Trois freres - France
When the eyes became a lion
The return of Halley's Comet almost never came unnoticed. When it returned it could be seen, by naked eye, for a couple of days up to a couple of months. It stayed in the vicinity of the sun, at least for a couple of days, and its structure looked like the feathers of a bird, or the manes of a horse or, depending on the position of the earth, on perihelion passage and on frontal view, as the horns of a bull or buffalo. Images of horns in ancient cave-art seem tobe 'heavenly' related to this remarkable astronomical event that occurs every about 75/76 years.
When Halley's Comet swings around the sun, fullspeed, the sunlight lightens up its magnicent tails. In history there are many references to 'hair' as a metaphor of Halley's Comet. It will come of no surprise that the ancient hunters identified the 'hairy' comet with the animals they knew: the cave lion, the buffalo, the horse... By painting the animals they are telling us: we have seen the comet. They might be considered metaphors and the first proof of cometbased religion.
Because the comet, either they did or did not realise it was a astronomical object, came from the black universe they might have decided to choose for the blackness of caves to make their fresco's. If you want to see them you have to light up the interior just as Halley's Comet lighted up their lives. The return of Halley's Comet has always had a relation with fire. The ancients must have wondered how it is possible to come so close to the sun and don't get burned. Clearly the object itself must have been of a special nature. God send.
It seemed to return on regular bases and I think they related its return to death. Probably to re-birth...
Trois Freres
Cave of the Trois Freres show evidence of an old, now forgotten, wisdom: the parallel heliacal rising of Venus and Jupiter in the year of Halley's Comet return. Every third return of Halley's Comet planet Jupiter can be found in the constellation of Leo. When Halley's Comet returned observers sometimes would notice the (close) parallel heliacal rising of planet Jupiter and planet Venus. Clearly the frontal view of a cavedrawing shows the two eyes of a cave-lion.The right eye appears to be smaller than the left one: this might be Jupiter. The left one is probably Venus. Is it possible to find the years of Halley's Comet return and fix the date this painting is referring to? Yes it is.
Fixing the date
It seems to be unpossible to date the painting of a cave lion, without using C14 carbon dating, but it is not. The painting has been dated, using the C14 radiocarbon method around 13.000 BC. Based on the Jupiter in Leo connection Halley's Comet returned in 13916 BC, 13691 BC, 13465 BC, 13240 BC, 13015 BC, 12789 BC. Each time there is a time-gap of about 225 (3* 75) years when planet Jupiter does not remain in the constellation of Leo in the year of Halley's Comet return.
The next step in dating the 'cave-lion' is finding the date when, in these years of Halley's Comet return, the orbits of Venus and Jupiter seem to cross and a parallel heliacal rising of these two planets can be watched at sunrise or at sunset. When this rising takes place Venus should be left and Jupiter should be right.
Using Starry Night Pro software, turning back time, it is easy to look for a date when Venus is near Jupiter on each of these apparitions. (see Table Position of Venus and Jupiter )
| 13916 BC | No 'warning eyes' visible (to close to sunrise) |
| 13691 BC | Jupiter occulted by Venus on June 9 in Leo at sunrise. Mars near Regulus. |
| 13465 BC | Jupiter-Venus on May 4 in Leo at sunset. |
| 13240 BC | Jupiter-Venus on June 3 in Leo at sunrise. Jupiter occulted by Venus on June 4 in Leo at sunrise. Venus-Jupiter on June 5 in Leo at sunrise |
| 13015 BC | Jupiter occulted by Venus on June 24 in Leo at sunrise. Saturn occulted by Venus on July 18 in Virgo at sunrise. |
| 12789 BC | Jupiter-Venus on May 28 on border Virgo-Leo at sunrise. |
In 13240 BC Venus and Jupiter rose parallel, just before sunrise on June 5, like the eyes of a cat, above the horizon. Notice the importance of the background constellation of Leo on the returns of Halley's Comet.
My conclusion is the Cave of the Lioness probably refers to late-spring of the year 13240 BC when Halley's Comet might have been seen to. These illuminating eyes above the horizon must have looked like the eyes of a feline, and the hairy comet looked like manes, so the cavedwellers maybe choose to use the metaphor of a lion also based on the aspect 'fear' and 'power'.
The parallel between the 'rising eyes' of Jupiter and Venus and the 'hairy manes' of Halley's Comet might be the origin of the starconstellation of Lion.
Through the eyes of the cavemen
Imagine the world of the cavemen. They always lived in the open end in the cave and never in its dark interior. The cave-darkness might have been a metaphor for the darkness of the universe. So the eternal darkness of the cave's interior, 'the underground', might be connected to the Universe itself and the cave became, somewhere in the past, a sanctuary for ritual practises. The eternal blackness of the cave became an earthly replacement of the untouchable universe. And so the first temples can, worldwide, be found inside caves.
Every now and then, and probably for almost 175.000 years, every 75/76 years, a burning flying torch could be seen at sunrise or sunset. So the cavemen in around 13.000 BC noticed what thousands before him also had noticed: this strange magnificent bright light returns irregulary, swings around the sun and seems to disappear somewhere in a bright band of stars and starsclusters: the Milkyway; heavens river.
The astronomical nature of this celestial object was unknown to him. The lightning scared him for he might have been told, from his forefathers, that this omen caused disasters. They also might have told him that the lighting came around the time two brilliant celestial eyes could be seen in the morning also. The cavemen might have watched its magificent illuminating transparant tails at sunrise or sunset and made up a metaphor. The two brilliant eyes resembled the eyes of a feline. The tail and the manes resembled the hair of the feracious cave-lion. And so he picked a metaphor of an animal that was known in his world. The fixed background of the two celestial warning eyes probably became in time the constellation of the lion and the lion itself became related to the return of this special celestial event.
The end of the Jupiter in Leo relation
It would take another 12.500 years before somebody discovered that this celestial object might be a kind of planet orbiting around the sun. In the past thousands of years this celestial periodic event became identified with the 'return of the soul of the celestial King' surrounded by burial rituals, raising stoneconstructions in memory of his return, ritual sacrifing of animals, children, females and males so he would not sail alone in his ship through the heavens crossing the Milkyway...
The truth on our ancestors religion finally shows itself. Before Christianity the periodicity of Halley's Comet might embodi a very ancient belief in immortality and its apparition could be predicted based on the heliacal rising of the 'Warning eyes'. History will never be the same again...
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Remarks
My image of the lion's head has been based on a black and white image that can be found in:
Kühn, Herbert. Mensen in de oertijd 1. (Vorgeschichte der Menschheit), 1968, N.V. Servire, Wassenaar. p. 145.
