionally, there was barbed wire
to negotiate or a bull to avoid. Now, one researches the
cave site on the internet (where the location and hours are
clearly listed) and then orders tickets, much as to a theatrical performance.
Angel Armendariz Gutierrez. Sketch by the author.
Nor did I realize that he is an internationally respected
archeologist, who works all over the world. When I visited Spain he had been about to leave for work in Patagonia, but the volcanic eruption in that area had delayed his
departure and I was, ironically, a beneficiary of this disaster. Just before leaving the United States, I learned that I
had been granted permission to visit Altxerri.
Angel tried to get permission for me to visit the cave of
Tito Bustillo. It was the last day that the cave would be
open for the season. The cave tours were fully booked for
that day with school groups and tour groups. The limit of
the number of visitors each day was strictly observed, so I
would only be able to go if someone did not show up. We
waited to see if there would be a cancellation, but none
occurred. Instead, I visited the museum located in a large
building that had been erected outside the cave. The cave
and this excellent museum were now a central feature of
the town. It was disappointing to be right there and yet
not be able to visit the cave. However, I was not too upset
Usually, I do considerable research before visiting a cave.
In preparation for my first visit to Altamira, for example,
I had studied whatever I could find. Those were the days
before the internet, so there was no easy access to material published in other countries. After my arrival in
Spain, I spent hours gazing at a replica of the main chamber at Altamira that had been made in an abandoned sub8
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directed a group of children who were playing in the
street to take us to Capin’s house. My husband and I followed the children, who called up to him to say that
someone wanted to see him. When he came out, I explained that I had come all the way from the United States
to see Tito Bustillo. He said that the cave was closed because the season was over, but that he would be willing to
take me in if I got permission from the Minister of Culture, and he gave me the phone number. I called. The
minister herself answered and in my broken, minimal
Spanish, I somehow convinced her that I should be permitted a special visit. Then my husband and I had a long,
private tour with the man who had been one of the discoverers of Tito Bustillo and its first guide.
Aurelio Capin was to Tito Bustillo as Jacques Marsal was
to Lascaux. Jacques had been one of the four teenage
boys who discovered that cave in 1940. That was very
likely the most momentous event in his life. He stayed on
at Lascaux as guide and protector until his own death in
1989. The first time I visited Lascaux I knew little about
him. As I waited outside the cave for the assigned moment to arrive, I saw a man approaching who seemed the
stereotype of a Frenchman wearing a beret and with a
cigarette dangling from his lips. When, in total darkness,
Eliette Brunel-Deschamps. Sketch by the author.
at missing a visit to Tito Bustillo with the tour group because I had entered the cave years ago in a much more
wonderful way.
A History of Visiting Decorated Caves
Twenty-five years ago, I had wanted to see Tito Bustillo.
It had been discovered about a dozen years before, but
only more recently opened to the public. It was in the center of the little town of Ribadesella in Asturias. The entrance, that looked like a subway station, was bolted shut.
I asked people in the neighborhood how I could get permission to see the cave. They said the guide’s name was
Aurelio Capin and that he lived in the town. Someone
Jean-Marie Chauvet. Sketch by the author.
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we and two other visitors entered the first chamber at Lascaux, he let us wait for a hushed time and then suddenly
turned on the lights. Disoriented by the sudden illumination, we were shocked to see what is perhaps the most
celebrated art of the Ice Age: the panel of the bulls. I realized that Marsal was trying to recreate for us the excitement of the moment when he had lowered himself into
the hole, turned on his lantern, and first saw these paintings. I think Aurelio Capin also tried to capture the excitement of his first discovery of the cave art when he showed
us Tito Bustillo.
March 2012
prayed that a large one would not hit us and make us lose
our already precarious footing. There was no way to turn
around and descend, and if one glanced down, the distant
view of the vertical cliff and valley below was heart
wrenching. We had to continue. The ladder at Altxerri
was quite straight forward compared to the unforgettable
climb at Canyon de Chelly.
At the top of the ladder, I swung myself head first into the
small opening to the right. Once safely inside, I straightened and stood up. The opening I had just entered was not
the original entrance of the cave. It was dynamited open
during temporary quarrying operations in 1956 (limestone
was being extracted for use in the construction of a
nearby road). The force of the explosions had blown open
a hole in the face of the cliff and revealed the existence of
a cave. Caves are not uncommon in Basque country. No
one attempted to examine it until 6 years later, when three
students from San Sebastian decided to have a look. They
immediately found evidence of ancient art and reported
their findings to José-Miguel de Barandiaran, then director of the prehistoric department at the Aranzadi Science
Society. Barandiaran began a methodical exploration. He
found that the original entrance to the cave, now called
Altxerri, is close to this new one. This entrance was completely sealed by the natural accumulation of sediment
and calcium carbonate over thousands of years, and it was
deemed best to preserve that as it was.
I have been lucky enough to meet a number of discoverers of Ice Age art. Shortly after the discovery of Chauvet,
I was taken to the site by Eliette Brunel-Deschamps, one
of the three discoverers. We crossed the vineyard at the
foot of the cave and climbed the trail that she and her fellow speleologists had taken that amazing day that they
made the discovery. We were joined by Jean-Marie Chauvet, after whom the cave is named. We talked for a long
time at the entrance as we listened to the drilling of the
workmen inside, who were widening the opening so that a
team of government archeologists could more easily enter
the space.
At that time, there was bitter litigation regarding the
rights of the discoverers as opposed to the those of the
state that considered the cave part of its patrimony. These
rights also involved the photographs that the discoverers
had taken during their initial exploration. The landowner
was also involved. The state won, of course. It is rumored
that explorers have found other decorated caves and are
now unwilling to reveal their discoveries because they are
fearful that they, in the same way, will lose rights to their
finds.
Inside the cave, I found piles of huge boulders that had
fallen from the ceiling. The stone formation in this cave is
classified as rose limestone. With such material, stratification of the layers results in a tendency for stone blocks to
fall. Blasting for the quarry greatly augmented this process. The large breakdown boulders made walking very
difficult. The cave walls are composed of marl that allows
water to seep in easily. This resulted in extreme dampness
and, ultimately, in deterioration of the paintings. There
was a thick carpeting of mud on top of the boulders. I
carefully worked my way into the entrance, testing the
firmness of each step as I placed my foot down on the
slippery rocks.
Into the Dark
The 50-foot-high ladder we had to climb to reach Altxerri
Cave was long, but not overly daunting. I had learned not
to look down under such circumstances. Many years ago,
in Canyon de Chelly (Chinle, AZ), I was climbing up the
near-vertical wall of the canyon using the old Navajo
trails. Small foot depressions had been cut into the rock,
and, at first, they seemed quite helpful. But as one progressed to steeper inclines, they became increasingly faint
and severely eroded. It was hard enough to find the footholds but, adding to that difficulty, cascades of small and
large rocks frequently rolled down the narrow trail. We
Leaving the light coming from the small entrance behind,
I proceeded into the cave. My flashlight, a replacement
for the one that had been stolen with our suitcase, seemed
weak and was able to illuminate only a small part of the
vast blackness around me. At this point, my description
necessarily becomes more subjective. It is not so much a
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methodical description of Altxerri, which could never be
possible in one visit, as it is my reaction to this intensely
emotional experience, perhaps distorted by mixed feelings
of fear, excitement, surprise, and sheer wonder.
Angel Armendariz was a quiet but seemingly omniscient
presence. Two young men who were working in Altxerri
helped guide me through the cave. One was Jan Wesbuer,
a German photographer who was skilled in the relatively
new technique of photogrammetry. This is a method by
which individual photos are scanned to construct threedimensional models, and to make three-dimensional animations. The result is a virtual cast that does not damage
or in any way even touch the original surface. He had already recorded Ekain using this technology and was now
recording Altxerri. Our other guide, Oier Sarobe, is an
archeologist with the Basque government. He was completing a PhD in order to better qualify him for his work. I
was lucky to have such knowledgeable guides. At crucial
moments, they were quick to extend a hand to aid me in
navigating some particularly dangerous spot. The fifth
member of our party was Duncan Caldwell, an American
friend of mine who researches prehistoric caves in France.
I had requested permission to have him join us and, much
to his delight, it had been granted.
March 2012
Bison engraving from Altxerri. Photo by Jan Wesbuer courtesy
of Department of Culture of the Basque government.©
footing.
The Art in the Cave
Many of the paintings were in poor condition and difficult
to make out because the dampness of the cave had deteriorated the paint. Engravings were more visible, but
many of these were not immediately apparent. The guides
pointed out very fine engravings that were hard to see
and, I am told, almost impossible to photograph. Among
the engravings I was particularly aware of were bison,
which are the most frequently seen image in this cave.
But there is also a great variety of other animal life depicted. One finds deer, ibex, goats, horses, fish of several
varieties, saiga antelope, aurochs, wolverine, birds, reindeer, arctic fox, a serpent, and a headless anthropomorph.
I have been in many caves over the years. Each one has
its own character. A cave is always a surprise; that is part
of what makes them endlessly fascinating. My interest has
been focused on caves that contain images left by Ice Age
artists. Despite an overall cultural continuity, the images
vary. Styles change over the long periods of time involved. There are styles for each region, and within regions, there are styles for each cave. There are even different styles within each cave that reveal individual personalities.
We reached a point at which we were surrounded by the
abyss on both sides. It would not have been possible for me
to continue except for the fact that those who worked in the
cave before had fastened a metal slab to the ground that
serves as a bridge over the chasm and enables one to reach
the farthest part of the cave. The bridge had no handrails
but I did note, with relief, that the metal had a textured surface that might make slipping less likely. So I crossed the
metal slab to reach the narrow ledge between the two
abysses. It was the farthest place from the entrance.
Once we left the area of huge boulders at Altxerri and
started into the entrance of the cave proper, I thought that
my difficulties were over. Actually, the real danger was
yet to come. After a bit of walking, in which I tried wherever possible to step in already-made footprints, the gallery forked. To the left, there was an abyss so deep that
even with the light from our flashlights, I could not see
the bottom. I later learned that the chasm was 33 feet
deep. A fall to that depth was one I do not like to think
about. As I continued, the path I was walking along narrowed. The cave wall on my right did not have any stony
projections to hold onto if I were to unexpectedly lose my
There is a small side chamber off this endpoint with a
number of engravings. One of the most remarkable is a
natural stone shape that sticks out from the wall. It has
been seen as an almost fully formed bird. All that was
necessary to complete the bird was to add an eye, the line
to separate the top and bottom of the beak, and a few
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juncture line and are engraved on the wall. The contour
line forming the neck and chest admirably defines the
way the animal would have looked to an attentive observer. The reindeer is very alert, and its nostrils are
flared, indicating that it is probably sensing the air.
