Replicating Wonders Of a Prehistoric Cave
史前洞穴奇觀 精心複製
By Alissa J. Rubin

CHAUVET CAVE, France – After the retreat of Neanderthals across the European continent, modern humans made their way to this cave and began to create the first known works of pictorial art: buffalos surging across the rock background, lions searching for mates and dark-maned horses cantering.
尼安德塔人從整個歐洲大陸消失後，現代人類來到了這個洞穴，並開始創造出繪畫藝術已知的第一批作品：水牛奔騰在岩石背景前，獅子求偶，深鬃馬慢跑。

Twenty years after these cave paintings were discovered near the Ardèche River in south-central France, they remain closed to the public for preservation’s sake. But a replica built nearby at a cost of $59 million opened recently, allowing the public to approximate the experience of the cave explorers who found the paintings.
在法國中南部阿爾代什河附近發現這些洞穴繪畫已廿年，為良好保存而迄未對外開放。不過，岩洞附近另一花費5900萬美元打造的複製岩洞已在最近揭幕，可讓民眾體驗洞穴探險家發現這些繪畫的類似經歷。

The rock art in the Chauvet cave, created 32,000 to 36,000 years ago, puts flesh and fur and character onto a world previously known largely through fossil remains. Although archaeologists have recorded the impulse to create art in markings on rock and carved beads as far back as 75,000 years ago, the workmanship in these cave paintings is of another order. The subject matter, the animal world, is familiar, creating a remarkable feeling of connection with the distant past. The paintings are among the world’s most celebrated prehistoric artworks.
這些在雪維岩洞內，繪於3.2萬至3.6萬年前的岩畫，為之前大體透過化石了解的世界添加了血肉、毛皮和特徵。雖然考古學家已透過一些岩石的標記和刻珠，發現人類創造藝術的衝動最早可溯至7.5萬年前，這些洞穴繪畫的技藝卻另成一格。它的題材，動物世界，是我們熟悉的，讓人產生與遠古相連結的奇妙感受。這些繪畫堪稱全球最知名的史前藝術品。

“The skill of these artists, the painting, is amazing,” said Jean Clottes, the French archaeologist.
法國考古學家強．克勞特說：「這些藝術家的功力，還有繪畫本身，非常了得。」

“The walls are covered with engravings; the bison here appears to have eight legs – it’s as if he’s running,” Mr. Clottes said.
克勞特說：「壁上滿布刻畫；這裡的野牛有八隻腳，有如在奔馳。」

The first step in making the replica was erecting scaffolding and then covering it with a mortar that simulated the rock surface of the original cave. Photographs of the original paintings were projected onto the surface of the newly created rock. Artists led by, among others, Gilles Tosello, an expert in this prehistoric era, painstakingly copied the paintings with the same materials the original artists also used, charcoal made from Sylvester pine trees and ocher paint made from minerals.
複製的第一步是架設鷹架，再在鷹架上覆蓋灰泥，仿造原始洞穴的岩石表面。原始岩畫的照片投影在新造岩石表面。一些藝術家由史前時代專家吉勒．托塞羅等人領軍，以原始藝術家使用的相同原料，松樹製成的炭筆和礦物製成的赭漆，精心複製這些畫。

While the paintings have been reproduced at the same size as the originals, the replica over all is slightly less than half the size of the 8,500-square-meter cave.
雖然畫作與原始作品大小一致 ，但整個複製洞穴約是原始8500平方公尺洞穴的一半再小一些。

Of the more than 1,000 creatures inventoried on the walls of the Chauvet cave, just one appears to be human: a woman with the head of a bison, suggesting to some that the cave was used for shamanistic practices. There are also several images of vulvas, presumably a tribute to the power to give birth.
出現在雪維岩洞壁上的千餘生物，只有一個看似人類，一個有野牛頭的女性，有些人因此認為洞穴主要用來舉行薩滿教儀式。還有數個女陰的圖像，應該是為頌讚生育能力。

Jean-Marie Chauvet, Éliette Brunel-Deschamps and Christian Hillaire, all cavers, were exploring the cliffs just above the Ardèche River in 1994 and found an opening that they thought might lead to an underground chamber. As Ms. Brunel-Deschamps took in her surroundings, she cried out, “They have been here!” Who “they” were is an irresistible question to anyone who sees this art.
強-瑪麗．雪維、艾麗葉．布魯內-戴尚和克希斯欽．希雷赫是三位洞穴探險家，1994年他們在阿爾代什河上方的懸崖上探險時，發現了一個洞口，以為它可能通往一個地下穴室。布魯內-戴尚入洞後大喊：「他們曾在這裡。」「他們」是誰，是任何見過這項藝術的人都禁不住想問的問題。

Archaeologists have pondered how and why early man used the cave. Geologists and paleontologists have helped to date, not just the paintings but the other artifacts found in the cave’s chambers, including the charred wood and ashes of fires that the artists made to create the charcoal they used on the walls. There have been academic disputes about the exact dating of the cave as well as different hypotheses about the purpose of the decorations.
考古學家不斷在探究，早期人類究竟如何及為何使用這個洞穴。地質學家和古生物學家試圖協助確立年代，不僅是繪畫，還有洞穴中其他石室發現的文物，包括那些藝術家製造岩壁上作畫所用炭筆而產生的燒焦木頭和灰燼。洞穴的確切年代及這些裝飾的目的相關假設，一再引發學術論戰。

Inevitably, the replica does not reproduce the original cave’s air of mystery and grandeur or the sense of a profound encounter with the past. But the copied paintings capture the spirit of the originals, bringing the animals to life as they pace gracefully and powerfully across the rock, a tribute to the eternal drive of artists to capture life.
無可避免地，複製的岩洞並無法讓原始洞穴的神秘和莊嚴感再生，也無法令人產生與遠古深刻交會的感受。不過，複製的畫成功捕捉了原畫的精神，動物栩栩如生，在岩牆上邁開優雅有力的步伐，美哉藝術家捕捉生命的永恆努力。

原文參照：
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/25/arts/design/the-chauvet-caves-hyperreal-wonders-replicated.html

2015-05-26聯合報/G5版/UNITED DAILY NEWS 王麗娟譯 原文參見紐時週報十二版上