September 12, 2021 • 7 mins
Four teenagers from the nearby village of Montignac, France, discovered the Cave of Lascaux and the more than 2,000 ancient drawings that adorn its walls.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
This Day in History Class is a production of I
Heart Radio, Hello and welcome to This Day in History Class,
a show that demystifies history one day at a time.
I'm Gabe Louisier, and today we're pulling back the curtain
(00:21):
on a treasure trove of prehistoric art that some researchers
have lovingly nicknamed the sixteen Chapel of the Ancients. The
day was September twelfth. Four teenagers from the nearby village
(00:44):
of Montignac, France, discovered the Cave of Lasco and the
more than two thousand ancient drawings that adore in its walls.
The illustrations, which mostly depict animals and arcane symbols, are
more than seventeen thousand years years old and are considered
some of the finest examples of prehistoric art ever found.
(01:06):
The details of the boys discovery very a little from
one account to the next, but one constant is the
involvement of an apprentice garage mechanic named Marcel Ravida. In
some versions of the story, Marcel discovered the cave by
himself while walking through the woods, and then brought his
three friends to see it at a later date. In
(01:27):
other accounts the four boys found the cave together by
following their dog Robot, after it chased a rabbit down
a narrow hole that led into the cave. However they
found it, we know the boys explored the cave together
on September twelve. First they dropped stones into the hole
to get an idea of its depth, and then they
(01:48):
climbed down the narrow shaft one at a time. After
descending fifty feet or so, the boys emerged in a
central cavern sixty six ft wide and sixteen feet high.
Several steep galleries branched off from the main chamber, and
each one was decorated with engraved, drawn, and painted figures.
(02:09):
Among the animals depicted were horses, bulls, red deer, bison,
some kind of cat, and even what looks like a rhinoceros.
There are also depictions of human tools, including arrows and traps,
but the closest thing to an actual human is a
painting of a bird headed man, which may represent some
(02:31):
kind of shaman. The true purpose of the cave is unknown,
but some archaeologists think it may have served as the
site of religious rights or rituals. Marcel later described the
paintings as quote, a cavalcade of animals larger than life
that seemed to be moving. This is because the animals
(02:51):
weren't drawn standing still, but in motion, moving as they
would in real life. This perspective is amplified when the
paintings are viewed by firelight, as the flickering light makes
the figures appear to move. The most famous section of
the cave is the Hall of the Bulls. It shows
four giant black bulls in mid charge. One of the
(03:13):
bulls is seventeen feet long, making it the largest cave
art animal discovered. Yet strangely, most of the animals depicted
are not the ones that people of the region would
have hunted. For instance, reindeer was the most consumed animal
of the Late Stone Age, but that animal is completely
(03:33):
absent from the last co walls. Another curious omission is landscapes. Plants, trees,
and mountains are all absent from the scenes, which has
led some researchers to speculate that the paintings don't depict
tableaus of daily life, but ancient star maps with the
line aren't animals representing constellations like Taurus. The boys who
(03:58):
found the cave made up hacked to keep it secret,
but they only lasted a week or so before telling
a teacher who happened to be an expert on prehistoric art.
From there, news of the discovery soon reached prominent French
archaeologist Abe Bruhl, who came to study the paintings and
quickly vouched for their authenticity. Then words spread throughout Europe
(04:20):
and around the world. In the family that owned the
land decided to capitalize on the excitement. They began holding
daily tours of the cave, drawing thousands and thousands of
visitors each year. The tourists didn't mean to harm the paintings,
but they did. A layer of chalk had made the
(04:42):
cave water tight, and this, along with it being closed
to the air for thousands of years, had preserved the
pigments used in the artwork. After all that time, the blacks, browns, reds,
and yellows used in the paintings were still vibrant, but
that changed quickly when people began visiting the caves. Their
(05:03):
breath caused condensation to form on the walls and ceiling,
which then ran down onto the paintings. Algae and mold
began to develop and to make matters worse, the tour
guides had installed high powered lights in the cave, which
made the vivid art begin to fade. Pristine artwork that
had been preserved for millennia was being destroyed in just
(05:27):
a handful of years. Thankfully, the French Ministry of Culture
recognized what was happening and closed the cave to the
public in nineteen sixty three. Lasco became a UNESCO World
Heritage Site in nine seventy nine, and today only one
person is allowed to enter at a time, and only
(05:47):
for a brief period in order to monitor the caves preservation.
While the Lasco Cave will likely never be open to
the public again, visitors can explore the next best thing
less than a quarter mile away. In three a replica
of the site was built close by for public viewing.
(06:08):
Dubbed Lasco Too. The replica cave contains reproductions of about
eight percent of the original artwork, and it attracts a
few hundred thousand visitors each year. If you don't think
you'll be in the neighborhood anytime soon, you can also
take a virtual tour by visiting Lasco dot culture dot
(06:28):
f R. I'm Gabe Louisier and hopefully you now know
a little more about history today than you did yesterday.
And if you have any comments or suggestions, you can
send them to me at this Day at i heart
media dot com. Thanks to Chandler Mays for producing the show,
and thank you for listening. I'll see you back here
(06:50):
again tomorrow for another day in History class. For more
podcasts from I Heart Radio, visit the iHeart Radio app,
Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.
