La Marche (cave)
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La Marche is a
cave A cave or cavern is a natural void in the ground, specifically a space large enough for a human to enter. Caves often form by the weathering of rock and often extend deep underground. The word ''cave'' can refer to smaller openings such as sea ...
and
archaeological site An archaeological site is a place (or group of physical sites) in which evidence of past activity is preserved (either prehistoric or historic or contemporary), and which has been, or may be, investigated using the discipline of archaeology a ...
located in
Lussac-les-Châteaux Lussac-les-Châteaux () is a commune in the Vienne department in the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region in western France. History Prehistory The importance of the prehistoric art at Lussac is evidenced by the presence of numerous archaeological arte ...
, a commune in the department of
Vienne Vienne (; Poitevin-Saintongeais: ''Viéne'') is a landlocked department in the French region of Nouvelle-Aquitaine. It takes its name from the river Vienne. It had a population of 438,435 in 2019.France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...
. It is an archaeological site that has engendered much debate that has not been resolved to date. The carved etchings discovered there in 1937 show detailed depictions of humans and animals that may be 15,000 years old. The
cave paintings In archaeology, Cave paintings are a type of parietal art (which category also includes petroglyphs, or engravings), found on the wall or ceilings of caves. The term usually implies prehistoric origin, and the oldest known are more than 40,000 y ...
at this site, however, are controversial and many doubt their authenticity.


Location

The La Marche cave is located in the Lussac-les-Châteaux area of western France. It is at the bottom of a small valley bordered by the Petit Moulin river. It most likely is the result of the underground tunneling of the river. Of the 350 known sites of European cave art from the
Ice Age An ice age is a long period of reduction in the temperature of Earth's surface and atmosphere, resulting in the presence or expansion of continental and polar ice sheets and alpine glaciers. Earth's climate alternates between ice ages and gre ...
, almost half are located in this country. In addition to La Marche, several other important cave sites from the Paleolithic period have been discovered in France including those at
Lascaux Lascaux ( , ; french: Grotte de Lascaux , "Lascaux Cave") is a network of caves near the village of Montignac, in the department of Dordogne in southwestern France. Over 600 parietal wall paintings cover the interior walls and ceilings of ...
, Niaux,
Trois Frères ''Trois'' is a 2000 erotic thriller film directed by Rob Hardy and produced by William Packer. It stars Gary Dourdan, Kenya Moore and Gretchen Palmer. The film was given a limited theatrical release and was one of the years highest grossing Afri ...
, Font-de-Gaume and Les Combarelles, Chauvet, Cosquer, Cussac, and
Rouffignac Rouffignac () is a commune in the Charente-Maritime department in southwestern France. Population See also * Communes of the Charente-Maritime department The following is a list of the 463 communes of the Charente-Maritime department of ...
. The artwork found in La Marche is specifically from the middle Magdalenian period, dating to approximately 14,000 or 15,000 years before the current era (BCE). Factors that made La Marche an ideal archaeological site for artwork include its usefulness as a shelter to prehistoric humans, the cultural preferences of these early people, and its relatively good preservation.


History

The La Marche cave paintings were discovered in the caves in the Lussac-les-Châteaux area of France by Léon Péricard in November 1937. Péricard, and his partner Stephane Lwoff, studied these caves for five years and found etchings on more than 1,500 slabs. In 1938, they presented their discovery to the French Prehistoric Society,Pales, Leon. ''Les Gravures de la Marche: Felins et Ours.'' 1. (Bordeaux: Imprimeries Delmas), 1969. and published them in the Society's ''Bulletin''.Léon Péricard and Stéphane Lwoff, "La Marche, commune de Lussac-les-Châteaux (Vienne): Premier atelier de Magdalénien III à dalles gravées mobiles (campagnes de fouilles 1937-1938)", ''Bulletin de la Société préhistorique française'' 37.7-9 (1940:149-54); 154 Stéphane Lwoff, "Fouilles Péricard et Lwoff à La Marche (Vienne) - Industrie de l'Os", ''Bulletin de la Société préhistorique française'' 39.1/2 (1942:51-64). Many people questioned the validity of these findings, however, stating that they made that judgment because the paintings closely resembled modern art. In the lectures that Lwoff gave about the caves, he gave his audience false information, thus discrediting the findings of the team significantly. The initial effect was that the caves failed to be considered as important discoveries. The caves were studied again in 1938 and 1939 by a French priest,
Henri Breuil Henri Édouard Prosper Breuil (28 February 1877 – 14 August 1961), often referred to as Abbé Breuil, was a French Catholic priest, archaeologist, anthropologist, ethnologist and geologist. He is noted for his studies of cave art in the Somme an ...
. Breuil's results were similar to Péricard's findings, and therefore, more people began to believe in the authenticity of the paintings. After this, however, La Marche was not studied until recently. In 2002, Péricard's findings were reevaluated by Dr. Michael Rappenglueck of
Munich University The Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich (simply University of Munich or LMU; german: Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München) is a public research university in Munich, Germany. It is Germany's sixth-oldest university in continuous operatio ...
. He believes that Péricard's findings are valid and has initiated a more thorough study of the caves. He also states that a large portion of the paintings were lost during Péricard's excavations: in his attempt to examine the walls, Péricard completely ignored the cave floors that possibly displayed even more paintings and etchings than the walls, destroying many of these in the process. Dr. Rappenglueck suggests that a detailed study of the cave floors may bring to light pieces of the puzzle advancing the credibility of Péricard's original discovery.


