France Field Notes

Embed Size (px)

Citation preview

  • 8/12/2019 France Field Notes

    1/71

  • 8/12/2019 France Field Notes

    2/71

    $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 guides commentary. /es"ite the fact

    that ' can understand only small "arts of his commentary, ' find the evident disregardfor 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%. resumably all ofthis must affect the ca"acity to feel. "on seeing the first wall relief (two mammoths!

    there is an audible inta%e of breath from the grou" * and a brief interlude of silenceduring the cave guides 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 thechatter returns over the to" of the guides 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.

  • 8/12/2019 France Field Notes

    3/71

  • 8/12/2019 France Field Notes

    4/71

    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.

  • 8/12/2019 France Field Notes

    5/71

    $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, ubiuitous and ever-"resent, wont allow these other voices to be heard any more. $e dont even seem to

    loo% anymore.

    The clamor of nature (of eing! ca"tured here has been drowned by the clamor ofself, the "resent and the familiar.

  • 8/12/2019 France Field Notes

    6/71

    &s Siobhan said on the drive bac%, they are mere museum "ieces. reserved, yet

    seemingly lifeless. They have been 7museumed8 by the "lace * the gift sho", thelights, 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%, ourattitude, our e#"ectations trans"ort them into the dead time of the museum, instead ofthe e#traordinary "resence trans"orting us into the strange interflow between the time

    of lifes flow and its eternity.

    Les y!ies " Le Ca# $lanc, %onday 2&thJune

    $e drove to 3es :y;ies today, arriving around ont de ?aume. nfortunately, tic%ets had sold out beforewe reached the %ios%. ut we were able to get some tic%ets of 3e 5a" lanc and 3es5ombarelles. >rom a conversation we overheard whilst standing in line, there is a

    conference ta%ing "lace today and tomorrow of 'nternationalrehistorians&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 bemoaningthe 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 ormindset!. &s ' listened ' felt a certain degree of sym"athy with her view, however '

    am not at all comfortable with restricting aestheticaffective a""reciation to historical

    6e#"erts. 't made me thin% of 'an 2odders idea of inter"retative "luralism. &t theirmost basic the artwor%s inscribe ways of seeingthin%ingfeeling that are common to

  • 8/12/2019 France Field Notes

    7/71

    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 ""eraleolithic art without recourse to analogy y using analogies, do we not sim"ly

    create a "ast in the image of the "resent (/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 fromthe 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 moreso"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 'ngoldsargument 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 accountsof the artwor% * but more im"ortantly of the affective aesthetic e#"erience. Dant,

    2eidegger, erleau-onty, ataille, /eleu;e and 3evinas. There is a real need tocom"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 wholeboo% * 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-gatherermilieumindset, which can be generated through archaeological and anthro"ological

    scholarshi", would almost certainly guide and assist inter"retation, to locate it withina 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 fromengaging 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 faithfulengagement. & 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.

  • 8/12/2019 France Field Notes

    8/71

    This has been rebuiltrefurbished 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. Thereare several e#cellent videos which demonstrate the manufacture of flint and

    boneivoryflint tools.

  • 8/12/2019 France Field Notes

    9/71

    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 alsostruc% 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, animalre"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 arts sa%e! versus dee"erreligiouss"iritualculturalsocial meaning. erha"s it can be both. $hat does seem

  • 8/12/2019 France Field Notes

    10/71

    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, deeror ibe#! and the animal re"resentations carved u"on them.

    This is surely beyond mere mnemonics * i.e. indicating a tools "ur"ose or goal toothers 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.erha"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 flungbac% over its body, its tongue "rotruding, clearly lic%ing its hide.

  • 8/12/2019 France Field Notes

    11/71

    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 observationsregarding a bisons 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 aleolithic art

    * reflection, recall, negotiation, emergence, economy of line, summoning into beingout of roc% or bone!.

    &gain, ' am struc% by the continuity of thought and intuition here, and how it soclearly 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 themindset (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 deadob+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 astrange 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, myown being, my own life, is very odd. 2ow im"ortant is this to art (regardless of

    whether it is incalculably "rehistoric!

