France, 2012: Field Notes

Rouffignac Cave, Sunday 24

th
June
So we begin with the cave at Rouffignac, the so-called cave of the mammoths. The art
here is estimated to be around 14,000years old (agdalenian!, and includes a large
number of re"resentation of mammoths, as well as rhino, bison, horses, ibe# and
abstract signs and inscribed lines (macaroni!.
$e boo% onto the ne#t available tour, which is half an hour away. & large "arty of
children, noisy children, are waiting at the gift sho" for a tour. ' begin to fear that we
may be on the tour with them. (ut after ) minutes a tour guide arrives and they leave
with her. $hich is a relief. $e s"end the time before our tour watching a video about
recent discoveries in (orneo * large numbers of negative hand stencils, a few animal
forms and abstract signs in remote and difficult to access caves high above the +ungle.
The "rehistorian tal%s of his theory that the "laces,s"aces re"resent "laces of
isolation,retreat for shamans * hermitages * and that the art may be lin%ed to
shamanic "ractices * dramatically figuring and re"resenting the "ath to another world,
with the shaman "roviding the bridge or lin% to this other world.
The time comes for our tour and we are led through an iron door into a much larger
cave interior, where a small train awaits us.

$hat becomes immediately evident is the sheer amount of noisy chatter amongst the
grou". $hich is sur"rising given that there a""ear to be only four children on the tour,
and they are actually -uieter than the adults. &s the train "roceeds through the cave
this chatter continues over the to" of the cave guide.s commentary. /es"ite the fact
that ' can understand only small "arts of his commentary, ' find the evident disregard
for his words a little disturbing and distracting. &s the tour "roceeds this will "rove to
be evidence for a much greater disregard of the cave art itself * a refusal to allow
oneself to be -uiet, to reflect, to loo%, to see, to hear and to thin%. 0resumably all of
this must affect the ca"acity to feel. 1"on seeing the first wall relief (two mammoths!
there is an audible inta%e of breath from the grou" * and a brief interlude of silence
during the cave guide.s commentary. 2owever, by the time we have "roceeded to the
second wall relief (a horse and a mammoth! there is no evident sur"rise and the
chatter returns over the to" of the guide.s commentary.
' found this to be utterly distracting, to the "oint that the first wall reliefs seemed
silent * did not really s"ea% in an affective sense of their sub+ect, time or "lace.
2owever, u"on seeing the drawings of the three rhinos, ' e#"erienced a momentary
flare
of
"ower.
These are so e#-uisitely e#ecuted, and have such dynamism and tem"oral solidity.
3i%e ghosts arrested in time * the last vestige of life ca"tured and "reserved by their
outline. 2owever, the moment dissi"ated when somebody on the tour (an adult, not a
child! tried to touch the cave ceiling and the guide had to warn them not to do this *
that he thought he had made it obvious to them not to do this at any "oint in the cave.
'ncessant chatter and now this. $hat does this mean4 $hat does it signify4 $hat are
they here to see4 $hat do they thin% they are seeing4 /ead things. Things in a
museum. Things that are silent, mute and unmoving. Things of the "resent * because
they have been trans"orted from out of the "ast almost wholly into the "resent. Their
"resence is not the disturbing and incongruous "resence of an ancient mystery or
enigma * but of things rendered more familiar. 2istorical ob+ects defined by our most
su"erficial sense of history. The history of our time as all time.
&s we "roceeded through the cave ' was forced into thin%ing about whether there was
a lin% between the ty"e of desire to im"ose oneself, one.s "ersonality, one.s
individuality, one.s contingent voice, u"on these "laces, u"on these wor%s. This was
at least "artly down to the grou" we were with, but also the countless "ieces of graffiti
on the cave wall, which were scratched, etched or burnt onto the surface, sometimes
across the artwor%s. 5ould one argue that the etching of animal outlines onto the cave
wall is really +ust the same thing. 'm"osing the self u"on this dar% and lifeless "lace.
To insist u"on the 6'., here and now. (ut no. ' don.t thin% so. The incessant clamor of
the self does not seem to be a "art of what these wor%s were about (are still about, if
one would only listen!. They seem instead to be about the "re-individual, of nature,
animality and wonder. They are recordings of things that go beyond the self * unli%e
the graffiti signatures of later times, unli%e the "rocess of ensuring that one.s voice is
heard in this "lace des"ite having little or nothing to say of any real significance.
(ut these wor%s, their voice, their solemn recordings of the dynamism, vibrancy and
"lenitude of life (some of it now e#tinct, e.g. mammoths!, has been drowned out,
effectively silenced.
$e no longer seem to come to these "laces with an e#"ectation of mystery, of
difference, of otherness. The voice we carry, the voice of the self, ubi-uitous and ever-
"resent, won.t allow these other voices to be heard any more. $e don.t even seem to
loo% anymore.
The clamor of nature (of (eing! ca"tured here has been drowned by the clamor of
self, the "resent and the familiar.
&s Siobhan said on the drive bac%, they are mere museum "ieces. 0reserved, yet
seemingly lifeless. They have been 7museumed8 by the "lace * the gift sho", the
lights, the train, the tour guide * but they have also been 7museumed8 by all of us
who go to see them. 9ur lac% of ca"acity for affective mystery, o"enness to the
overwhelming vertiginous otherness of time * this weight of ancient time and the
strange "arado#ical -uality of its tem"oral "ersistence, seems lost. 9ur loo%, our
attitude, our e#"ectations trans"ort them into the dead time of the museum, instead of
the e#traordinary "resence trans"orting us into the strange interflow between the time
of life.s flow and its eternity.
Les y!ies " Le Ca# $lanc, %onday 2&
th
June
$e drove to 3es :y;ies today, arriving around <.=0am to find well over fifty "eo"le
-ueuing for tic%ets to visit >ont de ?aume. 1nfortunately, tic%ets had sold out before
we reached the %ios%. (ut we were able to get some tic%ets of 3e 5a" (lanc and 3es
5ombarelles. >rom a conversation we overheard whilst standing in line, there is a
conference ta%ing "lace today and tomorrow of 'nternational
0rehistorians,&rchaeologists. The &merican woman -ueuing behind us was a
"rehistorian, and was conversing about the "henomena of the desire to "roduce
s"eculative inter"retation 6on the s"ot. as o""osed to scholarshi". She was bemoaning
the inter"retative naivety of many who visit the caves, and their desire to im"ose
determinate ideas u"on them (often without a gras" of the 6hunter-gatherer. milieu or
mindset!. &s ' listened ' felt a certain degree of sym"athy with her view, however '
am not at all comfortable with restricting aesthetic,affective a""reciation to historical
6e#"erts.. 't made me thin% of 'an 2odder.s idea of inter"retative "luralism. &t their
most basic the artwor%s inscribe ways of seeing,thin%ing,feeling that are common to
our s"ecies. 9f course this is not everything, and to believe so would be grossly na@ve,
and ris% im"osing a tyranny of the "resent. A6's it "ossible to understand 1""er
0aleolithic art without recourse to analogy4 (y using analogies, do we not sim"ly
create a "ast in the image of the "resent4. (/avid 3ewis-$illiams, The ind in the
5ave, ". 4B!C A't is going to be im"ortant to distinguish the wor%s of art in the caves
from modern $estern ideas of art. This is im"ortant in order to defend myself from
the accusation that ' am merely conflating a contem"orary "ers"ective with a hunter-
gatherer one. The accusation that ' would merely be "ro+ecting an ina""ro"riate
ontology and e"istemology of art onto these wor%s. (&s 'ngold would maintain *
indeed he would -uestion their very attribution as art!. ' want to develo" a more
so"histicated understanding of the wor% that would still allow me to tal% of their
aesthetic affectivity. ' thin% this calls for an account that would augment 'ngold.s
argument that they are embodied "oetics of dwelling * an affective identification of
landsca"e, "lace, and identity * a collective sense of dwelling, inhabitation and
environment * which will necessitate and legitimate the turn to "hiloso"hical accounts
of the artwor% * but more im"ortantly of the affective aesthetic e#"erience. Dant,
2eidegger, erleau-0onty, (ataille, /eleu;e and 3evinas. There is a real need to
com"letely reconfigure the artwor% and aesthetic e#"erience in the light of these early
wor%s * rather than the other way around (which would involve illegitimate
"ro+ection!. This is a different tas% * but "erha"s one of the %ey aims of the whole
boo% * to shift the territory regarding art and aesthetic e#"erience altogether. 'ngold is
an im"ortant source for this recalibrations, fro brea%ing with a merely modernist
"ro+ection and fantasised encounter. (&lso 2odder.!C 2owever, there are im"ortant
as"ects of the wor% which are grounded in a shared sensibility. This shared sensibility
transcends history and culture. & heightened a""reciation of the hunter-gatherer
milieu,mindset, which can be generated through archaeological and anthro"ological
scholarshi", would almost certainly guide and assist inter"retation, to locate it within
a more a""ro"riate hermeneutic. 9bviously if one could have a much better gras" of
the guiding "rehistoric myths this would also hel" us to locate the art more
a""ro"riately. (ut we do not.
Euite sim"ly, the absence of "rofessional e#"ertise should not "revent us from
engaging aesthetically with these wor%s, from being affectively moved. The im"ortant
"hiloso"hical orientation is Dant. 5once"tless, wordless, affective. This is not an
im"osition of alien ideas, which are com"letely ina""ro"riate, rather, it is a faithful
engagement. & ta%ing u" of the affective thread. & "artici"ation in a continuum of
humanity.
9nce we "urchased tic%ets we went to the museum in 3es :y;ies.
This has been rebuilt,refurbished com"letely since ' last visited in F00F. The first
floor is dedicated to archaeological and geological e#hibits. The second floor to a vast
collection of stone, bone, ivory and antler tools. The diversity is -uite immense. There
are several e#cellent videos which demonstrate the manufacture of flint and
bone,ivory,flint tools.

Seeing this "rocess reminds me of the e#traordinary degree of subtle manual craft
involved * the detailed %nowledge of material and its manual handling. '.m also
struc% by the formal symmetry in many of the tools that seems to go beyond utility.
9bviously, in later "eriods, there is an evident aesthetic concern with many of the
tools, some of which are elaborately decorated with ;ig;ag "atterns, animal
re"resentations or are actually formed into animal scul"tures suggested by the sha"e
of the antler or "iece of bone being utili;ed.
' am reminded of the old -uestion of "ure decoration (art for art.s sa%e! versus dee"er
religious,s"iritual,cultural,social meaning. 0erha"s it can be both. $hat does seem
obvious is the direct lin% between some of the tools (bone s"ear straightener!, their
"ur"ose (to straighten shar"ened bone s"ears for hunting animals such as bison, deer
or ibe#! and the animal re"resentations carved u"on them.
This is surely beyond mere mnemonics * i.e. indicating a tool.s "ur"ose or goal to
others in a literal way * and is evidence of a continuum. This continuum is one of
thought, one that remains recogni;able to us * from tool * "ur"ose * decoration.
0erha"s the decoration is there to heighten the "ur"ose in some way, to intensify the
success of its goal. 9n the to" floor of the museum there are a number of "ortable
"ieces bearing artwor%s.. The most stri%ing for me today is the bison, its head flung
bac% over its body, its tongue "rotruding, clearly lic%ing its hide.
