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| Photo: C Dear |
I have made a replica of the Lascaux rope using lime bast. This rope fragment was found in the painted caves of Lascaux in southern France in 1953 and is an indication that people were making complex ropes 17,000 years ago. This fragment of rope, 12mm in diameter, was in fact one of a series of fragments which were embedded in clay in the wall between two chambers and acted as a hand hold when moving in the dark between chambers.
The rope is made from three two-ply cords, S-twist for the three initial cords and Z-twist for the final three twisted together. This represents a deep understanding of string and cord making, working with separate elements and combining cords to give maximum strength. As Elizabeth Wayland Barber highlights ‘they had probably been practising for five to ten thousand years’ (Barber 1995).
The rope is made from three two-ply cords, S-twist for the three initial cords and Z-twist for the final three twisted together. This represents a deep understanding of string and cord making, working with separate elements and combining cords to give maximum strength. As Elizabeth Wayland Barber highlights ‘they had probably been practising for five to ten thousand years’ (Barber 1995).
Analysis on the rope shows that it was made from vegetal fibre but it is too degraded for this to be specific.
‘In summary, laboratory research that could be done despite the state of advanced
fossilisation of this rope shows that it was a vegetable matter with lignin fibres, not
necessarily of cortical origin, a rather pronounced peatification making it no longer
possible to distinguish the shape of the fibrous cells that would have then made it
possible to determine the nature of the plant used.’ (Hitchcock 2020)
fossilisation of this rope shows that it was a vegetable matter with lignin fibres, not
necessarily of cortical origin, a rather pronounced peatification making it no longer
possible to distinguish the shape of the fibrous cells that would have then made it
possible to determine the nature of the plant used.’ (Hitchcock 2020)
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| Photo: C Dear |
For me making this replica really highlighted their understanding of materials and techniques. The three individual cords are S-twist which is the opposite of my normal working process and then these three are twisted together in the opposite way with a Z-twist. This has made me reflect on both left and right handedness in regard to making string and how this may have influenced developments. It also highlighted that certain materials imply a specific twist due to the process needed to make string from that material. For example if you use a material, like bast, that is able to be rolled, this would logically be away from you, therefore forming an S-twist, while if using whole rushes by hand twisting this can be an S-twist or Z-twist depending on which hand is holding and which twisting.
It has also made me think about the actual people making the rope 17,000 years ago, were they working together as a group, chatting about things or was it one person’s job…References -
Barber, E.W (1995) Women’s work the first 20,000 years London, New York: W.W Norton p.53
Don’s maps (2020) A rope from Lascaux caves [online]. Available from <https://donsmaps.com/lascauxrope.html> [2 May 2022]