Finds at La Marche

When French scientist Léon Péricard excavated La Marche between 1937 and 1942, he catalogued more than 1,500 slabs of
limestone Limestone ( calcium carbonate ) is a type of carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of . Limestone forms whe ...
that had been placed carefully on the floor. In the past two decades an extensive inventory of the cave has been taken. 1,512 pieces have been found and numbered, 386 of which were deemed as compositional entities. The content of these etchings include
animal Animals are multicellular, eukaryotic organisms in the Kingdom (biology), biological kingdom Animalia. With few exceptions, animals Heterotroph, consume organic material, Cellular respiration#Aerobic respiration, breathe oxygen, are Motilit ...
s, such as lions and bears, along with 155 depictions of humans, clad in robes and boots, each with their own well-defined faces.


Style

The intricate portraits found in La Marche do not resemble the stick figure style that commonly had been found before that time in prehistoric cave paintings.http://antiquity.ac.uk/Ant/052/Ant0520074.htm (not free) Instead, these portraits are more lifelike and realistic. The engravings also are more complex and present in higher qualities than at other sites. Many of the figures are superimposed over one another with a single figure cut out multiple times. This style made the engravings hard to isolate and decipher when they were first discovered in 1937 and also added to the doubt of the site's authenticity.


Humans

Péricard originally found 69 human figurines in the caves. There were 49 etchings of heads alone and 18 with the whole body. All together, there were 50 etchings of females, 12 of males, and 5 that were of indeterminate gender. Eventually, 155 human figurines were found. When studying the heads and faces of the human etchings, Péricard took detailed observations of the eyes, ears, and nose. He also studied skull structure, such as the shape of the chin and cheekbones. He noticed that there were different types of facial features for each etching. This shows that the etchings were differentiated for different people. A person was identified by certain facial characteristics and this was mirrored by the etching.Pales, Leon. Les Gravures de la Marche: Humains. 2. Bordeaux: Imprimeries Delmas, 1969. This differentiation can extend to simply determining the gender of the subject. By combining different facial features, scientists often are able to determine the gender of a figure by its face alone because of gender differences in structures. The etchings of the bodies in La Marche have distinct characteristics as well. Generally, the etchings are those of women. The bodies of the women were constructed in a diamond shape, with a small head, large abdomens suggesting obesity, and small feet. Men also were etched with large bodies, although this was not so prominent in the men as it was in the women. Bodies also are extremely useful in determining the gender of an etching, in that they portrayed the
secondary sex characteristics Secondary sex characteristics are features that appear during puberty in humans, and at sexual maturity in other animals. These characteristics are particularly evident in the sexually dimorphic phenotypic traits that distinguish the sexes of a s ...
. In addition, many of the engravings show people wearing hats, robes, and boots. Although this does not coincide with the previously accepted view of prehistoric people, it may be because paintings depicting clothed humans were destroyed in the other caves while scientists were studying the walls.


Constellations

Additionally, Dr. Michael Rappenglueck has noted pits arranged like certain star constellations on the cave floor. One constellation on La Marche's floor, the
Pleiades The Pleiades (), also known as The Seven Sisters, Messier 45 and other names by different cultures, is an asterism and an open star cluster containing middle-aged, hot B-type stars in the north-west of the constellation Taurus. At a distance ...
, has been found engraved on the walls of
Neolithic The Neolithic period, or New Stone Age, is an Old World archaeological period and the final division of the Stone Age. It saw the Neolithic Revolution, a wide-ranging set of developments that appear to have arisen independently in several p ...
caves, but rarely on those of the Paleolithic. Dr. Rappenglueck has suggested that these pits might have been filled with animal fat and set on fire to replicate the stars in the sky. If so, Rappenglueck ventures, this site could mark the origin of the candlelit festivals in the Far East that also celebrate the Pleiades.


