The Wisdom of the Ice

The Wisdom of Ice-Age Man at Lascaux

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In southwestern France an underground cave called “Lascaux” has walls and ceilings decorated with approximately 1,500 engravings and 600 paintings of horses, deer, goats and bison. The rock art dates from 15,000 BCE to 9,000 BCE, with most of the work from the earlier part of this period. On one wall of this gallery the early art consists of a series of markings along the apparent path of a horse, as shown to the left and sketched in Figure 1 below. Thirteen dots are succeeded with a box that reaches up from the center to form the animal’s front legs. Another wall has a roaring male red deer (Cervus elapus) that walks on a row of 13 large dots followed by a rectangle, as pictured in Figure 2. Markings totaling the number 13 are seen with other animals at Lascaux. Another set of 13 lines flanks an engraved 6-½ foot high red deer, called “The Major Stag.” as pictured in Figure 3. Few published images picture each complete set of symbols with the corresponding animals. Most texts suggest the works were a mixture of magic, ceremonial art, rituals and drug-induced trances. A common belief is that the Ice-age men painted the animals so as to harness the spirit of the beasts and make them more successful hunters. These ideas seem reasonable if you believe that magic can help you to put food in the pot. An alternative and more practical explanation is that the 13 marks signify the number of nights counted from the Crescent Moon to first Full Moon.

Biological Time provides evidence that these large mammals are timed by the rhythms of light and darkness, as cued by the movements of the sun and moon, and that these and other works at Lascaux are Ice-age man's calendar that told him when, where and how to hunt. This is what was truly important to Ice-age man. They were not alone. Tribes in North America count the lunar cycle in this manner, hunt to the phases of the moon and have similar rock art images. Learn more about the deer & elk as explained in the Biological Time Hypothesis. All biological suggestions are supported in the book with either hard data collected from governmental agencies and/or previously published studies from the primary literature.

Figure 1: This horse in the Lascaux cave rides on a series of painted markings. Thirteen dots are succeeded with a box that reaches up from center to form the animal’s front legs. This box likely signifies the Full Moon period when animals group.

Figure 2: This Lascaux Cave red deer is roaring during the Full Moon period, as signified by the window after the 13 markings (nights from the first Crescent Moon to the Full Moon). The stag (male) roars to call in the hind (female). Animals herd during this period and are much easier to find and harvest at night with primitive equipment.

Figure 3: 13 lines flanks this engraved 6-½ foot high red deer at the Lascaux caves, called “The Major Stag.” These markings signify the lead up period of the lunar month from the Crescent Moon to the Full Moon when this large mammal groups. Note the two marks above the belly. This is a kill shot from the rear, through the liver and into the lungs. A shot from this direction would save the precious hunting implement from damage and ensure a kill.

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