Kim Prati

SLM -521

Last updated 3/20/06

Web Dropin 3

The Caves at Lascaux

On September 12, 1940, four teenagers in France discovered the entrance to a prehistoric cave and made one of the most important archeological discoveries of the 20th century. Today, we are going to use the Internet to retrace their steps and view the Lascaux cave paintings created 17,000 years ago.

While walking in the woods, the teenagers discovered the entrance to the cave exposed by the fall of a big pine tree. To begin your virtual visit, click on the link below or cut and paste the url in your browser window: http://www.culture.gouv.fr:80/culture/arcnat/lascaux/en/f-visite.htm

The graphic on this page (shown below) represents the layout of the cave. With a partner, spend a few minutes exploring the cave by clicking on the different parts of the graphic and entering the rooms.

 

For the activities below, you must find and explore two areas of the cave: The Painted Gallery and the Shaft of the Dead Man. Once you've entered these areas of the cave, be sure to click on the arrows on the right of the screen to see close-ups of all the artwork in that area.

Note: In the descriptions of the artwork, you may encounter vocabulary words that are unfamiliar to you. If you pass your cursor over the words that are highlighted with a blue box, a pop-up window will provide the definition for you.

ACTIVITES:

In the space below, make a list of the subjects (animals, humans, symbols) that you find in these areas of the cave.

 

 

 

 

 

 

There are over 600 paintings of animals in Lascaux. Click on this link and view the pie chart analysis of the distribution of animal species in Lascaux compared to other cave paintings found in Western Europe. http://www.culture.gouv.fr:80/culture/arcnat/lascaux/en/thematique2.htm

 

  1. Which animal was depicted most in both Lascaux and Western Europe?
  2. In which area was bison shown more?
  3. According to the charts, which animals were painted in Western Europe, but not at Lascaux?

 

 

FOLLOW UP:

The portrayal of the human figure is very different from the depiction of animals in the cave paintings. Discuss possible reasons for this with your partner and list them in the space below. We will discuss possible reasons in class tomorrow.