Font-de-Gaume
Font-de-Gaume is a cave in the area of the French commune of Les Eyzies in the Dordogne department . With its numerous, polychrome cave paintings from the Magdalenian period , it is one of the most important picture caves of Franco-Cantabrian cave art . At the same time, Font-de-Gaume is the last cave still open to the public with polychrome painting from the Upper Palaeolithic .
Geographical location, geology and description of the cave
The cave is located about one kilometer east of Les-Eyzies in the Font-de-Gaume , a left side valley of the Beune , just before its confluence with the Vézère . A 500 meter long and around 40 meter high rock wall made of flat, sandy limestone of the Coniacium , overlaid by Santonium , dominates the right side of the Font-du-Gaume. In this wall, the cave was formed by formation-internal erosion, with water infiltration following predetermined fault zones in the rock and dissolving away the limestone. Today the cave is considered to be relatively "dry", even if there are occasional sinter parts .
The cave is halfway up the wall about 250 meters behind the mouth of the valley (on the third rubble fan). It can be reached via an upstream abri , which was expanded in the Middle Ages and at the rear end of which there are two entrances. The left entrance is a blind corridor that ends after a few meters. The right entrance leads into the actual cave. This more or less straight corridor, 2 to 3 meters wide, is 125 meters long and follows an east-southeast direction. It reaches up to 8 meters in height. Three right side corridors branch off from it, one of which leads back to the daylight. The first two side aisles are relatively insignificant, the third, branching off at right angles, is 50 meters long.
The majority of the pictures and engravings appear after 60 meters in the second half of the main aisle. The images begin shortly before a bottleneck called Rubicon and can then be followed to the end of the corridor. Some were also carried out in the second and above all in the third aisle. The bottleneck has undoubtedly contributed to drastically reducing air circulation in the rear section of the corridor; it has thus saved the works of art from destruction, as was unfortunately not the case for the first 60 meters.
history
The cave has been known to the locals for a long time, as several graffiti , some of which are disfiguring, clearly show. However, it was not until 1901 that Les Eyzies' teacher, Denis Peyrony , became aware of the rock art after he had been involved in the discovery of Les Combarelles shortly before. He immediately notified Louis Capitan and Henri Breuil , who confirmed his find. Breuil then made drawings, some in color, which appeared in a monograph in 1910. In 1966 a large frieze with 5 bison was uncovered after the wall at this point had been freed from a chalky-clay coating.
Excavation work on the cave was carried out by Peyrony and Breuil and later by F. Prat between 1958 and 1964 and again in 1967.
Illustrations
There are around 200 images in Font-de-Gaume. The bison are clearly predominant here , in contrast to the cave of Les Combarelles , in which the wild horses occupy a dominant position, and the cave of Rouffignac , where mammoths predominate . According to Henri Breuil, the representations can be broken down as follows:
- 80 bison
- 40 wild horses
- 23 mammoths
- 17 reindeer and deer-like
- 8 aurochs
- 4 goatsies
- 2 wool rhinos
- 2 big cats
- 1 wolf
- 1 bear
Only a single human being is shown among the animals, some vulvae have been suggested. A lion appears as a special feature . In addition to the images, there are also characters, including 19 tectiform (house-shaped) characters, rectangles and X-shaped characters, as well as 4 hand negatives.
The rock carvings are of excellent quality and were made in two or more colors. Mainly red and black natural colors that were powdered or inflated were used. Usually the outline of the animal to be depicted was first scratched into the wall and then colored. Unevenness in the rock was cleverly used to give the representations a spatial dimension.
The animals are not randomly arranged. Occasionally they were attached in pairs, one after the other or staggered. Some animals also occupy a preferred position, for example a wolf depicted high up on the wall dominates the branch to the third side aisle.
Age
Absolute age dates are not available for Font-de-Gaume. Stylistic investigations and overlays on individual illustrations give reason to assume that the works of art can be ascribed to at least two cultural epochs. The older phase is likely to have occurred at about the same time as the illustrations by Lascaux , ie Lower Magdalenian or older. The more recent phase probably belongs to the Upper Magdalenian, at the same time as the works in Les Combarelles , Bernifal and Rouffignac.
Artifact finds
During excavations in the cave stone artefacts made of flint - mainly burins , scrapers and blades - and other objects were discovered. The tool finds come mainly from the Châtelperronien and the Aurignacien , partly also from the Solutréen and the Magdalénien and can even go back to the Moustérien . The relatively sparse findings suggest that the cave was only visited briefly, but was never permanently inhabited.
meaning
Font-de-Gaume is one of the last significant rock art caves in France that is still open to the public. The images shown in it are definitely comparable with those of Altamira or Lascaux , even if their state of preservation is clearly worse.
UNESCO world cultural heritage
Since 1979, Font-de-Gaume is in combination with other sites of Vézèretals World Heritage of UNESCO .
visit
The cave is open to the public, but visitor numbers are strictly regulated. Thanks to this measure, the works of art are now in a stable condition (in contrast to Lascaux). Visitor groups are limited to 12 participants each. The site is run by the Center des monuments nationaux (Center for National Cultural Monuments).
More caves near Font-de-Gaume
The Font de Gaume valley has two other caves. The Cournazac Cave , which was only found in 1976, is 900 meters further south . In addition to a painted mammoth, several incised drawings and some contours drawn with the fingers can be recognized. A little further south is the Peyreblanque cave with traces of rock art. The cave of Les Girouteaux , located a little upstream on the Grande Beune, contains engravings that cannot be identified.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Vidal, Pierre: Cavernes en Périgord . Pierre Fanlac, 1987, p. 45 .
literature
- Aubarbier, JL, Binet, M., Bouchard, JP & Guichard, G .: Aimer la préhistoire en Périgord . Éditions Ouest-France, 1991, ISBN 2-7373-0786-4 .
- Breuil, H .: Quatre cent siècles d'art pariétal . Center d'Études et de Documentation préhistoriques, 1952.
- Delluc, B. & G., Roussot, A. & Roussot-Larroque, J .: Connaître la préhistoire en Périgord . Sud Ouest, 1990, ISBN 2-87901-048-9 .
- Leroi-Gourhan, A .: Font-de-Gaume . In: Dictionnaire de la Préhistoire, Leroi-Gourhan, A., (Ed.) . PUF, 1988, p. 410-411 .
- Sarradet, Max: Font-de-Gaume en Périgord , 1969, Fanlac, Périgueux.
Web links
Coordinates: 44 ° 56 '5 " N , 1 ° 1' 44" E
