Painting in the prehistoric age.

Cave paintings
(France, Spain, Romania)

Nowadays, most people think only abut modern

technology, popularity. They never think back to history of
the world, how the first civilization emerged, what
happened in the ancient time, how the ancient people
lived, the way to find food and so on. In ancient time,
before people had the writing system like nowadays, they
used to draw some record or some action on the wall,
especially in the deep cave. Some archeologists have found
a lot of cave painting, especially in Europe.
It is hard to understand how the early people could paint on
the cave ceiling, and the meaning of the cave painting. The
emergence of the cave painting has existed from the Old
Stone Age until the early century A.D.; furthermore, there
are thousands of caves found by archaeologists in different
places around the world in different chronicles. Most of the
cave painting has the similar type of painting that is mostly
about the hunting and animals. It was in the late 20th
century that the first decorated cave which is known as the
most beautiful cave in Europe was found in France, and this
cave art, called Lascaux cave painting, has contributed
significant studies about the early human civilization.
As we will discuss and analyze about the cave painting in
our writing, we will explain the methods, characteristics,
and meanings of the cave paintings.

Most part of this writing are derived from the internet

sources while some are based on general knowledge and
books.
The caves of Lascaux in France are world famous, but
tourists are no longer allowed there.

The Discovery of the Lascaux cave painting

Marcel Ravidat

Jacques Marsal

Georges Agnel

Simon Coencas

Located in the Dordogne Valley of south central France, the

Lascaux cave is a rock shelter with excellent cave paintings

which were painted by Paleolithic artists between 15,000

and 17,000 years ago in the Paleolithic age, the time which
we know that people were nomad living in the simple social
structure
The Lascaux cave was discovered by four French teenagers
- Marcel Ravidat, Jacques Marsal, Georges Agnel and Simon
Coencas along with their dog- Robot.In September 1940,
setting out an adventure in Dordogne, the boys and their
dog started their adventure with the purpose of treasure
hunting . Their dog, Robot, led them to see a deep
depression in the ground.After seeing the hole, teenagers
thought that it might be the way that would lead them to
reach the hidden treasure; as the result, they decided to
explore it. Then, when reaching the dark underground, the
four teenagers used their oil lantern to search around the
chamber by shining it on the walls and ceiling. Many
paintings of animal appeared on the wall and ceiling, and
one person depicted with a birds head.
In addition, the ceiling was pure white covered with calcite,
and the paintings were brilliantly multicolored in red, black,
brown and ochre .

The adventure of the four came to an abrupt end two days

later, when they were swept up into historical
circumstances of a much tragic nature. The Nazis invaded
France. Geoges and Simon fled France with their parents,
and Marcel and Jacques spent the rest of the WWII guarding
the cave against Nazis invaders.
In 1948,once the war was over, they decided to invite their
friend in the charge of forty cent per person for admission
fee. Later on, they told their professors and experts about
this cave. His professor, Leon Laval, gave them two rules:
Do not let anyone touch the paintings, and, more
importantly, guard the cave from possible vandals. After
going back and studying about cave at their school, they
realized that this cave painting had sealed at prehistoric
time at least 17,000 years. Publicly, the cave complex was
opened for people to visit in 1948, but the serious effect
from this allowance is that the carbon dioxide which was
produced by 1,200 visitors per day had obviously damaged
the paintings by 1955. As consequence, in 1963, with the
purpose of preserving these fabulous paintings, the cave
was closed to public, and then in 1979, Lascaux was
considered as the world heritage and added to the UNESCO
World Heritage Site lists. Today you can visit an exact
replica of the cave called Lasko II.