The scul"tor has negotiated with the "iece of reindeer antler, s"ent time considering
its nascent form, and called u"on a so"histicated and detailed set of observations
regarding a bison.s natural behavior. $ith great s%ill, delicacy and figurative finesse,
the scul"tor has a""lied lines and engraved forms to allow the bison to emerge from
the antler (a "rocess of formal creativity we see re"eated in much u""er 0aleolithic art
* reflection, recall, negotiation, emergence, economy of line, summoning into being
out of roc% or bone!.
&gain, ' am struc% by the continuity of thought and intuition here, and how it so
clearly resonates with my own. ' recogni;e the cognitive and intuitive "rocesses and
flows here * they are "art of what ' am too. &llowing oneself to gently settle into the
mindset (regardless of whether one is allowing oneself into the mindset of the hunter-
gatherer, shaman, etc.! seems a""ro"riate. 't also seems to be a mindset that allows
the ob+ects into "resence, but without becoming of the "resent. 'nstead of mute dead
ob+ects, traces of their "ast seem to s"ea% again through me. This s"ea%ing through
me seems to be weighed in favour of their autonomy rather than my own. This is a
strange feeling. There is a sublimity to it. &n incalculable otherness inhabits my mind,
yet it s"ea%s with a grammar that is entirely recogni;able. This friction between the
incalculable otherness and the sense that they come to echo my own thoughts, my
own being, my own life, is very odd. 2ow im"ortant is this to art (regardless of
whether it is incalculably "rehistoric!4
&fter the museum we ma%e our way to 3e 5a" (lanc. & smaller grou" than
yesterday.s visit to Rouffignac. Euite international. :nglish, &merican, ?erman,
>rench. The guide s"ea%s little :nglish. 3e 5a" (lanc is not a cave, but an e#"osed
roc% shelter discovered in the early F0
th
century.
2owever, it is entirely housed within a museum. There is a continuum between the
roc% surface on which the carvings have been made and the cliff wall as it continues
out either side of the museum walls. 't feels a little odd, li%e one is inside a caged "art
of nature. 9verall, though, the feeling of being 7museumed8 is somewhat less than at
Rouffignac. $hy is this4 0erha"s it is "rimarily to do with the nature of the artwor%
itself * it is monumental in si;e, and very bold. 5oming through the door for the first
time one cannot hel" but be "rofoundly affected by the sheer scale and "resence of
these scul"ted reliefs.
:lements of them remain fragmentary due to age and damage, but also to overall
com"osition. They seem deliberately fragmentary * largely due to the familiar "rocess
of su"erim"osition so familiar in "aintings and regular wall relief carvings. Two
reindeer in dynamic "oses are su"erim"osed u"on one anotherG two horses in e-ually
dynamic "ose are beautifully su"erim"osed. ' am immediately reminded of one of the
great enigmas that ' was struc% by ten years ago * su"erim"osition. $hy * what
"ur"ose does it serve4 There was su"erim"osition in Rouffignac, but it wasn.t so
affectively evident as here at 3e 5a" (lanc today.
$ith the main horse, a massive bold scul"tural relief * the guide hel"fully
demonstrates that it "resents two distinctly different faces,e#"ressions under different
lighting. 'n bright daylight, and then twilight or candle,lam"light. The a""arently
deliberate intention evident within this change in lighting is remar%able, and it hits
li%e a bolt of lightening.
$hat degree of artistic intentionality, design and downright "ictorial genius is on
show here. This is as masterful, ma+estic and magical as any ?ree% or Roman
scul"ture '.ve ever seen. 't brings life and vitality to the roc%G the admi#ture of light
and shade animates this scul"tural relief * bringing it forward from out of the roc%.
Something very s"ecial comes to "resence here, is held out into visibility for the first
time. 3ifeless matter is rendered alive * the hand, the eye, the line, the light, the shade
and the horse * alive.
/es"ite being 7museumed8 it lives, it breathes, it shimmers, glows and stands forth in
the light. & truly remar%able wor% of art.
&fter 3e 5a" (lanc we ma%e our way to 3es 5ombarelles, after a long wait there is a
mi# u" over tic%ets (only seven "eo"le are allowed in "lus the guide!. $e volunteer to
return tomorrow instead, allowing a nice old &merican cou"le to visit the cave on
their third attem"t. & good deed done. &fter the miracle of 3e 5a" (lanc it doesn.t
feel all that grand a gesture.
Les Co'(arelles, )uesday 2*
th
June
$e drove to 3es :y;ies again today, half e#"ecting a similar mi#-u" with the tic%ets
as yesterday. >ortunately this did not ha""en. 9n arriving we waited for about twenty
minutes in the small rece"tion room at 3es 5ombarelles, which is not a gift sho",
more of an information des%.
' s"ent the time leafing through a file that had a cou"le of +ournal articles about the
cave with many re"roductions of (reuil.s original drawings,inter"retations of the
animal figures in the cave. >rom these s%etches ' was reminded again of the intense
degree of com"le# su"erim"osition at 3es 5ombarelles.
9ur guide and five other visitors to the cave headed to the entrance. 't was a""arent
that we were to be +oined by the youngish &merican man whose friends had been on
the tour "revious to ours. 2e seemed a little agitated by the fact that he.d been unable
to visit the cave with his friends, and was -uite loud. 2e e#uded that loud laconic
indifference that some &mericans often e#hibit * 6'.ve seen it all. * 6'.m %inda bored
but go ahead and try and im"ress me.. ' was a bit concerned that he might be
obno#ious during the tour, but my fears were somewhat allayed as it turned out that
he was not only fluent in >rench, but had a genuine interest and ca"acity to be
im"ressed by the art during the whole tour.
1"on entering the cave mouth through the huge iron gate that stands there, ' was
trans"orted bac% to my first visit here ten years ago.
&t that
time '
%new
absolutely nothing about 3es 5ombarelles, having bought a tic%et to visit the cave
after our earlier visit to >ont de ?aume. /uring that visit ' had e#"erienced a very
"rofound series of revelations regarding the art * its energy, life and remar%able
draughtsmanshi". ' had been "owerfully moved by the e#treme "ro#imity to the wall
reliefs, their "reservation and immediacy. 't was at 3es 5ombarelles that ' had first
e#"erienced the very real sense of tem"oral com"ression, and a "artici"ation in a
continuum * cultural, artistic, imaginative, affective and human. Hisiting the cave
today ' was more than a little an#ious that it would not live u" to my earlier encounter.
This an#iety "roved groundless.
&fter wal%ing some distance into the cave, along a low, narrow and winding shaft, the
guide called us to sto" and then illuminated the first wall relief * a horse. 1"on seeing
this beautiful animal ' was immediately trans"orted bac% to where ' had stood ten
years ago, and where the artist had stood 14,000 years ago. 't hit me very hard, and
made me a little breathless. 9r was ' holding my breath4 ' find that ' do this during
moments of intense emotional affectivity. ' don.t %now why.
The guide on today.s tour was outstanding. 2e drew our attention to the su"erb
economy of line, the s"eed of e#ecution, the dynamism and figural fidelity of the
animals (beginning with this horse!. 'n bro%en :nglish he tal%ed enthusiastically of
6horse-energy., 6horse movement., 6horse alive.. &nd it was alive.
&s he moved the light around the scul"ture it literally danced and shifted before our
eyes. The contours of the roc%, and the inter"lay of light, shade, carved lines and
incised holes gave birth to a beautiful animal. &rrested within the roc%, it gestated into
being with the advent of (moving! light. $hat the artist has managed to inscribe u"on
the roc% is not a static two-dimensional re"resentation, or even a static three-
dimensional scul"tural relief. Rather, it is a figure ca"able of movement, change,
dynamism. 't is a sha"e-shifting being. &t 3es 5ombarelles the techni-ue for
summoning the dynamic variety of animal forms from out of the roc% has been
somehow "erfected, refined beyond many other e#am"les. Euite sim"ly, 3es
5ombarelles is a uni-uely strange and arresting "lace.
' remember feeling this strange, almost occult, atmos"here the first time ' visited. &nd
today the feeling was even stronger. There is a strange admi#ture of bio-diversity,
hybridity, elemental fusions, symbolic overlayings, se#uality and secrecy here.
&s we "rogressed through the various "arts of the cave, a reindeer is revealed, two
reindeers facing one another, su"erim"osed reindeers, a mammoth, a lion, vulvas and
"halluses, fragments of human figures and symbols (e.g. 6H.s. and tectiforms!, it feels
as if we are going dee"er into a mystery * where secrets are being figured. Secret
associations, symbolic identities and a vital fluid and almost hallucinogenic sense of
life * of things being alive, their being-aliveness intensified in the half-light, dancing
off the wall and into vision.
The guide tal%s of the "lace as one of initiation, of ritual and of magic. &nd it is hard
to see it any other way. 9f course, one can only s"eculate as the details of the myths
are lost, but strong clues remain.
&nimal s"irits brought to life, brought into movement, at various stages of the cave.
ade visible, but also creatures rendered tactile, as things one could touch in the
dar%ness, guiding one incessantly onwards towards ine#orable mystery dee"er and
dee"er in the cave. The su"erim"osition of different animals, "erha"s suggestive of a
notion of a hybrid collective form of animality * a bringing together into a horse-
reindeer-bison-bear being. The e#traordinary visual hybridity between human beings
and animals * one "articular com"le# su"erim"osition suggests a four creature hybrid
* two reindeers, a horse and a bac%ward facing mammoth sharing legs * and then
miraculously, with the "lay of the light, the mammoth becomes a crouching human
figure resting on its outstretched hands, emerging as if out of the hind -uarters of the
reindeer-horse creature. The triangular union of the vulva and "hallus, beside the
fragmentary female forms, as if dancing, which are etched above a standing "ool of
water long-disa""eared but the mineral de"osits remaining as evidence of its "resence
* se#, birth, animality, becoming, water, mirroring, shimmering, glowing, dancing. (y
this "oint the affective -uality of these wor%s is -uite vertiginous. /are ' say,
/ionysian.
The guide tal%ed of the o#ygen de"rivation which occurs as you go dee"er into the
cave * hy"o#ic hallucinations surely added "ower to these e#"eriences. &nd who
%nows what other mind-altering substances were imbibed before venturing down here
during an initiatory rite.
These are some of the most enigmatic, beautiful, emotionally moving and s"iritually
enervating artwor%s in e#istence. 't is a s sim"le as that. &nyone who doubts that
needs to sim"ly go there. They are still alive. Their magic still has an affective
"otency that is "rofoundly ancient and mysterious. To visit these caves is to be
haunted by the s"irits of ancient animals, and to allow oneself to be inhabited by the
original s"irit of humanity.
' leave the cave with tears in my eyes. 3ittle outside this cave can match this degree of
intensity. &ctually, nothing can. &nd that is from the "ers"ective of someone living in
F01F. 9ne can only imaginatively trans"ort oneself into the degree of violent
intensity, vertiginous terror and s"iritual growth these images inculcated amongst
human beings 14,000 years ago. The fact that they still s"ea% to us, have the ca"acity
to "rofoundly disturb, elate and energi;e us, as well as fill us with the most intense
form of wonder would suggest an absolute refinement of aesthetic intentionality here.
>rom their "ers"ective one must travel forward into the "resent, and carry their
lessons outside the cave into now.
