Sealed in Time : Musings on the unparalled Chauvet Cave.

The Smithsonian is a wonderful magazine. I anticipate its articles each time, and this week I found myself revisiting the article from April 2015, "Dream Machine", about the Chauvet Cave and the marvelous efforts to preserve intact what is considered the most spectacular find and collection of Paleolithic cave art in the world. The cave in the Ardeche department of Southern France depicts at least 13 different animal species, many of them predatory animals like cave lions, panthers, bears and cave hyenas. The most famous paintings are in a part of the cave that is called the Gallery of Lions. The lions look so modern and real in the artists' rendering, it is spellbinding to look at the images. I felt myself drawn in by them, and wondered what compelled this masterpiece of Upper Paleolithic cave art. Some of the answers will perhaps forever elude us. It seems that at best anthropologists can ultimately only speculate as to the final truth as to what the deeper significance of the Chauvet Cave means when it comes to its purpose and function, other than concluding it must have been a place of ritual and spiritual importance. Since there was no way to leave a written explanation behind by the artists who created this marvel, we will always be left partially in the dark. But that only enhances the mystique of the cave,at least for me. There is apparently evidence of human hand prints and even a child's footprint, which may be the earliest known measurable human footprint to date. It fills one with questions and a hypnotic kind of wonder. The cave was sealed off by a rock slide that occurred 29,000 years ago. That alone is mind blowing. What are the chances? It was sealed in time 29,000 years only to be discovered in 1994. Did the artists know the weightiness of what they were doing when they were creating this Stone Age wonder? Did they feel a sense of urgency, of focused drive, hoping their artwork would survive? They would have had no way to even imagine it would take 29,000 years for their work and effort to be discovered. It is good that every so often the seemingly blurry line of human existence gets turned on its head by marvelous discoveries like the Chauvet Cave. Somehow I feel better about humans today, that sometimes it takes an enormous amount of time, patience, faith for things to fall into place. I find inspiration in reading and learning about the art of the Chauvet Cave. It is giving me a renewed sense of hope for my own small life and the patience it requires me to work through it as someone trying to break through anonymity while pursuing my writing and my tapestry art. I often feel so invisible and insignificant, isolated and alone, wondering if any of my art, stories, poems will ever be remembered or read on a significant level. I can wait, and maybe that is just what I will have to do. I am hoping it will not be 29,000 years, because by then, it seems humans will be deep into another ice age or other comparable calamity. But, who knows, ice preserves well, right ?  When all is said and done, the artists of Chauvet Cave painted with a deep passion, and it seems from history that artistic fire is often enough for the gods to grant the survival, ultimately, of artistic efforts, from Paleolithic times to Postmodern times. Here's hoping. I have plenty of fuel for my passion to write and create art, and I am counting on that fire to outlast any chills coming my way. But what the hell, it seems even an Ice Age can trigger fabulous art. I can just imagine the hint of a smile on the artists' faces as they worked their skills in the depths of that large, willing cave in Southern France, perhaps marveling that the opportunity presented itself considering the inhospitable climate of the times. Modern humans should take heart. We are apparently quite resilient. I certainly feel resilient today.