Cave Communication

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Cave Communication
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Have you ever seen pictures of drawings that were
made on caves?

• Why do you think the cave dwellers drew on the
  walls of their homes?

• What do their drawings tell you about their
  lives?

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Even in the ancient times people used drawings
and decorations in their living surroundings to
communicate ideas or to tell about things they
had seen.
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Click below to see some cave drawings.
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Imagine being a teenager out for a walk on a
crisp fall day and making a discovery of a
lifetime! That is exactly what
happened to
four teenage boys
on Thursday,
September 12,
1940.
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As the boys were walking on a hill near the
village of Montignac, they saw a hole in the
ground that had opened up after a big pine tree
had fallen several years before.
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The curious boys made the hole larger and tumbled
down into a pile of rocks that led to the
entrance of a cave. With only a lamp to see
with, they wandered
through the cave and
soon discovered the
Great Hall of the Bulls.
Can you imagine how
excited they
were to see
the pictures of prehistoric
animals painted on the
walls of the cave?
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These young men had just stumbled upon one of the
most amazing archaeological discoveries of the
20th Century! They were the first modern people
to see cave drawings that were hundreds of years
old!
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The boys went back the next day to explore more
of the cave. The
farther they went into
the cave the more
wondrous paintings
they
discovered. Needless
to say when people heard
of this discovery they
came in
great numbers to see it.
Scientists from all over the
world came to explore the caves
and view the evidence left by ancient men.
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After World War II the floors of the cave were
lowered and the entrance was enlarged to allow
more people to visit the cave and see the amazing
drawings. As many as 1,200 people visited the
cave each day.
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In 1955 scientists realized that bad things were
happening to the cave. The drawings were
beginning to deteriorate. It was discovered that
the carbon dioxide in the air due to the breath
of so many visitors had caused green algae and
mosses to grow in the cave. On April 20, 1963,
the cave was closed to the public in order to
save the valuable cave paintings.
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In March of 1980, reproductions of the Great Hall
of the Bulls and the Painted Gallery were built.
These reproductions are housed in a half-buried
structure designed to look like the original
cave. Lascaux II has been open to the public
since 1983.
Click here to see more of the cave of Lascaux.
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Now, its your turn. You will get a piece of
crumpled brown paper to create a cave drawing of
your own using crayons.   Your cave drawing must
communicate a message.  When
your picture is finished,
you will share your
work
with your
classmates and
interpret each other's
pictures.