Great find, merudanda. The existing caves at Lascaux are among the most amazing things I've ever seen, so discovering new ones is quite a coup. Because of their fragility, no tourists will ever get to see the originals, so I commend the French government for giving Herzog access to them with the latest 3D technology. Your post reminded me of one I wrote to Marek some time ago, regarding a BBC documentary that included a section on the caves at Lascaux and other prehistoric art:
> Great stuff, Marek. I think you'd *really* like > a BBC series I saw on my satellite before I left > France, How Art Made The World: > > http://www.pbs.org/howartmadetheworld/ > > The second (I think) episode deals with the cave > paintings, and it's just utterly *fascinating*. > It goes through the various theories about how > they came about, and debunks most of them, such > as, "These were the animals they saw around them." > Often these were *not* the animals they saw > around them; these animals weren't even native > to the region. > > So where did these images come from? What did > they mean? The theory presented (and with enough > force that it sounds "right" to me) was arrived at > by looking at cave paintings *around the world*, > and noticing that the ones in Australia or Iran > looked the same, used the same artistic conventions, > and often featured the same animals as the ones in > France and in Spain. The common denominator was that > the artistic conventions used are *also* seen in > art that depicts the trance or psychedelic exper- > ience. > > So the documentary presents the possibility that > these paintings were the first recorded attempts > to record an inner vision (by shamans), and present > it to the tribe at large, who might not have had > such visions. > > I think you'd love it. The rest of the series is > great, too. --- In [email protected], merudanda <no_reply@...> wrote: > > http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dDkDB0aM-Lo > > Positively received at its Toronto Festival Premiere, CAVE OF FORGOTTEN > DREAMS shows the dramatic results of Herzog's exclusive access to > the recently discovered Chauvet caves in the South of France, and their > truly extraordinary cave paintings, dating back 32,000 years. > Herzog's use of 3D really brings these beautiful works of art and > the breath-taking cathedral like cave with its towering stalagmites to > life. Herzog uses his unique access to this treasure trove of > Palaeolithic masterpieces to muse on the immensity and fragility of > man's progress. > > http://www.filmshaft.com/two-clips-from-werner-herzogs-cave-of-forgotten\ > -dreams/ > http://tinyurl.com/3h6s5u3 > The cave is littered with the skeletons and fragments of bears and other > animals but curiously no human remains. Herzog being Herzog he > interviews a host of eccentric scientists and at the very end finds > albino alligators living near a nuclear power plant. Only he would find > such things! They'll also be a collective laugh in the cinema when > Herzog muses about Baywatch. >
