French caves
We read Wolf Brother by Michelle Paver. It was gripping and actually a talking book! Thank you library. Henry also read "The boy of the painted cave" by Justin Denzel.
In France we visited a cave that had lots of marvellous creations by dripping water. I had read about Chauvet cave where the best and earliest cave drawings have been found, but no one can enter that cave.
The caves were Aven d'Orgnac in the Ardeche. There was a museum associated with the caves that had some copies of the Chauvet drawings. Also tools and great dsiplays.
When we completed our time line of the world war, the boys birthdays and so on the painted drawings went back as far as 35 m into the roll of cash register paper. Yet all our immediate family history is on the first 1cm of it!
Italian discoveries
Max, iceman!
A highlight, without a doubt, of the whole trip was the Iceman museum in Bolzano, Italy (after leaving Cortina) of Otzi (You need two dots over the o and say it as "Ertzi") This museum was wondrous and we were all enthralled. It was also cool after the 35 odd degrees outside!
The oldest wet mummy known to us, Ozti is 5300 years old and was found in 1991 in the Gardena Pass area.
"A prehistoric criminal case: we know in detail what he ate and also the diseases he suffered during his life." He is a neolithic or new stone age man and his tribe used Copper (99.7% pure) to make axe heads. His copper headed adze type tool was still attached to its wooden shaft and the glues and bindings could all be admired. The tools, medecines, fire kit and clothing were found with him well preserved and are now on display along with the man himself. We were all awed by the site of a fellow human from so long ago. The boys were all especially awed as they each discovered him in their own time. He was clever and could have easily outwitted any of us in his environment. Reading about Torak in Wolf Brother really helped get a feel for the life of a "primitive" person. This term is used to try to show how simple yet how complex his life was really. All his decisions influenced his life and survival every day. His clothing was recreated for us. We saw how it had been expertly sewn but repaired, probably by Otzi himself in less precise stitches. We learnt how his tribe may have lived as we know his last meals. We tried to imagine his death high in the mountains with fresh arrow wounds to his shoulder. The shaft had been snapped off but the fine barbed stone flutes and their wooden dowel were still in him. Some one tried to kill him and he had suffered severe privations (lack of food) for three periods not long before he died. Yet his undoubtedly surperb tools were not taken. He was obviously of high rank to have a copper tool in a still largely stone age society. What could have been going on. Where was he going?
The history of human endeavour for 1500 years was covered. The Roman section was also great. It showed how romans heated their houses in this alpine region.
To make the experience even better the children's room was sublime, as Henry put it! They had the most beautiful blinds of prehistoric drawings over the windows. Plus costumes, books and resources in all languages, art materials etc. These included earth coloured artists' chalks presented in clay beakers, baskets of string, wood, branches, fibre, copper and leather to name a few crafting materials. We were a bit late to our next stop!
All put on by the tireless Editor....
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