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Chauvet Cave Through the Eyes of a Sculptor
Visit to the Chauvet Cave in 1999 by John Robinson
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We had been in the cave now for three hours. It was time to leave and have some much needed lunch. I was glad to take a break as my head was in a whirl. Later we would return and descend into the Holy of Holies, the Sorcerer’s Sanctuary.
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We soon arrived back at the bottom of the shaft, clipped on to the safety harness, climbed up the ladders, and crawled back up the tunnel. Boots on we stepped back into the real world, to be met by the cameras again.
“First impressions please”. Well what do you say? There are really no words that can encompass such an amazing experience. All I did know was that I was very glad that I had avoided looking at the photographs for a year. Apart from the sheer artistry of the work, one of the things that struck me most forcefully was the freshness of what I had just seen. The paintings could have been done yesterday, not 30,000 years ago. I had been completely blown away, and I was glowing with the wonder of the accomplishment of my fellow artists, and feeling, very humble.
The sun had burst through the veil of swirling mist that had filled the valley in the morning, so we had a glorious view across the canyon. What an incredibly beautiful spot. The Chauvet Clan must have had the same feelings about the site, and felt the Spirit of Place. Their paintings are in tune with the values we hold today, so surely their values of beauty must have been the same as ours as well.
I felt very close to these people, even though 30,000 years separated us. The Greek philosopher Protagoras said some 2,500 years ago; “Man is the measure of all things”. If he was talking about Man’s Creativity as being the Measure of Value, as I believe he was, then this is just what I had seen, wonderful Creativity, and incredible Feats of Imagination.
I believe that the Genesis of Art is Religion. I don’t believe that these paintings were just a “one off” miracle of creativity. The beginnings of the long path of evolution that led up to these paintings must have been rooted in the ancient religion of Homo sapiens.
In the afternoon I was to be taken into the Holy of Holies to see the Sorcerer and the panel of the Lions and Rhinoceros. I had already experienced the sense of being in a Cathedral on my journey to the Bear Skull Altar, so what, I wondered, would be my reaction to the Sorcerer?
Lunch was a truly French affair. Several three foot long baguettes of crusty bread, sausage, cheese, lentils, and of course, red wine. While I listened to Jean and David Lewis-Williams discussing various aspects of the cave, I thought how fortunate we all were to be alive, at the right time, and at the right place. Chauvet is the great find of the century, the living witness to the dawning of Homo sapiens culture through the legacy of his art.
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