The Cave of Lascaux and Cave Art
Cave paintings might possibly be the oldest known form of communication that exists today. Cave paintings date back to a period of time called the Paleolithic Age. The Paleolithic Age took place from 40,000 to 10,000 B.C. Prehistoric Age is divided into three parts: Paleolithic being the earliest, Mesolithic being the middle at 10,000 B.C. and Neolithic Age being the latest at 8,000 B.C. During the Paleolithic Age it is believed that the cave paintings at Lascaux, France were created.
Lascaux, is located in the south central, western corner of France. In 1940 this cave was believed to be found by a group of four boys from Montignac, France and a dog while out walking through the woods. Allegedly the dog fell into the cave and would not answer the owners call. The boys came up to what appeared to be a dark rock but as they got closer they realized they was not the case, it was a cave. The boys entered in an attempt to find the dog and discovered one of the most important cave paintings now known to man. Lascaux quickly became a heavy tourist spot and was forced to be closed in 1963 due to the damage being caused by human beings.
In Lascaux this elegant cave painting is comprised of almost six hundred figures of different animals. The cave art at Lascaux is comprised of horses, bison, cattle and hinds as suggested by the Columbia Encyclopedia in its article Paleolithic Art. It is suggested that the art “may have a ritual significance to hunting”. (Columbia) These animal paintings in the cave vary in size but the bulls specifically range from thirteen to sixteen feet long.
It is believed that these particular cave works were created sometime around 13,000 B.C. and have remained, for the most part, completely intact. This date is only hypothetical being that the process of dating these cave paintings is slightly inaccurate and limited. As talked about on the Lascaux Cave Official Website “the range of methods and tools used to date the cave art is somewhat limited, partly because the figures are not in a position favorable to stratigraphic dating most of the time and also because of the nature of the material used”. (Lascaux 11/25/04) Another identical method uses the pigment, which was found on the ground, to ...
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...g these paintings. In researching this topic the student learned of the three prehistoric eras and what significance each had to later civilization. This student also learned of the possibility of a scaffolding and/or complex form that was designed to allow a person to paint on the upper wall or ceiling of a cave. This student also found it very interesting how the human body can break down these paintings and how it is hard for even scholars to gain entrance to these places.
I think that these cave paintings paved the way for future art with ideas of ritual, creativity, preservation and expression. I feel that the people of this time were extremely intelligent in the fact that they were able to grasp some idea of preservation so these paintings could be viewed for years to come. I also feel that these people showed intelligence in a supreme being. If indeed these paintings are created as a ritual for their hunt then maybe they believed that if they perform this ritual this supreme being will provide them with a prosperous hunt. This topic I found very interesting and informative. Studying this topic really brought light to the existence of art even in the prehistoric culture.
The paper talked about the new mud glyph cave art site the was discovered in northern Alabama. It is believe that the artifacts and the images that is located in the cave linked back to the Early and Middle Woodland periods. The cave was named “19th Unnamed Cave” by a naming system that was used be University of Tennessee. Other main points in this paper include the 19th Unnamed Cave, the mud glyph art that it contains, and how the mud glyph contributes to the understanding of mud glyph assemblage preservation, and it helps illuminates the chronological placement of the art form. The cave is located in northern Alabama with a cave mouth of 25 m in diameter and with more than 5 km of underground passageways. The article hypothesized that since the entrance of the cave had some fluvial action, there would no archaeological material that would have been preserved.
Both Mystery and Niagara Cave are made of limestone. Limestone is formed when areas that used to be covered with water, would have contained shelled animals and other organisms. When the animals died, their bodies along with waste matter from other organisms, floated down to the bottom of the water. Over time, it was compressed and formed limestone. Caves are usually made of limestone because it is easily carved out by water. This is the case for Mystery and Niagara
Around the end of the 19th century, many modern artists in the west began stylizing their work based on the art and cultures of foreign countries. It was an era when modern artists like Paul Gauguin and Emil Nolde studied primitive cultures and created works that utilized styles and compositions not seen before in western art circles. Abigail Solomon-Godeau and Jill Lloyd focused their articles on how Paul Gauguin and Emil Nolde used their knowledge of the countries they researched, to create indigenous inspired paintings. The articles focused on how each artist used primitive paintings to express their impressions and experiences within the countries they explored. Relating primitive cultures to their western counterparts, Abigail Solomon-Godeau discusses how Gauguin uses his experiences, and created artworks to capture mythological speeches within his art.
Paleolithic Art was primarily used as a part of rituals that were intended to promote successful hunting and fertility. In Europe about 30,000 years ago Paleolithic Art was one of the early Arts. Several of the earliest know arts were cave paintings, rock and engravings and decorative objects (Knopf, 4). Paleolithic Art tells us about the early ways of art and life, it shows the artists artistic abilities when creating pieces of work and showing their artistic abilities. Paleolithic artists understood and practiced perspectival drawing. A perspectival drawing is a three dimensional space on a two dimensional surface (Sayre, 8). Another form of art was carving and this act involved cutting stone, bone wood or other materials. The skill of the cave art is absolutely fascinating and is something worth familiarizing yourself with.
