Paleolithic and Neolithic Art
Drawing by Firelight (30,000 B.C.)
Cave drawings have been found dating back to 30,000BC. This was man’s first written attempt at the art of storytelling with pictures. Many of the paintings are located in the ceilings and walls deep within the caves meaning they could only be viewed with firelight. Most of these caves have been found in France and Spain. Animals were most commonly drawn in the pictures. Early artist also painted people into the pictures. Some paintings show animals with arrows or spears protruding from their bodies. Some of the people in the paintings are shown wearing what appear to be magic costumes. The belief is that man drew these likenesses to gain special powers through ceremonial rites. These special powers could have been any of the following: communicating with the gods, enabling him to become a better hunter, or give him the courage and strength of the animals that he hunted. The early artist had four basic colors to use in drawings. They used black from charcoal, white from limestone, and red and yellow from a type of clay called ocher. The colors were mixed with animal fats to produce a pastelike paint. The paint could either then be rubbed onto the rock walls or blown onto through a hollow bone. The quality of the artwork also has led the belief that the cave painter specialized in painting alone. The painter was not required to hunt or farm with the others. This would have made the painter a valuable member of any tribe. –Jon Wherley
The Essay on Lascaux cave paintings
On September 12, 1940 in Dordogne, France, four men named Marcel Ravidat, Jacques Marsal, Simon Coencas, and Georges Agniel, came upon a long forgotten cave- Lascaux. The Lascaux cave, now a World Heritage site, has been called the Lascaux bestiary. A revolution occurred in the creation of art during the Upper Paleolithic Era in Europe. Beginning around 40,000 B. C. , records shows that modern ...
Cave Paintings
Lascaux
Cave or rock paintings are paintings painted on cave or rock walls and ceilings, usually dating to prehistoric times. Rock paintings are made since the Upper Paleolithic, 40,000 years ago. It is widely believed that the paintings are the work of respected elders or shamans. The most common themes in cave paintings are large wild animals, such as bison, horses, aurochs, and deer, and tracings of human hands as well as abstract patterns, called Macaroni by Breuil. Drawings of humans are rare and are usually schematic rather than the more naturalistic animal subjects. Cave art may have begun in the Aurignacian period (Hohle Fels, Germany), but reached its apogee in the late Magdalenian (Lascaux, France).
The paintings were drawn with red and yellow ochre, hematite, manganese oxide and charcoal. Sometimes the silhouette of the animal was incised in the rock first. Stone lamps provided some light. Abbe Breuil interpreted the paintings as being hunting magic, meant to increase the number of animals. As there are some clay sculptures that seem to have been the targets of spears, this may partly be true, but does not explain the pictures of beasts of prey such as the lion or the bear. An alternative and more modern theory, based on studies of more modern hunter-gatherer societies, is that the paintings were made by Cro-Magnon shaman.
