新托福阅读真题详解:Lascaux Cave Paintings 拉斯科岩洞画

　　In Southwest France in the 1940’s, playing children discovered Lascaux Grotto, a series ofnarrow cave chambers that contain huge prehistoric paintings of animals. Many of thesebeasts are as large as 16 feet (almost 5 meters). Some follow each other in solemn parades,but others swirl about, sideways and upside down. The animals are bulls, wild horses, reindeer,bison, and mammoths outlined with charcoal and painted mostly in reds, yellow, and browns.Scientific analysis reveals that the colors were derived from ocher and other iron oxides groundinto a fine powder. Methods of applying color varied: some colors were brushed or smearedon rock surfaces and others were blown or sprayed. It is possible that tubes made from animalbones were used for spraying because hollow bones, some stained with pigment, have beenfound nearby.

　　One of the most puzzling aspects of the paintings is their location. Other rock paintings—forexample, those of Bushmen in South Africa—are either located near cave entrances orcompletely in the open. Cave paintings in France and Spain, however, are in recesses andcaverns far removed from original cave entrances. This means that artists were forced to workin cramped spaces and without sources of natural light. It also implies that whoever madethem did not want them to be easily found. Since cave dwellers normally lived close toentrances, there must have been some reason why so many generations of Lascaux cavedwellers hid their art.

　　Scholars offer three related but different opinions about the mysterious origin and significanceof these paintings. One opinion is that the paintings were a record of seasonal migrations madeby herds. Because some paintings were made directly over others, obliterating them, it isprobable that a painting’s value ended with the migration it pictured. Unfortunately, thisexplanation fails to explain the hidden locations, unless the migrations were celebrated withsecret ceremonies.

　　Another opinion is that the paintings were directly related to hunting and were an essentialpart of a special preparation ceremony. This opinion holds that the pictures and whateverceremony they accompanied were an ancient method of psychologically motivating hunters.It is conceivable that before going hunting the hunters would draw or study pictures ofanimals and imagine a successful hunt. Considerable support