Stone, Rebecca. Art of the Andes From Chavin to Inca. 3rd ed. New York, New York: Thames & Hudson Inc., 1995. 1-248. Print.
A piece of artwork I find exceptionally fascinating and stimulating is the painting Bull Leaping. This art piece was originally created around the years of 1450 to 1375 BCE. The fresco happens to be one of Knossos most famous paintings depicting themes most prominent to Minoan art. Minoan painters worked on much larger scales; the murals would cover entire walls of rooms and would commonly have geometric borders, views of nature and scenes of human activity.
The piece of work, “Meditation in a cave”, was created by Ren Yu in 1899, under Chinese culture, with FADIS id 106028. It is now presented in the Metropolitan Museum in New York.
A prehistoric archaeologist’s goal, as per Scupin and DeCorse (2013:5), is to decipher the beliefs and mindset of past societies, particularly early inhabitants of Europe and America, through their material culture, such as the cave art found in Lascaux. This cave, located in southern France, contains what is believed to be one of the oldest artistic representations of wild animals and art; it has captured the interest of numerous scientists, philosophers and historians, all of whom wish to make sense of these enigmatic images (Lippit 2002:20). With the multitude of minds working to decode these images, it comes as no surprise that there are a variety of unique interpretations of these paintings today. Most explanations are formulated through the extrapolation of an analysis conducted upon a specific scene within the larger picture, and seek to understand the ethos of the species painting it. More specifically, the study of the ‘accident scene’ has led to two prominent explanations, which state that these paintings depict the challenges of life, or have religious significance to healing or the hunt. However, both articles indirectly agree that these paintings represent the beginning of humanity’s self-awareness.
Immense changes took place between the Paleolithic and Neolithic time eras. One major change was the evolution of art. During the paleolithic time period, “…humans began making the first consciously manufactured pictorial images” (Kleiner, 16). The art they began creating came in a large variety. “During the Paleolithic period, humankind went beyond the recognition of human and animal forms in the natural environment to the representation of humans and animals (Kleiner, 16). They created portable paintings, sculptures, and figurines. “Art historians are certain, however, that these sculpture were important to those who created them, because manufacturing an ivory figure, especially one a foot tall, was a complicated process (Kleiner, 17). As
The nature in which we live is truly beautiful and something to preserve and treasure. When the Europeans first came to North America, they were immediately in love with the views they encountered. They were interested in wanting to know more about the land, the animals that peeked around, and the people who called it home. Artists such as, John White had heard the tales of what Christopher Columbus had described during his time in North America, which led to them wanting to make their own discoveries (Pohl 140). Everyone had their own opinions and views of the world, but artists were able to capture the natural images and the feeling they had through their paintings (Pohl 140).
Otzi had various clothes and hand tools, which helped archaeologists figure out what his life may have been like. A cooper ax for chopping firewood, a six-foot bow with 14 arrows for hunting game, a woven grass cape for extra warmth, a deerskin coat for protection from the cold, a flint knife with a leather case for cutting, and leather pants of animal skins and leather boots insulated with grass to keep the legs and feet warm. These are the reasons Otzi was considered a significant artifact of this time period. Cave paintings also helped improve our understanding of what life was like for early man in the Paleolithic Age. On September 12, 1940, in the Lascaux cave (in Lascaux, France), 4 teenagers discovered a collection of prehistoric paintings (over 600). According to archaeologists, the Paleolithic people found a way to express themselves through their artwork. It was the first art in global history. In addition, the paint came from iron dust, sand, clay, crushed rocks, fruits, charcoal, and blood. Their artwork conveys different messages. The moving animals shows that they were
The Lascaux Cave in Dordogne, France is important to scientists because it explains the civilization’s culture and history in painting and the people’s artistic talents and use of paints. Further, the quality and bright paintings show animals, bison, deer, bears [Fig.1-4] and large mammoth animals. The cave and the paintings are significant because there are generations of paintings amongst one another. For instance [Fig.5] shows a horse that was painted over of the bull and then some smaller horses that were painted over that. Therefore, the paintings were done over a long period of time with many different painters and represents different time periods; archeologists saw that the people lived in a cave beside this one, so this cave could have been more spiritual and if there was many animals painted in the cave the people would believe that there would be enough food for them in the forests (Bolman, n.d.) It also supports animism, which is the belief that natural objects, natural phenomena, and the universe itself possess souls (Animism, 2014). The paintings reflect the development...
The Chauvet Cave Paintings: The Oldest Known Cave Art on Earth. Anthropology and History. April 15th 2011.
The extravagant paintings in the Lascaux cave, offers valuable insight into the era and level of intelligence these early hominids possessed.
For vast majority of art history, the artist has been very unimportant. Cave paintings are considered a way to learn about the lives of prehistoric man. Cave paintings are of interest to the archieologist and the curious. No painting has any signatures, at least none have been interpreted as such. No none ever tries to "get into the mind" of a prehistoric artist. No one knows who the artist is until the egyptian artist Imhotep began putting his name on his work. Until then, no none was concerned with the artist as anything but a tool to express the culture of the time.