Stone Age Magic
By Mary-Katharine
and Laura,Cape Elizabeth, Grade 5
The Lascaux Caves are near Avignon, in Southeast France. It was
used in the Stone Age about 32, 000 years ago. In it are paintings of animals
that were alive about 32, 000 years ago. There are also hand prints.If you
at the top left hand corner above the horse, you will see a handprint. This
shows the hand size compared to the animal.
The wall started an estimated 32, 000 years ago. Some people thought that
it was hunting magic because the paintings show mostly animals. The people
who lived in the Stone Age probably painted them. They made the chalk hand
drawings by blowing chalk from a hollow tube onto their hand which
was on the wall. When they took their hand off, the chalk would be around
the handprint. People these days do not have much of an emotional reaction
to these walls because they are still trying to find out about them. We think
that it would be neat to be part of a wall like this one because we would
like to be part of history. It would be neat to visit the caves and explore
them.
The picture on the left shows someone blowing chalk on their hand to make
a handprint. There are also handprints in Australia that were done by the
Aborigines. To learn more about them, you can check out another talking walls
story.
QUESTIONS:
1. What do you think the caves
were used for?
2. Would you ever want to visit
a cave like this?
3. How do you think the people
who painted them would feel if they knew that the caves were
discovered?
4. Why do you think they used
paintings for ìhunting magicî?
For more
information:
Talking Walls, by: Margy Burns Knight, illus: Anne Sibley O'Brien,
© 1992, Tilbury House Publishers, Gardiner,
ME
Check the page on this site about Australian Talking
Walls and Tony's Wall for similar types of walls.
Painters of the Caves, by: Patricia Lauber, ©1998, National
Geographic Society
The pictures on this page came from this book.
Click here to return
to the index of "talking walls."
Click
here to return to the "Talking Walls" Project homepage.
Note: This is a student Web page. Opinions expressed on this
page shall not be attributed to the Cape Elizabeth School Department. If
you have questions about this page, please email Ms Parker:
talkingwalls@cape.k12.me.us