  • 8/12/2019 France Field Notes

    12/71

    &fter the museum we ma%e our way to 3e 5a" lanc. & smaller grou" thanyesterdays 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 F0thcentury.

    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 "artof nature. 9verall, though, the feeling of being 7museumed8 is somewhat less than at

  • 8/12/2019 France Field Notes

    13/71

    Rouffignac. $hy is this erha"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 firsttime 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 overallcom"osition. They seem deliberately fragmentary * largely due to the familiar "rocess

    of su"erim"osition so familiar in "aintings and regular wall relief carvings. Tworeindeer in dynamic "oses are su"erim"osed u"on one anotherG two horses in eually

    dynamic "ose are beautifully su"erim"osed. ' am immediately reminded of one of thegreat enigmas that ' was struc% by ten years ago * su"erim"osition. $hy * what

    "ur"ose does it serve There was su"erim"osition in Rouffignac, but it wasnt so

    affectively evident as here at 3e 5a" lanc today.

    $ith the main horse, a massive bold scul"tural relief * the guide hel"fullydemonstrates that it "resents two distinctly different facese#"ressions under different

  • 8/12/2019 France Field Notes

    14/71

    lighting. 'n bright daylight, and then twilight or candlelam"light. The a""arently

    deliberate intention evident within this change in lighting is remar%able, and it hitsli%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 Romanscul"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 inthe 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 toreturn tomorrow instead, allowing a nice old &merican cou"le to visit the cave ontheir third attem"t. & good deed done. &fter the miracle of 3e 5a" lanc it doesnt

    feel all that grand a gesture.

    Les Co'(arelles, )uesday 2*thJune

    $e drove to 3es :y;ies again today, half e#"ecting a similar mi#-u" with the tic%etsas 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%.

  • 8/12/2019 France Field Notes

    15/71

    ' s"ent the time leafing through a file that had a cou"le of +ournal articles about thecave with many re"roductions of reuils original drawingsinter"retations of the

    animal figures in the cave. >rom these s%etches ' was reminded again of the intensedegree of com"le# su"erim"osition at 3es 5ombarelles.

  • 8/12/2019 France Field Notes

    16/71

    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 onthe tour "revious to ours. 2e seemed a little agitated by the fact that hed 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 beobno#ious during the tour, but my fears were somewhat allayed as it turned out thathe 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.

    "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 thattime '

    %new

  • 8/12/2019 France Field Notes

    17/71

    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 acontinuum * cultural, artistic, imaginative, affective and human. Hisiting the cavetoday ' 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. "on seeingthis 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 breath ' find that ' do this duringmoments of intense emotional affectivity. ' dont %now why.

    The guide on todays 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 of6horse-energy, 6horse movement, 6horse alive. &nd it was alive.

  • 8/12/2019 France Field Notes

    18/71

    &s he moved the light around the scul"ture it literally danced and shifted before oureyes. 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 techniue 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, 3es5ombarelles is a uniuely strange and arresting "lace.

    ' remember feeling this strange, almost occult, atmos"here the first time ' visited. &ndtoday the feeling was even stronger. There is a strange admi#ture of bio-diversity,

    hybridity, elemental fusions, symbolic overlayings, se#uality and secrecy here.

  • 8/12/2019 France Field Notes

    19/71

    &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. 6Hs 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, dancingoff the wall and into vision.

    The guide tal%s of the "lace as one of initiation, of ritual and of magic. &nd it is hardto see it any other way. 9f course, one can only s"eculate as the details of the myths

    are lost, but strong clues remain.

  • 8/12/2019 France Field Notes

    20/71

    &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 anddee"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 thenmiraculously, 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 thefragmentary 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 thecave * 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"irituallyenervating 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 behaunted by the s"irits of ancient animals, and to allow oneself to be inhabited by the

    original s"irit of humanity.