Altamira cave paintings

In 1879 a Spanish landowner

named Marcelino Sanz de
Sautuola was searching for
prehistoric artifacts on the floor
of a cave on his family property
in northern Spain when his young
daughter, Maria, interrupted,
calling out Look, Papa, oxen as
she looked up at the caves
ceiling and saw vivid yet
delicate paintings of bison,
almost fully life-sized, that
appear to be tumbling across the
sky. Maria had just become the first modern human to set
eyes on the first gallery of prehistoric paintings . When De
Sautuola came over to see what she was looking at, he saw
a ceiling dominated with dozens of paintings...but they
were not of "oxen"they were aurochs, a species of ox that
had long been extinct. Her discovery swiftly brought
ancient cave paintings to widespread public attention, and
set off a complex history of dispute about their origin and
meaning. Since then, thousands of similar paintings have
been discovered in more than two hundred caves scattered
through southwestern France and northeastern Spain on
either side of the Pyrenees.
The caves are inscribed as masterpieces of creative genius
and as the humanitys earliest accomplished art. They are
also inscribed as exceptional testimonies to a cultural
tradition and as outstanding illustrations of a significant

stage in human history.

Altamira was designated a UNESCO World Heritage site in

1985.
In 2014 a small groups of visitors was allowed in the cave
so researchers could measure their impact on the cave's
temperature, humidity, microbiological contamination and
CO2 levels.
The results will be used to determine whether or not the
cave can be reopened to the public, a controversial
decision that has pitted the local tourist economy against
government scientists.

Cave paintings in Romania(Colobaia)

A group of spelunkers from several Romanian caver clubs,
including Tudor Rus, Mihai Besesek, and Roxana Laura
Toiciu, were exploring Coliboaia using diving equipment and
finally spotted the cave art. Some of the drawings could be
reached only by lying in the water with one's head poking
just above the surface. About half a dozen images have
been found, including a bison, a horse, two bear heads, and
two rhinoceros heads, very similar to animal motifs found in
Western European caves.

A team of French experts visited the cave and verified that

the images were indeed examples of prehistoric art. Water
probably has destroyed other drawings, but these are
above the water line.
The discovery shows that the land was inhabited 32,000
years ago. The carbon that was used to draw them is
36,000 years old.
Archeologist Jean Clottes is an expert on cave drawings and
says, "The cave in Coliboaia is very important because it's

the first in central Europe where we have tens of animal

representations . It's also important because on the basis of
the radio carbon data, we have concluded an age of 36 000
years for the carbon used for those specific drawings and
32 000 years for the drawings themselves. This places the
cave in a culture that is the oldest known European culture.
It's similar data as the one in the cave Chauvet in France,
considered until now the oldest in Europe."

How were these paintings made?

In the Stone Age, chemistry was unknown. However,
humans had learned the use of pigments for making
pictures and symbols. We can see them in caves around
the world.
In those days, sophisticated oil paints or water colors were
unknown. However, many Stone Age tribes knew the use of
coloured mineral pigments. Today we know that these
pigments are made of minerals like barium manganate
(blue), hematite (red), gypsum (orange), malachite (green)
or limonite (yellow) ,mixed with various binders, including
water, vegetable juices, urine, animal fat, bone marrow,
and blood.
These minerals are sometimes found in caves (which is why
Stone Age art is found only in some caves). To make a
pigment, the mineral was crushed into gravel by pounding
with a big stone. The gravel was then ground between
stones to make a powder.
The paint could be applied with animal hair brushes (a
technology still in use, 30,000 years later) or by tinting the

hand and sticking it on the wall.

What made them last so long?

Paintings made with oil or watercolour can fade after a few
decades. So what made these rock paintings last?
Most of the painted caves are found either in deserts or
deep underground. The air in these caves became very dry
over time, and no bacteria or fungi could grow. If they could
have grown, they would have released carbon dioxide,
which would dissolve in moisture to form carbonic acid.
Over time, the carbonic acid would corrode the paintings.
In caves that werent dry enough, the paintings were not so
lucky, vanishing over time.

