Cave paintings

This is a photo of a priest - l'abbee Breuil - who was instrumental in assuring and analysing the prehistoric cave paintings that were being found throughout the 20th century.

We were visiting the grotte at Rouffignac. This cave had been known for centuries and contained a variety of graffiti from before the French Revolution. But the visitors had not understood or appreciated the significance of the drawings. M. Breuil authenticated the drawings and scratching so - some of which can be seen only when the light is at a certain angle.

We took a little train nearly 1km into the cave. At the end there were magnificent engravings of mammoth, bison, horses in incredible detail. They were drawn some 5000 years ago and the flood level, carved out by ancient rivers was at the level seen in this picture. Fortunately for us a path had been carved out. The walls are do soft that we were not slowed to touch them or - obviously - photograph them. Natural calcification of the walls means that the drawing will be erased in hundreds/ thousands of years time.