Reflecting again on Les Co'(arelles, +ednesday 2,
th
June
$e have a day off from visiting caves today. The "lan is to visit >ont de ?aume and
3es 5ombarelles (again! tomorrow. Today would seem an ideal time for some
reflection, "articularly in relation to 3es 5ombarelles.
5ertain thoughts and -uestions "ersist in the aftermath of seeing this cave yesterday.
The whole idea of transformation, metamor"hosis and becoming-animal remains as
on e of the strongest themes. The sheer dynamism with which the animal forms have
been artistically rendered is another. The two do not seem unrelated. Transformation,
a symbolic and meta"horic e#change, chiasmus, between man and animal, is rendered
6real. * or intensely alive. 5once"t, idea or belief made sensibly affective * a
%nowledge transfigured and embodied in sensible material. Dnowledge brought to life
through intense aesthetic affect. 2ere we are "ushed from the threshold of the human
into an animal. 9r "erha"s it was always a -uestion of intensification. 0erha"s the
se"aration between man and animal was less em"hatic than it is so obviously is now.
0erha"s this threshold was thinner, more "orous once, less drastic and fi#ed as it is
now. 0erha"s the art in the cave dramati;es and intensifies a strongly felt ontology.
5ould one describe this ontology in broadly S"ino;ist terms * a first configuration of
immanence. The sense of life as the one and the many4 /o the fluid e#changes,
su"erim"ositions and transformations e#"ress a yearning, a certain nostalgia that
e#isted here 14,000 years ago, for a return to the animal realm, to cross the threshold
bac% to what once was, to how it had been (e.g. as (ataille argues!, or do they e#"ress
a lived mythological certitude * this is not what once was, but what still is. The latter
would surely re"resent a more "rofound configuration and reali;ation of immanence.
This is our "rofoundest collective reali;ation * life is one, a unity, an ecology
com"osed of a multitude of diverse individuated creatures * reindeer, bison, horses,
lions, ibe#, owls, fish. (ut these things are us. $e are them, and they are us. &n
ontological continuum. & "lural and multi-directional becoming * we came from
them, or are somehow born from the same substance as them, but e-ually they are
born from us, they emerge from the same substance as us. (ecoming flows both ways
* it is not sim"ly a -uestion of configuring a fi#ed historical sense of 6origin. as
residing with animality, to which we yearn to return, but a living sense of an ongoing
and fluid continuum. 0erha"s what is being gra"hically and affectively embodied here
is "recisely this %ind of "rofound collective truth. & founding ontological ideal that
under"ins and informs the collective ideology and mythology.
's this what one was being initiated into4 's the initiation into a vast "lane of
immanence, the idea of a single, all-encom"assing sense of life as one animal * the
animus of the one, lin%ed to the individual.s se#ual awa%ening. Se#uality and
re"roduction through the confrontation or encounter of se#ual o""osites
(masculine,feminine! is re"eatedly dramati;ed, whether it is through the symmetrical
encounters of reindeer, mammoths, bison, horses, etc., or the triangulated
+u#ta"osition of se#ual organs (vulva,"hallus!. This se#uality,re"roduction is
conte#tuali;ed within a certain affective %nowledge of its overall "lace in the
ontological continuum. 't is how life is "ro"agated, continued, both lin%ed to the "ast
and future, to all other s"ecies and our own. 'mmanence and then the idea of se#ual
duality. &n immanent "rinci"le of life sustained through the coming together of se#ual
dualism. There seems to be a thorough and com"le# understanding of gender (both
human and animal!, se#ual behavior and its role in the genesis of life, and in how life
(immanent animality! is sustained in its magnificent glory.
5ould this association, lin%, e#change between se#ual o""osites (male,female!,
between all animals (humans included!, between elements and across time be the %ey
enigmatic message conveyed through the various stages of the cave. &n attem"t at a
visual, gra"hic, tactile, imaginative, affective configuration of 6"hiloso"hical.
%nowledge. & sense of collective belief, endeavor, commitment, striving, meaning,
"ur"ose and desire amidst being in the world. 's this an attem"t to figure a flourishing
sense of human meaning4 9ur growth in understanding the life within which we are
embedded, its almost meta"hysical as well as "hysical mechanisms, its ecological
interconnectedness, its de"th and breadth, our contingent "lace within a larger
ongoing dynamic schema4 't would seem as if this is some %ind of ontological
testament figured as a mythological,s"iritual,aesthetically affective s"ectacle * a
refined condensation of the foundational tro"es, accumulated wisdom and
understanding and reali;ation of one.s "lace in nature. 't is un-uestionably, to my
mind, under"inned by an animist and immanantist sense of nature , life and being.
3ife is lin%ed to animation, movement, becoming, transformation, change, e#change
(se#ual! * to flow and %inetics as o""osed to stasis. & certain vitalism seems evident
here. 't is as if "art of what the artist is figuring here in the cave is a story of the
vitalist movement of life.s emergence or becoming, its s"ringing into being from a
seemingly lifeless matter. There is then, as well as an im"licit immanence, an im"licit
vitalist cosmology. 't is as if the artist is trying to e#"ress the idea,belief,conce"t of
life.s emergence from matter as a %ind of s"iritual s"ar% * suddenly through the
movement of light and shade the inscribed outline, together with the to"ogra"hy of
the cave wall, bring into being a breathing enfleshed horse or lion. 't is there, as if
brought magically to life before one.s eyes. Shimmering, breathing, become soft flesh
infused with life, dynamism and movement. 0erha"s this was once accom"anied by
an initiatory narrative that told of the very moment of the advent of life * the instant
that life emerged into the animal forms we see, encounter and hunt outside the cave,
and ultimately the creatures we are. 0erha"s it was some %ind of story about how the
"rinci"le of life.s "ower, the s"ar% that animates life, the force that breaths life into all
things, resides in all matter * in the roc%, in the earth. 0erha"s it was configured as a
life force beyond the roc%, or behind it, a meta"hysical "rinci"le beyond material * a
transcendent s"iritual vitalism. 9r "erha"s there was no accom"anying narrative at
all. 0erha"s it all occurred as affective drama. Dnowledge and instruction through the
wordless affect * seeing, touching, e#"eriencing and feeling the %nowledge of the
world, of nature, of life, of origin. 9f the senses and the emotions.
'mmanence and vitalism, conce"ts from much later "hiloso"hy, are strongly
"refigured her (as they are "refigured in other hunter-gatherer, totemic, animist
cultures!. The evidence from other %nown sites of :uro"ean u""er 0aleolithic art, e.g.
3ascau#, 0ech-erle and 5hauvet, would strongly suggest some %ind of shared
cultural %nowledge that is immanantist and vitalist among early human beings. /oes
it suggest that there is some %ind of unbrea%able genealogical lin% between the
configuration and fundamental e#"ressive com"onent of art develo"ed here, its efforts
to "rovide a gra"hic, tactile, e#"ressive, affective e#"erience of immanence and
vitalism and all human art4 's the continuum between a ty"e of affective configuration
of "rofound, all-encom"assing, transcendent and transfiguring %nowledge and
understanding of e#istence (all e#istence, not +ust contingent human culture, but one
that s"ea%s of out "lace within (eing! and the attem"t to convey this in such a manner
that it is transformative, em"owering, enriching, and sustaining4 's art somehow born
of these %inds of desires, ob+ectives, needs and thoughts.
$hich brings me bac%, again and again, to the lin% between thought and affective
aesthetic,artistic activity. There seems to be a lin% forged here in 3es 5ombarelles, a
lin% that is not only still recogni;able, com"rehensible, but one that is truly haunting,
overwhelming and resonant with elements that are both familiar an d close and yet
enigmatic, mysterious and ultimately, "erha"s lost forever4 This last 6-uestion. seems
to be the guiding one for me, the one that remains one of the most im"ortant for us
now, both as artists and those hungry for aesthetically affective e#"erience and
transformation.
Font de -au'e " Les Co'(arelles, )hursday 2.
th

' s"ent well over an hour -ueuing for tic%ets to visit >ont de ?aume today. There were
well over thirty "eo"le already waiting at the %ios% when we arrived at I.=0am, '
thin% some loo%ed as if they had been there for an hour already.
$e got to visit >ont de ?aume first, on the final tour before the lunch brea%.
>ortunately our guide was the same guide who had so memorably ta%en us around 3es
5ombarelles on Tuesday. This time he gives his commentary in >rench rather than
bro%en :nglish, but significant "arts were relatively easy to follow "articularly at the
start. (oth Siobhan and ' found it harder as the tour went on to give full attention to
what we were seeing as well as what we were hearing (in >rench!. &fter a short wal%
into the cave there is a frie;e of si# or seven bison along the cave wall, many of which
have been outlined u"on suggestive to"ogra"hy. The draughtmanshi" is outstanding,
and one is able to loo% directly at them from only inches away at head height. The
"reservation of the "igment is im"ressive, and it feels very odd being able to loo%
directly u"on the red iron o#ide, to be able to almost touch it, and imagine who had
"ainted them originally.
9ne of the strongest sensations during my visit to >ont de ?aume is the sense of the
wor%.s vast age. This is one of the only caves in the area to have "olychromatic
"aintings that is still o"en to the "ublic.
Hisitor numbers are strictly limited to J00 "er wee% in order to maintain the
atmos"heric conditions (tem"erature and humidity! so that the "aintings do not
deteriorate.
' was reminded of how "rivileged ' was to have the o""ortunity to see these "aintings
directly rather than as a facsimile such as 3ascau# and &ltamira. 0aul (ahn, in his
guide to the caves, tal%s about the only difference being 6"sychological., i.e. the
%nowledge that one has that what one is seeing is original. (ut this difference is
everything. 't is the age of what you are seeing that is so crucial to their ongoing
aesthetic affectivity for us. &t least it is for me, "articularly at >ont de ?aume today.
This sense of their incredible age (14, 000 years old, estimated! was underlined at a
different "art of the cave, where there are two de"ictions of horses outlined in blac%
manganese o#ide which have been "artly covered by flows of calcite de"osits.
't is e#tremely odd to see a human artifact essentially fossili;ed in this way. Euite
uncanny. 5lear and definite outlines of "art of a horse disa""ear into oblivion beneath
a flow of calcite where water has tric%led slowly down for thousands of years, only to
re-emerge the other side.
' was reminded of my "revious visit to >ont de ?aume where these fossili;ed images
had struc% me. ' remember how they had served to ma%e aware, had forced me to
become aware, of their e#traordinary age. The effect is to trans"ort you into the "ast *
to consider those who had ventured down here 14, 000 years ago to "aint these
images.
The animal "aintings here are on a much larger scale than the relief
carvings,scul"tures at 3es 5ombarelles, indicating the much larger s"aces within the
cave. Their monumental scale is in fact on a similar level to the carvings,scul"tures at
3e 5a" (lanc.
The second very "owerful affect which occurred during today.s visit was the shadow-
"lay. >airly late during the visit there is another frie;e of bison which run along
above head height. 'n the half light, before the guide had illuminated them "ro"erly,
and as we were all moving into "osition to view them, they were visible as tangible
6shadows. u"on the cave wall. Their "olychromatic "ainted forms giving them a more
robust solidity. 9ur moving shadows across them instantly brought them to life * our
shadows merging with them * dancing together.