Turning the flashlight at a slight angle reveals another
animal, very likely an arctic fox, inside the neck of the
reindeer. At first glance, it seems that the artist placed the
small animal inside the completed reindeer. With more
careful observation, however, it becomes apparent that
there are engraved lines on top of the fox’s leg, indicating
that the reindeer was completed after the fox. That is
counterintuitive because it seems that the spot for the
reindeer was chosen because of the rock formation. Why
Bird figure in relief from Altxerri. Photo by Jan Wesbuer courtesy
of Department of Culture of the Basque government.©
marks on the tail to indicate feathers. Viewing it, one
feels a sudden shock set off by the spark of wit that has
traveled over so many centuries to reach us now.
Throughout the decorated caves of Spain and France, the
use of natural cave formations to suggest images is evident. Another example in this same space is a fish-shaped
rock on which a fish is engraved. This is known by psychologists as ‘projection,’ a normal cognitive process. It
is an important tool for artists as a stimulus for the creative imagination. ‘Found art’ is a contemporary name for
art conceived in this way. Projection was made use of
with particular ingenuity by artists in the FrancoCantabrian region during the Ice Age. We have already
discussed the horse at Ekain. No doubt the darkness, combined with the shadows cast by torches on the oftenundulating surfaces, enhanced the illusion. Recently, a
theory has asserted that the artists saw the wall of the cave
as a ‘membrane’ behind which the spirit animal was believed to be hidden. If we apply the principle of Occam’s
razor, we find that such a theory is unnecessary to explain
the artistic imagination used in projection, and such a theory might even impede an understanding of the normal
creative processes available to the human mind.
The most surprising and most memorable figure in Altxerri is an engraved reindeer at the end of the cave. Reindeer engraved on cave walls are rare in Ice Age art. The
placement in Altxerri is unusual and unexpected. The
back and neck of the animal follow the prominent dark
seam where the ledge and wall meet at an angle. This
seam serves as the background for the slight relief of the
reindeer’s neck and muzzle. Its antlers extend above that
Reindeer engraving from Altxerri. Photo by Jan Wesbuer courtesy of Department of Culture of the Basque government.©
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times called ‘the Age of the Reindeer,’ there are very few
depictions of these animals. One of the most spectacular
examples in the cave of Font de Gaume shows a pair of
large polychrome reindeer. A standing male is shown
bending over to lick a seated female. The fox depiction is
also very rare, if not unique. Arctic foxes are known to
have coexisted with reindeer because remains of both
have been found in Pleistocene deposits. Like the reindeer, they were also well adapted to cold. If they were
useful to humans, it was probably because fox teeth were
used for necklaces, and their fur is superb for insulation.
Altxerri cave is one of the more difficult caves to understand. It is not a cave with large and resonant spaces that
could have been suitable for ceremonies, like Niaux or
Lascaux. It is not beautifully embellished with crystalline
walls or stalactites like Pech Merle or Cougnac. It is not
easily accessible, like Altamira or El Pendo. The limestone quality is poor for engraving and painting, the
spaces to work are small, and the cave is not easy to explore. In fact, it is perilous. Of course, we know that the
Magdalenian artists were not looking for easy places to
leave their message. Even in the more readily accessible
caves, they seem to have deliberately sought out spaces
that were difficult to reach or, in some cases, almost completely hidden from view.
Close-up of arctic fox. Photo by Jan Wesbuer courtesy of Department of Culture of the Basque government.©
would the arctic fox have been engraved on this small
angled rock to begin with? And why in this most remote
place in the cave? The farthest point in Ice Age caves of
this region seems reserved for the most significant images. However, it is still possible that the reindeer was
engraved first and that the fox was added later. To keep
the proportions correct, the fox’s rear right leg and part of
the tail had to overlap the reindeer’s neck. It is possible
that after this the artist then reinforced the underside of
the reindeer’s neck, where it overlapped the line of the
fox. The line of the neck at this point does seem a bit
thicker and deeper.
The art in Altxerri dates from approximately 14,000 to
15,000 years ago, the period known in Europe as Magdalenian. Reindeer, whose range extended into Europe as far
south as Spain, became an increasingly important resource animal about this time. Well adapted to cold and
snow, they were also native to the far north of the American continent, where they are now known as caribou.
During the last glaciation, they migrated over the Bering
land bridge into Asia in the reverse direction that was
taken by mammoths and humans and the same direction
as horses and camels. Reindeer meat must have been important to the hunters of the Ice Age. Their antlers were
an excellent material for making tools, like the spear
thrower, and was also used, along with mammoth tusk,
for portable art.
Reindeer of Font de Gaume. Drawing by the Abbé Henri Breuil.
If ever one can come close to understanding the impetus
for the creation of Ice Age art, it is in the caves. One who
seeks to penetrate these spaces can begin to enter the
mind of the artist who worked there so long ago. Each
new site and each new find reveals something more. The
graphic messages in the caves serve as a time capsule.
They enable us to travel backwards to a threshold of human history that can give us a deeper understanding of
ourselves. We are reaching back to the moment when humans began to remake the world. Who or what will look
back on us 30,000 years from now?
Surprisingly, although the Magdalenian period is some13
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one of the enduring mysteries of archaeology.
The Enduring Mysteries of Prehistoric Cave Art.
Specimens of prehistoric (i.e., Upper Paleolithic) art are
known from both open-air encampments and from underground environments (e.g., caves and rock shelters). Portable works of art (figurines that include three-dimensional
representations sculpted in stone, bone, ivory, amber, and
antler, or artwork drawn or engraved on flat bones like
shoulder blades or slabs of rock) are most often associated
with open-air sites. On the other hand, all manner of ancient artwork has been unearthed from underground environments—although the most well-known of these artifacts are represented by the large number of exquisitely
detailed paintings, engravings, and bas-reliefs. This socalled parietal art (i.e., art depicted on walls) has been
found to adorn the walls and ceilings of caves throughout
Europe, but particularly in France and Spain. Because of
the wealth of finds from southwestern Europe, the study
of such prehistoric art is highly biased towards this region.
While considering the general nature of Paleolithic cave
art, we can only speculate on its meaning. What is clear,
however, it is that the creation of these works involved
considerable time and effort and an obvious element of
personal risk. What motivated our ancestors to make perilous journeys deep into the heart of underground labyrinths? What meaning can be ascribed to the decorative
walls these people risked their lives to create? What did
these images mean to the artists who painted them or to
the people who viewed them? Will the answers to these
questions remain forever shrouded in antiquity or are we
beginning to pierce the veil of time and develop a sense of
understanding of the mind of our distant forebears?
Understanding the spark that ignited the creative explosion in human cognition helps us to better understand ourselves. Did the initial expansion in human cognition confer some evolutionary advantage on early modern humans, or was it simply a byproduct of our species-specific
evolutionary development. Because these issues speak
directly to the evolution of our own humanity, they remain of lasting interest.
The Upper Paleolithic art of Ice Age Europe includes
those artifacts dating from approximately 45,000 years
ago until about 10,000 years ago. It is associated with anatomically modern humans (i.e., Homo sapiens), individuals not significantly different in mind or body from ourselves. Such art was not a feature of neandertal society or
of the many hominin ancestors that preceded the arrival of
Homo sapiens.
Most of us will never have the opportunity to see prehistoric cave paintings as anything other than an assemblage
of carefully lighted, beautifully composed photo essays in
oversized picture books or on select websites. If we are
lucky enough to visit a suitable museum—or perhaps even
one of the small number of replica sites—we may find a
more dramatic representation in the form of a small mural.
In either case, we will never be able to fully appreciate the
power and majesty that these unique images once commanded. This is because we can never view them as they
were meant to be experienced: cloistered within the confining walls of a world in darkness, living panels of stone
dimly illuminated by the flickering light of a small handheld lamp, ceremonial background sounds perhaps marking the practice of some communal spiritual ritual. Moreover, we will never experience them with an ancestral
mind, one that was attuned to survival in a harsh Ice Age
world or steeped in religious symbolism and submerged in
an altered state of reality. It is, therefore, impossible for us
to truly comprehend the awesome impact that these remarkable paintings—now largely sealed from public scrutiny—were likely to have had on people of the time. And
yet, in spite of these limitations, we are still moved by
photographs of these evocative and haunting images.
It wasn’t until after the 1859 publication of Charles Darwin’s revolutionary book, On the Origin of Species, that a
conceptual framework actually existed in which the antiquity of Upper Paleolithic art could even be recognized or
its significance explored. Prior to Darwin’s treatise on
evolution, most people simply couldn’t conceive of the
idea that ancient human civilizations—let alone early
modern humans with minds capable of artistic expression—might have once existed. Although the authenticity
of these ancient relics was initially questioned by many,
they are now regarded as ancient treasures and considered part of the cultural heritage of humanity.
Having carefully inventoried the many known sites of
Upper Paleolithic cave art, modern archaeologists have
already learned much about these works, including dates
of creation, variations in artistic style, types of ink often
used, and even some of the methods by which many of
these images were produced. Nevertheless, despite the
ever-increasing number of known underground sites rich
in prehistoric art, the reasons for their existence remain
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also resistant to microbial degradation. Because of the
Black Fungus Threatens Lascaux Paintings. Caves
high population density of collembolans in the cave, as
are unique environments with a rather specialized flow of
well as their continued feeding on mycelia of Ochroconis
energy and a delicate, interconnected balance among its
fungi, black stains continue to spread.
inhabitants. Disruptions caused by human visitation can
often be severe, resulting in alterations in nutrient flow
Arthropods are often overlooked in the spread of fungal
and changes in microenvironments (including temperaelements and bacteria within caves, but are known to play
ture, humidity, and carbon dioxide content). The results of
a significant role. They may contribute to dissemination
such intrusions are often difficult to detect, but may evenof fungal spores by acting as mechanical vectors, spreadtually result in altered species diversity, especially at the
ing fecal material, or serving as cadaverous substrates that
microbial level.
supply a vital source of nourishment for the subterranean
community.
