Font-de-Gaume Cave
Les Eyzies-de-Tayac, France
The Font-de-Gaume cave is a magical and mysterious place close to Les Eyzies-de-Tayac in the Dordogne. It’s the only cave in France with paintings dating back at least 17,000 years that still remains open to the public. Walking back hundreds of meters into the darkness you can see beautiful paintings of bison, individuals and groups, some at eye level and some high overhead. Their varied locations make Alan wonder what motivated such challenging placements when the only illumination could have been sputtering flames? In addition to the detailed depictions of nature, there are so-called “tectiform”—or roof-shaped—symbols. Their exact meanings are unknown, but many researchers consider them evidence of early human cognition, as they are found elsewhere across Europe.
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Font-de-Gaume
Font-de-Gaume is a cave near Les Eyzies-de-Tayac-Sireuil in the Dordogne department of south-west France. The cave contains prehistoric polychrome cave paintings and engravings dating to the Magdalenian period (17,000 to 12,000 years ago). Discovered in 1901, more than 200 images have been identified in Font-de-Gaume. Along with other nearby prehistoric archeological sites, Font-de-Gaume was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1979 as the “Prehistoric Sites and Decorated Caves of the Vézère Valley.”
The paintings were discovered by Denis Peyrony, a local schoolmaster, on 12 September 1901. Before this, the cave had been known to the general public, but the paintings’ significance had not been recognized. Four days earlier, Peyrony had visited the cave at Les Combarelles, a short distance away, with the archaeologist Henri Breuil, where he saw its prehistoric engravings. The paintings in the cave at Font-de-Gaume were the first to be discovered in the Périgord province.
Prehistoric people living in the Dordogne Valley first settled in the mouth of Font-de-Gaume around 25,000 BC. The cave mouth was inhabited at least sporadically for the next several thousand years. However, after the original prehistoric inhabitants left, the cave was forgotten until the nineteenth century, when local people again began to visit the cave. Many of the cave’s paintings have only been discovered in recent decades. The cave’s most famous painting, a frieze of five bison, was discovered accidentally in 1966 while scientists were cleaning the cave.
As of 2007, Font-de-Gaume was the only site in France with polychrome cave paintings still open to the public.
To date, 230 figures have been recorded in the cave, and it is thought that more are still to be revealed. Font-de-Gaume holds over 200 polychrome paintings. These engravings are considered the best examples of polychrome painting other than Lascaux, which is now closed to the public. The rock art in Font-de-Gaume includes depictions of more than 80 bison, approximately 40 horses, and more than 20 mammoths.
In addition to the paintings of animals, enigmatic symbols can also be seen in Font-de-Gaume and a few nearby caves. These include tectiform shapes, as seen in SEARCHING part 1. The tectiform symbol is named after the Latin word for “roof-shaped.” A typical tectiform comprises a peaked roof, from which a vertical line extends downwards as far as a horizontal base. This symbol is not common, appearing at just 6 percent of French sites, most of which are grouped in the Dordogne. Tectiforms appear in caves dating between about 22,000 and 11,000 BCE.
Other French prehistoric caves containing “tectiform signs” include Bayol Cave near Pont du Gard Aqueduct, Nimes; Bernifal Cave, Vezere Valley, Dordogne; Cournazac Cave, Les Eyzies-de-Tayac-Sireuil, Dordogne; Le Bison Cave, Yonne and Les Fieux Cave, Miers, Lot.
SOURCES: Wikipedia, Les Eyzies-de-Tayak
