Before we left home I had researched archaeology in this
area and found the Parc de la Prehistoire but couldn’t decide whether it was
primarily for children. Having talked to our guide at Niaux, we decided that we
should visit especially as the discount card that we were given at Niaux
entitled us to a massive 30 cents (22p) off the entrance fee – each!
We arrived shortly after it opened at 10:00 to find very few
cars but three coaches that we correctly guessed were school parties. The
French really do these public facilities in style – the massive central
building was very attractive and artificial lakes, fountains and waterfalls
grace the front set against the backdrop of trees and mountains. The park is
very large and we started by investigating that with the first stop at a spear
throwing enclosure. Here there were models of the animals around during the Magdalenian
period and there were targets for the spear throwing. We arrived just before a
party of 28 school children so we couldn’t have a go but we watched while the
guide explained about the spears and how to throw them. The first eight
children had a go and did quite well but the spears didn’t go very far. Then
the guide told them that the Magdalenian hunters used spear throwers that
hooked onto the end of the spear and enable them to get much more speed and
accuracy in the throw. Having demonstrated how to use it, the children had a
go. The improvement was dramatic and the spears went much further – two even
hit targets!
On then to an audio-visual on hunting followed by a sound
installation in a bamboo maze. Insect, animal and bird sound led us to a central
area where they sometimes have live music.
The most impressive installation was on cave painting where
the techniques are explained, the purpose discussed and there is an opportunity
to have a go on an artificial cave wall. We were lucky, the guide was French
Canadian and the next school party wasn’t due for about half an hour. The guide
was brilliant and extremely knowledgeable. He told us about prehistoric cave
art all over Europe, the subjects, history of their discovery and he discussed
the theories about their purpose. At the end of it we felt like we had read a
text book on prehistoric cave art and understood it all. We learned so much and
I could go on for hours about it but here is one nugget that he told us. Near
Bordeaux, on the coast, divers found a painted cave that was above the water in
Magdalenian times but was flooded after the Ice Age when the sea level rose by
15 metres. By chance, an air bubble protected some cave paintings and these had
a sea theme with fish, a jellyfish(!) and a penguin. Talking about the theory
that the paintings generally might be of creatures that the people worshipped
or represented them, he said “Would you worship or want to be represented by a
jellyfish?”. The guide was hoping to be a university lecturer and very good he
will be.
The final installation in the park was a prehistoric camp
and demonstration of flint knapping and making fire. The guide didn’t speak
English but the demonstration of fire making didn’t need words. He scraped
dried bracket fungus onto a piece of leather, then, using flint, scraped some
marcasite on top and then struck the marcasite with the flint to create sparks
that set the fungus smouldering. A little gentle blowing and it was burning
enough to set fire to wood shavings. The whole operation took only a couple of
minutes.
Back then to the main building and the major exhibition. Once
again, this was done in style with no expense spared. We were greeted by large
displays showing the scenery and animals that were around in the Magdalenian
times. The animals included lion, bison and a member of the deer family, were
all full size, the latter being over 3m tall and sporting the most massive
antlers. There were extremely realistic and the lion was leaping to attack you
as you entered one of the rooms – very effective and must cause a few screams
amongst the younger visitors. Most of the exhibition concentrates on cave art
with excellent full-scale reproductions of the paintings including a huge
reproduction of a large section of the Salon Noir of the Niaux cave where more
than 80% of Niaux’s paintings are found. It was great to be able to view the
paintings at very close range, although it didn’t compare with seeing the real
thing in the cave. There were also reproductions of the engravings in Niaux,
which we didn’t see on the tour, most of which were found on the floor of the
cave. These were very impressive and the experts believe that there were
probably many more that were destroyed by early visitors to the cave who would
not have been aware of their presence. We were less impressed by a 3-D model of
the Niaux cave system showing a vertical cut through all of the cave. This was
very small, perhaps 2-3cm high and covered a large expanse of wall but was
quite difficult to see. Considering the huge expense and time that must have
been involved in its creation, I don’t think that it was worth it.
If you get a chance to visit the Parc de la Prehistoire, do
it!
We made our way down from the mountains to Foix and, after a
little supermarket shopping, settled in to the Camping du Lac next to the
Ariege river.
Photos: The Parc de la Prehistoire is its lovely setting;
Attacked by a lion; Engraving on bone from the La Vache cave; A copy of one of
the engravings on the floor of the Niaux cave; A copy of a section of Niaux’s
Salon Noir paintings and, yes, they really were that clear.
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