  • 8/12/2019 France Field Notes

    21/71

    ' 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 inF01F. 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 intenseform 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 2thJune

    $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 somereflection, "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 havebeen artistically rendered is another. The two do not seem unrelated. Transformation,

    a symbolic and meta"horic e#change, chiasmus, between man and animal, is rendered6real * 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 humaninto an animal. 9r "erha"s it was always a uestion of intensification. erha"s the

    se"aration between man and animal was less em"hatic than it is so obviously is now.erha"s this threshold was thinner, more "orous once, less drastic and fi#ed as it is

    now. erha"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 ofimmanence. The sense of life as the one and the many /o the fluid e#changes,

    su"erim"ositions and transformations e#"ress a yearning, a certain nostalgia thate#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 latterwould 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 fromthem, or are somehow born from the same substance as them, but eually 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. erha"s what is being gra"hically and affectively embodied hereis "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 into 's the initiation into a vast "lane ofimmanence, the idea of a single, all-encom"assing sense of life as one animal * the

  • 8/12/2019 France Field Notes

    22/71

    animus of the one, lin%ed to the individuals se#ual awa%ening. Se#uality and

    re"roduction through the confrontation or encounter of se#ual o""osites(masculinefeminine! 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#ualityre"roduction is

    conte#tuali;ed within a certain affective %nowledge of its overall "lace in theontological continuum. 't is how life is "ro"agated, continued, both lin%ed to the "astand 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 (bothhuman 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 (malefemale!,

    between all animals (humans included!, between elements and across time be the %eyenigmatic 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 meaning 9ur growth in understanding the life within which we areembedded, its almost meta"hysical as well as "hysical mechanisms, its ecological

    interconnectedness, its de"th and breadth, our contingent "lace within a largerongoing dynamic schema 't would seem as if this is some %ind of ontological

    testament figured as a mythologicals"iritualaesthetically affective s"ectacle * a

    refined condensation of the foundational tro"es, accumulated wisdom andunderstanding and reali;ation of ones "lace in nature. 't is unuestionably, 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 evidenthere. 't is as if "art of what the artist is figuring here in the cave is a story of the

    vitalist movement of lifes emergence or becoming, its s"ringing into being from aseemingly 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 ideabeliefconce"t of

    lifes emergence from matter as a %ind of s"iritual s"ar% * suddenly through themovement 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 ones eyes. Shimmering, breathing, become soft fleshinfused with life, dynamism and movement. erha"s this was once accom"anied by

    an initiatory narrative that told of the very moment of the advent of life * the instantthat life emerged into the animal forms we see, encounter and hunt outside the cave,

    and ultimately the creatures we are. erha"s it was some %ind of story about how the"rinci"le of lifes "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. erha"s it was configured as a

    life force beyond the roc%, or behind it, a meta"hysical "rinci"le beyond material * atranscendent s"iritual vitalism. 9r "erha"s there was no accom"anying narrative at

    all. erha"s it all occurred as affective drama. Dnowledge and instruction through thewordless affect * seeing, touching, e#"eriencing and feeling the %nowledge of the

    world, of nature, of life, of origin. 9f the senses and the emotions.

  • 8/12/2019 France Field Notes

    23/71

    'mmanence and vitalism, conce"ts from much later "hiloso"hy, are strongly

    "refigured her (as they are "refigured in other hunter-gatherer, totemic, animistcultures!. The evidence from other %nown sites of :uro"ean u""er aleolithic art, e.g.

    3ascau#, ech-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 theconfiguration and fundamental e#"ressive com"onent of art develo"ed here, its effortsto "rovide a gra"hic, tactile, e#"ressive, affective e#"erience of immanence and

    vitalism and all human art 's the continuum between a ty"e of affective configuration

    of "rofound, all-encom"assing, transcendent and transfiguring %nowledge andunderstanding 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 mannerthat it is transformative, em"owering, enriching, and sustaining '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

    aestheticartistic activity. There seems to be a lin% forged here in 3es 5ombarelles, alin% 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 forever This last 6uestion seemsto 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 andtransformation.

    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.

  • 8/12/2019 France Field Notes

    24/71

    $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 3es5ombarelles 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 whichhave 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.

  • 8/12/2019 France Field Notes

    25/71

    ' 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. aul ahn, in hisguide 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 iseverything. '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 adifferent "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 beneatha flow of calcite where water has tric%led slowly down for thousands of years, only to

    re-emerge the other side.

