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Chauvet Cave Paintings

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CAVE PAINTINGS: CHAVUET CAVE
Art and the ability to think of concepts is what distinguishes our species from other animals - capabilities that also led us to use fire, develop the wheel and come up with the other technologies that have made our kind so successful ("BBC News - Cave paintings change ideas about the origin of art," n.d.)The discoveries of cave art defied the then dominant view of cultural “progress” as something that gradually proceeded from a “savage” ancient past to the civilization” of the present (Lewis, Jurmain, & Kilgore, 2013, p. xx) The origins of art cannot simply be pegged to the latest discovery of ancient paintings or sculpture (Balter, 2009, p. xx) In these cave paintings it gives us a glance into the worlds of our …show more content…

Chauvet Cave in Southern France have reigned as the worlds oldest cave paintings (Balter, 2009, p. xx) Expertly composed in red ochre and black charcoal, these artistic paintings show that artistic expression stretches back more than 30,000 years (Balter, 2009, p. xx) Carbon isotope analysis of charcoal used in pictures of horses at Chauvet show this (Whitehouse, 2001) These paintings are just as artistic and complex as the Lascaux paintings found later the Chauvet drawings are 10,000 years older., This possibly indicates that art developed much earlier than thought before. (Catchpoole, n.d.). Discovered in 1940, the cave contains nearly two thousand figures, which can be grouped into three main categories—animals, human figures, and abstract signs. Over nine hundred images depict animals from the surrounding areas, such as horses, stags, aurochs, bison, lions, bears, and bird. Two major parts of the cave is used in different ways. The first part a majority of images are red, with black or engraved ones. The second part the animals are mostly black with less engravings and red figures("Boundless. “Cave Paintings" Boundless Art History," 2014) The Chauvet Cave is known for being the oldest cave site with paintings, so many paintings line the walls of this vast cave, and intricate meaningful paintings that changed the discourse of what many of believed of the intellectual capabilities of our ancestors. More than …show more content…

The technique of the artist is clearly defined in this drawing the shading and perspective is skillfully used. It is amazing that it so defined on what species the artist was portraying. The artist who made drew these paintings would clear the walls of debris to leave a smooth canvas make it easier to do their drawings on ("Boundless. “Cave Paintings" Boundless Art History," 2014) The art includes drawings that were complex considering the time("Boundless. “Cave Paintings" Boundless Art History," 2014) These paintings can be interpreted in so many ways for example, “Some anthropologist and art-historians also theorize that the paintings could be an point of past hunting success ("Boundless. “Cave Paintings" Boundless Art History,"

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