This Day in History Class is a production of I
Heart Radio, Hello and welcome to This Day in History Class,
a show that demystifies history one day at a time.
I'm Gabe Louisier, and today we're pulling back the curtain
(00:21):
on a treasure trove of prehistoric art that some researchers
have lovingly nicknamed the sixteen Chapel of the Ancients. The
day was September twelfth. Four teenagers from the nearby village
(00:44):
of Montignac, France, discovered the Cave of Lasco and the
more than two thousand ancient drawings that adore in its walls.
The illustrations, which mostly depict animals and arcane symbols, are
more than seventeen thousand years years old and are considered
some of the finest examples of prehistoric art ever found.
(01:06):
The details of the boys discovery very a little from
one account to the next, but one constant is the
involvement of an apprentice garage mechanic named Marcel Ravida. In
some versions of the story, Marcel discovered the cave by
himself while walking through the woods, and then brought his
three friends to see it at a later date. In
(01:27):
other accounts the four boys found the cave together by
following their dog Robot, after it chased a rabbit down
a narrow hole that led into the cave. However they
found it, we know the boys explored the cave together
on September twelve. First they dropped stones into the hole
to get an idea of its depth, and then they
(01:48):
climbed down the narrow shaft one at a time. After
descending fifty feet or so, the boys emerged in a
central cavern sixty six ft wide and sixteen feet high.
Several steep galleries branched off from the main chamber, and
each one was decorated with engraved, drawn, and painted figures.
(02:09):
Among the animals depicted were horses, bulls, red deer, bison,
some kind of cat, and even what looks like a rhinoceros.
There are also depictions of human tools, including arrows and traps,
but the closest thing to an actual human is a
painting of a bird headed man, which may represent some
(02:31):
kind of shaman. The true purpose of the cave is unknown,
but some archaeologists think it may have served as the
site of religious rights or rituals. Marcel later described the
paintings as quote, a cavalcade of animals larger than life
that seemed to be moving. This is because the animals
(02:51):
weren't drawn standing still, but in motion, moving as they
would in real life. This perspective is amplified when the
paintings are viewed by firelight, as the flickering light makes
the figures appear to move. The most famous section of
the cave is the Hall of the Bulls. It shows
four giant black bulls in mid charge. One of the
(03:13):
bulls is seventeen feet long, making it the largest cave
art animal discovered. Yet strangely, most of the animals depicted
are not the ones that people of the region would
have hunted. For instance, reindeer was the most consumed animal
of the Late Stone Age, but that animal is completely
(03:33):
absent from the last co walls. Another curious omission is landscapes. Plants, trees,
and mountains are all absent from the scenes, which has
led some researchers to speculate that the paintings don't depict
tableaus of daily life, but ancient star maps with the
line aren't animals representing constellations like Taurus. The boys who
(03:58):
found the cave made up hacked to keep it secret,
but they only lasted a week or so before telling
a teacher who happened to be an expert on prehistoric art.
From there, news of the discovery soon reached prominent French
archaeologist Abe Bruhl, who came to study the paintings and
quickly vouched for their authenticity. Then words spread throughout Europe
(04:20):
and around the world. In the family that owned the
land decided to capitalize on the excitement. They began holding
daily tours of the cave, drawing thousands and thousands of
visitors each year. The tourists didn't mean to harm the paintings,
but they did. A layer of chalk had made the
(04:42):
cave water tight, and this, along with it being closed
to the air for thousands of years, had preserved the
pigments used in the artwork. After all that time, the blacks, browns, reds,
and yellows used in the paintings were still vibrant, but
that changed quickly when people began visiting the caves. Their
(05:03):
breath caused condensation to form on the walls and ceiling,
which then ran down onto the paintings. Algae and mold
began to develop and to make matters worse, the tour
guides had installed high powered lights in the cave, which
made the vivid art begin to fade. Pristine artwork that
had been preserved for millennia was being destroyed in just
(05:27):
a handful of years. Thankfully, the French Ministry of Culture
recognized what was happening and closed the cave to the
public in nineteen sixty three. Lasco became a UNESCO World
Heritage Site in nine seventy nine, and today only one
person is allowed to enter at a time, and only
(05:47):
for a brief period in order to monitor the caves preservation.
While the Lasco Cave will likely never be open to
the public again, visitors can explore the next best thing
less than a quarter mile away. In three a replica
of the site was built close by for public viewing.
(06:08):
Dubbed Lasco Too. The replica cave contains reproductions of about
eight percent of the original artwork, and it attracts a
few hundred thousand visitors each year. If you don't think
you'll be in the neighborhood anytime soon, you can also
take a virtual tour by visiting Lasco dot culture dot
(06:28):
f R. I'm Gabe Louisier and hopefully you now know
a little more about history today than you did yesterday.
And if you have any comments or suggestions, you can
send them to me at this Day at i heart
media dot com. Thanks to Chandler Mays for producing the show,
and thank you for listening. I'll see you back here
(06:50):
again tomorrow for another day in History class. For more
podcasts from I Heart Radio, visit the iHeart Radio app,
Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.
This Day in History Class News
Host
Gabe Luzier
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