't was also evident as the guide moved the light across them that the inter"lay of light
and shadow had been a crucial as"ect of their original com"osition * as if a certain
"layful e#"erimentation with light had served as the founding groundwor% for the
images * had "layed the vital first role in the suggestion and negotiation with the roc%,
out of which animal forms, horses, bison, mammoths, aurochs, reindeers, had s"rung.
' was struc% by 5lottes,3ewisK$illiams. idea that the roc% itself was "robably
considered to be already inhabited by multifarious animal s"irits, the role of the
artist,shaman to bring them forth into visibility. & "layful game of glim"sing these
animals under the "lay of moving light, sometimes out of the corner of your eye.
To bring them out of their hiddenness, from out behind the veil of the roc%. ' thought
about how "layful this "rocess was,is. Shamanism as tric%sterism * a "lay of illusions.
The lin% between vision, illusion, enlightenment and %nowledge. ystery, enigma,
hiddenness, dar%ness and the inter"lay between %nowledge, understanding, wisdom
and the light. These are s"aces of confrontation, the confrontation of o""osities *
dramatic "laces for "laying out o""ositions. There are all %inds of o""ositions evident
here * not +ust light and dar%, form and formlessness * but also the same se#ual
o""ositions that are evident at 3es 5ombarelles, o""ositions between animals on
different ad+acent walls, o""ositions between colour regimes (blac% manganese
outlines and red iron o#ide outline versus red iron o#ide outlines and blac%
manganese interior!, movement and the de"loyment of symbolic forms, "articularly
tectiforms and "arallel lines.
'n one stri%ing and com"le# su"erim"osed com"osition, there is a dynamic contrast
between a fleeing auroch and two su"erim"osed reindeer moving forwards and
outwards.
't was evident from the guide.s commentary that he was drawing e#tensively u"on
3eroi-?ourhan,3aming-:m"aire.s structuralist analysis of the codes where there is an
evident regime of various o""ositions * figural, animal, se#ual, symbolic, colour,
"ositioning and "lace. $hilst '.ve never been totally convinced by his strict formalist
reading, ' certainly thin% there are some very stri%ing evidence for the centrality of
o""ositional strategies in this "articular cave. &gain, the im"ortance of se#ual duality
seems vital here. The very famous 6%issing. reindeer "anel is truly beautiful, and it
was one of the rare e#am"les today where ' was able to see the very great scul"tural
delicacy with which their heads had been engraved. There is a very beautiful
interaction between the "ainted outlines and "olychromatic shading, and the delicate
carved reliefs on the heads. & miracle in fact. 't has clear echoes with the scul"ted
relief of the drin%ing reindeer at 3es 5ombarelles.
This cave has a cathedral-li%e -uality, with very stri%ing and monumental figures. The
affectivity of their age, together with the residual enigma of the symbolic o""ositions,
and strategies and the radically refined figural beauty of the animals, ma%es this a
truly magnificent e#"erience of early art. 2owever, it does not have the
overwhelmingly mysterious affectivity and dynamic life of 3es 5ombarelles. 0artly
this may be down to scale and conte#t * 3es 5ombarelles is a small, long, confined
and relatively airless chamber which "ersists in having the affectivity of a
transformative +ourney * an ine#orable movement towards dee"er and dee"er levels
of secrecy and mystery.
2ere at >ont de ?aume the scale is different * as if one is su""osed to be e#"eriencing
an overwhelming sense of awe and a drama written on a larger canvas * it is less
intimate, less sub+ective * more "ublic, more collective, more of an affirmatory
gathering of founding "rinci"le,%nowledge of animality, re"roduction, conflict, life
and death as o""osed to the intensely "rivate, almost solitary initiatory encounters
triggered by the +ourney through 3es 5ombarelles. Se"arated by less than F%m, these
two caves seem to be about radically different ty"es of affective e#"erience. (oth
seem inflected with ritual,s"iritual intent and %nowledge regarding nature, se#uality
and life * yet the intensity is radically different.
&fter visiting >ont de ?aume we visit 3es 5ombarelles for the second time. This time
with a different guide, who s"ea%s in clear and well-enunciated >rench. uch of her
commentary is clear and very easy to follow. /es"ite the fact that she is much less
concerned with "roviding an inter"retation of their symbolic, ritual, transfigurative
"ossibility the engravings themselves are no less alive with "otent mystery and
enigmatic "ower than on our "revious visit.
This time around ' was able to get a much closer and more satisfying view"oint on the
very strange su"erim"osed figure of the two reindeer, horse and reverse mammoth
(with the "ossibility of an emergent human figure!G the single mammoth figure (which
is astonishingly "owerful!G the two horses, and the outlined hand at the end of the first
chamber. 't was a "rivilege to s"end some time again with these "articular images, to
be in such "ro#imity to them, to see them shimmer and undulate with life under the
flic%ering light, and to sin% into the feeling of another time, however briefly that may
have been. ?oing to see them again, in such close "ro#imity to our last visit, allows
for an even more meditative encounter. /es"ite their delicacy and diminutive scale,
these are truly monumental and e"ic figures * as iconic as anything else in the history
of human art.
/es"ite the fact that it may well be another decade before ' am able to return to see
this cave again (if at all, ever!, the images in this cave, and the affective -ualities they
"ossess, will remain with me always. ' remain haunted, inhabited by their life, their
form, their energy and their mystery.
&s ' leave the cave for the second time, ' thin% about how strange it is that ' have in
some sense been initiated dee"ly into their inscrutable mysteries, into half glim"sed,
half imagined myths, that ' have encountered symbols, images, feelings, energies and
movements that are "art of the very fabric of my being as a human being. The basic
configurations of ourselves, our "lace in nature, our relation to animality, to the
ecology of things, the fabric of the cosmos * our ancient and forgotten foundations *
our grounding in (eing * are to be glim"sed here. &re somehow revealed here. This
may be transhistorical intuition * a shared sense of (eing * a thread thrown across
time. Lust how im"ortant is it to "artici"ate in this foundational %nowledge again * to
feel alive * to be ins"ired by the breath of something eternal and enduring. 't is all
about cultivating our im"licit ca"acity for e#"eriencing this * to feel a "artici"ation in
a truly dynamic movement of life, develo"ment and vital energy again, and to be
reminded of the truly transfigurative "otential of thin%ing and feeling immanence.
/ech0%erle, 10
th
June
$e left the /ordogne today, and the caves around the area of 3es :y;ies, and headed
into the Euercy region of >rance. This was to visit 0ech-erle, before heading south
into the 0yrenees for the ne#t wee%. >rom now on we will be visiting caves that ' have
never seen before a"art from in "hotogra"hic re"roductions.
0ech-erle is a cave that ' have wanted to visit since ' was last in the region ten years
ago. ' always regretted the fact that ' never made it down there, and have worried
since then that it would eventually be shut to the "ublic before ' got the chance to see
it. $hat has always intrigued me is the s"ectacular s"otted horse frie;e with blac%
hand stencils. ' have long admired these wor%s from "hotos, so the o""ortunity to see
it directly was not one ' wanted to miss. 9n the drive down we had to "ass 5ougnac
cave, which we do not have the time to visit this time around.
9n arriving at 0ech-erle, which is reached after a -uite long and winding road that
di"s down into a valley before stee"ly climbing the hillside, we were told that we
could visit the cave on an earlier slot than the one we had boo%ed. $e had the
o""ortunity to watch a F0-minute film about the cave, which was really e#cellent
(although for Siobhan it s"oilt the sur"rise a little!. The best "art of the film was an
account of recent analysis of the (lac% >rie;e (or 5ha"el of the ammoths!, which
revealed details about the com"ositional techni-ues and ordering. $hat was -uite
remar%able was the evident economy of line in outlining the figures, including +ust si#
lines to outline a horse. The draughtsmanshi" here is -uite remar%able, and dis"lays a
level of gra"hic so"histication and mastery that e-uals anything "roduced by the
:truscans, ?ree%s, or Romans.
The film really wets my a""etite to e#"erience these wor%s first hand, and des"ite
showing some incredible footage of the magnificent cave interior it does not really
"re"are you for when you actually enter the cave. &s we descended the ste"s down
into the cave (handily housed in the gift sho"M! the first thing that struc% me was the
smell * dam"ness. This is not really something '.ve encountered at the caves in the
/ordogne (a"art from briefly at the entrance to >ont de ?aume!. &s we "roceed it
becomes obvious not +ust that this cave is dam", in in fact -uite wet in "laces, but that
it is still alive, still growing. $ater still flows down here, and is still wor%ing to form
its remar%ably strange interior.
'f the calcite de"osits at >ont de ?aume had served to remind me of the vast age of
the wor%s, the monumental number and sheer scale of geological formations in this
cave serve to remind you of the sheer age of the caves, let alone the age of the art.
The huge stalagmatic discs formed by the slow circulation of water and the ine#orable
accretion of calcite, the massive stalagmites and stalactites, many +ust inches away
from touching each other, others having met long ago and long become solid columns
at least =0 feet in circumference, the miraculous cave "earls formed around single
grains of sand circulating in a "ool constantly fed with water from the ceilingG the
cave itself "rovides a sublime e#"erience * sublime in terms of its scale, its
unfathomable to"ology, its vast age and its 6living. -ualities.
$e are in a grou" of at least F) "eo"le, which is definitely too large a grou". &t times
we are s"read out too thinly and for many of the wor%s there is no static "osition in
which to see them, rather a constantly moving line. &s the tour "roceeds ' made the
decision to hang bac% and be amongst the last of the grou" * at least that way ' got to
s"end some time with the wor%s without feeling the 6"ressure. to move on from those
behind. 2owever, the carefully timed lights at each "iece (timed for "reservation
"ur"oses! rather wor%ed against this a""roach, but on balance ' thin% it was the most
effective a""roach on the day.
To see the (lac% >rie;e was ama;ing. 't is massive in scale, and a really com"le# and
dense com"osition that ' will need to s"end some time studying when ' get bac% to
:ngland.
>or now it is enough to +ust witness the scale and intensity of the "iece, which is
remar%ably well "reserved and loo%s as if it had been drawn recently. This is -uite a
remar%able feature of the wor% at this cave * they are ama;ingly well "reserved *
their lines, colours and forms remain vibrant, intense and clear.
The "olychromatic forms at >ont de ?aume are faded, some have graffiti scratched on
them, and others retreat beneath the secretions of calcite. 2ere, however, the wor%s
are almost as bright and brilliant as the day they were created. This adds a new layer
to the uncanny sense of "resence ' have e#"erienced at some of the other caves.
'n fact it is this overwhelming sense of human "resence amidst the tem"oral grandeur
of the cave itself (which seems to belong to another time altogether * a su"ra-
geological time scale almost beyond imagination!, which is the most singular
affective -uality of my visit today. This uncanny sense of "resence accumulated
throughout the tour, from each "iece * from the carefully traced outlines of the bear
head and abstract geometrical symbols, that ' was able to view from an e#traordinarily
close vantage "oint, to the forlorn wounded human figure "ainted on an overhang, to
the vibrant red hand stencil surrounded by a series of abstract dots, the 3eroi-?ourhan
6bison woman. ad+acent to the hand stencil, and finally the s"otted horse frie;e itself.
