Cribs of Cro-Magnum Man

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9/6/09

It was early this morning but Andrew couldn’t resist a ride in the Dordogne hills. We headed off to see the cave of pre-historic man today.

The first cave we arrived at was the Lascaux Cave in Montignac, France. This is the home to some of the oldest cave paintings of over 17,000 years old. The original caves where damaged by letting people in and the carbon dioxide (see, Global Warming). So, they made an exact replica right next to it as to preserve the original art. It was amazing and almost as cool as the Sistine Chapel paintings. Most of the paintings were of bulls, buffalo, horses, deer and other animals. The colors were brilliant and made from iron oxide powders. They used different techniques to paint such as crating carving knives, brushes, and blowing paint thru reeds.

No-one really nows the meaning of the paintings but they used a lot of symbols and overlapped animals into each other. There is obviously a pattern and took a lot of effort to do so my thought is it is a religious act to ensure good hunting. Hard to image it was done so long ago.

Next we went to the Chateau de Losse a much new place built in 1576. It was of renaissance style and very ornate. The furniture (although not my style) was all hand carved wood and opal with very intricate. It was owned by Jean do Losse, a governor who fought with Henry IV. There are many Chateaus and Castles propped in these hills and all where very fortified with towers, motes and battlement areas. It was common during the 100 years war to be attacked and under seize for years. Home security has come a long way.

Andrew had seen enough tapestries so we drove down the river Vezere to the Fortress Caves of La Rogue Saint-Christophe. This was a cliffside retreat and fortress that was first inhabited over 55,000 years ago by prehistoric man.

It was then also a fortress for years for people during the 100 year was and the religious wars. They literally built their town on the side of a cliff. It was 5 stories, very fortified and could house up to 1,000 people. It was amazing to see how these people lived in these cave dwellings for literally thousands of years. It had all of the modern conveniences...for a cave. They must have been very scared to go to such extremes for safety.

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