Collembola are believed to play a significant
Like beautiful formations in commercial cave subject to
role
in
Lascaux.
an excess of light and human visitation, the delicate paintings in southwestern Europe’s decorated caves have also
The microorganisms in Lascaux Cave grow as a biofilm
suffered damage as a consequence of large scale tourist
of bacteria, protozoa, and fungi. The composition of this
visitation. Some have endured repeated microbial crises.
community of organisms is influenced by human interAs a result of continued biodegradation and a desire on
ventions
(such as the earlier use of fungicidal agents) and
the part of municipalities to protect these unique Ice-Age
the
grazing
activity of subterranean arthropods, primarily
era cultural treasures, the majority of decorated caves,
Collembolae.
including such well-known locales as Lascaux (France),
Chauvet (France), and Altamira (Spain), are now closed
A combination of factors affecting the micro-environment
to visitors. The magnificent Paleolithic paintings in these
of the cave may be acting in concert to facilitate contincaves have been imperiled by the presence of a variety of
ued growth of biofilms within the cave. But control of
quickly spreading films of algae, bacteria, or fungi. Funarthropods
has been suggested as an important component
gal elements are of increasing concern, especially in Lasof
cave
management
plans in decorated caves. Other faccaux, where they are associated with areas of black stains
tors
may
also
play
a
role and the interaction of people
or white-colored mycelial mats along the walls.
with the ecology of a cave may vary markedly from one
location to another. Ultimately, a good understanding of
The presence of black stains on the walls of Lascaux
microbial ecology (especially the composition of underCave have been of considerable concern to French auground microbial communities and the influence of huthorities, especially since they appear to be spreading at
man activities) will be vital to successful management
an alarming rate and have also developed on some of the
efforts
in decorated caves and the conservation of these
cave’s most exquisite and iconic paintings, including the
unique
and
timeless treasures.
famed panel of bulls. Detailed spectroscopic analysis has
revealed that the stains are actually deposits of fungal
melanin pigments. The mechanism by which the dark
Portillo, M. C., Gonzalez, J. M., and C. Saiz-Jimenez (2008).
stains spread has been shown to be related to Folsomia
Metabolically active microbial communities of yellow and grey
candida, a very tiny (about 1 millimter in length) mycocolonizations on the walls of Altamira Cave, Spain. Journal of
phagous (fungus-eating) arthropod, present in caves
Applied Microbiology. 104(3): 681
throughout the world, and belonging to a group of organBastian, F., Alabouvette, C., and C. Saiz-Jimenez (2009). The
isms referred to as springtails (Collembola, Isotomidae).
impact of arthropods on fungal community structure in Lascaux
Cave. Journal of Applied Microbiology. 106(5): 1456
Barely visible to the naked eye, the springtail is an opportunistic troglophile found in association with the black
stains and actually observed to feed on it. After feeding
on fungal elements, the dark-colored melanin pigment
remains undigested and is eliminated in fecal pellets,
along with a varying number of viable conidia that may
germinate. As a result, the black stain is concentrated and
spread throughout the cave. The melanin pigments are
Bastian, F., Jurado, V., Nováková, A., Alabouvette, C., and C.
Saiz-Jimenez (2010). The microbiology of Lascaux Cave. Microbiology. 156:644
Martin-Sanchez, P. M., Sanchez-Cortes, S., Lopez-Tobar, E.,
Jurado, V., Bastian, F., Alabouvettec, C., and C. Saiz-Jimenez
(2011). The nature of black stains in Lascaux Cave, France, as
revealed by surface-enhanced Raman Spectroscopy. Journal of
Raman Spectroscopy. Oct. 14 2011, DOI: 10.1002/jrs.3053
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paintings must have been made before the animals became
extinct in the region. More practical support for this logical
assumption comes from the fact that scratch marks from bear
claws are superimposed over several paintings. Many of the
skeletal remains within the cave still contained organic residues that could be radiocarbon dated. All of the testable samples were dated to between 29,000 - 37,000 years ago. The
fact that none of the samples were found to be more recent
than this suggested that this time frame may have punctuated
the bears’ regional extinction. At the same time, these results
provide a lower limit of at least 29,000 years to the age of
Chauvet’s paintings. In fact, this age is actually younger than
that of most of the cave’s charcoal hearths, which are associated with past human habitation (but which don’t necessarily
correlate with the time that paintings were made). Similar results from a nearby cave corroborated these findings. In fact,
no cave bear remains from across all of Europe have been
dated to more recent than 24,000 years ago.
Chauvet Cave: A Controversial Antiquity. Chauvet Cave,
in southern France, is well known for its timeless treasure of
spectacularly beautiful Paleolithic paintings (Clottes, 2003).
The art in Chauvet Cave has been dated to approximately
30,000 - 32,000 years ago, making these works the oldest
known examples of parietal (i.e., wall) art. By comparison, the
beautiful paintings in Lascaux Cave, are approximately 17,000
- 18,000 years old.
That such incredible paintings could have been created so long
ago—literally at the dawn of human cultural cognition—is a
testament to the human mind. However, not everyone is convinced of the antiquity of Chauvet’s art (Pettitt and Bahn,
2003; Pettitt et al., 2009). They remain critical of published
dates, maintaining that the style and sophistication of Chauvet’s paintings, as well as the methodologies used to create it,
are far too advanced for work of this time period. Rather, they
suggest that the artwork is really no more than about half that
age, fitting into a chronology more consistent with that of Lascaux. In particular, these authors suggest a potential discordance between dating results and stylistic appearance, and
draw attention to what they perceive as a fundamental contradiction in the evolution of art—notably that the entire spectrum of Paleolithic art can be found within a single cave and
that this art developed over the span of just a few millennia,
whereas as much as 20,000 years was required for the discovery (or re-discovery) and development of similarly sophisticated artwork elsewhere. Moreover, they find fault with published radiocarbon dating results from Chauvet, suggesting
that researchers have not published the complete results and
methodology of their radiocarbon dating studies, hampering
independent evaluation.
Unconvinced, critics counter that it is impractical to date the
extinction of the bear based on an analysis of so few specimens. Moreover, it has been suggested that the depictions of
bears in Chauvet might not be cave bears at all. Rather, they
could be brown bears, which survived in the area long after the
cave bears had gone extinct. Others claim that the two species
are easily distinguished and that there is no doubt about the
illustrations representing cave bears. Evidence exists of overlapping use of the cave by both humans and bears between
28,000 and 32,000 years ago. However, the nature of any actual human/bear interaction (e.g., predator, prey, object of worship) remains obscure.
Hopefully, additional research will help to further clarify the
age of Chauvet artwork, helping to place it in a chronological
framework consistent with that found in other decorated caves.
In an effort to help reconcile some of these controversies, researchers have been forced to focus their efforts along other
avenues of investigation.
Bocherens, H., Drucker, D. G., Billiou, D., Geneste, J. M., and J. van
der Plicht. (2011). Bears and humans in Chauvet Cave (Vallon-Pontd’Arc, Arde`che, France): Insights from stable isotopes and radiocarbon dating of bone collagen. Journal of Human Evolution. 50: 370
By and large, most members of the caving community are
familiar with Chauvet Cave and some of the other decorated
caves in southwestern Europe. What is not generally known,
however, is the fact that Chauvet also contains an enormous
cache of fossilized skeletal remains. These are primarily the
remains of Ursus spelaeus, the long-extinct cave bear. which
once flourished in the region. Thinking outside the box, researchers considered the possibility of using the bones themselves to help independently confirm the validity of the radiocarbon dating results.
Clottes, J. (2003). Chauvet Cave: The Art of Earliest Times. University of Utah Press, Salt Lake City
Marshall, M. (2011). Bear DNA could give away cave art’s age. New
Scientist. 23 April: 10
Pettitt, P. and P. Bahn (2003). Current problems in dating Paleolithic
cave art: Candamo and Chauvet. Antiquity. 77:134
Pettitt, P., Bahn, P., and C. Züchner (2009). The Chauvet conundrum: Are claims for the ‘birthplace of art’ premature? In Bahn, P.
(ed.) An Enquiring Mind: Studies in Honor of Alexander Marshack.
Oxford: Oxbow and Cambridge MA: American School of Prehistoric
Research Monograph Series: 239
As it turns out, Chauvet contains a number of paintings of
cave bears. Clearly, in order for this to have been possible, the
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creation of an enduring succession of life. He sees confirmation of this view in the various Venus statuettes (obese fertility
figures) that had been created around the same time.
A Psychoanalytic Perspective of Prehistoric Cave Art. A
considerable body of literature addresses the nature and interpretation of Paleolithic art. Varying views as to the meaning of
prehistoric cave art ranges from as simple a concept as representational art to complex religious symbolism. As there is
really no good way to test any hypothesis, we are dependent
on our own modern view of art to interpret what Paleolithic
artists intended this work to mean. The value of a contemporary—or even historical—perspective has, itself, been challenged.
Blum goes on to consider the dialogue between artist and cave
as one reminiscent of mother-infant and, ultimately, parentchild. Continuing in his Freudian analysis, he further theorizes
that taboos against actually living in a cave are related to widespread prohibition of incest. Strangely, he suggests that hand
and palm prints may have simply been equivalent to an artist’s
signature.
Blum (2011) provides an excellent primer on the discovery
and basic nature of prehistoric cave art, placing it in context to
what we know about life during the Ice Age. After briefly considering some of the various interpretations of Ice Age art, he
considers the symbolism of this body of work from the perspective of psychoanalysis.
Drawing parallels to everyday life, Blum points out that cave
art might be representative of dream states, with images
painted on the walls being analogous to those in a dream. Continuing in this vein, he suggests the possibility that the cave
itself represents the container of dreams: the head. The darkness of the cave may have represented a mechanism of countering the terror inherent in nightmares that couldn’t be understood on a practical level.
It was, I suppose, only a matter of time before modern-day
psychoanalysis made a contribution to the understanding of
our Ice Age ancestors as they existed at the dawn of human art
and culture, some 40,000 years ago. At this time in hominin
evolution, a nascent capacity for symbolic thought enabled
ancestral populations to develop both art and language.
Jouvet (1999) has also suggested a relationship of cave art with
dreams. In this regard, he calls attention to the well-known and
enigmatic human figure in the so-called Shaft Scene at Lascaux (see page 20 this issue). Referring to the obvious erection
of the lone human figure lying on his back, he suggests the
possibility that this image depicts REM stage sleep and that the
painting is representative of a hunting dream.
Blum joins the ranks of many who believe a shamanistic interpretation of Paleolithic cave art is untenable. The skill and precision needed to paint such masterpieces, he argues, was simply not possible under the influence of a trancelike state. However, the creation of these works in caves, their frequent location in relatively inaccessible passageways, the carefully controlled image selection, and the relatively restricted composition all suggest a meaning beyond mere “art for art’s sake.”
The concurrent existence of flutes (generally constructed from
hollow bird bones) suggests a role of music, and perhaps
dance, in ritualized bonding ceremonies.
Harris (2011), on the other hand, considers the relationship of
cave art and language, making theoretical comparisons between brain circuitry of Paleolithic artists and that of modernday autistic savants (or individuals with frontotemporal dementia), who may have surprising artistic prowess but limited
capacity for language.
A full understanding of the meaning of cave will always be
elusive. Blum writes that, “Psychoanalytic reconstruction is
strengthened by internal consistency and external support, but
a reconstruction of archaic life and mentation is inevitably
dominated by mystery and conjecture.”
In considering symbolism from a psychoanalytic perspective,
Blum offers the Freudian suggestion that the cave would have
been representative of the mother, including womb, birth canal, and genitalia, and embodying all of the mysteries of pregnancy, birth, and death. On another level, he considers the possibility that cave art may be akin to the original creation myth.