(ecause of my viewing strategy (i.e. hanging bac% to the rear of the large grou"!, my
actual close "ro#imity viewing time was e#tremely limited (less than <0 seconds! but
this seemed to add to the intensity of their "resence. ' began to tell myself that ' had
been honoured in some way (' guess the sort of honour < :uros buys you around
hereM! to be able to have an audience with each "iece, to be allowed to glim"se them
momentarily, unclothed (as if by illumination! before they disa""ear again bac% into
their hiddenness. :arlier in the tour we have a beautifully brief glim"se of the s"otted
horse frie;e from an elevated vantage "oint near the finger tracings high u" on the
ceiling.
' could have easily s"ent far longer loo%ing at these wor%s, es"ecially the wounded
man, bison-woman, red hand stencil and s"otted horse frie;e. (ut it was not to be.
/es"ite some of the wor%s "ersisting through time (some are in the region of F), 000
years old!, ' was granted a mere <0-1F0 seconds of communion.
Somehow it was enough though. ' do not thin% that my heart has beaten this fast for a
long time (even in 3es 5ombarellesM!. ore out of antici"ation ' thin%. ' have been
waiting to see this cave for 10 years, and now ' am here. &nd ' want to glim"se the
"aintings directly so badly. The e#"erience is -uite emotionally draining.
The s"otted horse frie;e is the final wor% we see, and ' can.t ta%e my eyes off of it. '
try to ta%e in its vast and immense scale by moving bac%wards, but ' also want to loo%
and e#"erience its e#traordinary intimacy and "resence evident in all of its myriad
details (e.g. the blac% blooms around each of the si# hands that are the residues of the
artists breath and salivaM!, the delicacy with which each of the s"ots has been a""lied,
the beauty of the flowing lines of their volu"tuous bodies, and their tiny delicate
heads. ' am caught between a moving bac%wards and a moving forwards. ' hover and
try to occu"y a middle ground somehow.
y eye traces their ma+estic outline to the "oint where they are su"erim"osed, before
going to each of the si# hands, which are li%e rhythmic "unctuations amidst a
beautifully unified flowing movement. 5onstancy and interru"tion. The flow of
uninterru"ted line, and the "unctuated moment (dots and hands!. &s the tour grou"
moves on, ' drift across to the horse figure on the right hand side, and then loo% bac%
along the whole frie;e (there is a wonderful "ostcard image of this which ' bought
from the gift sho"!. Now ' see the contrasting o""osition, as well as the unifying flow
of line, its harmonious rhythm and its staccato "unctuation. This is as alive as the cave
itself. 't has dynamism, movement, energy and flow. Then the lights go out.
& lightening s"ar% * a gift of rare vitality and energy communicated and e#"ressed by
this outstandingly beautiful wor%. ' feel something a%in to love, but am a little
wounded that ' have to leave it behind. ' +ust want to s"end more time there with it * it
is an absolute classic "aradigm of what Dant referred to as the desire to 6linger.
e#cessively in the aesthetic moment * to linger in the "resence of the wor% that
affects. This lingering is a "lay outside of time itself * a sheer "artici"atory +oy for no
other reason than the desire to immerse oneself in an affectively intense moment * a
harmonious flowing moment closed in u"on itself and transfigured as se"arate from
the everyday, the -uotidian. $e are bac% in the realm of art as enigmatic magic * a
ritual transfigurative moment. ' feel, des"ite the radically brief time ' was able to
actually s"end with the illuminated horse frie;e, enervated yet emotionally e#hausted
* enervated from a brief time of ecstatic absor"tion in its monumental beauty and
affective "ower * emotionally e#hausted from being wrenched away by the onset of
dar%ness and -uotidian time.
The e#haustion both Siobhan and ' feel tonight as we eventually arrive in the
0yrenees, is not +ust down to a long drive through >rance. ' thin% the cave at 0ech-
erle is overwhelming * its scale, geological monumentalism, the "resence of an
ancient "ast that stretches and wounds the imagination and the sense of self
(es"ecially from seeing the delicately "reserved foot"rints in this cave that are F), 000
years oldM! and some of the most beautiful animal forms and symbolic com"ositions
imaginable. &ffectivity is a +oyful wound.
Niau2, Sunday 1
st
July
The drive to the cave at Niau# is s"ectacular, if a little alarming at times. The dro" at
the side of the road is long, stee" and very dangerous. &s you a""roach the cave the
architecture of the building at the entrance is s"ectacular, a""arently designed by an
architect assimiliano >u%sas. & vast "ointed structure built with corten steel, a "re-
rusted material, rises at the entrance,"orch of this vast cave, made to loo% li%e a great
imaginary animal emerging from below ground.
$e arrive early, convinced that it is li%ely to be as difficult to "urchase tic%ets for a
tour as it was at >ont de ?aume. 2owever, we arrive and find +ust one other cou"le
and two young women on their first day of wor%ing at Niau#. They are a"ologetic as
they are unable to obtain the %ey from the safe in order to o"en the tic%et office.
:ventually they do, and we are able to boo% ourselves onto an :nglish tour for late
afternoon.
$hen we return later the car "ar% is "ac%ed, and the cave is obviously very busy. &s
of today (1
st
Luly! there are I tours "er day (including F in :nglish!. &t the start of the
tour we are each issued with our own torch as there is no integral lighting throughout
the first "art of the cave. This is the first cave that we have visited which has had this
facility, and ' am %een to e#"lore the cave with my own light for once. &s we enter the
cave it becomes immediately clear how vast it is, consisting of huge high galleries
containing enormous calcite formations and a few remaining stalagmites and
stalactites (the tour guide informs us that many of these were removed and sold off
during the 1I
th
and 1<
th
centuries!, inters"ersed with narrow entranceways and
wal%ways. The floor is sometimes soft and sandy, sometimes roc%y and smooth, but
always wet, with many "uddles of standing water. The "rehistoric art here is
multifarious, consisting of wall and floor engravings, abstract symbols and signs
"ainted in red and blac%, and many animal forms drawn in red and blac%, including
bison, horses, ibe#, aurochs, fish and a very rare weasel. The only "art o"en to the
"ublic is the Salon Noir, which contains a number of "anels of wonderfully "reserved
animal forms and symbols s%etched in manganese o#ide and charcoal. 't is an I00
metre wal% to reach this gallery, sometimes wal%ing stee"ly u"hill.
/uring the wal% we are able to e#"lore the caverns around us with our torches (which
occasionally leads to misha"s from not using the torch to illuminate the footway!.
(oth Siobhan and ' later comment on how being able to move the light across the
surface of the cave walls immediately initiated a "rocess of 6seeing-in., where sha"es
and animals emerge from out of the roc%. 't is highly suggestive * and des"ite the fact
that there was no art u"on these walls you felt able to understand -uite intimately the
"rocess whereby flic%ering and moving light assisted the "ainter,relief scul"tor to
6see. figures and forms somehow im"licit within the cave wall. 't felt a real "rivilege
to be able to do this here, and -uite "layful.
&ll along the wall on the way to the Salon Noir there is e#tensive graffiti, some dating
bac% to the early 1J
th
5entury. ostly names and dates (6Holtaire. and 6Na"oleon
(ona"arte. were inscribed along the way!, but we saw at least one 6modern. attem"t at
re"roducing a bison from near some 1<
th
century graffiti. 'n the Salon Noir there was
remar%ably little graffiti near or over the to" of the animal "aintings (com"ared with
>ont de ?aume or Rouffignac!, although ' did read later that some of the other
"aintings do have graffiti on them, and that most of the floor engravings were lost
during earlier visits to the cave * obliterated by those who were "robably unaware of
their "resence beneath their feet!.
The first art we see is a large "anel filled with abstract signs and symbols * red and
blac% dots and lines, often arranged in a "arallel fashion. The "anel as a whole is
wonderfully well "reserved, and "resents an almost total enigma. The 6meaning. of
these symbols, their synta#, intention, etc., are com"letely lost to us * some s"eculate
u"on it as an early form of written communication, others consider it to be an abstract
symbolic code with religious,s"iritual connotation, and others s"eculate that it
consists of tribal identity, with the "ectiform occurring here throughout the cave and
many others in the region (including northern S"ain! as o""osed to the tectiform
which is very "revalent in the /ordogne. 0erha"s the symbol is a mar% of tribal
collective belonging, a territorial mar%er, an indication of belonging to a s"ecific time
and "lace.
(eyond this symbolic "anel, u" a stee" slo"e, one enters the Salon Noir. $e
relin-uish our torches at this "oint and move slowly into the dar%ness of the cavern
led by the single torch of the guide.
$e are led around the "aintings "anel by "anel, each illuminated in turn * each
seemingly more remar%able than the other. /es"ite this being a grou" of F) (the same
number as the tour at 0ech erle! it never seems too large, and during the viewing of
these "anels everybody is very -uiet and suitably in awe of their s"ectacular beauty.
(y and large the figures, which are often su"erim"osed and intentionally
fragmentary,schematic, the different animal forms are remar%ably easy to read. 5lear
and un-ambivalent.
The draughtsmanshi" is su"erb, and the familiar techni-ue of utili;ing the to"ogra"hy
of the roc% to suggest "hysical volume, elements of figural form or movement is
evident, as is the s"ecific utili;ation of certain "re-e#isting mar%s (e.g. calcite
de"osits, creases, holes, a"ertures, etc.! to "icture s"ecific "arts of the body(an eye, a
leg, a tail, etc!.
These two techni-ues, which in 3es 5ombarelles and >ont de ?aume have intensified
the sense of dynamic movement, seems more rela#ed here somehow. The affect, at
least for me today, is a subtly different one. 2ere the techni-ue serves to under"in a
sense of integral integration of animal forms, roc%, cave and the environment as a
whole. The forms a""ear utterly inse"arable from the cave. This is of course no
different than at "revious caves ' have visited, it is +ust the sense of the way it is
"eculiarly em"hasi;es here at Niau#. There is a serene and still -uality to many of
these animals (not unli%e those at the ceiling frie;e gallery at Rouffignac! rather than
the frenetic dynamism of com"le# su"erim"osition and willful intent to e#"ress
movement, change and becoming at 3es 5ombarelles. 2owever, the figural serenity is
still somehow achieved through an inse"arable integration with the cave, with the
roc% surface. 't is a -uestion of degree and subtlety here at Niau#. The serene form of
a bison emerges as an outline around a "ree#isting mar% ion the cave wall * this
creature seems to emerge from,or move bac% into, its eye, which is of the roc%. The
movement here is a delicate and slow one of inwards and outwards * a simultaneous
movement held in balance * underlying forms held into visibility and balance with the
drawn forms (there is another e#am"le of a (ison where its tail utili;es entirely a "re-
e#isting mar% on the cave surface!. & movement a%in to breathing or the rhythm of the
heartbeat. 'n e#am"les such as this one catches a truly magical glim"se of the sense in
which there was an underlying ontological attitude or orientation towards the cave
wall as something either living, teeming with animalistic forms, or e-ually, it seems,
how it might have been viewed as a semi-"orous veil beyond which the s"irits of
s"ecial animals resided (as 5lottes,3ewis-$iliams suggest!.