  • 8/12/2019 France Field Notes

    26/71

    ' 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 tobecome 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 theseimages.

    The animal "aintings here are on a much larger scale than the reliefcarvingsscul"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 carvingsscul"tures at3e 5a" lanc.

    The second very "owerful affect which occurred during todays 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.

  • 8/12/2019 France Field Notes

    27/71

    '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 5lottes3ewisK$illiams idea that the roc% itself was "robably

    considered to be already inhabited by multifarious animal s"irits, the role of theartistshaman 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.

  • 8/12/2019 France Field Notes

    28/71

    To bring them out of their hiddenness, from out behind the veil of the roc%. ' thought

    about how "layful this "rocess wasis. 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 evidenthere * not +ust light and dar%, form and formlessness * but also the same se#ualo""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 andoutwards.

    't was evident from the guides commentary that he was drawing e#tensively u"on

    3eroi-?ourhan3aming-:m"aires structuralist analysis of the codes where there is anevident 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 dualityseems 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"turaldelicacy 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"tedrelief of the drin%ing reindeer at 3es 5ombarelles.

  • 8/12/2019 France Field Notes

    29/71

    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 atruly magnificent e#"erience of early art. 2owever, it does not have the

    overwhelmingly mysterious affectivity and dynamic life of 3es 5ombarelles. artlythis 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#"eriencingan 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, lifeand death as o""osed to the intensely "rivate, almost solitary initiatory encounters

  • 8/12/2019 France Field Notes

    30/71

    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. othseem inflected with rituals"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 timewith 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 firstchamber. '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 mayhave 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 theecology 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 acrosstime. 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 allabout 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 bereminded of the truly transfigurative "otential of thin%ing and feeling immanence.

    /ech%erle, 0thJune

    $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 ech-erle, before heading south

  • 8/12/2019 France Field Notes

    31/71

    into the yrenees 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.

    ech-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 seeit. $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 ech-erle, which is reached after a uite long and winding road thatdi"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!, whichrevealed details about the com"ositional techniues 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 alevel of gra"hic so"histication and mastery that euals 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 downinto the cave (handily housed in the gift sho"M! the first thing that struc% me was the

  • 8/12/2019 France Field Notes

    32/71

    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 itbecomes 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 ofthe 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#orableaccretion of calcite, the massive stalagmites and stalactites, many +ust inches away

    from touching each other, others having met long ago and long become solid columnsat 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, itsunfathomable to"ology, its vast age and its 6living ualities.

  • 8/12/2019 France Field Notes

    33/71

    $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 inwhich 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 thosebehind. 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 mosteffective a""roach on the day.

  • 8/12/2019 France Field Notes

    34/71

    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.

  • 8/12/2019 France Field Notes

    35/71

    The "olychromatic forms at >ont de ?aume are faded, some have graffiti scratched onthem, 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.

  • 8/12/2019 France Field Notes

    36/71

    '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 accumulatedthroughout the tour, from each "iece * from the carefully traced outlines of the bearhead 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-?ourhan6bison 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

  • 8/12/2019 France Field Notes

    37/71

  • 8/12/2019 France Field Notes

    38/71

    ' 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

  • 8/12/2019 France Field Notes

    39/71

    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, beforegoing to each of the si# hands, which are li%e rhythmic "unctuations amidst a

    beautifully unified flowing movement. 5onstancy and interru"tion. The flow ofuninterru"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 ' boughtfrom 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 caveitself. '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 bythis 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 * itis 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 * aharmonious flowing moment closed in u"on itself and transfigured as se"arate fromthe 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 ofdar%ness and uotidian time.

  • 8/12/2019 France Field Notes

    40/71

    The e#haustion both Siobhan and ' feel tonight as we eventually arrive in the

    yrenees, is not +ust down to a long drive through >rance. ' thin% the cave at ech-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.

    Niau, Sunday 1stJuly

  • 8/12/2019 France Field Notes

    41/71

    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 thearchitecture 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"leand two young women on their first day of wor%ing at Niau#. They are a"ologetic as

  • 8/12/2019 France Field Notes

    42/71

    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 lateafternoon.

