Why Cave Art Has Been A Popular Form Of Art During Prehistoric Period

The animals ranged from horses to rhinos, and even cave lions. The drawings were detailed enough to allow scientists to decipher the paintings and learn what they were witnessing at that period of time. Along with the paintings of the animals, bones were found in the cave and that also revealed more about the life in the cave other than just the cavemen and women. Using all of this information given to them, the scientists were able to learn not only how the cavemen and women lived but how animals lived during this time. The drawings in the cave in Southern France seemed to be quite anatomically correct to the animals roaming Earth today. The drawings are so detailed that there is not much hesitation on what type of animal they could have been drawing, it is obvious what their intent was. A surprise regarding the animal paintings was the lack of anything other than mammals. Throughout the cave there were a handful of paintings depicting insects such as butterflies and the one sole drawing of a human, but besides that they animals were mammals.

The last article talks about the 59th Unnamed Cave, in Florida. This cave is located in the eastern part of the Florida Panhandle. From the dates of the artifacts and the dates of the glyph, the site was occupied in the Late Woodland period. The cave was discover in 2007 when a group of cave explorer saw fine engravings on the wall. This site was the first cave art site that was found in Florida and it is the second rock art site that was found in the states. Rock art is very rare in Florida, but now with the site found there is a wider perspective on the importance of rock art. The site did not only include the petroglyph drawing of the past, but it included some artifacts that was use to help date the time that the cave was occupied.

This study is focus on the 11th Unnamed Cave in Tennessee. This cave was the first of its kind because this cave is the only one that was found to contain pictograph, petroglyph, and mud glyph all in one site. The article explain that the site is significant because there are evidence to showed that the site underwent a series of diverse but interrelated uses. The first out of all the cave sites to contain all three different form of rock art. Also, because the site was found in the eighteenth century which had some form of documentations on the uses of the cave. The authors believes that since the cave showed many different kind of activities, it is possible that the activities reflect a complex behaviors more elaborated and sacred than

Historically, it is always argued that the cave paintings during the Paleolithic period are one of the oldest recorded pieces of art. These include the hand imprints and spotted horses cave painting in Peche-Merle, France, the Halls of Bulls wall painting in Lascaux, France and the animal paintings in the Chauvet cave. While they are located in different locations, there are some common traits in these paintings. First, the cave paintings estimated to be between 13,000 and 15,000 years old, which means

Chapter 1 focuses on the prehistoric art of two different cultures, which include Paleolithic Art and Neolithic Art. Paleolithic Art began during the time period of the Ice Age that dates back to about 10,00 to 40, 000 years. Moreover, as the Ice Age began to decline, new vegetation appeared and an increase of other animal populations allowed the growth of Neolithic Art referred to as the New Stone Age. Even though these cultures were divided by different time periods they both have some similar techniques. For example, both regions had figurines, but they had a different aspect pertaining to their culture of art. Also they both painted animals, but the style and type of animals differed because of the region. However, most of the painting,

​The Cave of Forgotten Dreams is a documentary about the Chauvet Cave located in southern France. The cave contains some of the earliest and oldest images painted by humans, discovered till date. The three discoverers found the caves by searching from drafts emanating from the ground that would ensure the presence of caves. They sensed a draft in someplace and began to push away small rocks to see a narrow shaft which they cut through, descended into the ground and then found themselves in a cave that was remarkably beautiful and astounding for them. Earlier not much was known about paintings inside caves which were usually done by the people living inside them depicting their lives or surroundings. Excavations into such caves taught researchers

In France and Spain Paleoartists rendered imagery which imitated their natural surroundings in the grottos of Chauvet and Altamira. An understanding of physical form rendered in profile view assist in the assertion of natural value of the animals characteristics. In the Chamber of the Lions, the Paleoartist’s painting technique is displayed as they dragged sticks (acting as extensions of their own limbs) across the wall of the grotto- in some places a single stroke lasts up to six feet and illustrates a spectacular display of the animal kingdom, thirty thousand years ago. An otherwise monochromatic color scheme, portions of the cave are interrupted by bold displays of red amongst varying tones of black and white. Local availability of pigment

During the Paleolithic Period, as stated by many historians and museums, many forms of arts were discovered deeply into the caves. As some may wonder, what was the reason will they be found in caves and not in other places? According to the Experience Humanities by Roy T. Matthews, it could have been possible that the earlier cultures were improving their hunting skills by bringing their techniques into art form for a better analysis. Although it is a great explanation and

The arguments made by Anthropological studies cannot fully account for the development of Upper Paleolithic culture or rock arts. However, it could be that arts in the European Upper Paleolithic have entirely different meanings from other arts that ethnographers have been associated with. Just like in the film, everything in the cave was associated with human life, and nature. The fact that humans dived deep into caves, in total darkness, with only torches to light their way. Their journeys sometimes required a long and dangerous routes to reach the desired locations. This strongly suggests that there was a powerful and definite meaning associated behind the creations of art in such harsh environment. Our understanding on the explanation of Upper Paleolithic rock art should not be seen as right or wrong answer, but only incomplete knowledge of the topic. The artistic style in European Upper Paleolithic must be viewed within a larger context, both of culture and of the inexplicable change of archaeological records. Ancient humans may well have produced such great art wherever they went, but what would inspire them to make such art remain in

After watching the movie cave of forgotten dreams I have learned about cave arts a little bit more. The movie is a documentary movie. Basically, the movie took place in Southern France. In the cave they discovered the earliest known human paintings. The cave is 20,000 years old. Also, there is a currently a nuclear power plant not too far away from the cave. The cave was abended and the France government cut off all access to it. There was a lot of and paintings and in the movie they showed the painting for two minutes or so.

The largest chamber within this cave has no paintings except one that is drawn at the far end of this chamber. The researchers stated that there are no paintings close to the entrance because the paintings were to be drawn in the dark where there is no access to sunlight. One of the interesting areas inside the cave is the Panel of the horses, beneath it is a hole where water used to pour in. This is possibly why they painted these horses around the hole.

After all, Paleolithic cave art is the oldest art that is known to the world today. The art in the caves was representational art to express what was going on in their daily lives, such as the food they ate, the weapons they used and their hunting lives were documented. Therefore, A large portion of Paleolithic art was created to express ideas to teach the future generations of hunters and gatherers.

I was previously aware of cave art, with the impression that it was meant to record animals encounters, legends, and gods. I knew cave art was a part of past people’s culture. However, I did not know the greater importance of cave art, as showcased by Werner Herzog’s Cave of Forgotten Dreams, which illustrates the nature of cave art in an effective, meaningful way. The actual cave art and thoughts on being human proved to be the most insightful content of the film.

Cave paintings are a fascinating form of symbolic expression. Prior to cave paintings, homonins had not shown any definitive capacity for imaginative expression. The notion of cave art may not seem so remarkable, but the ability to think of abstract concepts and give meaning to ideas is something that distinguishes ‘humans’ from other animals. Obviously over time, the purpose of these paintings becomes obscure and hard to interpret. Our understanding of these cave paintings is based on what remains at the sites, retrospect, and aside from the relative time frame and context of when these paintings were done, our interpretations are mostly just speculative. The cave paintings are generally depicting wild animals, abstract patterns, and human

5. What is the significance of the cave art? The Venus figurines? The art in the cave shows what the humans did in there life and the Venus figurines shows sexual features suggested the paleolithic people fasioned such as figurines out of an interest in fertility.