He views the artist, be it male or female, as an individual intimately connected to the processes of pregnancy and birth. For
women, artistic passion may have been thought to help ensure
a safe pregnancy and survival of her infant. For men, art may
have been an expression of an innate jealousy of women—a
longing to be able to create and nurture life as only a woman
can. Through art, at least, men could have experienced the
Blum, H. P. (2011). The psychological birth of art: A psychoanalytic approach to prehistoric cave art. International Forum of
Psychoanalysis. 20: 196
Harris, J. C. (2011). Chauvet Cave: The panel of horses. Archives of General Psychiatry. 68 (9): 869
Jouvet, M. (1999). The Paradox of Sleep: The Story of Dreaming. MIT Press. Cambridge, MA
18
tion, variation, and symmetry in the creation of Ice Age
imagery is also examined. She discusses these facets of
cave art primarily from an artistic perspective, considering them in the context of an underlying set of universal
artistic qualities…as fundamental to us today as they were
to our distant ancestors. Because these universal features
derive from the workings of the human mind itself, she
argues that understanding the work of Ice Age artists can
be facilitated by interpreting them in light of recent advances in our knowledge of brain function and cognition.
In describing the remarkable achievements made by Ice
Age artists in creating the masterpieces found in decorated caves, Alpert points to the many techniques and
styles that they had utilized. Most of these have subsequently been lost over the millennia, only to be
“rediscovered/reinvented” at some later point in time by
more modern artists.
As an artist and art historian interested in prehistoric art,
Barbara Alpert has turned her attention to Upper Paleolithic cave art as a means of better understanding the creative spark that first crystallized in the hominin lineage
with the arrival of modern humans. Making comparisons
between Ice Age cave art and the artistic work of more
contemporary societies—including the rock art of various
hunter-gatherer and aboriginal peoples—Alpert offers an
interesting insight into what she describes as an underlying universality of the artistic process.
In the second portion of the book, Alpert explores some
of the more subtle features of Ice Age art. As an artist, she
touches on aspects of artistic creativity largely ignored by
prehistorians, who generally look for social and cultural
meaning in cave art. Drawing parallels with artistic perspectives used by modern artists, Alpert calls attention to
a host of illusions, ambiguities, and paradoxes in ancient
cave art and to the importance of mind (i.e., a fundamental similarity in neural processing that has been passed
down through untold generations of humanity) in interpreting incomplete, amorphous, or otherwise perceptually
irreconcilable images. In the context of prehistoric cave
art, she suggests that the subjective interpretation of shifting imagery and motion on cave walls may have originally been an effect of the flickering light thrown off from
the primitive lamps by which Ice Age artists worked.
When a lamp is carried, the angle of viewing changes,
and lines visible at one moment disappear as new lines
appear. Moreover, the irregularity of the stone surface
causes endless distortions and corrections. Indeed, most
prehistorians who have actually visited the decorated
caves of southwestern Europe comment on the otherworldly perspective provided by actually being there and
experiencing this imagery in a manner at least somewhat
akin to how it had been experienced by Ice Age people
themselves.
The book is divided into two sections: Universals of Art
Making and Windows into the Mind. In the first section,
Alpert describes some of the most elemental features of
cave art, including handprints, dots, lines, closed figures,
and color. The early application of such themes as repeti-
Alpert offers a distinctly refreshing view of prehistoric
cave art and Ice Age artists. In her innovative approach to
understanding the universal foundations of art, she provides an intriguing look at both the human mind and some
of the intrinsic qualities of artistic expression—qualities
THE CREATIVE ICE AGE BRAIN: Cave Art in the
Light of Neuroscience (2009) by Barbara Alpert. Foundation 20 21, NY. Hardcover, 279 pages, 9¼" x 11¼"
format, ISBN 978-1-934171-10-3. Available for $75.00
(or directly from the author at bbalpert@aol.com at a discounted price to NSS members of $40.00). Reviewed by
Danny A. Brass.
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that have been integral parts of human nature since that
first spark kindled the creative explosion in human cognition and brought our ancestors to a new level of awareness. She provides firm support, rooted in both prehistoric
and contemporary art, to buttress her assertion that Paleolithic cave art is largely based on a universal quality of the
human mind. Written in clear and easily understood language, The Creative Ice Age Brain is a nicely illustrated
and well-written book that will appeal to general readers
as well as individuals with a more serious interest in cave
art.
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Since the discovery of prehistoric cave art and the first
recognition of its antiquity, researchers have struggled to
understand its symbolic meaning and cultural significance. Commonly expressed viewpoints, in this regard,
include such diverse perspectives as art for art’s sake,
sympathetic or hunting magic, trophy collecting, depictions
of animal drives, shamanism, fertility magic, sexual symbolism, totemism, and forms of representational art. While
some archaeologists have fervently argued on behalf of
one or more select beliefs, others, such as Paul Bahn and
Jean Vertut (Journey through the Ice Age, 2001, University
of California Press) have suggested that it is unproductive
to look for a single universal idea that underlies the mentality of Paleolithic people. Certainly, this remains an area
of active debate among prehistorians and it seems
unlikely that a significant consensus will be achieved any
time soon. As R. Dale Guthrie (The Nature of Paleolithic
Art, 2005, The University of Chicago Press) points out, a
disparity in thought among those investigating Paleolithic
Art may also arise between 1) researchers interested in the
symbolic significance and spiritual motivations behind
the art and 2) those looking at the art for clues to life in
the past.
With regard to the symbolic and cultural significance of
Paleolithic cave art, Whitley clearly favors a shamanistic
interpretation, as put forth in The Shamans of Prehistory:
Trance and Magic in the Decorated Caves (1998) by Jean
Clottes and David Lewis-Williams, Harry N. Abrams,
Inc. and championed by Lewis-Williams in several subsequent works, such as A Cosmos in Stone: Interpreting
Religion and Society through Rock Art (2002) AltaMira
Press and The Mind in the Cave: Consciousness and the
Origins of Art (2004) Thames & Hudson, Ltd.
Whitley describes shamanism as …a complex of religious
beliefs that partly emphasized individual interactions with
the supernatural world, achieved through visions. As
such, it was meant to organize our spirituality, which he
considers to be an ingrained tendency to believe in spirits.
He views spirituality (including the childhood fears of
monsters in the closet) as part of our evolutionary heritage
(or baggage), derived from a time when a multitude of
potential dangers lurked behind every bush and in every
shadow. Control of the spirit world lies at the heart of
shamanism. As a set of religious beliefs commonly associated with past and present hunter-gatherer societies
worldwide, Whitley stresses the inherent suitability of
shamanism as the best-available model of Paleolithic re-
CAVE PAINTINGS AND THE HUMAN SPIRIT: The
Origin of Creativity and Belief (2009) by David S.
Whitley. Prometheus Books, New York. Hardcover, 322
pages, 6¼" x 9¼" format, ISBN 978-1-59102-636-5 Available for $25.98. Reviewed by Danny A. Brass.
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As Whitley suggests, We see these shamanic metaphors
graphically expressed in Paleolithic art. At the Well at Lascaux,
for example, a bison is disemboweled and a phallic, bird-headed
man—a shaman—is rocked back on his heels, falling over:
death, bodily transformation, flight (symbolized by the avian
imagery), and sexual arousal, all in a single subterranean
scene. In a related shamanistic interpretation, Georges Bataille
(The Cradle of Humanity: Prehistoric Art and Culture, 2005,
Zone Books, New York) considered the Shaft Scene as representing expiation. Through his own death, the human—in this
instance, a shaman—makes amends for taking the life of the
bison. See page 18 for yet another interpretation of this image.
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Surely there is little argument over what this scene is about.
Some large mammals are quite dangerous when wounded: apparently Pleistocene bison fell into this category. Above, from
Lascaux, Fr., is a gut-shot bison, with intestines bulging out the
spear hole (not an uncommon experience for hunters to witness,
as abdominal contents are under pressure). The hunter is
chased down, spear-thrower lying on the ground. Today, and in
the Pleistocene, corvids (ravens and jays in particular) learn to
follow hunters around, as it is an easy way to get scrap tissue
from butchered carcasses. From Guthrie, R. Dale (2005) The
Nature of Paleolithic Art. The University of Chicago Press, Chicago.
As evidence of some of the many controversies surrounding the symbolic meaning and cultural significance of Ice Age cave art, consider these two vastly different interpretations of this well-known image from the shaft (or well) of Lascaux Cave, France (photograph
courtesy of Norbert Aujoulat and illustration courtesy of R. Dale Guthrie). Sometimes referred to as the Shaft Scene, it is one of the
most famous—and arguably most controversial—images of Paleolithic cave art.
ligion and, by extension, cave art. As Lewis-Willliams
posited, these ancient two-dimensional images were not
meant to be representations of the physical world per se,
but of the shamans’ own mystical journeys—snapshots, if
you will, of a spirit realm miraculously projected from
beyond the veil of rock onto the walls about them. Once
this initial step was taken, symbolic art flourished. Understanding shamanism, Whitley argues, is ultimately the key
to understanding cave art.
made comparisons to the open-air rock art of the huntergatherer tribes of San Bushmen in southern Africa. Moreover, Whitley considers the antiquity of various open-air
rock art sites in Portugal and North America—including
an insider’s look at one of the more notorious rock-art
dating scandals—as loosely related models of shamanistic
practices in the decorated caves of Ice Age Europe. As
such, he draws much from Lewis-Williams’ fascinating
neuropsychological model of trance and shamanism, especially as it relates to Paleolithic cave art.
As a rock researcher, Whitley has had several opportunities to make firsthand observations of the prehistoric art
found in many of the caves of southwestern Europe. In
theorizing about the origins and significance of Upper
Paleolithic cave art, he makes comparisons to more modern shamanistic societies, comparing and contrasting
these images to what he has learned from studying Native
American cultures and their tradition of open-air rock art
in the western United States, much as Lewis-Williams
In his approach to understanding the symbolic meaning
and cultural significance of cave art, Whitley considers
broader questions about the origins of artistic creativity,
myth, and religion (the most dramatic manifestations of
the so-called “creative explosion”). In attempting to shed
some light on these complex issues, he takes us on a voyage of discovery into the world of the rock-art researcher.
Along the way, he shares his many impressions of caves,
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cave art, and rock-art researchers during visits to several
of the most famous of France’s painted caves. His descriptions of these locations can only capture our imagination:
March 2012
a more multifactorial origin of cave art. Thus, while his
arguments in favor of a shamanistic interpretation are certainly fascinating, they are not fully compelling in nature.
Of course, it may be somewhat unrealistic to expect that
anything more rigorous than a series of largely circumstantial arguments could be proffered in this regard.
I find it difficult not to be overwhelmed by the natural
splendor of these caves—they make me feel as if I’ve
fallen, head first, into a pirate’s treasure chest full of
gems, jewels, gold doubloons, and silver reales, each
piece sparkling more brilliantly than the last.
