Professional Documents
Culture Documents
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Ms. Gromada
World Civ II
15 October 2008
The Painting of Our History
Religious stories and scientific theories have tried for thousands of years to accurately
datethe formation of man. However, in the 1860s,a new art was discovered that changed the view
of human creation forever. This new insight was cave painting. Cave painting is a form of
prehistoric art that dates back hundreds of thousands of years. Analysts are unable to specify the
reasoning behind these paintings of objects on cave walls, but many theories have been
formulated to surmise the rational behind the art. Questions arise like, “why did man find a need
to paint the walls of caves” and is this part of the foundation of the origin of human life as we
know it? (Beacon) The ecumenical belief is rooted at history; cave paintings are man’s
unwrittenstory of evolution.
In the Upper Paleolithic period, from 40000 B.C. to 10000 B.C., paintings were created in
over 300 caves across the globe. “There are two types of cave art: petroglyphs, which are
pictures carved in stone and pictographs, which are pictures painted on stone” (Cave Painting).
The art is usually found in hidden caves thatare difficult to locate. For this reason, scientists have
taken great interest in discovering why man wished to go to such extremes to produce theartistry.
The graphics include mainly animals, geometric figures, and signs but rarely depict any relevance
to humans. The visual communication gives valuable clues to the culture and beliefs of that era.
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The degree of preciseness of the images, being at such a high level, suggests that the art was not
merely decorations that covered the bare surfaces of the caves, butwere created for purpose.
“The tonal qualities, and the ingenious use of surfaces in the rock, suggest depth and even a kind
of perspective” (Johnson). The astuteness of the art raises many questions pertaining to how and
why this artistry was produced.
The methods used to create have proven themselves more useful in dating the art than the
work itself. The natural objects used have withstood timebetter that the art. In the earlier times
of the paintings, fingers and soft clays created many of the paintings. The fine engravings were
created later in time, respectively, and are much more rare. Over time the art became more
revolutionized and the artists began to mix colors with pestles and mortars. They even went as
far as using stencils and blowpipes to create different effects. Another supporting theory that the
paintings were done consciously to preserve time is the cost of the art. The cave paintings were
expensive to create. The artists required sufficient lighting and a homemade type of scaffolding
to reach the high areas. If it didn’t seem imperative to the peopleto preserve their experiences,
they wouldn’t have gone to such costs to create the work. The quality and consistency of the
bestpainted works in caves supports this. They honed their skill to perfection so that it would
last for centuries to be interpreted months later by different clans or even years later by
completely different generations.
When the first painting was found, people didn’t know whether they were conclusive to a
specific area. Many years later from 1860 after finding the first cave of Chauvet, hundredsof
paintings have been found. Historians believe there to have been over a thousand of
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themworldwide. However, due to the decaying of the art from carbon dioxide, erosion, and time
itself, many have been lost and unable to recover. The caves tend to be enormous is size,
stretching hundreds of feet and, believe it or not, the art covers most of that wall space. From
studies, the places prove to be more of a special place than an area of human habituation. The
most famous of these caves are in Western Europe. Lascaux, in France, was found in 1940 and
has the most rooms of all found caves: seven. The Halls of the Bulls is by far the most
impressive, telling us about the essence of their nourishment and ways of obtainment. One of the
halls is rare in form by depicting humans, an unseen and unheard tradition. Altamira, in Spain,
was found many years before Lascaux and is considered the Sistine Chapel of Paleolithic art.
Some artistic and carving tools found in various caves date as far back as the Ice Age, however
this is ambiguous to the cave painting’s time themselves. As a culture, it’s imperative to realize
that this art hasonly been discovered within the last two centuries. There is a world full of
information that will still be discovered from the graphics. It will take time, but the collection of
knowledge gained from this will be vast.
The numerous theories start specifically with the images themselves. Scientists and
theorists have debated since the findings of the art on the themes, what the images are, and why
they are there. Nature is the prominent inspiration of the art. Suns, moons, rain, and clouds are
conspicuous amidst the bulls, bison, and deer. The petroglyphs are most commonly considered
to have deep religious and cultural meanings behind them. “The art historian looks at the image,
or object, compares it to other cultures, and will offer some suggestions, as will the other two
disciplines, for the psyche and motivation for these ancient cultures to produce the work they did”
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(Johnson). The abstract figures are commonly compared to the Chinese language, meaning
words and phrases, rather than individual letters. The far north caves in Scandinavia show
competition and boundaries of land between the Norsemen. This gives us insight to the Viking
culture and how this aggression was created by means of natural selection. “The petroglyphs
depict the beings that came, their interaction with the inhabitants of the ancient city, and the war
and destruction that ensued” (Petroglyphs). In Egypt, the art depicts a good deal of information
about the rulers of the land. After much controversy, scientists have come to an agreement
regarding the few and far between images of humans. It could very well be so that the people
believed thatany representation of the human might take the soul. The people were very
superstitious so this could, in essence, be the reason for the domination of animals and abstract
signs.
Discovery after discovery, scientists and historians become more enthroned with the cave
paintings and their meanings. These men, such as Andreas LeroiGourhan, Henri Breuil, and
David LewisWilliams, offer a rationalizationand reasoning behind these historical narratives.
These men believed the art to be a ritual act or ceremony, done to increase hunting potential or as
a result of hallucinations. The man who really developed the history within the art is Richard
Rudgley. He is an anthropologist that looks at the culture and religious side of the artwork. He
argues the advancement the people of that time had and the information they transmitted to us,
via cave art. His studies of the geometric figures relates to the religious and mythological beliefs
of the people. The crosses, stars, and spirals provide us with the key to understanding the
religious aspect of the Stone Age. To communicate their strong beliefs, the people wrote down
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their impressions of religion to be seen for others and, eventually, us. This is comparatively
similar to the holy books of today’s religions. But on a more simplified level, “perhaps the cave
man wanted to decorate the cave and choose animals because they were important to their
existence” (Beacon). Or could it have been that they believed that capturing an animal on “wall”
would help them seize the animal in real life. Whatever the reason was, their art continues to
teach us the history of our man.
The cave paintings contradict the biblical creation stories and support the theory of
Darwinism. The accepted Utilitarian theory states the art as shamanistic, magical and religious,
and a source for teaching. The works were a cohesive factor for the people. It will forever be
unknown the true meaning for their works. “We are a huge distance from that society and its
mentality, and finding an answer to its mysterious actions requires an effort of imagination which
may be beyond us” (Johnson). What we do learn is the high level of intelligence of these people
who thought enough to take the time to preserve what was important to them. We see the
importance that they saw and that is where the real truth is discovered. Putting ourselves in that
environment is unrealistic, but understanding the basis of their thinking provides us with their
history and culture. Learning their society is enough to see into the insight of the primitive man.
It develops even more the knowledge of our being; the upmost importance of expanding our
culture and the tendencies of ourselves.
Cave paintings will forever be a controversial piece of history. However which way you
interpret it, it still provides us with one thing: history. It has taught us the lives of our
ancestryand the society in which they survived. The evolution from that era to today is
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astonishing. We see it simply in the development from our society daily. Their ideas combined
with thatovertime have created a new perspective for us about our own history. And before we
can learn the history of other things, we must learn about ourselves first. Even through
interpretation, we learned immensely from the simplepaintings and carvings on a cave wall. It
will continue to teach us generation after generation. But in the end, the controversies shouldn’t
arise from the ambiguous paintings. If interpretation is all we have to go by, then that is what we
do. And isn’t that what all history is? An interpretation of facts versus opinion.