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Prehistoric Cave Art and Sculpture

Prehistoric Cave Art and Sculpture. Painted by Cro-Magnon man (35,000-10,000 yrs. ago) Old Stone Age – Paleolithic Period 41 caves found in France and Spain in 1900s. Altamira, Spain : 1879 - Archaeologist excavating cave entrance. 12 yr. old daughter wanders off.

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Prehistoric Cave Art and Sculpture

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  1. Prehistoric Cave Art and Sculpture

  2. Painted by Cro-Magnon man (35,000-10,000 yrs. ago) • Old Stone Age – Paleolithic Period • 41 caves found in France and Spain in 1900s

  3. Altamira, Spain: 1879 - Archaeologist excavating cave entrance. 12 yr. old daughter wanders off. “Look Papa! Look at the painted bulls.” • 1st indication of prehistoric art. Immediately attributed to modern painter. Man is accused of perpetrating a forgery. • 15 yrs. later other caves found to prove he was not lying. He died an embittered man.

  4. Lascaux, France - 1940 four children playing, dog fell into a hole, they rescue dog and explore cave • Cave closed in 1963 – carbon dioxide, humidity, temperature destroying paintings • Artists constructed wooden scaffoldings to paint • Artists used the contours of the cave to make drawings more realistic (three-dimensional) • One animal is >18 ft. long • Most animals were aurochs(bulls), bison, horses and not fish or birds • Very few humans pictured • Hand prints – pigments blown across hands

  5. Art Materials and Application • Yellow, red, black clay soils (ocher, iron oxide, carbon or manganese) – ground to powder, mixed with animal fat, egg whites or vegetable oil • 3 basic colors intermixed for additional shades - Red is most durable color • Paints applied with: fingertips(earliest form of pointilism), fine animal hair brushes, blown through hollow bones, frayed sticks, moss and fur (served as sponges) • Engravings with flint tools • Painted in narrow passage ways (one yard wide), back of caves, required great courage – mountain lions and cave bears

  6. Motive or Reasons for Paintings • Magic or religious ritual – risk would rule out other purposes such as decoration, education • Paint what you want to be able to find and successfully hunt and kill • But most animals painted were not most common food sources • Other possible reasons: initiation rite, or pictorial text for young

  7. Earth Mothers Venus of Willendorf

  8. Stonehenge – Druids 3100 BC Easter Island 300-700 AD (not prehistoric)

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