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<\/a><\/p>\nThis meticulous investigation, based around a famous rock image, the \u2018White Lady\u2019, makes it possible to take stock of the mythical presuppositions that infuse a great deal of scientific research, especially in the case of rock art studies. It also highlights the existence of some surprising bridges between scholarly works and literary or artistic productions (novels, films, comic strips, adventure tales).<\/p>\n
The examination of the abb\u00e9 Breuil\u2019s archives and correspondence shows that the primary motivation of the work he carried out in southern Africa like that of his pupil Henri Lhote in the Tassili was the search for ancient, vanished \u2018white\u2019 colonies which were established, in prehistory, in the heart of the dark continent. Both Breuil and Lhote found paintings on African rocks that, in their view, depicted \u2018white women\u2019 who were immediately interpreted as goddesses or queens of the ancient kingdoms of which they believed they had found the vestiges. In doing this, they were reviving and nourishing two myths at the same time: that of a Saharan Atlantis for Henri Lhote and, for the abb\u00e9, that of the identification of the great ruins of Zimbabwe with the mythical city of Ophir from which, according to the Bible, King Solomon derived his fabulous wealth.<\/p>\n
With hindsight we can now see very clearly that their theories were merely a clumsy reflection of the ideas of their time, particularly in the colonial context of the Sahara and in the apartheid of South Africa. Without their knowledge, these two scholars\u2019 scientific production was used to justify the white presence in Africa, and it was widely manipulated to that end. And yet recent studies have demonstrated that the \u2018White Lady\u2019 who so fascinated the abb\u00e9 Breuil was in reality neither white nor even a woman. One question remains: if such an interpenetration of science and myth in the service of politics was possible in the mid-20th century, could it happen today?<\/p>\n
> More information<\/a><\/p>\n This is the english version of La Dame Blanche et l’Atl<\/em><\/a>antide<\/em><\/a>, Actes Sud, 2010<\/strong><\/p>\n
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