Whitley presents a nice overview of various controversies
in the interpretation of Paleolithic cave art, especially the
two competing theories related to the origin of religion: 1)
that of archaeologists, who suggest that the roots of religion can ultimately be traced to the development of shamanism and 2) that of evolutionary psychologists, who
maintain that searching for the origins of religion are
meaningless, since it is hardwired within us and is a natural and unavoidable consequence of biological and cognitive evolution. Whitley contends that the beautiful paintings on cave walls are the shamans’ permanent records of
their mastery over the spirit world. Or, put another way,
the roots of their creative spark lie in their madness.
There is a visceral sensuality to these caves that I have
never found aboveground that seems to defy scientific
terminology.
At Lascaux, the animals move away from you in a fury; at
Chauvet, they come to you in a stately and unhurried
pace. One is a Beethoven symphony that wraps you up in
its power and controls your emotions, moving you by its
volume and force and majesty. The other is that single,
flawless woman’s voice singing a simple melody that you
hear inadvertently, through an open window, above the
soft sounds of the birds and the crickets, accompanied
only by a gentle spring day…Lascaux is a force of might;
Chauvet is a state of grace.
Cave Paintings and the Human Spirit is an extremely interesting book. It is well written and easily understood by
the layperson who might have an interest in prehistoric
cave art. The author presents a great deal of information
on a range of topics related to the origin and significance
of Ice Age cave art. Recognizing the complex and controversial nature of various theories, he does a very good job
marshalling relevant evidence to support his own shamanistic thesis, which he does in a clear and well-organized
manner. Although not a coffee-table style art book, a
number of excellent full-color plates depict various paintings from a number of caves. Their significance is interpreted in terms of a shamanistic perspective. This book
will appeal to anyone interested in probing beneath the
surface of Ice Age cave art in an attempt to more fully
understand and appreciate its underlying symbolism and
cultural significance. In addition to providing a theoretical
framework within which to interpret such art, this book,
in large measure, also reflects the lifelong odyssey of one
rock-art researcher’s own journey to discover humanity’s
distant origins. In this regard, it is both a scientific treatise
and a personal narrative.
In making a case for the ritualistic origin of cave art,
Whitley offers several lines of evidence to support his
view. And, while he admits that other explanations could
underlie various features of Ice Age cave art, he is emphatic in the belief that only shamanism can account for
all of them. In this regard, he offers a detailed discussion
of shamanism, including its relationship to religion and
spirituality as well as an assessment of the widely accepted view that shamans themselves have, by and large,
been mentally ill—or at least deeply disturbed—
individuals. In a related vein, he considers why it is that
both art and religion appeared to arrive simultaneously in
the course of human history and especially how it is that
Ice Age art fairly sprang into existence as near fully developed masterpieces, with little apparent evolution in
artistic creativity and technique. Both art and religion, he
concludes, are related to the mental illness that characterizes shamanism and which is often known to be associated with an exceptional degree of artistic creativity (and
likely more so in the altered state of consciousness of a
traditional shamanistic trance).
Although I am a firm believer in a significant role of shamanism in Paleolithic cave art, I am inclined to believe in
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lines, favoring a view of caves as underground sanctuaries, sacred to Ice Age man. Guthrie is highly critical of
the widespread belief that prehistoric art had its basis in
religious ritual, sympathetic magic, or shamanic mysticism.1 He suggests that the almost universal application of
these beliefs to the study of prehistoric art has actually
derailed research in the field, as well as provided a distorted view of the culture and beliefs of Ice Age people.
Following a somewhat different line of reasoning, Guthrie
envisions the surviving assemblage of prehistoric cave
paintings as a unique window that opens onto the last Ice
Age. He believes that these enduring remnants of art provide information about the culture of Paleolithic man as
well as the natural history of animals living during this
time. As such, he marshals evidence to show that not only
were Paleolithic artists keen observers of nature, but that
the illustrations they left behind contain a wealth of information about the animals with which they lived. This latter facet of Paleolithic art, he contends, has not traditionally been considered a suitable medium for study by biologists. Hence, aspects of animal anatomy or behavior
depicted in these images have rarely been investigated.
Once perceived as a form of representational art, however, the work can be appreciated as an invaluable archive
of natural history data. In this regard, Guthrie approaches
Paleolithic imagery as the work of artist-naturalists, people with an intimate knowledge of their environment and
of the animals in it. This was, after all, their life and their
livelihood. Simply put, you either mastered horse or reindeer 101 or you died. Guthrie’s approach, therefore, is to
consider both the Paleolithic artist as a naturalist as well
as the Paleolithic naturalist as an artist.
THE NATURE OF PALEOLITHIC ART (2005) by R.
Dale Guthrie. The University of Chicago Press, Chicago.
Hardcover, 507 pages, 8½" x 10" format, ISBN 0-22631126-0. Available for $45.00. Reviewed by Danny A.
Brass.
Unlike many other books on Ice Age art, The Nature of
Paleolithic Art, is not a handsomely produced coffeetable volume crammed full of beautiful color prints.
Rather, it is an insightful analysis of prehistoric cave art
from a vastly different perspective to that which currently
dominates the field. In particular, Guthrie considers one
of the major disparities in thought among those investigating Paleolithic Art: those interested in the symbolic
significance and spiritual motivations behind the art versus those looking at the art for clues to life in the past.
Throughout the text, emphasis is placed on taphonomic
relationships, notably the privileged location of caves for
selective preservation of Paleolithic artifacts and the potential this may have had to influence interpretations
made by early researchers. Guthrie argues that a failure to
take this bias into account will unavoidably lead one to
imagine ideas such as shamans making seasonal ceremonial trips into caves for ritual purposes. Rather, he believes in a more casual and everyday interpretation of Paleolithic cave art. First and foremost, he stresses that the
single most important common thread that ties prehistoric
cave art together is a hunting lifestyle. Virtually all aspects of prehistoric cave art, he asserts, can be explained
Because, as Guthrie suggests, most researchers in the
field of Paleolithic art have a background in history, social anthropology, or religion, scholarly works in this discipline tend to focus on symbolic meaning or ritualistic
patterns—clues to which are believed by many to be hidden in these primeval images. In fact, many of the leading
scholars in the field have been clergymen themselves.
Hence, their work may have been biased along religious
1
As so forcefully and eloquently championed, for example, in
David Lewis-Williams’ A Cosmos in Stone: Interpreting Religion
and Society through Rock Art (2002) and The Mind in the Cave:
Consciousness and the Origins of Art (2004).
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as representational hunting scenes, with no necessity to
his own right, his vision of Paleolithic art—and, hence,
invoke magic and religion. He also hypothesizes that
the accuracy of and potential emphasis placed on portions
many of the human figures and more abstract designs
of his own illustrations—remains subject to the vagaries
characteristic of Paleolithic art were—like modern-day
of personal prejudice. The dangers inherent in such an
graffiti in public restrooms—primarily created by young
approach, as has been used by earlier scholars, have been
men and meant to be of an erotic nature. Furthermore,
previously discussed in other publications. Furthermore,
Guthrie calls attention to the belief that many of the more
many of the drawings are quite small, making some of the
enigmatic images were simply the work of unskilled artmore complex, postage-stamp-sized images virtually imists. Indeed, he maintains that Ice Age art was made by
possible to decipher and forcing the reader to rely solely
people of all ages, both males and females, and not just by
on the much larger interpretive scene envisioned by the
elderly male shamans. In doing so, he highlights the ofauthor.
ten-ignored belief that a significant amount of low-quality
Paleolithic art actually represents the scribbling of chilIn later chapters, Guthrie (arguably) strays wildly from
dren.
the subject of Paleolithic art. Although interesting in their
own right, some of the author’s in–depth discussions ultiGuthrie theorizes that human survival during the last Ice
mately add little of significance to his dialogue on the
Age demanded an unprecedented level of imagination and
subject. A detailed consideration of the influence of tescreativity. As the only surviving tangible link to a form of
tosterone on human development, for example, is unnec“play” dedicated to exploring and sharing new percepessary to document the simple take-home message: boys
tions, he suggests that this ancient art represents the foottend to be more adventurous, greater risk takers, and more
print of humanity’s urgent need for a creative lifestyle. He
likely to indulge in sexual fantasies than girls. A subjecbelieves that an inherent love of art is a fundamental hutive interpretation of the evolutionary history of early human characteristic, one that is carried in our genetic blueman ancestors is largely unrelated to the subject of Paleoprint and which has served both to broaden neural funclithic art. Moreover, a sweeping chapter in the guise of
tion and to kindle the human imagination. By contrast, he
explaining the hunting origins of Paleolithic art appears,
also presents an interesting discussion of the widespread
more than anything else, to be little more than a thinly
post-Pleistocene replacement of the Paleolithic hunterveiled attempt at justifying the grace of modern-day huntgatherer lifestyle with agrarian-based tribal cultures and
ers and hunting activities. Rather than focusing on an inthe possible role this may have had in the gradual extincterpretation of Paleolithic art, the author—an avid hunter
tion of this glorious phase of human creativity.
himself—sometimes seems more interested in using the
art as a pretext for writing a treatise on the psychology
In presenting evidence in support of these ideas, Guthrie
and sociology of hunting, in which he rationalizes and
draws on a wealth of prehistoric cave images—figures
romanticizes the excitement, passion, and thrill of the
rarely seen in more popular texts. Although much of his
hunt.
evidence has been well thought out and carefully documented, this is not always the case. In fact, some of his
These various problems notwithstanding, I found The Naideas seem to rest on foundations no firmer than his own
ture of Paleolithic Art to be an extremely interesting and
innate personal bias. Thus, several of his interpretations—
generally easily readable text. When he stays on target,
while certainly giving us justifiable pause to think—seem
Guthrie presents a refreshingly innovative account of preas equally colored by personal interests as were those of
historic cave paintings (and, to some extent, portable art).
early clergy, with whom he finds so much fault. However,
In breaking away from more conventional magicoone might also argue that they are among the most parsireligious interpretations of Paleolithic imagery, he premonious of explanations, thereby fulfilling the criteria of
sents an intriguing vision of our distant ancestors and esOccam’s razor.
pecially of the role played by a hunting lifestyle in providing the spark that ignited mankind’s imagination and
With 20 halftones and 847 black-and-white line drawings,
released his inherent creativity. If willing to tolerate the
the text is heavily illustrated. The major drawback to
author’s sometimes-lengthy digressions, I think you will
these illustrations, however, is that most of them, while
find that this otherwise interesting book presents a novel
beautifully rendered, are re-creations of Paleolithic art
discussion of primal art and culture.
made by the author himself. Comparison of some of these
images to available photographs shows subtle, albeit obvious, differences. Thus, while Guthrie is a fine artist in
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culture (22,000 years ago until around 17,000 years ago),
and the Magdalenian culture (17,000 years ago until the
end of the Ice Age around 11,000 years ago).
While Paleolithic art was not restricted to caves, much of
the material from open-air sites has long since disappeared. Protected from the mercy of the elements, however, cave art has been remarkably well preserved over
the Millennia. Sites known to contain Paleolithic cave art
are widely distributed, ranging from as far south as the
Iberian Peninsula to as far north as England and reaching
as far east as the Italian Peninsula and even to the Urals in
Russia. However, 95% of known painted caves are located in France and Spain.
