The Dordogne region of France is quite literally filled with prehistoric caves. The Lascaux cave is the most famous of these. We did not visit the Lascaux cave (the original cave can no longer be visited and tourists are instead led through a very good copy of the original). We decided that no matter how good the copy, we preferred to visit actual prehistoric caves.
G and I woke up early this morning to ensure that we would be able to visit both Font de Gaume and Combarelles in Les Eyzies, France. Tickets to visit these caves cannot be reserved in advance; you must line up in front of the ticket office at least a half hour before opening (more in the high season). Only 80 people are allowed to visit Font de Gaume each day, and fewer are allowed to see Combarelles.
Combarelles
We arrived before the ticket office opened, but we still stood in the rain behind thirty or forty other tourists. Fortunately, we were able to purchase tickets for tours in both caves. We visited the Combarelles cave first. The tour was given in French; the English tours for the day had already sold old. We made do with our limited French and the guide's limited English. Combarelles features engravings only. Engravings refer to when the images were carved into the stone rather than painted.
Château de Commarque
Having a couple of hours between our two cave tours, G and I decided to visit Château de Commarque. I had read good reviews of the castle online and wanted to see it.
The castle was built starting around the 12th century on top of a prehistoric cave. Originally consisting of a wooden tower meant to keep the Beynac family at bay, the Beynace family replaced the castle with a stone keep after the it gained control. The keep was gradually added to through the 1700s. The castle changed hands a couple of times and was finally abandoned. After a number of decades of inattention, the castle was rediscovered in 1962 by Hubert Commarque. He has allowed archeological excavations on the site and has worked to restore the castle.
G and I were both impressed with this castle. I'm not sure about G, but out of all the chateaux we visited on this trip, Commarque was my favorite. How often are you able to see a prehistoric cave and a castle in one place?
Font de Gaume
Font de Gaume, like Lascaux, is a polychromatic cave. Red and black paints were used in addition to the engravings. (The images were engraved or carved into the stone walls and painted in with red and black).
The animal figures at Font de Gaume were very purposefully placed. The prehistoric artists used the natural slopes and lines of the cave walls to help define their figures. We were shown a line of four bison that must have been planned out in advance as the humps in the rocks fit perfectly with the humps in their backs. We were even shown scenes including one deer licking another. Furthermore, the artists used shadowing and perspective accurately and effectively. The end results, as I can attest, are lifelike animal figures.
The tour guide pointed out that there are no known rough drafts of these images or figures. Obviously, only the people who had the ability to create did so. Additionally, these people had very strong desires to create these images of mammoths, deer, and bison. There were parts of the cave that were only accessible by crawling on one's stomach, and the walls of these passages were covered with images. Add that the caves were dark and the only light came from fire (which doesn't stay still) and that the artists were working completely from memory.
We left the cave completely amazed. Never before had I considered that these cave paintings were purposeful or planned nor had I considered the difficulties in creating cave paintings.
