The Lascaux Notebooks
Alongside the celebrated representational images of aurochs and mammoths in the Lascaux caves, there are much less heralded abstract markings, such as cross hatchings, curved lines, and geometric shapes. They're less discussed because they're far less understood—virtually all archaeologists insist that we, at a remove of tens of thousands of years, will never know the meaning of these signs. Jean-Luc Champerret, one of the earliest explorers of the caves, though, finds more than sense in them, he finds poetry. From these basic blocks he builds increasingly reflective messages from the distant past, not only about how life was then lived but what feelings it evoked. When you read translator Philip Terry's Englished versions of these, including one in which the speaker admits to having "eaten the fruit you were keeping in the hut / how delicious how cold," you'll appreciate how much credit he deserves for making this intriguing collection possible.
Alongside the celebrated representational images of aurochs and mammoths in the Lascaux caves, there are much less heralded abstract markings, such as cross hatchings, curved lines, and geometric shapes. They're less discussed because they're far less understood—virtually all archaeologists insist that we, at a remove of tens of thousands of years, will never know the meaning of these signs. Jean-Luc Champerret, one of the earliest explorers of the caves, though, finds more than sense in them, he finds poetry. From these basic blocks he builds increasingly reflective messages from the distant past, not only about how life was then lived but what feelings it evoked. When you read translator Philip Terry's Englished versions of these, including one in which the speaker admits to having "eaten the fruit you were keeping in the hut / how delicious how cold," you'll appreciate how much credit he deserves for making this intriguing collection possible.
Alongside the celebrated representational images of aurochs and mammoths in the Lascaux caves, there are much less heralded abstract markings, such as cross hatchings, curved lines, and geometric shapes. They're less discussed because they're far less understood—virtually all archaeologists insist that we, at a remove of tens of thousands of years, will never know the meaning of these signs. Jean-Luc Champerret, one of the earliest explorers of the caves, though, finds more than sense in them, he finds poetry. From these basic blocks he builds increasingly reflective messages from the distant past, not only about how life was then lived but what feelings it evoked. When you read translator Philip Terry's Englished versions of these, including one in which the speaker admits to having "eaten the fruit you were keeping in the hut / how delicious how cold," you'll appreciate how much credit he deserves for making this intriguing collection possible.