In Cave Art, Jean Clottes takes his readers on an amazing
virtual journey through the world of Ice Age art. In a brief
introduction, he considers such topics as the chronology
and geography of European Paleolithic art, the sundry
techniques used to create wall paintings and engravings,
the various themes that fundamentally characterize cave
art, and aspects of both the cultural significance and interpretation of cave art; I am hopeful that an expanded discussion of current thought on these issues will be presented in future editions. With regard to the cultural significance of Paleolithic cave art, Clottes clearly favors a
shamanistic interpretation, as put forth in The Shamans of
Prehistory (1998) by Jean Clottes and David LewisWilliams, Harry N. Abrams, Inc. and championed by
Lewis-Williams in several subsequent works, such as A
Cosmos in Stone: Interpreting Religion and Society
through Rock Art, 2002, AltaMira Press and The Mind in
the Cave: Consciousness and the Origins of Art, 2004,
Thames & Hudson Ltd.
CAVE ART (2008) by Jean Clottes. Phaidon Press, Ltd.,
London. Hardcover, 334 pages, 9¾" x 11¾" format, ISBN
978-0-7148-4592-0. Available for $90.00. Reviewed by
Danny A. Brass.
Modern humanity is believed to have reached sites in
Western Europe around 40,000 years ago. Prior to that
time, this had been the land of the neandertals for more
than 200,000 years. Generally referred to as CroMagnons, the newly arrived visitors were people essentially like us. They created some of the earliest, most exquisite, and, certainly, most enduring works of art known
to exist. Dating from a time shortly after their arrival until
the end of the last Ice Age around 11,000 years ago, Paleolithic art represents the longest-lasting artistic tradition
ever known.
Following the introduction, Clottes presents a broad overview of the long tradition of European cave art, which
spans a time frame of some 25,000 years. The book is
divided into four sections, arranged chronologically and
corresponding to the cultural eras mentioned above: The
Age of Chauvet, 35,000 to 22,000 years ago (which includes sections on both Aurignacian and Gravettian art);
the Age of Lascaux, 22,000 to 17,000 years ago
(Solutrean art); The End of the Ice Age, 17,000 to 11,000
years ago (featuring Niaux Cave and Magdalenian art);
and After the Ice Age, from 11,000 years ago. Within
these time frames, information is geographically nested.
Material about each of the cultural subdivisions is organized around a major representative cave site (Chauvet,
During the course of this time, a number of early human
cultures flourished in Western Europe, distinguished from
one another largely by the style of their artwork and the
nature and complexity of their tools. These cultural eras
include the Aurignacian culture (40,000 years ago until
around 28,000 years ago), the Gravettian culture (28,000
years ago until around 22,000 years ago), the Solutrean
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Lascaux, and Niaux, respectively) although work from
various other painted caves (including many lesser-known
sites) is also presented. In fact, one of the strengths of this
text is the large assemblage of illustrative material from
locations that are not well known outside of the small
community of prehistorians who have had access to actually study these sites. In total, about 250 works of art from
85 caves and rock shelters are featured. In addition to numerous samples of parietal art (i.e., paintings and engravings on cave walls), many examples of portable art (e.g.,
statuary, figurines, and decorated plaques and tools) are
also discussed. Each work is illustrated by a large, highquality, full-color photograph and accompanied by a detailed explanatory note.
March 2012
in both human and animal activity, and the narrative nature of the images, which often consist of complex scenes
depicting a wide range of human and animal interactions.
The text includes a glossary; a list of decorated caves
open to the public; maps identifying locations of the principal painted caves in Europe; a list of references (largely
French publications); and detailed maps showing the basic layout of the chambers and passageways of Chauvet,
Lascaux, and Niaux caves.
Written by one of the most renowned authorities in the
field, Cave Art is sure to be an important reference standard for researchers who work in this discipline. However, the book is composed in a clearly written style, in
language easily understood by the lay reader, making it a
valuable addition to the library of anyone with more than
just a passing interest in Upper Paleolithic art.
Representative imagery has been carefully chosen from
select cave sites. While, of necessity, these include many
of the so-called “must-present” paintings, a large number
of less-commonly published images have also been included in the text. However, readers should keep in mind
that this work is meant to be a broad overview of Paleolithic cave art and not a comprehensive treatise on the
subject. Thus, while a great deal of very interesting information is provided about select paintings from individual
caves, the coverage afforded any one site is by no means
exhaustive. Readers interested in more detailed information on particular sites can consult any one of a variety of
excellent texts available on individual decorated caves,
such as The Cave of Lascaux: The Final Photographs,
1986, by Mario Ruspoli, Harry N. Abrams, Inc.; The
Cave of Altamira, 1999, by Pedro A. Saura Ramos, Harry
N. Abrams, Inc.; The Cave Beneath the Sea: Paleolithic
Images at Cosquer, 1996, by Jean Clottes and Jean
Courtin, Harry N. Abrams, Inc.; Chauvet Cave: The Art of
Earliest Times, 2003, by Jean Clottes, University of Utah
Press; and Lascaux: Movement, Space, and Time, 2005,
by Norbert Aujoulat, Harry N. Abrams, Inc. Certainly
many other excellent and detailed texts that don’t fall into
the venue of coffee-table-style art books also exist.
In the final section of the text, Clottes breaks rank with
more traditional cave-art books by juxtaposing examples
of more recent cave- and rock-art imagery from around
the world. This allows for a much clearer comparison between the two time frames (i.e., greater than or less than
about 11,000 years B.P.). And, as he so vividly portrays,
the artistic style of post-Ice-Age artists is markedly different from that of those who went before. Most notable, in
this respect, is the dynamic nature of the art, which is rich
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favor a more artistic interpretation of these artifacts and
those who favor a more scientific approach to analysis are
often at odds with one another. The author, one of the
field’s most ardent spokesmen for the cognitive approach to
understanding prehistoric art, highlights the fact that quantitative analysis of such art—designed to align this discipline
of archaeology with more scientific venues—is fraught
with pitfalls. As Lewis-Williams describes the problem:
interpretation was molding the statistics, not deriving from
them.
J. David Lewis-Williams, Professor Emeritus and senior
mentor (formerly the director) in the Rock Art Research
Institute at the University of Witwatersrand, South Africa,
has long promoted a shamanistic interpretation of rock and
cave art. The role of the shaman in tribal lore and culture is
typically dependent upon entry into a trance-like state.
Within this altered state of mind, the shaman can interact in
a culturally meaningful way with the spirit world, a plane of
existence normally believed to be beyond the ken of more
ordinary mortal men. He speaks directly to the potential
significance that caves might have offered to the culture of
an ancient shamanistic society.
In this interesting book, Lewis-Williams presents a series of
papers upon which he seeks to build a bridge between modern-day (extant or recently extinct) shamanistic societies
and the long-vanished people of southwestern Europe who
were directly responsible for creating the beautiful, prehistoric cave paintings towards the end of the last Ice Age.
There are remarkable similarities between these groups,
despite the enormous span of space and time. The author’s
discussion addresses four significant themes: 1) clinical and
pharmacological studies that provide a neuropsychological
foundation for development of specific sets of visual hallucinations that appear to be characteristic of altered states of
reality and consciousness; consideration is also given to the
principal stages through which trance-like states and associated hallucinations commonly progress, 2) identification of
such images among the rock art of modern shamanistic societies, suggesting that these images have a basis in an altered state of reality, 3) recognition of the very striking
similarity between visual expressions of rock art in modern
shamanistic societies and those of Upper Paleolithic cave
art of southwestern Europe, providing compelling evidence
that a trance-like shamanistic state played a dominant role
in the creation of much of this imagery as well, and 4) consideration of the role played by the cave itself as a central
element in the life of a prehistoric shamanistic society.
A COSMOS IN STONE: Interpreting Religion and Society through Rock Art (2002) by J. David Lewis-Williams.
AltaMira Press, Walnut Creek, CA. Paperback, 309 pages,
5¾" x 9" format, ISBN 0-7591-0196-5. Available for
$32.95. Reviewed by Danny A. Brass.
There is certainly no shortage of theories to explain the
various forms of rock art worldwide (including ancient pictographs [paintings] and petroglyphs [engravings] at openair sites and rock shelters, as well as the prehistoric cave art
of southwestern Europe). The many different theories of the
origin and meaning of prehistoric art have spawned many
contentious debates among archaeologists.
In A Cosmos in Stone, Lewis-Williams considers the evolution in thought that has taken place among researchers
studying rock art and prehistoric cave paintings. Those who
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sciousness. In this regard, he maintains that the ability of early
Homo sapiens to creatively manipulate complex imagery in
social settings stems from a kind of higher-order consciousness
and sense of social community not present in neandertal society.
Thus, despite their co-existence in western Europe for more than
10,000 years, this difference between modern man and neandertal remained a fundamental distinction. Indeed, Lewis-Williams
proposes that ongoing competition with neandertals helped set
the stage for the explosion in social and technological evolution
of our own ancestral stock.
The full spectrum of human consciousness, he asserts, implies a
multitude of states that shift seamlessly as one passes from an
alert and wakeful state of mind into dream-stage sleep. Altered
states of consciousness, which include various forms of hallucinations, can also be induced by the use of sundry hallucinogenic
drugs, following significant sensory and physical stress, or as a
consequence of mental illness. Lewis-Williams posits that our
Upper Paleolithic ancestors experienced this full range of human perception; however, since the meaning ascribed to these
different states of mind is culturally derived, their significance to
these people was different than similar experiences would be for
us today. For example, while the ravings of madmen or hallucinations associated with trance, possession, hallucinogenic drugs,
sensory deprivation, REM-state dreaming, or even migraines
may be deemed largely unimportant in our society, similar visions may be central to the religious life of others, depending on
their unique cultural beliefs and value systems. The belief that
altered states of consciousness afford glimpses of an alternate
reality (i.e., a spirit world outside that of daily life) is a central
tenet of shamanism.
THE MIND IN THE CAVE: Consciousness and the Origins
of Art (2004) by David Lewis-Williams. Thames & Hudson,
Ltd., London. Paperback, 320 pages, 6¼" x 9¼" format, ISBN
0-500-28465-2. Available from the publisher for $21.95. Reviewed by Danny A. Brass.
In theorizing about the origins and significance of Upper Paleolithic art, Lewis-Williams makes comparisons with more modern shamanistic societies, notably the San hunter-gathering
tribes of South Africa and Native American Indian tribes. These
investigations, he argues, are relevant because more ancient expressions of shamanism—sharing core features with more modern ones, despite the veil of time—are likely to be at the heart of
Upper Paleolithic art as well.
