Discovered in 1940, Lascaux is perhaps the most richly decorated of Prehistoric painted caves. The animal paintings of Lascaux are regarded as exceptional examples of Paleolithic art with one scholar describing them as the “Sistine Chapel of Prehistory”. More than 900 figures of animals have been identified in the cave and the Chinese Horse is one of the best known among them. It depicts a horse with a small head and a bulky body. There are signs surrounding the horse which have been interpreted to signify various things.
Table of Contents
S1 – Discovery
The Lascaux Cave was discovered on September 12, 1940 by four French teenage boys named Marcel Ravidat, Jacques Marsal, Georges Agnel and Simon Coencas. There are several versions on how the discovery was made with one stating the assistance of a dog. When the boys showed the artworks in the cave to their schoolmaster Leon Laval, he immediately realized that they were prehistoric and needed to be protected against vandalism. Eminent prehistorian Henri Breuil was the first to study the cave art and he vouched for its authenticity.
By 1948, the news had spread across the world and the family that owned the land organized daily tours that eventually brought thousands of visitors every year. In 1963, André Malraux, the French minister of culture, closed Lascaux Cave to the general public with only experts being allowed in. This was done as the visitors were unintentionally causing harm to the artworks. In 1983, a replica of the site was built nearby and it attracts around 300,000 visitors every year.
S2 – Description
The Chinese Horse is one of the best known paintings from Lascaux. The horse was dubbed “Chinese” because, according to some, it resembled the paintings of the Song Dynasty of China. The modern-day horse which is most close to the one depicted does indeed come from that region. It is the Przewalski species from Mongolia, which like the depiction, has a small head and a bulky body.
The outline of the horse has been painted with a brush. The main areas of color have been sprayed on. To spray the color, its creator either used his/her mouth or a hollow bone was used as a tube. There are a number of signs around the horse. These have been interpreted by some scholars as hunting magic, representing nets and weapons. Others believe that these signs are descriptive. Like the lines may be representation of grasses, which bend while the horse gallops.
S3 – Age
Radiocarbon dating of charcoal at the Lascaux Cave has given an age of around 17,000 years for the paintings at the cave. The traditional view is that all art created in the cave is of similar age, around a few centuries before or after 17,000 BP. However, some specialists believe that the cave’s art has accumulated over a much longer period.
S4 – Prehistoric Rock Art Purpose
S5 – Paleolithic Art Overview
Main Sources
S1:-
Cavendish, Richard. (Sep 9, 2015). “Discovery of the Lascaux Cave Paintings”. History Today.
S2:-
“Art That Changed the World”. DK. Penguin Random House. p20.
S3:-
Clottes, Jean. (Jun 28, 2024). “Lascaux”. Encyclopaedia Britannica.