    $hen we return later the car "ar% is "ac%ed, and the cave is obviously very busy. &s

    of today (1stLuly! there are I tours "er day (including F in :nglish!. &t the start of thetour we are each issued with our own torch as there is no integral lighting throughoutthe 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 galleriescontaining enormous calcite formations and a few remaining stalagmites and

    stalactites (the tour guide informs us that many of these were removed and sold offduring the 1Ithand 1ont 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 oftheir "resence beneath their feet!.

  • 8/12/2019 France Field Notes

    43/71

    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 ofthese symbols, their synta#, intention, etc., are com"letely lost to us * some s"eculateu"on it as an early form of written communication, others consider it to be an abstract

    symbolic code with religiouss"iritual connotation, and others s"eculate that it

    consists of tribal identity, with the "ectiform occurring here throughout the cave andmany others in the region (including northern S"ain! as o""osed to the tectiform

    which is very "revalent in the /ordogne. erha"s the symbol is a mar% of tribalcollective belonging, a territorial mar%er, an indication of belonging to a s"ecific time

    and "lace.

  • 8/12/2019 France Field Notes

    44/71

    eyond this symbolic "anel, u" a stee" slo"e, one enters the Salon Noir. $erelinuish 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 * eachseemingly more remar%able than the other. /es"ite this being a grou" of F) (the same

    number as the tour at ech erle! it never seems too large, and during the viewing ofthese "anels everybody is very uiet and suitably in awe of their s"ectacular beauty.

  • 8/12/2019 France Field Notes

    45/71

  • 8/12/2019 France Field Notes

    46/71

    y and large the figures, which are often su"erim"osed and intentionallyfragmentaryschematic, the different animal forms are remar%ably easy to read. 5lear

    and un-ambivalent.

  • 8/12/2019 France Field Notes

    47/71

    The draughtsmanshi" is su"erb, and the familiar techniue of utili;ing the to"ogra"hy

    of the roc% to suggest "hysical volume, elements of figural form or movement isevident, 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, aleg, a tail, etc!.

  • 8/12/2019 France Field Notes

    48/71

    These two techniues, which in 3es 5ombarelles and >ont de ?aume have intensified

    the sense of dynamic movement, seems more rela#ed here somehow. The affect, atleast for me today, is a subtly different one. 2ere the techniue serves to under"in a

    sense of integral integration of animal forms, roc%, cave and the environment as awhole. 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 ofthese 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#"ressmovement, 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 ofa bison emerges as an outline around a "ree#isting mar% ion the cave wall * this

    creature seems to emerge fromor move bac% into, its eye, which is of the roc%. Themovement 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 inwhich there was an underlying ontological attitude or orientation towards the cave

    wall as something either living, teeming with animalistic forms, or eually, it seems,

    how it might have been viewed as a semi-"orous veil beyond which the s"irits ofs"ecial animals resided (as 5lottes3ewis-$iliams suggest!.

  • 8/12/2019 France Field Notes

    49/71

    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 ofanimals 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.

  • 8/12/2019 France Field Notes

    50/71

    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"edtechniues 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 thistechniue of inscribing a uality of hovering between inwardness (a movement ofrecession! 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 forms"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 forms natural beauty, elegance andrefinement, 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 atonce "layful yet "erha"s utterly serious and s"iritually im"ortant. erha"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 itregardless of the time and culture one comes from. Surely "art of arts enduring

    ca"acity for affectivity is lin%ed with this effort at inscribing a s"iritual de"th * of (asDlee and /eleu;e re"eatedly suggest! to render the invisible visible * to "rovide

    intense encountersglim"ses of the force of the virtual (the "re-individual s"iritual

  • 8/12/2019 France Field Notes

    51/71

    de"ths of all individuated things which can only be rendered visible through the

    individuated thing!. 'ts abstractions, its freely floating, all encom"assing, immanencecan 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 verysignificantly with the frenetic energy and dynamism of 3es 5ombarelles, and indicatenot only the different techniues 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.

