See real rock stars

Forget a concert, if you want to introduce your kids to a good rock star take a trip to Sci-Bono Centre in Newtown.

In a first for Africa, the Sci-Bono Discovery Centre in collaboration with the French Embassy in Pretoria and the French Institute of South Africa (IFAS) is hosting a replica of the world-famous Lascaux cave paintings and the cave.

The Palaeolithic cave paintings, found in 1940 in the Lascaux caves near the village of Montignac in Dordogne, southwestern France, are around 17 000 years old and are mostly of large animals native to the region at the time.

They are regarded as masterpieces because of their outstanding quality and sophistication. The Lascaux and African rock paintings have much in common and point to one essential truth: there’s more that unites and binds us as people and cultures than there is that divides us.

The South African component of the exhibition, The Dawn of Art, is curated by the University of the Witwatersrand’s Rock Art Research Institute, the Origins Centre and IFAS-Recherche.

It will include photographs of iconic South African rock art, as well as a display of priceless authentic pieces. The Wonders of Rock Art: Lascaux and Africa is a mesmerising trip back to the not-so-distant past and features replicas of the French Lascaux – combining European rock art with Africa’s distinct history.

The exhibition offers a fascinating glimpse into the lifestyle and culture of prehistoric humankind, while doubling as an insightful intercontinental dialogue between the ancient rock art of Europe and Africa. It transports you to the Palaeolithic period of the Stone Age where hunter-gatherer forefathers crafted stone tools and paint and engrave animals and mythological or ritual scenes on the walls of their caves and rock shelters in what could be seen as the world’s very first graffiti art.

Some of the world’s richest artistic representations of ancient life and myths have been found in southern Africa and in the Lascaux cave system in France. Thousands of kilometres (and thousands of years) may separate the San artists of South Africa and the Cro-Magnon artists of Lascaux, but there are common threads showing our shared humanity, culture and interconnectedness that transcend time and geography.

These early Matisses and Sekotos all favoured animals as their subject matter, used simple yet sophisticated artistic tools and wanted to leave an imprint, a permanent record, of their time on Earth.

In the 21st century, with new fossil and archaeological discoveries constantly adding to our understanding of where we come from, our fascination with uncovering the mysteries of ancient life burns undimmed.

• Wonders of Rock Art: Lascaux Cave and Africa exhibition runs until October 1 at the Sci-Bono Centre.
• View it Monday to Friday from 9am to 5pm and Saturday and Sunday from 9am to 4.30pm (including public holidays)
• Entry costs R130 (adults), R70 (children), R360 (family discount – two adults plus two children).
• To book tickets, and for more information about special school rates and events related to the exhibition visit the Sci-Bono Centre’s official website.