These traced creatures come to e#ist as if on a threshold, hovering there, wavering,
vibrating * held between coming forward as fi#ed and static re"resentations of
animals and disa""earing bac% into the natural contours or mar%s on the cave wall. 't
is "recisely this hovering, this in-betweeness, this ambivalent and wavering -uality
that renders them not only more alive somehow, but also as creatures with a 6s"iritual
de"th..
any, including 2egel, have tal%ed of the way in which "ainters, from the (y;antine
era through to secular >lemish art, 'm"ressionism and :#"ressionism, have develo"ed
techni-ues to inscribe material re"resentations of concrete life (whether it is scenes
from the life of 5hrist or classical myth, to bowls of fruit or landsca"es! with a
"rofound s"iritual de"th that animates them with a seemingly divine s"ar%. Such a
divine s"ar% seems evident in the "anels at Niau#, which seems somehow tied to this
techni-ue of inscribing a -uality of hovering between inwardness (a movement of
recession! indicated by the "resence of the already-there * and the movement
outwards (a moving of coming forward, of emergence!.
The negotiation with the hidden, but always already there * the "ersistent sense of an
immanent and vital s"irit of life (an almost meta"hysical sense * a virtual force! * a
rendering of the virtual into a momentary form of the actual * a reali;ed natural form
s"routing from out of the undifferentiated material.
This dynamism between the virtual and the individuated, creatural actual (in the sha"e
of horses, bison, ibe#, etc.! reaches what can only be described as a s"iritual level of
affectivity here. 9ne is not +ust moved by these form.s natural beauty, elegance and
refinement, but also (and "erha"s more significantly! by their s"iritual de"ths, by their
ca"acity to figure a s"iritual movement of emergence, coming-into being. This is at
once "layful yet "erha"s utterly serious and s"iritually im"ortant. 0erha"s we are
catching +ust the merest glim"se of a inscribed s"irituality that was "rofoundly felt 14,
000 years ago * "erha"s its "ower is such that one cannot fail to be affected by it
regardless of the time and culture one comes from. Surely "art of art.s enduring
ca"acity for affectivity is lin%ed with this effort at inscribing a s"iritual de"th * of (as
Dlee and /eleu;e re"eatedly suggest! to render the invisible visible * to "rovide
intense encounters,glim"ses of the force of the virtual (the "re-individual s"iritual
de"ths of all individuated things which can only be rendered visible through the
individuated thing!. 'ts abstractions, its freely floating, all encom"assing, immanence
can only ever be rendered as com"rehensible through a materially individuated form
that somehow enca"sulates and gives momentary form to this force of immanence.
The s"iritual de"ths enca"sulated by the serene "aintings at Niau# contrast very
significantly with the frenetic energy and dynamism of 3es 5ombarelles, and indicate
not only the different techni-ues here for inscribing the vitality of immanence, but
also surely with an entirely different set of cultural intentions that remain largely
enigmatic and to be s"eculated u"on.
Niau2 " $edeilhac, +ednesday 4
th
July
' visited Niau# for the second time today. &rriving at <.1)am ' was boo%ed onto the
first tour of the day, in :nglish. The tour was not fully boo%ed, with about 1B-1J
"eo"le in total, including si# children (aged I-1F!. The tour guide was a different one
from our visit on Sunday, and she mentioned that they had noticed ' had boo%ed for a
re"eat visit. ' as%ed if this was common, and she said that it does ha""en but not all
that often. ' told her that ' was here researching for a boo%, she as%ed if ' was a
"rehistorian but ' said no and that ' was an art theorist, and that ' was interested in the
effect the "aintings had on us now.
't was e#hilarating to disa""ear into the cave again and to ma%e the -uite long tre% to
the Salon Noir. The "lay of the torchlight against the roc% walls was really vivid,
es"ecially as ' was right at the front of the tour grou" ne#t to the guide, so their
torchlight (moving and flic%ering! from behind created a really great effect on the
walls as ' wal%ed along. ' noticed immediately that the grou" was a -uiet one (the tour
guide told me later that the early morning tours tended to be the -uietest!, with very
little tal%ing (even amongst the children!.
' had a very good vantage "oint on the first "anel of abstract signs, and was able to
see the claviforms very clearly. 5lear and vibrant and immediate, but no less
mysterious. &t this "oint one of the &mericans on the tour as%ed the guide (or rather
told the guide!, that he was "er"le#ed why the "eo"le had to come so dee" into the
cave to ma%e their "aintings, in his view this was very 6inefficient. * surely it would
have been much better for them to have made the "aintings nearer to the entrance, less
effort, less danger. The guide re"lied that the de"th and effort involved indicated their
"ossible s"iritual,ritual,religious intent * that the de"th of the cave held a s"ecial
significance for them. 'n microcosm then, the conflict between two regimes of time,
two mindsets * the -uotidian, the instrumental, the unimaginative, the "urely
economic versus the 6dead. time and s"ace of the s"iritual,creative,affectively intense.
& "erfect e#"ression of how much has been lost across time. Such artwor% a""ears
utterly enigmatic and e#cessive from this stand"oint * and its enigma and e#cessive
force a""ear to have little or no 6value. (in economic terms * cost,"rofit terms *
economic rationale!.
This is a very interesting "ro+ection because it seems to highlight the e#tent to which
art and s"irituality has always been e#cessive * is structurally e#cessive to economic
time. &nd it highlights the e#tent tom which this e#cess is "ossibly becoming less and
less com"rehensible or conceived of as vital and necessary. 9f course (ataille
recogni;ed this within the framewor% of his solar economics and theory of religion *
the structural necessity of the negative (a negative that "ersists rather than one that is
dialectically overcome through time a la 2egel!. The vital e#cess of art, s"irit, "lay,
ritual, waste and religion. Surely without this as"ect of our e#istence we become
fatally eroded, neutered.
(y this "oint of the tour it is as if ' am accom"anied by (ataille. &s if ' have his voice
in my ear. Thoughts of transgression, e#cess, the travels to a region outside of rational
economic time fill my head as we head into the Salon Noir.
&s we ma%e our way around each of the "anels the guide does a magnificent +ob of
illuminating them from different "oints with the dimmer hand-held torch, which she
moves and holds for a longer time than our guide had on Sunday. The utili;ation of
relief, underlying and "re-e#isting mar%s and fissures on the cave wall become much
more evident this time, "roviding a unified sense of integration and coordination
between the undulating concave and conve# surfaces of the different "anels. 1nder
this light they become unified by shadow and to"ogra"hy as o""osed to the
homogenous and unifying static electric lam", which actually serves to isolate each of
the animal forms from one another to some degree. ' thin% this is because the
underlying sha"e and form of the cave wall is effectively flattened out to some degree.
1nder heterogeneous lighting the evident "ictorial and scul"tural unity comes much
more into view. This was then a different e#"erience than the first viewing on Sunday,
and under"ins something we have reali;ed throughout our visits to the different caves
* lighting is one of the absolute cornerstones of their com"osition, intentionality and
affectivity. Sim"le because the underlying medium is cave relief and light and shadow
whereby line (both drawn, "ainted, carved or scul"ted! is su""lemented.
' thin% because (ataille was invo%ed by the e#change that occurred bac% at the
symbolic "anel, something the guide says here "rovo%es me to thin% of something
(ataile writes in his boo% on 3ascau#. The guide briefly mentions 5lottes,3ewis-
$illiams and the hy"othesis that the images here are somehow lin%ed to shamanism,
magic and ritual. She a""ears somewhat s%e"tical, declaring it 6+ust a theory., before
insisting that we do not really %now why they "ainted the animals on these "anels the
way they did, with the symbolic overlays and su"erim"osition. $hen she mentioned
this ' was drawn towards the symbols on the animals themselves, much more so than
on Sunday. &rrow sha"ed symbols drawn in red and blac%, blac% lines and red dots.
&lmost li%e signatory symbols overlaying the animal form. &t this "oint (ataille.s
idea that what we are seeing here (i.e. in the animal forms themselves! is ourselves,
but ourselves 6clad in the glory of the beast.. The idea that we are seeing re"eatedly
inscribed symbolic renditions of ourselves * man as the animal * man become his
animal s"irit * man in his animal guise. 's this what we are seeing here4 embers of
the tribe clad in the garb of the mythical animal ancestors or s"irits. $ould this
account for their com"ositional arrangement (including the variations in si;e and scale
between the different animals of the same or different s"ecies ("erha"s indicating
status or tribal role!G the gra"hic strategies of o""osition underta%en (face to face
com"ositions or tonal and colour o""ositions, etc.!, su"erim"osition (to indicate a
family genealogy * "arent,child relation!. 3oo%ing at the "anels of the Salon Noir
again today, it at least seems "ossible. 't is going to be worth re-reading (ataille.s
te#ts when ' return, as well as loo%ing again at the o""ositional evidence analysed by
3eroi-?ourhan where he genders certain gra"hic elements and traits.
&re these beautiful animal forms functioning s mas%s * animal mas%s * as "art of
some long lost ceremony or ritual for summoning the "ower, vitality, energy,
fecundity and abilities of s"ecific animals. &re the human,communal sense of identity
indicated through symbolic means alone (the mar%s overlaid on to" of the animal
forms!4 2uman and animal hybrids * animality in the form of natural organic and
integral form which is always teetering, in different ways, on the very edge of losing
that integrity (i.e. through fragmentation and su"erim"osition! * and human being in
the form or "resence of symbols. 's this a mar% of se"aration (the ty"e of se"aration
(ataille tal%s about * i.e. our sense of our movement out of immanence, away from
the sense of animality as water-in-water, into se"aration and difference!4 &re these
"laces for creating hybridity between animality (organic natural forms! and ourselves
(e#isting as se"arated, encultured creatures mar%ed out already in this time by the
symbolic!4 's there a distinction that was felt as a loss, e#"erienced as a difference of
se"aration, being overcome in an affective movement of hybridity * animality and
symbolic becoming one * immanence restored through an e#cessive movement
outside the symbolic and economic time of humanity. 's this affective moment
mar%ing the im"ossible yearning for an affective unification of immanence * a
reintegration bac% into the field of animality * to go bac% to immanence affectively *
through the intensity of an aesthetic encounter (surrounded by who %nows what in
terms of ritual, ceremony, fasting, feasting, se#uality, into#ication, etc.! This would
"lace the affective moment bac% within the orbit of ideas e#"ressed within (ataille.s
wor% (which of course, has largely been dismissed as s"eculative e#cess!. 0erha"s
there is a need to resurrect a certain amount of s"eculative,theoretical e#cess.
&s we ma%e our way out of the cave again, ' am filled with thoughts about the
"otential for s"eculative,theoretical e#cess in thin%ing about this wor%, but more
broadly, for thin%ing about art and affectivity (the affective moment that "ersists and
is ongoing in the way ' want to argue in my boo%!. ' am reminded of /avid 3ewis-
$illiams. "olemic "oint made in the introduction to 6The ind in the 5ave., where he
argues that a certain s"eculative,theoretical endeavor, des"ite its evident ris%, is
absolutely vital if archaeology is to "rogress. The mere accumulation of
em"irical,material substance, is never going to coalesce into any %ind of "icture from
the "ast * it is not as we are ever going to be able to "ut all of the "ieces of the "ast
together, but even if we could, the truth of the "ast still would not become visible.