Purposes of Cave painting

Like all prehistoric art, the purpose of these painting
remains obscure. In recent years, new research has
suggested that the Lascaux paintings may incorporate
prehistoric star charts. Some anthropologists and arthistorians also theorize that the paintings could be an
account of past hunting success, or they could represent a
mystical ritual to improve future hunting endeavors. An
alternative theory, broadly based on ethnographic studies
of contemporary hunter-gatherer societies, is that the
paintings pertained to shamanism.
Some people believe that the cave people thought that
painting animals on their walls would make animal spirits
come to them and bring good fortune. Others believe that

the cave paintings sometimes sent messages to other

people passing through or living in the cave in the future.
David Lewis-Williams and associated archeologists have
rehabilitated the interpretation of Paleolithic cave art as a
form of magic by focusing on the geometric images that
appear in great numbers on the cave walls, instead of the
realistic depiction of animals that was Breuil's focus in his
hunting magic theory.
An expert on the San Bushman people of South Africa,
Lewis-Williams argued, in a series of well-documented
papers, that the transfigured form constants are present on
cave walls painted by Bushman shamans. Shamans are
ritual experts, often found in hunting communities, adept at
entering trance states in which they visit the world of the
spirits. They take these excusions to retrieve the lost souls
of the desperately ill, to influence the weather, to oppose
the forces of witchcraft , and to negotiate with the animal
spirits over game. According to Lewis-Williams, the
Bushman cave paintings, which were made well into the
19th century, are records of the visionary experiences of
the shamans. In a more controversial series of papers and
books, Lewis-Williams has argued that the form-constants
that Kluver identified also underlie the geometric images of
Paleolithic European cave art. The bridge that connects the
two is the common neurological makeup that the
Bushman, and all currently living human beings, share with
the Paleolithic hunters. When the human brain is
destabilized in certain ways - through sensory deprivation,
rhythmic chanting or drumming, flickering lights, certain
forms of dance, as well as the ingestion of hallucinogenic
drugs - it reacts by generating paterns that are similar to
the geometric images found in cave paintings. From these

considerations, Lewis-Williams draws the conclusion that

the paintings and engravings of the Old Stone Age
European caves were the result of shamanic ceremonies
conducted in dark caverns deep within the earth. As Breuil
had suspected, their purpose was magical. What he did not
know was that the magic occurred in the context of
shamanic trance.
The brain physiology behind entoptic imagery does not in
itself demonstrate conclusively that the geometric forms on
the walls of Paleolithic caves are records of shamanic
experiences. What establishes the plausibility, though not
the certainty, of the shamanic interpretation of Paleolithic
cave art is the recognition that the people who created
them share with the San Bushman, as well as other
indigenous hunting communities, a common way of making
a living. Hunting big game in small communal bands
requires great intimacy with the animals. The shamans who
live in "primitive" hunting communities cultivate such
intimacy in their travels to the spirit world.

Conclusion:
The need to create is clearly part of the human condition,
an unquenchable desire which is as old as our species and
quite probably embedded in our DNA, as innate to us as
eating, fighting and laughing at other people's misfortune,
and the cave paintings are the proof.

References:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LvhDb4phhzY
http://www.webexhibits.org/pigments/intro/early.html
http://www.speotimis.ro/dictionar-speologic/picturi-rupestre.html
The Mind in the Cave: Consciousness and the Origins of Art by by David
Lewis Williams
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/feb/26/altamira-cave-paintingsopen-public-spain-cantabria

Pictures:

http://arthistorytowns.blogspot.ro/2013/09/curate-understandstealprotect.html
http://photography.nationalgeographic.com/photography/enlarge/lascauxcave-walls-photography.html
http://museodealtamira.mcu.es/Prehistoria_y_Arte/historia.html
http://static01.nyt.com/images/2014/07/31/arts/international/31ihtcaves31A/31iht-caves31A-master675.jpg
http://www.imperialtransilvania.com/read-more/argomenti/places-ofinterest-1/articolo/coliboaia-cave-the-place-that-houses-the-worlds-oldestcave-paintings.html
http://newsdesk.si.edu/releases/new-exhibition-hall-devoted-human-originsopens-national-museum-natural-history