[The public can now experience famous prehistoric paintings in the Lascaux caves in France via virtual reality, as reported in this short Reuters story. See the original story for a one-minute video and see WION for a 3:09 minute video report. For more on this topic see “Did art peak 30,000 years ago? How cave paintings became my lockdown obsession“ in The Guardian and a February 2020 Engadget story that says a new Google “exhibit is the closest you’ll ever get to standing inside” France’s Chauvet Cave. –Matthew]
[Image: The Lascaux caves in south-western France. Credit: Tuul & Bruno Morandi/Getty. Source: “‘Humans were not centre stage’: How ancient cave art puts us in our place” in The Guardian]
Virtual reality brings prehistoric Lascaux caves back into view
June 25, 2021
Reporting by Lea Guedj; Editing by Richard Lough and Andrew Heavens
PARIS, June 24 (Reuters) – Nearly six decades after France’s prehistoric Lascaux caves were made off-limits, visitors will be once again be able to tour the site – only this time in virtual reality.
The cave network, discovered in 1940 by a boy whose dog fell down a hole, contains paintings of animals, human figures and abstract signs that date back as far as 17,000 years.
“We have two sections that have not been seen (by the public) before,” said Muriel Mauriac, conservation manager at the Lascaux caves. “No one could access them because you needed to find your way through very narrow passages.”
From July 8th, groups of six people wearing virtual reality headsets will be able to take a 45-minute tour through the 235 metre-long cave network, dubbed the Sistine Chapel of the prehistoric era.
The cave, located near the village of Montignac in France’s Dordogne region, was closed to the public in 1963 after the carbon dioxide, heat and humidity of nearly 2,000 visitors a day began damaging the paintings.
In the most famous section, the Hall of the Bulls, horses, stags and a bear are depicted.