    Niau " $edeilhac, +ednesday 4thJuly

    ' visited Niau# for the second time today. &rriving at

  • 8/12/2019 France Field Notes

    52/71

    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 andless 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,

  • 8/12/2019 France Field Notes

    53/71

    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 ofilluminating 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 ofrelief, 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. nderthis 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 ofthe 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.

    nder heterogeneous lighting the evident "ictorial and scul"tural unity comes muchmore 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.

  • 8/12/2019 France Field Notes

    54/71

    ' thin% because ataille was invo%ed by the e#change that occurred bac% at thesymbolic "anel, something the guide says here "rovo%es me to thin% of something

    ataile writes in his boo% on 3ascau#. The guide briefly mentions 5lottes3ewis-

    $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 mentionedthis ' 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 atailles

    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"eatedlyinscribed 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 here embers ofthe 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 indicatingstatus 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 * "arentchild relation!. 3oo%ing at the "anels of the Salon Noiragain today, it at least seems "ossible. 't is going to be worth re-reading atailles

    te#ts when ' return, as well as loo%ing again at the o""ositional evidence analysed by3eroi-?ourhan where he genders certain gra"hic elements and traits.

  • 8/12/2019 France Field Notes

    55/71

    &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 humancommunal sense of identity

    indicated through symbolic means alone (the mar%s overlaid on to" of the animalforms! 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 losingthat integrity (i.e. through fragmentation and su"erim"osition! * and human being inthe 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 fromthe sense of animality as water-in-water, into se"aration and difference! &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 thesymbolic! '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 andsymbolic 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 * areintegration bac% into the field of animality * to go bac% to immanence affectively *

    through the intensity of an aesthetic encounter (surrounded by who %nows what interms 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 atailles

    wor% (which of course, has largely been dismissed as s"eculative e#cess!. erha"sthere is a need to resurrect a certain amount of s"eculativetheoretical e#cess.

  • 8/12/2019 France Field Notes

    56/71

    &s we ma%e our way out of the cave again, ' am filled with thoughts about the"otential for s"eculativetheoretical 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"eculativetheoretical endeavor, des"ite its evident ris%, isabsolutely vital if archaeology is to "rogress. The mere accumulation of

    em"iricalmaterial 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 "asttogether, 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 werenever 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 usnow, 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 reuired before we can 6theorise. ut how will we %now whenwe have 6enough data to begin wor% on e#"lanation $ill our data reach a critical

    mass, im"lode and automatically reconfigure as an e#"lanation 2ardly. 9r is it not somuch 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 allof the other accumulated data to fall into "lace and "rovide us with a "ersuasive

    e#"lanation $e may as well search for the 2oly ?railO.$e need a method that will

    ma%e sense of the data that we already have. ethodology, the study of method, is thecrucial issue. (/avid 3ewis-$illiams, The ind in the 5ave, ". I!C ' su""ose what '

    am trying to do is to harness not only s"eculativetheoretical encounters as a means ofallowing 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 thatmovement.

  • 8/12/2019 France Field Notes

    57/71

    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 tousing 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 beenburied 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 theright 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.

  • 8/12/2019 France Field Notes

    58/71

    't is dam" and sli""ery, not unli%e Niau# in "arts. The first "anel we come to (againsimilar 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 thanthe 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% manganeseo#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 floorof 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.

  • 8/12/2019 France Field Notes

    59/71

    &""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"roductionswhen 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.

  • 8/12/2019 France Field Notes

    60/71

    9n a overhanging roc% a very fine "ainting of a bison has been e#ecuted, that is

    invisible unless one suats and stares u"wards from near the floor. 't is "ositioned insuch 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 "rovedto 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 theundulating sha"e of its body, but its head was almost entirely com"osed of a natural

    sha"e in the cave wall.

  • 8/12/2019 France Field Notes

    61/71

    &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 slightlyand 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 sawin 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 magicalsu"ernatural ability to reali;e a manifestation of this life, tosomehow 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!, tobring 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 wonderevo%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 animaltogether with the scul"tors intentionhandthought * a delicate thread is s"un between

    then and now. ' do not thin% this is an entirely fanciful notion. The affectivity of thisinstant, 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 theaffective 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

    organicinorganic integrationfusionG of the emergence of an individuated form fromout 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 somethingseemingly individuated and alive.

