Cave Art, Paintings, and Their Meaning - Research Paper Example

Cave Art, Paintings, and Their Meaning The discovery of cave art and paintings was not until the late 19th century. The artwork during the Paleolithic period comprised of dramatic cascades of prey and predator animals, geometric symbols, and female images on dark walls. The Paleolithic period dates back to 41,000 years ago but most of these designs date back to 20, 000 years ago during the Upper Paleolithic era. The cave art and paintings are an expression of the prehistoric man of being and their experiences. Experts have different ways of interpreting the artwork, but there is no real interpretation and reliance can only be on speculation. Some scientists claim that this artwork gained life in European fossil around 50,000 years ago while others argue that the evidence of existence dates back to 100,000 years ago or even earlier in African sites. According to researchers, the Neanderthals are the world’s first cave artists rather than Homo sapiens. Earlier presumptions claimed that the Stone Age man started expressing himself artistically and intellectually after migrating from Africa. However, recent findings show that the Stone Age man reached the Homo sapiens stage when he was still in Africa prior to previous research. The former presumption was because of lack of evidence in the African continent. Some of the most sophisticated cave art and paintings in the world are in France and Spain (Lawson, 2012). There are nearly 150 caves discovered in these regions. Africa also has numbers of caves from South Africa to Namibia. The most captivating and profound of these are in Altamira, Lascaux and the Chauvet cave in France. These caves have walls painted in shades of brown, red, yellow, and black from charcoal, minerals, and burning animal bones. The pigments are a combination with cave water, vegetable juices, fat, spit, and animal blood. The engravings and paintings are deep within the caves. The artists painted their work under the light of saucer like Stone Age lamps. In 1879, Don Marcelino and his daughter first found the first paintings in Altimira, Spain. The Magdalenian people painted these pictures 11,000-19,000 years ago. The paintings are of the bison and are drawn then painted using the boulders of the shoulders of the animals. The caves are as “The Sistine Chapel of Paleolithic Art.” The caves ceilings have nearly a hundred mysterious signs, hands and animals such as bisons, deers, horses, bulls among others all made with different artistic techniques unique to the Palaeolithic art. The artwork dates back to 14,000 years ago when the cave had inhabitants. Due to its uniqueness, the caves are a UNESCO heritage site. Another important discovery was the Lascaux cave in France by four boys looking for a lost dog in 1940. The cave is approximately 20,000 years old. The cave contains of various chambers i.e. Great Hall of the Bulls, Chamber of Felines, Painted Gallery, Lateral Passage, the Chamber of Engravings, Main Gallery, and Shaft of the Dead Man. The caves have up to 2,000 figures incorporating animals, abstract figures and human figures. The ancient man used pigments and incisions on stone to make the impressions. The Great Hall of the Bulls makes the strongest impression, as the bulls appear to be in motion. The most current cave paintings found is the Chauvet-Pont-d'Arc cave in the South of France. Chauvet, Hillaire, and Brunel-Deschamps discovered the caves in the limestone plateau of the Ardèche River in 1994. The artwork dates back to the Aurignacian period, 30,000-32,000 years ago. Before its discovery, the caves remained closed for nearly 20,000 years by a rock thus explaining their pristine condition and completeness. The artists of that time possessed the skilful use of colour, combining both engravings and colour to produce three-dimensional images. The caves contain over 1000 drawings of notably dangerous animals and archaeological and Palaeolithic vestiges.  The development of artwork and paintings in Indonesia played a role in changing the presumptions of the cradle of human creativity. The artwork found in Asia used uranium-thorium dating technology. Previously the cave art and paintings were 10,000 years old but with the use of technology, evidence shows they were 40,000 years old. The results reveal that Europe was not the pioneer of unique artwork after the migration from Africa. Archaeologists speculate that both the prehistoric man from Asia and Europe may have developed their artistic prowess before they left Africa. The artwork in Asia is so old, and experts claim that it is the work of Neanderthals. In accordance with scientists’ findings, paint application was by using the techniques of smearing, dabbing, spraying, and brushing. The ancient man initially painted with the help of their Fingertips before exploring the use of Lichen and moss, brushes made from animal hair and vegetable fiber. They used bones and reeds to make spray painting illustrations with the help of candle light or weak sunlight. The artists also used foreshortening and chiaroscuro techniques. They obtained pigments locally from the earth’s minerals. Clay produced shades of colour