Trends in thought regarding the origins of Upper Paleolithic art
range from nothing more than aesthetic forms of decoration to
complex representations of mythology and symbolism. The
latter encompass such concepts as totemism, magic, creation
myths, and communication with spirit realms. Obviously, these
extremes of view are diametrically opposed in recognizing the
possibility of religious beliefs among primitive man. In considering the strengths of these and other possibilities, LewisWilliams highlights the enormous difficulties inherent in their
validation.
The visual hallucinations experienced by ancient shamans defined them as inspired individuals, whose unique spirituality set
them apart from other, more ordinary, persons. This allowed
them to establish positions of power within their social strata.
This status may have been reinforced by the re-creation of significant visions in the form of painted or carved imagery. The
subsequent viewing of these re-created images by shamans
themselves may have influenced the very nature of their own
future visions. This, in turn, may have exerted a stabilizing influ-
Central to Lewis-Williams’ discussion is a consideration of con28
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March 2012
ence on the range of visions perceived, thereby limiting the
world per se, but of the shamans’ own mystical journeys—
number of outlandish visions that might have challenged estabsnapshots, if you will, of a spirit realm miraculously projected
lished social structure. On the other hand, viewing of images by
onto and floating across the walls about them. Once this initial
non-shaman members of the society could provide a mechanism
step was taken, however, symbolic art flourished.
for these people to grasp the nature of the shamans’ out-of-body
journeys into spirit realms. Moreover, Lewis-Williams suggests
Lastly, Lewis-Williams considers the question of why these
that these people likely believed that viewing or touching such
paintings were made deep inside of caves. In this regard, he foimagery would have infused even the non-shaman populace
cuses on the belief that caves and rock shelters have typically
with an imposing spiritual energy. As such, he emphasizes that
been considered by ancient peoples to be portals to another
those sites with more densely packed images were probably
world, allowing select individuals access to spirit realms. Inconsidered to have been places of exceptional power, as opdeed, to people of the Upper Paleolithic age, the very act of enposed to mere repositories of decorative wall paintings.
tering certain cave passages may have been equivalent to entering an altered state of consciousness. In this context, the walls of
The driving forces that shaped the creation of these prehistoric
caves would have been perceived as more than simple structural
stone tapestries can be found in the radical social evolution that
members. They most likely represented a veil or membrane
characterized these early human societies. Not only could these
separating the real world from the world of spirits. Depending
people dream, but language afforded them the opportunity to
on how a lamp was held, the play of light and shadow along the
talk about their dreams and consider their meaning. Hence, the
walls allowed vision animals to appear and disappear, seemdream (i.e., spirit) world was incorporated into the very dynamic
ingly to pass through this veil between worlds. Behind the veil
of their society. Its continued cultivation, Lewis-Williams sugwas a world filled with powerful animal totems. The animal
gests, ultimately led to the origin of both religion and art.
visions affixed to cave walls provided the people with tangible
evidence that the animal spirits were really there. Within these
However, such cultural forces do not explain the actual mechachambers, they could see for themselves the magnificent visions
nism by which these works of art originated. How, Lewisthat empowered the shamans of their community.
Williams asks, might prehistoric humanity have first come to
recognize that a series of two-dimensional marks on a rock wall
In The Mind in the Cave, Lewis-Williams blends laboratory and
could, for example, call forth the image of a horse, a bison, an
field studies from such diverse disciplines as sociology, archaeaurochs, or a woolly mammoth? In considering this issue,
ology, anthropology, ethnography, and neuropsychology to synLewis-Williams points out the shortcomings in contemporary
thesize a shamanistic view of Upper Paleolithic art. From the
thought on the subject. In offering his own reasoned explanation
vantage of this interdisciplinary approach, he suggests that the
for this giant leap, he once again considers the higher-order conincredible parallels between shamanistic beliefs in such unresciousness of our ancestors.
lated communities as North American Indians and South African San are related to the underlying neurochemistry of the huLewis-Williams points to Various studies and firsthand observaman brain manifest during altered states of consciousness. In a
tions attesting to the fact that the intense visions characteristic of
series of lucid and well-thought-out analyses, he uses these studcertain altered states of consciousness commonly produce afteries as building blocks to help bridge the gaps in our understandimages that linger in one’s visual field for a variable period of
ing of the origins and meaning of Upper Paleolithic art.
time. Moreover, flashbacks are often generated long afterwards.
These afterimages characteristically appear in the mind’s eye as
Although it contains 27 exquisite color plates and 67 relevant
though projected onto a wall. Thus, Lewis-Williams maintains,
black-and-white line drawings, The Mind in the Cave is not a
the early shamans did not consciously invent two-dimensional
coffee table art book of prehistoric cave paintings. It is a weighty
imagery, nor did they first envisage such imagery in the shapes
read by any standard. However, for the reader interested in the
of natural rock around them (although natural features of the
cultural underpinnings of this spectacular imagery, Lewiscave wall may have served as proxy for a portion of an animal
Williams’ intriguing speculations about consciousness and the
image). Rather, such images were born within these peoples’
origin of art are sure to fascinate. This engaging and thoughtown minds, serendipitously generated as a neurochemical byprovoking book was awarded the American Historical Associaproduct of an altered state of reality. Eventually, they realized
tion’s James Henry Breasted Prize. This award is offered on a
that these images were culturally significant and needed to be
four-year rotating cycle for the best scholarly work in the Engpreserved. And so they were. Early two-dimensional images,
lish language in any field of history prior to 1000 AD.
therefore, were not meant to be representations of the physical
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cessible sites in England (1), France (24), Spain (20), Portugal (2), and Italy (4). Bahn also includes information on
a number of museums that are primarily devoted to cave
art, as well as several sites at which a cave facsimile (e.g.,
Lascaux II and Altamira II) has been constructed. The
latter have been so popular and successful that several
other replicas have been produced and many more are
currently in the planning stages.
A one- to six-page description of each of the featured
sites provides details of their various forms of artwork
(with particular emphasis on that portion accessible to
tour groups). For many caves, information on
the cave's discovery and on aspects of its archaeology and
excavation are also included. References are provided for
readers interested in additional information. Bahn then
fills in a template of interesting and relevant tour information for each cave: 1) location, telephone and fax numbers, website, and email contact, 2) nearest city/town, airport, car-rental facility, train station, bus route, taxi facility, restaurants, and hotels, 3) availability of on-site storage facilities, lavatory facilities, gift shop, and cafeteria,
4) seasonal hours of operation, admission prices, group
sizes, age requirements, need for prior reservations,
length of tour, level of fitness required, languages spoken
by the guides, handicapped access (including some sites
which provide special programs for the blind), conditions
inside the cave (e.g., wet, cold, slippery, stairs), any
equipment that might be required, and whether or not
photography is permitted (this is generally forbidden at
most sites).
CAVE ART: A Guide to the Decorated Ice Age Caves of
Europe (2007) by Paul G. Bahn. Frances Lincoln Ltd.,
London. Trade paperback, 224 pages, 5½" x 8" format,
ISBN 978-0-7112-2655-5. Available for $24.95. Reviewed by Danny A. Brass.
Cave Art is a handsomely produced book. Its glossy pages
are filled with high-quality color photographs. Several
maps mark the location of each site discussed in the text.
This eminently practical guidebook should be of great
interest to enthusiasts of Paleolithic cave art. It is essential
reading for anyone contemplating a trip to Europe who
might be interested in actually observing genuine Ice Age
cave art for themselves.
There are about 300 caves in Europe known to be decorated with Paleolithic art (i.e., dating from approximately
30,000 to 10,000 years ago) and one or more new sites are
usually discovered each year. Because of conservation
concerns, the vast majority of these are closed to the public. However a number of caves have remained open for
guided tours. Paul Bahn, an archaeologist of international
repute, has produced a very useful handbook to those
decorated caves still open to the public.
Of course, readers should appreciate the fact that the
status of any given cave, in terms of its public accessibility, may change at any time. Sometimes, this will primarily affect prehistorians and archaeologists who wish to
conduct investigations on site. Other changes may directly affect public access. Because of this, tourists contemplating a visit to one of the decorated caves should
make every effort to gather the most up-to-date information available.
The text begins with a short primer on Ice Age cave art, in
which the author gives a good general overview of Paleolithic art. This is followed by a discussion of publicly ac30
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FILM REVIEW
March 2012
Chauvet is generally regarded as a repository of the
world’s oldest cave art, with radiocarbon dates reported to
reach back as far as 30,000 - 32,000 years ago, nearly
twice as old as that at Lascaux. Overlapping imagery in
some areas of the cave suggests the possibility that additions to the cave’s artistic inventory may have been contributed over a span of time of as much as 5,000 years.
Collapse of the cave’s original entrance, evidence of
which is visible from within the cave, may have played an
important role in helping to preserve its cache of spectacular images.
Because of the dangers that human visitation present to
delicate cave art, Chauvet is closed to the public; even
visits by credentialed researchers are severely restricted.
Cave of Forgotten Dreams is the result of a unique and
remarkable opportunity afforded German filmmaker
Werner Herzog and his crew to film a documentary about
the extraordinary artwork within the cave.
Herzog and his small film crew take viewers on an incredible journey into human antiquity. Viewers will marvel at the remarkable imagery of Chauvet Cave. In the
flickering illumination of handheld battery-powered
lights, we get an inkling of how these images might have
been perceived by people of the time. Captured by the
magic of Herzog’s cameras, the Chauvet artwork is revealed in a manner that can never be reproduced by mere
photographs in a book. We are treated to incredible images of horses, rhinos, lions, reindeer, and others.
Herzog’s cameras also bear witness to various concepts of
artistic style and perspective, and even to early and dynamic methods of illustrating movement—which Herzog
refers to as proto-cinema—as first developed by the
world’s earliest artists. Researchers also discuss ongoing
investigations of the chronology of certain image and
panel constructions.
CAVE OF FORGOTTEN DREAMS (2011). Written,
directed, and narrated by Werner Herzog. Produced by
Erik Nelson and Adrienne Ciuffo. Distributed by IC
Films, NY. Formatted for Region 1 (U.S. and Canada).
Running time: 89 minutes. Filmed in 3-D. Available in
both DVD and Blu-Ray formats ($27.98). Reviewed by
Danny A. Brass.
Chauvet Cave in the Ardèche region of southern France is
one of the most spectacular of the known decorated caves,
holding prominence with the beautiful polychrome imagery of Lascaux (France) and Altamira (Spain). Together, these three caves are often considered to represent
the pinnacle of artistic achievement among Paleolithic
artists.
Although I was unable to view the film in 3-D, the cinematography was quite incredible nonetheless. The quality
of filming is made even more remarkable when considered in light of the severe time, manpower, and equipment
constraints imposed on the film crew. Because the floor
of the cave is also quite rich in delicate archaeological
and paleontological deposits, the movements of the film
crew were also quite restricted, limited to a narrow metal
walkway a mere two feet wide.
