Before the Word Came...

If you saw the movie, Ice Age, you will remember the scene where the animals walk into a cave to find their likenesses etched on the walls. Kind of cheesy sentimental moment, when the mammoth remembers his parents as he sees the signs of an animal hunt drawn on the cave walls.

Before the age of the wood tablets and stylus, much before the invention of ink and paper, early man found his own way of leaving behind a record of himself. This urge to say something, leave an tiny imprint on the gigantic face of time - looks like it has been there forever, from ice-age man to present-day blogger. (Ok, Ok, I admit that’s slightly ambitious for the blogger, but no harm in being optimistic). It was also probably a part of early human rites and rituals conducted to appease the elements.

I am not a history or paleontology student, so I just stumbled upon this site of the Chauvet cave artin Southern France by chance. It’s a lovely site, in terms of design as well as content…This is the account of how the cave was first ‘discovered’.

“They explored almost the entire network of chambers and galleries, and on the way back out, Éliette saw an amazing sight in the beam of her lamp: a small mammoth drawn with red ochre on a rocky spur hanging from the ceiling. "They were here!" she cried out, and from that instant they began searching all of the walls with great attention.”

I like the way they describe the moment of discovery, so exciting and yet almost in a matter-of-fact manner!