ABSTRACT
In this paper I examine the eponymous ‘shaft scene’ shaft’ (la scene du puits) in the cave of Lascaux (Dordogne, France), drawing on the ‘archaeology of art’ proposed by Jones and Cochrane. I begin by a process of induction, examining the formal properties of the imagery and contextualizing the ‘scene’ in relation to the rock surface, as well as its location within the cave architecture. I suggest the cave artist(s) and the materials at play in the shaft-scene were involved in a relational process of what Jones and Cochrane term ‘intra-action’ and ‘affect.’ The assemblage of visual and material elements presents a range of possible affects suggestive of certain ontological parameters, pertaining to aggression, sexuality, transformation and death. I explore these themes in terms of ethnographic data on hunter-gatherer communities, specifically Willerslev’s work on the animist Siberian Yukaghir, whose hunters and ritual specialists attempt to negotiate successfully the complexities and dangers of human–animal relations.
