In chapter 8 (pg. 165), Curtis begins his adventure into Les Trios-Freres with Robert Begouen. He goes into great detail about the preparation of getting dressed before entering and the difficulties he had as he made his way into the cave. As he ventures deeper into the cave he begins to notice that the people that made art within these caves must have known these caves very well, and prepared for creating art on the cave walls. Without a light it would be close to impossible to find your way out of one of these caves. He finds that there are “painted signs” that are possible indicators to cave visitors of what is where. A lot of these markers are found deep within the cave, Curtis writes that is there was anything else used as a marker it must’ve been picked up by someone on the way out. Curtis describes the cave and how even though he knows that there is no such thing as monsters that could possibly be lurking in the cave’s shadows, there are still noises and echoes that the cave produces. Robert leads Curtis throughout the cave and points out where ancient people have painted. Curtis has the opportunity to view things such as hand prints that have been stenciled on the wall by the artist blowing red paint around their hand. They continue on through the cave, viewing a variety of animals, shapes and scribbles along the cave walls. Curtis has a very, sort of spiritual experience when he sees a shell that was placed in a little cubby in the cave wall. He begins to wonder who put that shell there and when? How long has it been there sense or does it have any significance besides being incredibly old?
Towards the final part of the chapter Curtis encounters my favorite piece that I have read about so far called The Sorcerer. Located on the cave walls near the ceiling this figure looks like a horse, buck, and man all combined into one. I find this figure extremely intriguing because I think that it must’ve had some great significance to whoever created it. I really wish I could see the Sorcerer for myself. Just reading about Curtis’s experience made me really curious about what this figure looks like in person. The illustration in the book is an interpretation, I imagine that this image looks much different in real life. At the end of the chapter, once all the cave exploration was over with, Curtis has a really hard time trying to figure out what he was feeling. I could completely understand that. It takes a little time to sort out thoughts and feelings, especially towards something as amazing to see as this. Seeing something like the art in these caves would be a magical experience that not many people have the chance to do.
I really like how you discussed the spiritual aspect of walking through the caves. All the most respected theories surrounding the interpretations of the cave paintings generally relate to the works being spiritually tied to the societies that created them, so to hear about a scholar entering the caves and feeling a spiritual connection is interesting.
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