    &s Siobhan mentioned later, one of the vital ingredients of this ty"e of ancientaesthetic 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 oflight, 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 mostevident 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

  • 8/12/2019 France Field Notes

    62/71

    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 eually intense "eriod of time reflecting u"on this unity, its im"lications for an

    ontology of the aestheticaffective moment ' want to write about in my boo%, and theways in which ' can most effectively communicate that to others (or those who mightbe interested! as "assionately, clearly and immediately as ' can.

    The final images we see as we leave the cave are two blac% hand stencils formed onan 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 "oignantmemorials 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, grotesue

    barbarity!, they might yet s"ea% elouently (through the "ersistence of their affectivesynta#! 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 anaffective awa%ening. ' dont %now. ' +ust dont %now.

    -argas, Saturday thJuly

  • 8/12/2019 France Field Notes

    63/71

    $e drive across the National ar% in the yrenees to visit our final cave for this visit *

    ?argas. The drive lasts +ust over two hours and is very beautiful. &t ?argas there is anew inter"retive centre, Nestoria, which consists of a short film about "rehistoric art,

    archaeology and the ?aragas caves, some shiny interactive consoles (which a""earsomewhat 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 adisa""ointment, certainly after the e#cellent rehistoric ar% near Niau#.

    /uring the film Lean 5lottes is interviewed briefly and he says something uitesignificant * he conveys his usual "osition that the cave "aintingsengravings 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 beliefsystem. 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 arenecessary for com"rehending the "aintingsengravings. (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 somethingelse * 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 aleolithic,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 bothdirections. The relationshi" between humans and animals is eually fluidP they are not

    so different from one another that lin%s or assimilations between them should beunthin%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 "ortalswhere the two are somehow connected, or where the veil is at its most "orous or

  • 8/12/2019 France Field Notes

    64/71

    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 anotherworld, 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 worldof 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 theroc%s and inhabited those mysterious, frightening "laces, contacting the gods through

    "ainting and engraving and gaining their goodwill or some of their "ower. Their longstays 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 inthe other world, where s"irits were literally within arms 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 thetwo worlds. The animals emerge from out of crac%s or mar%s in the cave surface, but

    eually a""ear as if they are disa""earing. There is this state of in-betweeness to thesewor%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.

  • 8/12/2019 France Field Notes

    65/71

  • 8/12/2019 France Field Notes

    66/71

    Then comes the sanctuary, where a single solitary negative hand in blac%, "ositionedon a concave s"ace above a narrow entranceway to a dee"er chamber, stands

    beautifully "reserved.

  • 8/12/2019 France Field Notes

    67/71

    't is uite startling to see with its stunted fingers and large blac% bloom of manganesedio#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 isuite chilling, and certainly enough to bloc% out the annoying guides voice.

    &""arently there is a sanctuary within that is covered with many more hand "aintings,most dis"laying the stunted fingers in different combinations.

  • 8/12/2019 France Field Notes

    68/71

    ' have to say that ' favour 3eroi-?ourhans e#"lanation of these hand stencils as an

    elaborate digital code, consisting of a large series of "ossible combinations, themeaning 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%hams Ra;or here, the sim"lest and most

    straightforward e#"lanation has to be ones "rimary hy"othesis unless there isevidence to the contrary. ' thin% this is a case where current ethnogra"hic evidencefrom 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 thatLean 5lottes too favours this a""roach, and he is someone who in many other regards,

    favours ritualisticceremonial as"ects drawing u"on current hunter-gathererethnogra"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 thewhole wall, and it is almost overwhelming to see. ' found the e#"erience very

    haunting indeed. ' have always found the images of ancient "rehistoric hand stencilsdee"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.

  • 8/12/2019 France Field Notes

    69/71

  • 8/12/2019 France Field Notes

    70/71

    on the cave wall. &t this moment there would have been a visual attainment of

    communionintegration or fusion. The hand would literally have become one with thecave wall through the identifying homogenous substance of "aintcolour a""lied

    through, "erha"s, the breath of the shaman or sorcerer.

    The hand stencils record intense moments of codedsymbolic communion with thecave 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 th