That "ast, its truth, its way of being is lost, all of its subtleties and com"le#ities were
never sim"ly materiali;ed anyway. This is where the vital necessity of theoretical
s"eculation comes into view. 't is only by im"osing the theoretical voice on such
artifacts that they can ever s"ea% to us again. 'n a way that not only ma%es sense to us
now, but that holds out any ho"e of bringing some vestige of life as it was lived to
these artifacts. A6any researchers, es"ecially those in >rance and S"ain, believe that
still more 6facts. are re-uired before we can 6theorise.. (ut how will we %now when
we have 6enough. data to begin wor% on e#"lanation4 $ill our data reach a critical
mass, im"lode and automatically reconfigure as an e#"lanation4 2ardly. 9r is it not so
much a matter of -uantity of data as some crucial "iece of information, some
e#ce"tionally "erce"tive observation still to be made in the caves, that will cause all
of the other accumulated data to fall into "lace and "rovide us with a "ersuasive
e#"lanation4 $e may as well search for the 2oly ?railO.$e need a method that will
ma%e sense of the data that we already have. ethodology, the study of method, is the
crucial issue.. (/avid 3ewis-$illiams, The ind in the 5ave, ". I!C ' su""ose what '
am trying to do is to harness not only s"eculative,theoretical encounters as a means of
allowing these wor%s to s"ea% to us, but more im"ortantly, to allow their affective
-ualities to shine, vibrate and s"ea%, through us. Trying to give voice to that
movement.
3ater in the afternoon we drive over to the cave at (edeilhac. The vast entrance "orch
is the largest of any cave we have visited, and there is a vast hanger-li%e s"ace
immediately within.
&""arently the s"ace was e#cavated "rior to the second world war with a view to
using the s"ace as a factory. These e#cavations were enlarged and e#"anded by the
?ermans during the occu"ation and an aircraft fabrication s"ace was created. The
overall effect of this was to obliterate any archaeological artifacts that may have been
buried within the e#cised sediment, as well as the fumes from the factory largely
obliterating the delicate wall "aintings within the 6ghost chamber. that goes off to the
right hand side of this s"ace. To reach the art that is still here one has to wal% a fair
distance into the cave, traversing vast and im"ressive chambers with massive swollen
stalagmites and stalactites.
't is dam" and sli""ery, not unli%e Niau# in "arts. The first "anel we come to (again
similar to Niau#! is com"osed of abstract symbols ("arallel lines and carefully
arranged rows of dots! "ainted in red iron o#ide. The "anel is much more faded than
the one at Niau#, but is si;eable and evident from the surface around it. >urther on
there is a very large "ainting of a bison on a wall +ust at head height (a similar si;e and
style to the bison at >ont de ?aume!. 'ts colour is com"osed of blac% manganese
o#ide and the natural colouring of the cave wall. The head of the bison is missing,
"ossibly concealed beneath calcite, but also "ossibly due to some surface damage
("ossibly from trying to remove or trace the figure!.
There are some re"roductions of very im"ressive clay molded scul"tures on the floor
of the cave * a su"erim"osed scul"ture of two or three bison and a horse, and an
e#tremely detailed scul"ture of a vagina that is im"ressively anatomical and non-
schematic.
&""arently the originals are in a relatively inaccessible "art of the cave where the
ceiling is very low. ' have to admit that ' did not reali;e that they were re"roductions
when we were sat loo%ing at them from a very close "ro#imity, which ' did find -uite
strange and unnerving. There are also three re"roductions of floor engravings (which '
did reali;e were re"roductions whilst ' was there!, including a very beautifully
rendered horse.
9n a overhanging roc% a very fine "ainting of a bison has been e#ecuted, that is
invisible unless one s-uats and stares u"wards from near the floor. 't is "ositioned in
such a "lace that its e#ecution must have been very aw%ward. ' wonder about the
"ossibility of whether this "ainting was meant to be seen via a reflection in standing
water on the floor, which would have been e#tremely effective.
&s we made our way out of the a"tly named 6labyrinth. we were ta%en to what "roved
to be the most e#traordinary "iece in this cave * an engraved reindeer. Not only did
the engraving utili;e the relief of the cave wall for the animals bac% and the
undulating sha"e of its body, but its head was almost entirely com"osed of a natural
sha"e in the cave wall.
&nd its eye was a "erfectly "laced natural circular form in the roc%. The overall effect
was to ma%e it loo% as if the reindeer was advancing out of the roc%, turning slightly
and regarding us the viewer. 5aught in a moment of stillness, held there, almost at the
very "oint it is to run away. 't was immensely "owerful, really breathta%ing and one
of the most effective utili;ations of a substantive natural and "re-e#isting form on the
cave wall that ' have seen during this visit to the caves. 't rivals anything that we saw
in 3es 5ombarelles for its audacious life, energy and with its odd 6in-between. -uality.
2ere was another e#am"le of a creature caught as if between two worlds, at the "oint
of emergence, regarding the viewer, coming out to meet them. 't seems to yet again
underscore the ontological "rinci"le governing the thoughts of whoever created it. &
sense of the immanent life held within the material of the cave wall itself, cou"led
with a seemingly magical,su"ernatural ability to reali;e a manifestation of this life, to
somehow summon it from the roc% with the aid of light, shadow, line and
imagination. This is an art of summoning forth, of drawing out an animal ("erha"s
understood as an animal s"irit, ancestor or re"resentation of some force or "ower!, to
bring it to life in its movement of emergence, and then hold it there * caught in the
instant of its emergence * an ancient hy"ostasis. 9ne can only imagine the wonder
evo%ed by those who were originally "rivileged to witness a glim"se of this subtle yet
breathta%ingly "owerful moment of organic emergence. 3i%e we are today. 'n this
moment of genuine wonder and astonishment * the reali;ation of the emergent animal
together with the scul"tor.s intention,hand,thought * a delicate thread is s"un between
then and now. ' do not thin% this is an entirely fanciful notion. The affectivity of this
instant, this moment, this glim"sing, seems, at its most basic and fundamental
foundation, to be surely somewhat similar. & moment of wonder and astonishment. 't
is the degree of intensity associated with this affectivity which would have differed *
because of the way the life world * the myths, beliefs, %nowledge, thought and way of
being of those "eo"le from the agdalenian era * would have augmented the
affective moment. (ut at its most radical, "rimary and originary essence, the affective
moment "ersists in its identity. 9f that ' am absolutely certain.
This affective moment, this s"ecific moment, is intrinsically tied to a dis"lay of
organic,inorganic integration,fusionG of the emergence of an individuated form from
out of the vast "lane of immanenceG of the living entity from an inorganic yet vital
field of energy, life and "otentialG a birth, a becoming, a radical transfiguration.
&ncient alchemy is visible here * a transubstantiation of base material into something
seemingly individuated and alive.
&s Siobhan mentioned later, one of the vital ingredients of this ty"e of ancient
aesthetic alchemy is light. &s much as anything else, these wor%s "rove, over and over
again, to be the oldest light scul"tures. (orn, com"osed and fashioned with the aid of
light, they are born once again through the careful introduction of light. No doubt
their "urely tactile -ualities were somewhat im"ortant too ("erha"s becoming most
evident in dar%ness, through the deliberate "rivation of light!G but it is surely through
the introduction of light that these relief scul"tures achieve their true aim *
movement, energy, life, vitalism and transfiguration.
' am so utterly enthralled and so totally sun% in the reflection and thoughts that this
"articular affective moment has "roduced, that not even the sight of one of the most
brilliantly reali;ed scul"tures of an erect "hallus carved into the wall can distract me.
This reindeer, and its accom"anying affectivity seems to "rovide a moment where so
many things ' have seen, e#"erienced, felt and thought during these "ast two wee%s,
are synthesi;ed, come together li%e various elements hung u"on one wall. &s diverse,
distinct and e#treme these e#"eriences have been, a unity of elements has begun to
coalesce within my mind to a much greater degree than when ' began. ' need to s"end
an e-ually intense "eriod of time reflecting u"on this unity, its im"lications for an
ontology of the aesthetic,affective moment ' want to write about in my boo%, and the
ways in which ' can most effectively communicate that to others (or those who might
be interested! as "assionately, clearly and immediately as ' can.
The final images we see as we leave the cave are two blac% hand stencils formed on
an stalagmatic curtain, which are e#tremely haunting.
There are things being s"o%en of in these caves * foreign, enigmatic, and tem"orally
distant things. (ut things that should matter to us now. &s well as serving as "oignant
memorials to what we once all were, as well as bittersweet inscri"tions serving to
remind us of everything we became (in all its grandeur, wonder and banal, grotes-ue
barbarity!, they might yet s"ea% elo-uently (through the "ersistence of their affective
synta#! of what we could yet become still. That thread thrown out by our ancestors
might yet s"ea% to a future yet to be made. They might serve as a means for an
affective awa%ening. ' don.t %now. ' +ust don.t %now.
-argas, Saturday ,
th
July
$e drive across the National 0ar% in the 0yrenees to visit our final cave for this visit *
?argas. The drive lasts +ust over two hours and is very beautiful. &t ?argas there is a
new inter"retive centre, Nestoria, which consists of a short film about "rehistoric art,
archaeology and the ?aragas caves, some shiny interactive consoles (which a""ear
somewhat su"erfluous! and a large screen showing the great "anel of hands. $hilst
there are some good "oints made during the film, it feels a little bit of a
disa""ointment, certainly after the e#cellent 0rehistoric 0ar% near Niau#.
/uring the film Lean 5lottes is interviewed briefly and he says something -uite
significant * he conveys his usual "osition that the cave "aintings,engravings are
lin%ed to shamanism of hunter gatherers, and was "robably not understood as 6art. but
rather as a direct manifestation of their way of living in the world and their belief
system. 2e then went on to say that there are two characteristics which are absolutely
vital for com"rehending the underlying world view of shamanism which are
necessary for com"rehending the "aintings,engravings. (1! That they regarded the
world as fluid, that things were not fi#ed and immutable through time, but that things
were in a ceaseless flu# whereby something could transform and become something
else * a man into an animal, an animal into a man, a roc% into an animal. A6There is an
essential way of thin%ing s"ecific to traditional cultures, also found in the 0aleolithic,
that is best described as 6fluidity.. The world in which "rehistoric man lives is not
"erceived as finite, rigid, and closed u", entirely distinct and cut off from the
su"ernatural world. 'nstead, it is "ossible to "ass from one to the other, in both
directions. The relationshi" between humans and animals is e-ually fluidP they are not
so different from one another that lin%s or assimilations between them should be
unthin%able.. (Lean 5lottes, 5ave &rt, ". FF!C (F! That a conce"tion of a s"iritual,
hidden or invisible world e#isted, yet they did not regard it as a se"arate or
incommunicable one. There was a sense in which the two worlds were in fact
connected, were in fact one, were unified, and that the shaman discovers the "ortals
where the two are somehow connected, or where the veil is at its most "orous or
thinnest. A6The basic belief of shamanic religions is that certain "ersons, "articularly
the shamans, can send their souls out of their bodies in order to travel to another
world, where they directly communicate with the "owerful su"ernatural forces that
rule matters relating to everyday life, such as hunting, illness, weather and human
relationshi"s. They can also by visited by s"irit hel"ers, who will assist them. They
are then transformed into a s"irit, often ta%ing on the a""earance of an animal.
