what on earth
July 16, 2011
[...] In 1864 Dr Garrigou visited the cave of Niaux, whose paintings, particularly in the Salon noir, have now long been recognized as masterpieces of Quaternary art and could not fail to attract the attention of even the most uninformed visitor. Nevertheless, although he had just explored the rock shelter of Bruniquel in the Tarn, and was therefore aware of the existence of a Palaeolithic art, he merely made the following entry in his diary: ‘There are some paintings on the wall. What on earth can they be?‘
—Annette Laming (trans. Eleanore Frances Armstrong), Lascaux: Paintings and Engravings (Penguin Books, 1959), p.16
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