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Ultramagic

21 October 2000

The dramatic story of the famous cracking of the codes ULTRA and MAGIC during
the Second World War has been told before, but in Battle of Wits Stephen
Budiansky takes advantage of newly declassified American and British documents,
and provides excellent diagrams to explain the process. As well as explaining
the primitive computers invented for decoding, he adds the story of another code
Venona and the US cracking of Soviet codes in the 1940s. Published by The Free
Press, £27.50, ISBN 0684859327

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Lascaux Cave is a Palaeolithic cave situated in southwestern France, near the village of Montignac in the Dordogne region, which houses some of the most famous examples of prehistoric cave paintings. Close to 600 paintings ??? mostly of animals - dot the interior walls of the cave in impressive compositions. Horses are the most numerous, but deer, aurochs, ibex, bison, and even some felines can also be found. Besides these paintings, which represent most of the major images, there are also around 1400 engravings of a similar order. The art, dated to c. 17,000 ??? c. 15,000 BCE, falls within the Upper Palaeolithic period and was created by the clearly skilled hands of humans living in the area at that time. The region seems to be a hotspot; many beautifully decorated caves have been discovered there. The exact meaning of the paintings at Lascaux or any of the other sites is still subject to discussion, but the prevailing view attaches a ritualistic or even spiritual component to them, hinting at the sophistication of their creators. Lascaux was added to the UNESCO World Heritage Sites list in 1979, along with other prehistoric sites in its proximity. Valley, France.

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