Shamans thus "lay the "art of mediators between the world of the living and the world
of the s"irits. To venture underground was a%in to moving between worlds, and was
done as deliberately as when the shaman went into a trance for the customary healing
ceremonies. 'n this way, the shamans would encounter the s"irits that lived inside the
roc%s and inhabited those mysterious, frightening "laces, contacting the gods through
"ainting and engraving and gaining their goodwill or some of their "ower. Their long
stays in these dee", dar% galleries may have resulted in two different, if related,
"henomenon. >irstly, being underground, cut off from outside stimuli and without any
sense of time, could have led to hallucinations. Secondly, convinced that they were in
the other world, where s"irits were literally within arm.s reach, the visitors could not
have failed to see them ta%ing sha"e in the cave walls in the flic%ering torchlight,
"arts of their bodies emerging from crac%s in the roc%.. (Lean 5lottes, 5ave &rt, "".
F4-)!C agic, ritual, invocation, alchemy, ceremony surrounded the "roduction of the
"aintings (engravings which were literal inscri"tions of the "oint of touch between the
two worlds. The animals emerge from out of crac%s or mar%s in the cave surface, but
e-ually a""ear as if they are disa""earing. There is this state of in-betweeness to these
wor%s.
There is a further drive from the inter"retative centre u" to the cave itself, about a
%ilometer. $e are then led u" some ste"s for a further F00 or so metres until we reach
the 6new. cave entrance where there is an enormous iron door.
The guide e#"lains that there are two distinct "arts of the cave, with art from two
distinct "eriods, the ?ravettian (QFF, 000 years old! and agdalenian (Q1=, 000
years old!. The guide s"ea%s "erfect :nglish (being from South &frica!, and is
%nowledgeable, yet her delivery is -uite annoying. &s Siobhan says later, li%e a
children.s TH "resenter. ' ma%e every effort to shut her out as ' ma%e my way around
the cave.
There are some im"ressive abstract signs in the first, larger and more vertical "art of
the cave, which are ?ravettian. There is also a very im"ressive "ainted bison with its
head now concealed beneath calcite.
There are also a few scattered blac% negative hands here, with stunted fingers, which
have been dated to the ?ravettian "eriod. &s we move into the second and more
hori;ontal "art of the cave, we move towards the sanctuary of hands. There are two
negative hands in red before we reach the sanctuary, which are only viewable from
some distance, but they are beautifully illuminated and -uite haunting.
Then comes the sanctuary, where a single solitary negative hand in blac%, "ositioned
on a concave s"ace above a narrow entranceway to a dee"er chamber, stands
beautifully "reserved.
't is -uite startling to see with its stunted fingers and large blac% bloom of manganese
dio#ide clouding around it. 't has an im"erious -uality. ' have a momentary feeling of
its weird immediacy. 'ts unchanged -uality. 2ere it has resided for thousands of years
* a signature of the "erson who had stood right there so very long ago. The effect is
-uite chilling, and certainly enough to bloc% out the annoying guide.s voice.
&""arently there is a sanctuary within that is covered with many more hand "aintings,
most dis"laying the stunted fingers in different combinations.
' have to say that ' favour 3eroi-?ourhan.s e#"lanation of these hand stencils as an
elaborate digital code, consisting of a large series of "ossible combinations, the
meaning lost in time. They would have folded their fingers to achieve this effect,
rather than ritually mutilate or be the result of wides"read finger loss through disease
or frostbite. ' subscribe to 9c%ham.s Ra;or here, the sim"lest and most
straightforward e#"lanation has to be one.s "rimary hy"othesis unless there is
evidence to the contrary. ' thin% this is a case where current ethnogra"hic evidence
from one s"ecific &frican tribe that remove a digit at "ubescent initiation is
inconclusive. $e will almost certainly never %now, but today ' have a very strong
reasoned intuition that 3eroi-?ourhan was, to a certain degree, right. ' later read that
Lean 5lottes too favours this a""roach, and he is someone who in many other regards,
favours ritualistic,ceremonial as"ects drawing u"on current hunter-gatherer
ethnogra"hy.
The final great wall of hands is s"ectacular, really breathta%ing. /o;ens of hands
adorn a vast cave wall at least )0 or B0 feet in length. They are "ositioned in distinct
grou"ings in si# or seven "anels. Hiewed from a certain distance one is able to see the
whole wall, and it is almost overwhelming to see. ' found the e#"erience very
haunting indeed. ' have always found the images of ancient "rehistoric hand stencils
dee"ly mysterious, from the moment ' first saw a "hotogra"hic re"roduction many
years ago in a boo% in the school library. The same feelings and ideas ' had then
emerge again here today * "ersistence, mystery, immediacy and magic.
&ll of the wor%, to varying degrees of intensity, have yielded a sense of immediacy
and "resence regarding the human being who came to these caves thousands of years
ago and made these "aintings and engravings. (ut the "aintings of the hands are
-ualitatively of a different order. The "hysical dis"osition and gesture of the "erson
has been caught in an instant * as close to the uncanny -uality of "hotogra"hic
ca"ture that one can get without the mechanism of "hotogra"hy. any "eo"le tal% of
the hands (as well as the other abstract,geometrical symbols! as a language * a %ind of
"roto-written synta# * yet ' am tem"ted to thin% that this is mista%en. 't seems more
a%in to a visual synta#, of which "hotogra"hy is "resent * literally a gra"hic logos
with light. The gestural ca"ture "reserves an almost visceral trace of the body that was
once "resent * li%e a "hotogra"h offering the im"ossible "resence (in the "resent! of a
moment irretrievably lost in time. This tem"oral "arado# is "resent with the hands. &
"hysical trace, a vestige of an im"ossibility, a "arado#ical residue of a lost moment
held in abeyance from the "assing of time * a "unctum (see (arthes!. This surely
accounts for their ongoing affectivity. The feeling of this tem"oral "arado# * a %ind of
visceral trace that can function as a time ca"sule "ro"elling us bac% to the instant of
their creation. 't is certainly a very odd feeling, which +ust gets odder as we move
closer to the wall and are able to ins"ect each beautifully "reserved "anel. They are of
different si;es (some being made by women and children! and they are "laced in a
variety of obli-ue angles rather than arranged in careful "arallel lines (as some of the
dots in symbolic "anels in other caves clearly are!. The obli-ue and ha"ha;ard
arrangement feels odd, and seems to suggest an intention, or a set of intentions,
beyond a concern for visual gra"hism or aesthetic holism. 2ere the concern seems to
be with touching the cave wall, "reserving that moment of touch, and associating that
touch with other "revious recorded encounters. 't seems to suggest a visceral
communion with the roc%, a moment of connection,integration with the roc% that is
s"iritual in essence, a moment which is cherished and recorded. The coded finger
combination "erha"s some %ind of ci"her,code,symbol or sigil "erformed at this
moment and then recorded li%e a "hotogra"h through the breath and the "aint. 5lottes
suggests that as the hand is "laced against the wall, and the red or blac% "aint a""lied,
the hand would have become covered in "aint, along with the bloom or aura around it
on the cave wall. &t this moment there would have been a visual attainment of
communion,integration or fusion. The hand would literally have become one with the
cave wall through the identifying homogenous substance of "aint,colour a""lied
through, "erha"s, the breath of the shaman or sorcerer.
The hand stencils record intense moments of coded,symbolic communion with the
cave wall, and "erha"s what was "erceived to reside within or behind it (the s"iritual
;one!.
any cultures accord "hotogra"hs an almost magical "ower, ca"able of tra""ing the
soul in an instant of time. $as "rehistoric image ma%ing, "articularly the recording of
hands with "ersonalised, individual digital codes, "erceived in a similar way. $as the
creation of an image in this way "erceived as a way of abstracting an element of
s"iritual substance and fusing it with the roc% * "reserving it uncannily to "ersist in
time, "erha"s through a lifetime (which may have had an odd affectivity all of its own
at the time they were made, let alone the affectivity that is evo%ed by their "resence
now thousands of years later!. The recording of images of human hands is one of the
oldest and most "ersistent and universal themes in ancient art, occurring across the
globe in many many different cultures. 's it "ossible that this re"resents the first
s"iritual transubstantiation that we have still have evidence for, the first genuinely
artistic gesture whereby the individuated self is "laced bac% into an
affective,gestural,aesthetic communion with the outside * with immanence * is this a
further gesture at overcoming se"aration through art, gesture and affectivity * a
visceral touch, a %ind of artistic seeing, and a 6"hotogra"hic. or "ictogrammatic
moment of recording that instant as somehow "reserved in time, memoriali;ed, held
in abeyance from the se-uence of "assing into and out of being that is everyday time.
& way of creating a sim"le visceral gesture through art that could withstand time,
stand outside the circles of time, and re+oining, as if for an instant "reserved, the
eternal again.
&bout ten years ago ' was s"ending some time in South-western region of >rance
visiting the many "rehistoric cave "aintings that are to be found in the region,
including the facsimile of 3ascau#. 9ne "articular day ' ha""ened to visit one of the
most e#traordinary caves in South western >rance, called 3es 5ombarelles. This cave
consists of a very long (over = miles! and narrow shaft, and can only be visited by
small grou"s (i.e. B "eo"le! at any one time. &ll along the walls of this cave are huge
numbers of relief scul"tures and wall etchings of animals and abstract symbols or
mar%ings which are in e#cess of =0, 000 years old.
The feeling of being in such close "ro#imity to such things (in a -uite direct relation!
is very "owerfully affective - they have a delicacy and fragility about them but also an
e#traordinary "resence or immediacy. Now ' remember very vividly at one "articular
"oint the >rench guide e#"laining that to fully a""reciate the effect of the wall
carvings one had to view them under the light conditions with which they had been
created (rather than the homogenous electric light bulb, the flic%ering lam"!, and he
had with him a lam" which simulated the low flic%ering light of the oil lam". $hen
he switched this light on ' remember loo%ing at this e#traordinary carving of a horse
ne#t to me, that had been delicately folded into the relief of the cave wall, and this
horse suddenly became 6flesh., it moved, it trembled, and its form 6came alive.. This
"roduced an e#traordinary sensation in me (a %ind of visceral charge!, the effect of
which was to suddenly ma%e me acutely aware in a way that ' had not -uite realised
of the huge tem"oral distance (=0, 000 years! that se"arated me from the artist and
those original viewers, yet also of the community of sense that connected me to them
and which simultaneously colla"sed this tem"oral divide. 't was as if this single
beautiful ancient image cou"led with sensation had, for an 6instant., "laced me bac%
into direct sensory communion with the ancients, with ancient humanity. $hat ' was
feeling was what they had felt * ' had been swe"t u" into a ancient affect. The
certainty of this was overwhelming, confined in this dar% chamber, standing on that
s"ot, "recisely the same s"ot that out ancient ancestors had stood, it was inesca"able.
This very "owerful aesthetic e#"erience suddenly rendered the affective moment
com"rehensible to me in way that ' had struggled for a very long time to intellectually
clarify. 't hel"ed me understand something about the aesthetically affective singularity
of art, but this was something demonstrated through "ure sensation, a "ure feeling of
"leasure, rather than an isolated act of abstracted intellection. Now my broad "oint
with this "ersonal digression is this * sometimes our intellection needs to be
accom"anied by the shoc%, by the energetics of sensation. >or our thought to move it
seemingly needs the non-thought to ins"ire and energise it. 9nce thought has been
moved in this way it is able to flow and ma%e connections it would otherwise have
been unable to do.