In the dark cave on the ground lay a pile of stones. They were laid out symmetrically, as if by some kind of system. It was cold there. A little further, in the depths of the cave stood a figure - medium height, massive physique and big head. This is a Neanderthal. He came back from hunting, had some rest and decided to finish his work. This symmetrically heap of stones on the ground - his art, his expression.
Neanderthals (Homo neanderthalensis) - were archaic humans that have appeared in Europe and later expanded into Southwest, Central and Northern Asia. They became extinct about 40,000 years ago.
Art was born approximately 100 thousand years ago. Neanderthals continually perfected their artistic skills and eventually, besides incomprehensible pile of stones on the ground, paintings appeared on the walls and ceilings of the caves. Art is a reflection of reality. People have always displayed their life and traditions in art. Ancient hunters were strong and courageous. They fought against unknown forces of nature and terrible animals, and this was the main theme of art. They depicted the wild animals that were hunted. The drawings were primitive: outline images of animal heads, human handprint, interweaving wavy lines.
The first samples of cave art were painted by Neanderthals in Spain about 65 thousand years ago.
The first cave art drawings were quite simple. On the cave walls was shown the whole world of animals of that time: deer, mammoths, bison, bears, horses and buffaloes. In painting were used coal, red-yellow iron ore and white lime. Over time, paintings became more perfect; animals were depicted in various movements, in running. In painting, the transition from the simplest contour drawing to multi-colored painting is carried out.
The most perfect cave art is the cycle of classical cave paintings in the cave Lascaux, France.
People at all times sought to reflect their everyday lives, things and events that are happening around. Depicting animals on the walls of the caves, Neanderthals learned more about them, improved their hunting technique, as well as tools. And so, from everyday life the art began.
Interesting - the mention of Neanderthals had me puzzled, so I checked about Altamira, and yes, there is a theory that it was Neanderthals, not homo sapiens, that created (some? or all? of)the works.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cave_of_Altamira#Dating_and_periodization
Neanderthals are often though of being more primitive as homo sapiens, but that may not be true: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neanderthal
a good friend of mine, Bruce Rimmell, had been contributing articles to my website, among them discussing that subject, for example:
https://www.visionaryartexhibition.com/archaic-visions/el-castillo-formative-images-from-the-upper-palaeolithic
New dating that pushed the dates of these paintings further back, Bruce quotes:
“Anatomically modern humans arrived in western Europe around 41,500 years ago and thus may well have made the ancient Spanish paintings. But 42,000 years ago the only humans in Europe were Neanderthals... [Thus] any art there that turns out to be older than 42,000 years must necessarily be attributed to Neanderthals. [Pike & Zilhão] suspect that the red disks and hand stencils at El Castillo might well be Neanderthal paintings, considering that the uranium-thorium dating results are minimum estimates...”
Thank You so much for your interest in this theme. It's very valuable!
also consider this: most cave paintings are in inaccessible places (not at the front, where they lived), but deep inside the cave. These were most likely done by shamans - called Sympathetic Magic: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sympathetic_magic#Hypotheses_about_prehistoric_sympathetic_magic
this is easy to discern when one looks at the subject matter, such as hunting. It certainly resembles the type of magic of today's nature people (such as Australian Aborigines).
Very interesting. Thanks for sharing
Thank You!
I love history, thank you, very interesting post
Thank You!
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