including a wide variety of red, brown, and yellow. On the other hand, manganese dioxide or charcoal produced black colour. Extenders included calcium phosphate from heated animal bone, biotite, and feldspar. Archeologists have tried to interpret ancient artwork with various theories to explain the existence of ancient artwork (Gardener, 2010). One of the theories is that the artwork had no particular meaning and was just for the sake. They assume that the artwork was just part of a playful activity with doodles and graffiti. The artists were just idle hunters with plenty of time on their hands. Such explanation has its sources from scientists who did not believe that the ancient man had any form of religion. According to the theory, the Stone Age man was just bored when he made this artwork because he thought they were pretty. The Sympathetic Magic Theory claims that the images controlled real animals. The interpretation of the cave art and paintings reflected hunting and fertility magic. The caves were sanctuaries used to perform fertility rituals, destruction of predators, and other related ceremonies. During the Upper Palaeolithic period, the artists painted animals in a bid to symbolize the earth’s cyclic rebirth. The scientists explain that the artwork sprung from the hunters’ anxiety about the game’s availability. In reference to the art, the hunters used hand held tools and missiles to kill the game. Additionally, the images depict that the hunters also stoned animals to death. The drawings probably depicted a real hunt. The Systematic Approach suggests that the Stone Age man had a very elaborate philosophical view of the world. Scientists who came up with this theory used statistics to explain the meaning of the cave art and paintings. Leroi-Gourhan classified the pictures into 72 groups from 66 caves. He found that there was a profound correlation of the animals in relation to their position in the cave. Henri Breuil further added that the paints beneath were older than the ones above them. Consequently, the paintings and artwork proved that the caves had inhabitants at different periods. He made these conclusions because of the unorganized order of these paintings and artwork. Other researchers used Shamanism to describe cave art and paintings. The concept is that of two worlds coexisting with each other either side by side or one above the other. The two worlds are purported to interact with each other. Scholars interpreted the composite figures as shamans or sorcerers in masks. Shamans acted as the intermediaries of the two worlds. They further explain that the paintings depicted masked shamans fighting with spirit animals. Other scientists tell that the animals were spirits who took animal form to answer requests to mortals. They continue to describe the substance coming from the animal’s mouth as excision of evil spirits. The Hallucinogenic Theory claims that the images in the prehistoric caves were entoptics. Entopics are figures and images brought to mind in the event of a hypnotic stupor or after taking a hallucinogen. Max Knoll used electrical nodes on subjects to stimulate entopics by varying the pulses that resulted to identifying 15 classes of figures. For every subject, he tested he noted that there were same patterns at each frequency even after six months. Only a few cave art and paintings matched the Hallucinogenic theory. Issues that have come up with this are questions as to why the sorcerers never rested if it was due to ingesting hallucinogens. The fact modern drugs that were not available to the Stone Age man have been used to test this theory. Male scientists have further suggested that the cave art and paintings were part of the male preoccupations of girls, fighting and hunting game. Where images superimpose within each other, creates the assumption of procreation. Some scientists have gone further to compare the depictions of women in the prehistoric caves with the pictures of playboy magazine that depict glaringly vivid imagination. However, the assumptions of this theory only seek to legitimize contemporary values through tracing them to the Paleolithic period and are not necessary right. Scientists do not know whether gender roles were defining during the period of this artwork and thus the theory remains a mere speculation. Cave art and paintings are captivating to the modern man. Scientists may never know the actual meaning of these illustrations and drawings because of the aspect of time. With each passing day, new discoveries have cropped up about the ancient artworks of the prehistoric man. Therefore, these theories about the meaning of the drawings and paintings of this period become a paradox. The artwork of the ancient man is so robust and intriguing and is equivalent to modern art. This art has played a part in influencing modern art as well. However, the artwork acts as a sign of the evolution of symbolic life. Reference Gardner, Helen, and Fred S. Kleiner. Gardner's Art Through the Ages: The Western Perspective. Boston, Mass.: Wadsworth Cengage Learning, 2010. Print. Lawson, Andrew J. Painted Caves: Palaeolithic Rock Art in Western Europe. , 2012. Print. 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