Controversy


At the time of discovery

Péricard and Lwoff were the main contributors to the discovery and created the original documents concerning the findings at La Marche. These documents focused mostly the depictions of humans. When the documents were presented before the French Prehistoric Society, they were greeted with skepticism. This especially came from their colleagues in the northern region of France, which was occupied by
Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...
during that period of
World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...
. The publication of the discovery in 1941 did not present information that coincided with the original documents created and presented by Lwoff and Péricard. Although certain commentaries by Lwoff and Péricard were meant to open up a discussion about the site's validity, the reaction was one of skepticism. More doubt was raised due to a number of lectures regarding La Marche given by Lwoff. Lwoff's lectures included incorrect facts. This point may be noted in one of the lectures given by Lwoff in
Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...
regarding L'homme de Lussac. At the same time, the French Prehistoric Society supported the findings at La Marche and attested to the authenticity of the paintings even if some of the details were questionable. The official report from the French Prehistoric Society states that the findings at La Marche are completely authentic. This statement was not enough to quell the skepticism of many prehistorians, however. It seems that the skepticism was not disarmed until 1942 at the reception of a letter and report from a
priest A priest is a religious leader authorized to perform the sacred rituals of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and one or more deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in partic ...
and archaeologist,
Henri Breuil Henri Édouard Prosper Breuil (28 February 1877 – 14 August 1961), often referred to as Abbé Breuil, was a French Catholic priest, archaeologist, anthropologist, ethnologist and geologist. He is noted for his studies of cave art in the Somme an ...
. This priest had been to La Marche and searched it for three weeks, seeing all of the material found from its discovery up until April 1940. Ultimately, his report dispelled much of the doubt and skepticism within the archaeological community. More recently French archaeologist
André Leroi-Gourhan André Leroi-Gourhan (; ; 25 August 1911 – 19 February 1986) was a French archaeologist, paleontologist, paleoanthropologist, and anthropologist with an interest in technology and aesthetics and a penchant for philosophical reflection. ...
analyzed the technique of the etchings. His findings indicate that the drawings are too complicated to come from the era to which they have been dated. He believes that the searches do not yield enough hard evidence to be proven authentic. He compared La Marche to another cave,
Angles-sur-l'Anglin Angles-sur-l'Anglin (, literally ''Angles on the Anglin'') is a commune in the Vienne department in the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region in western France. It has been selected as one of the most beautiful villages of France. The Château d'Angles-sur ...
, which has provided more detailed proof, whereas La Marche's information is not as clear-cut. The doubt regarding the engravings has had many consequences on the development of the discovery. Due to the high degree of skepticism, the findings were not exposed immediately at the Museum de Saint Germain. This has allowed for further study and preservation of the artifacts found at La Marche. Upon closer examination, the quality and nature of the etchings are extremely important contributions to the study of cave people.


Further debates

Certain findings at La Marche have led to greater debate over the origin and development of
writing systems A writing system is a method of visually representing verbal communication, based on a script and a set of rules regulating its use. While both writing and speech are useful in conveying messages, writing differs in also being a reliable form ...
. In particular, an engraved reindeer antler from La Marche has provided proof that more sophisticated systems of symbols existed during the Paleolithic period than once believed.Rudgely, Richard (1999). The Lost Civilizations of the Stone Age (pp. 81-84). Simon and Schuster.
Francesco d'Errico Francesco d'Errico (born 24 September 1957 in Foggia, Italy) is an archaeologist who works as CNRS Director of Research at the University of Bordeaux in France and Professor at the Centre for Early Sapiens Behaviour, University of Bergen. In 2 ...
, an archaeologist who analyzed the antler, sees it as proof that humans at this time had “ artificial memory systems,” that enabled them to record various groupings of information. As a result, this discovery has forced anthropologists to reconsider such fundamental concepts as cognitive evolution and the definition of
writing Writing is a medium of human communication which involves the representation of a language through a system of physically inscribed, mechanically transferred, or digitally represented symbols. Writing systems do not themselves constitute h ...
. d’Errico argues that cognitive evolution, or the assumption that writing systems naturally became more complex over time, does not apply in the case of the antler, which contains a more advanced recording system than that of the early Neolithic period. Thus, d’Errico does not agree that artifacts such as the reindeer antler may be classified fairly as from the pre-writing period, as they always have been. This recent debate between archaeologists may be seen as even further proof that scientific opinion is increasingly favoring La Marche as an authentic site.


See also

*
Art of the Upper Paleolithic The art of the Upper Paleolithic represents the oldest form of prehistoric art. Figurative art is present in Europe and Southeast Asia, beginning between about 40,000 to 35,000 years ago. Non-figurative cave paintings, consisting of hand ...
*
List of Stone Age art This is a descriptive list of Stone Age art, the period of prehistory characterised by the widespread use of stone tools. This article contains, by sheer volume of the artwork discovered, a very incomplete list of the works of the painters, sculpt ...


Sources


External links

* Whitehouse, David (28 May 2002).
Faces from the Ice Age
" ''BBC News''. {{DEFAULTSORT:Marche, cave Caves of Nouvelle-Aquitaine History of Vienne Prehistoric sites in France Caves containing pictograms in France Landforms of Vienne