While Altamira has the distinction of being the first
known decorated cave to be discovered in modern times,
Although the documentary is primarily narrated by
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Herzog, a number of other individuals narrate short segments or are the subject of interviews. By and large, these
segments provide a degree of information on the nature of
Chauvet artwork, including various aspects of style and
methodology; however, some of the interviews conducted
by Herzog add little of informative value to the film, seem
somewhat disconnected from any real relevance, and are
more distracting then anything else. In one instance, responses appear to be quite forced, with words or ideas
actually being fed by Herzog as he conducts the interview.
March 2012
that can be gleaned from Paleolithic artwork. In this regard, Herzog points to otherwise unknown anatomical
details of extinct animals that can be identified in ancient
paintings. This provides researchers with invaluable firsthand information not available elsewhere. This discussion
echoes a perspective expressed by R. Dale Guthrie (The
Nature of Paleolithic Art, 2005, The University of Chicago Press), notably that prehistoric artwork represents a
unique window onto the last Ice Age, that Ice Age artists
were keen observers of nature, and that the illustrations
they left behind contain a wealth of information about the
animals with which they lived.
Among the characters appearing in Herzog’s documentary is Jean Clottes. Clottes is a prominent prehistorian
who has made extensive contributions to the study of cave
art. He has served in the capacity of Director of Prehistoric Antiquities for the midi-Pyrènèes, General Inspector
for Archaeology and Scientific Advisor for prehistoric
rock art at the French Ministry of Culture. He was also
the Director of Research for the Chauvet Cave Project,
which conducted major investigations on the Chauvet
artwork.
In the latter portion of his documentary, Herzog digresses
from his focus on Chauvet Cave. He considers the early
creation of Venus figurines, development of flutes (the
earliest known musical instruments), creation of spears
consisting of bone points hafted onto wooden shafts, use
of spear-throwers (called atlatls) to increase the efficiency of spears as throwing weapons, the nearby presence of a nuclear power plant, and the existence of albino
crocodiles. While some aspects of these segments can be
loosely tied to the Ice Age people who decorated Chauvet
Cave, others seem relatively unrelated to the principal
focus of the documentary.
Clottes has long favored a shamanistic interpretation of
cave art; however, he touches only briefly on this subject
during the course of the documentary. In view of the fact
that Herzog asks if it will ever be possible to understand
Paleolithic artists across the abyss of time, it would have
been appropriate for Clottes to devote more time to explaining shamanism and the significance that this art
might have held for ancient people.
Herzog invites viewers to listen in silence to the sounds of
the cave while contemplating the unique artistic treasures
within. Long stretches of silence are filled with soft music, possibly reminiscent of ancient ceremonial tunes.
While this adds a nice touch to one’s appreciation of the
film, it does continue for a considerable period of time,
and is duplicated in many segments of the film. Repetition is considerable and Herzog pans his cameras past the
same artwork time and time again, frequently with only
the musical score as a backdrop. Depending on the play of
light and shadow, the perspective seen by the camera may
vary with the changing configuration of the wall; however, the repeated stretches of silence do seem overused,
wasting valuable film time that could have been better
used to explain more about the nature of Paleolithic artwork as it unfolds in Chauvet Cave.
Considering Clottes’ longstanding contributions to the
field of rock art research, and specifically Paleolithic cave
paintings, a significant opportunity to provide some additional background about the general nature and significance of prehistoric cave art was lost. In view of Clottes’
intimate association with the Chauvet research efforts,
this omission seems particularly significant, especially in
light of skepticism that has been voiced about the age of
Chauvet’s artwork or the importance of shamanism as the
fundamental determinant underlying the creation of Paleolithic cave art. Questions also linger in some quarters
about the degree of sophistication of this artwork. While
these voices may be in the minority, it would have been
appropriate for Clottes to address these issues, if for no
other reason then to refute them.
These deficiencies notwithstanding, cavers will find this
to be an extremely interesting film, breathing life into ancient cave art and offering firsthand insights into the nature of decorated caves. Viewers will also gain an appreciation for the extreme steps required to conserve these
unique national treasures.
Brief consideration is given to details of natural history
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March 2012
view my art with suitable awe, yet not a pristine cave like
Lechuguilla where there are very few flat walls and nobody is allowed in. I chose Sinks of Grindstone in Kentucky. Some years back a group of desecrators set 66
dozen tea candles around the big room in that cave and lit
them all. Maybe I could bribe them to repeat the desecration for my unveiling.
Ergor Rubreck and his Post-Historic
Cave Paintings
— Ergor Rubreck —
Most people are aware of the pre-historic cave paintings
of southern France. Ancient explorers depicted wild animals, such as wildebeests, yaks, tigers, and gazelles. Two
characteristics of those decorations stand out: 1) Artists
never signed their names or dates, and 2) They only rendered pictures of creatures with beating hearts. You never
see cave paintings of automobiles, locomotives, or cruise
ships. Obviously, those subjects have no beating hearts so
were entirely skipped by Neandertal or Cro Magnon artists. Pre-historic cave paintings endure, I’m convinced,
because the cave environment is uniform, dark, inorganic,
and abrasiveless.
I decided that my first underground painting would be a
cruise ship. Since it was a cave, I figured I’d show a
cruise ship like the boats used for many years in Mammoth Cave (the Howe Caverns boats were too beat up).
Since the guides propelling the Mammoth Cave boats
were variously Caucasian and African Americans, it figured that a modicum of diversity in my post-historic
painting would not sully my reputation. Yes, Stephen
Bishop would be a suitable oarsman. I could even have
him singing and could letter the words of “My Old Kentucky Home” in a balloon above his head. A friend, hearing my idea, said I should not depict him singing “My
Old Kentucky Home” because first, he hated that song,
and second, I might run into copyright litigation that
could tie me up in legal snarls when I’d rather be painting
caves.
I mail ordered the Famous Cave Artists Course and received Lesson 1 plus paints, a pallet, brushes, charcoal
sticks, fixatif, kneeded rubber eraser, a practice cave, a
flimsy collapsible easel, and several sponges. Lesson 1
was Painting Mammoths. It called for burnt umber and
burnt sienna colors and the charcoal stick for sketching
the outline. I drew a curve like a rainbow and two tusks, a
trunk, and wiggly wool sides. It looked like an elephant
with a hairpiece.
My scene of Stephen cruising on Echo River included
several fine ladies with pink parasols and feather boa hats,
gentlemen with top hats and silk waistcoats. One little girl
trailed her hand in the water and I painted a cave blindfish
nibbling at it. One man held a derringer and was about to
loose a gunshot to demonstrate the echo properties of the
watercourse. I was proud of the finished picture and returned home to think about what kind of frame to paint on
the picture.
Upon reading further, Lesson 1 said to compose your
cave picture well, keeping in mind art composition tricks,
such as the triangle, inverted triangle, and Hogarth’s
Curve of Beauty. For Chinese cave painting it suggested
the tri-part Man, Heaven, and Earth configuration of oriental flower arrangement. The more I studied ancient cave
paintings the more I discovered there was no composition
evident—Ergor’s first significant discovery: ancient cave
explorers never composed anything!
I returned to Sinks of Grindstone weeks later and to my
horror I discovered graffiti superimposed on my painting.
Stephen was desecrated with an unspeakable appendage,
there were initials and hearts in white paint. An ugly UK
was painted in blue and the numerals 14 beside it all over
the cruise boat. Greek letters glowed DayGlo red. One
NSS number marred a lady’s parasol. My name and the
date had been sprayed over with black paint. In short, my
24-foot by 12-foot painting was trashed beyond recognition. It was heartbreaking after the months of work I had
invested. I could see why Michelangelo painted the
Sistine Chapel Ceiling where vandals could not reach to
trash it. I nearly gave up post-historic cave painting because it obviously encouraged graffiti taggers. Too much
I only glanced through Lessons 2 through 10 but I could
see The Famous Cave Artists were trying to teach me to
ape ancient animal painting. A waste of $699 I paid for
the course. When cavers would see the first cave I painted
in, some caving loudmouths would denounce me for
counterfeiting pre-historic cave art. They would certainly
heap scorn on me because I intended not to make the ancient mistake of no name or no date.
So I decided to create my own original post-historic cave
art. I needed a cave that was accessible so cavers could
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March 2012
temptation.
present cavers were denied the privilege.
Then I hit on an innovative alternative. I would paint
beautiful, well-composed paintings, then roll on a layer of
water-thinned latex paint to match the original color of
the walls and ceiling. I tested several formulas in a
Weatherometer (accelerated severe weathering simulator)
and found a paint formula that would fade and disappear
in 50 years, leaving my painting resplendent in all its
grandeur. Future visitors would enjoy my fine art even if
I spent two years painting 16 pictures in 16 caves. If you
visit any of those caves today you will not see my paintings. That is, unless you visit the one where I inadvertently rolled latex paint over a bat colony—it’s the lumpy
patch near the ceiling. But 50 years from now you will be
able to see “The Grand Canyon at Sunrise”, “Vintage
Corvettes at a Drive-in,” and my masterpiece, “Portraits
of 37 Vice-Presidents of the U.S.A.”
Archaeologists working within an unidentified cave deep in the interior of the Scottish Highlands have stumbled upon
unmistakable evidence of the existence of a prehistoric creature likely to have been ancestral to famed Nessie of nearby
Loch Ness. This authentic Paleolithic sculpture, radiocarbon dated to approximately 24,000 years ago, proves that such
creatures did survive and were known to people who inhabited this region during the Ice Age. Photo by George Jaegers.
34
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Volume 12, Number 3
CALENDAR OF EVENTS
PHOTOGRAPH OF THE MONTH
March 2012
CENTRAL CONNECTICUT GROTTO
CALENDAR OF EVENTS
April 6 - 14: Floyd Collins Musical - The Boston Center for the
Arts (www.bcaonline.org)
April 18: Monthly Grotto Meeting
April 28 - 29: Orientation to Cave Rescue (Leigh Cave, NJ) The New Jersey Initial Response Team (details available at http://njirt.org/public-files/2012-ocr-reg.pdf)
April 29: SGPA Spring Wildflower Hike (see www.sgpa.org
for details)
May 18 - 20: Spring NRO (Arlington, VT)
June 25 - 29: NSS Convention (Lewisburg, WV)
July 20 - 22: Karst-O-Rama (Mt. Vernon, KY) pre-registration is
now open (see http://karstorama.com for more details)
Neighboring grottos in the Northeast may also sponsor activities of
interest to CCG members. Links to homepages of other grottos can
be found at the NSS website (www.nssio.org/Find_Grotto.cfm).
PHOTOGRAPH OF THE MONTH - Even modern-day underground graffiti artists utilize projections along cave walls to visualize assorted animals that can be brought to life by the addition of a few well-placed lines. This same technique was a common practice
among the Ice Age cave artists who invented it. However, as cute as this beluga whale and puppy from Wyandotte Cave, Indiana,
might be, modern cavers should never confuse the work of Paleolithic artists with inappropriate cave graffiti. Photo by George Jaegers.
35