Analysis

Life for Prehistoric Man

Fertility & Family

Hunting

The Zodiac

Magic

Religion

Materials

Carbon Dating

Timeline

Communication

Conclusion

Bibliography

Quotes

Process Paper

THE ZODIAC

One of the most interesting interpretations of the cave paintings at Lascaux in France is that the paintings were actually animal representations of the zodiac.

A paper was presented at the International Symposium of Prehistoric Art in Italy, which stated the belief that the cave paintings at Lascaux were records of the zodiac constellations, fixed stars and the solstice points. Chantal Jeques - Wolkiewiez showed that all the constellations of the zodiac except Aquarius and part of Pisces are represented by the animals of that time. She believed that this together with the presence of the setting sun demonstrated that the painters were remarkable observers of the sky.

If this is indeed the case, early man preceded the Babylonian astronomers by 10,000 years. To have done this early man would have had to measure distances between stars and Jegues - Wolkiewiez believes they did this with sticks as rulers, she believes that they were already using the stars as heavenly guides to find the position of the stars that were not visible above the horizon. She and a colleague studied the paintings carefully, keeping in mind that the sky then was different from ours today. They made measurements with an astronomical compass, and conjectured that the rays of the setting sun at the summer solstice penetrated into the cave and touched certain paintings. She checked her theory on the summer solstice, June 21^st 1999, and saw that the setting sun hit the entrance for 15 minutes, and lit up the painting of the Red Bull on the back wall of the Hall of Bulls.

Taurus the Bull depicted in a cave painting

In the prehistoric zodiac, the constellation Taurus – the Bull – culminated in the summer solstice. The entire Hall of Bulls is proposed to correspond to the constellation of Taurus. There is a picture of two bulls facing each other, these align with the constellations of Taurus and Scorpio, which are not in the sky at the same time, so strengthens the theory that prehistoric man possessed a direct knowledge of astronomy, and also mathematics as they may have had the ability to calculate and project the positions of the stars regardless of their visibility.

Some experts believe that the caves at Lascaux should be treated as an isolated incident, and that with the millions of stars in the sky, there would always be some that could be found to be in correspondence to the paintings or to anything.

We may never know the truth, but it is fascinating nevertheless.