Professional Documents
Culture Documents
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CAVE PAINTINGS
By REBECCA B. MARCUS
ILLUSTRATED WITH PHOTOGRAPHS
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PREHISTORIC CAVE PAINTINGS
ROSLINDALE
Cro-Magnon man painting the wall of a cave. He is using a blowtube
to make a picture of a stenciled hand.
PREHISTORIC
CAVE PAINTINGS
by REBECCA B. MARCUS
illustrated with photographs
ROSLINDALE
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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The author wishes to thank Dr. Richard A. Gould of the Department of
Anthropology of the American Museum of Natural History for his criti-
cal reading of the manuscript. Thanks are also due the following persons
for their special kindness and courtesy in helping to gather material for
this book:
Seiior Felipe Mendez de la Torre, Jefe de Relaciones Publicas, Cuevas
de Altamira, Spain;
Sefior Tomas Maza Solano, Director de la Revista Altamira, Patronato
de las Cuevas Prehistoricas, Santander, Spain;
Dr. Jean Guichard, Director, Musee de Prehistoire, Les Eyzies, France.
12 3 4 5
CONTENTS
MARIA'S DISCOVERY 3
SEALED IN A CAVE 4
CRO-MAGNON MAN 42
ROSLINDALE
BEGINNINGS OF CAVE ART 47
GLOSSARY 82
INDEX 86
PREHISTORIC
CAVE PAINTINGS
\T
(3)
charging right out of the rock. In wonderment, she called to
her father.
Her father stooped through the opening into the part of the
cave from which Maria's voice came. There he found a treas-
ure, not of gold or precious stones, but of pictures painted on
the ceiling of the cave by men who had lived 15,000 years ago.
SEALED IN A CAVE
The entrance to the Altamira cave had been sealed for
15,000 years. was discovered only by accident.
It
(4)
Rhinoceros engraved on bone, found among the remains of ancient man
in southwestern France.
(5)
Sautuolo had been intrigued by these remains showing the
work of ancient men. Perhaps groups of these men had also
lived near his own home in northern Spain, only a few hun-
dred miles from the Dordogne region in France. Perhaps
these men, too, had left remains that told something about
their lives. He knew of the unexplored, barely opened cave
at Altamira. Might not this be a place to look for evidences
of ancient cavemen?
Soon after his return from Paris, Sautuolo went to Alta-
mira and began to remove more of the rubble and slabs of
rock that had fallen down and sealed the mouth of the cave.
When he had cleared away enough of the fallen rock to enter,
he found himself in a dark chamber. He explored the cham-
ber and saw that it showed signs of having been occupied
by people. Here and there he found bone needles, stone ax-
heads, spear points, knives, and scrapers objects unmis-
takably made by man.
That winter, back in Madrid, Sautuolo spoke of his finds
to his friend ProfessorJuan Vilanova of the University of
Madrid. Vilanova was one of the world's foremost scholars
engaged in the study of ancient man. He encouraged Sau-
tuolo to continue his digging in the cave the next summer.
In the summer of 1879, Sautuolo returned to his country
home in northern Spain. At Altamira he spent many days
digging in the front part of the cave, and found many dif-
ferent objects. Among them were small pieces of bone, each
pierced with a small hole at one end. When he strung the
pieces of bone together, he saw had a necklace that
that he
an ancient man or woman might have worn. Once, on a rocky
(6)
V
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kid
Some of the bone and stone tools, now in the Altamira Museum, collected
by Marcelino de Sautuolo.
wall in a far part of the cave, he glimpsed black drawings of
animals, but he thought little about them.
So things remained until that day when Maria saw the
painted animals on the ceiling of the low chamber and called
to her father.
(8)
Necklaces and neck ornaments like the ones
found at Altamira. These are from caves in south-
western France.
/
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4
to
Deer at Altamira. The outline was first engraved, then painted in black.
The body was filled in with shades of brown and red.
that Sautuolo could almost see them breathe. Yet the animals
were mainly types that were no longer found in Spain.
Nothing like these paintings had even been known to exist.
Sautuolo gazed at them in astonishment. Who had made
these beautiful polychrome (many-colored) paintings? When
had they been made, and for what purpose? It seemed clear
to Sautuolo that the artists must have been able to observe
these ancient animals closely to have made such lifelike
paintings. Therefore, the paintings must have been made
Above left: Close-up view of some of the animals on the ceiling at Alta-
mira. Below left: Bison with legs folded under it, Altamira.
many thousands of years ago. He believed the paintings were
that old for another reason. The stone tools sealed inside the
cave when part of the ceiling collapsed showed that Stone Age
men were the last to have been in the cave before it was redis-
covered. Thus the paintings must be the work of Stone Age
men.
Day after day, Sautuolo went into the side chamber to
study its painted ceiling. He saw that the shapes of many of
the animals had been cut into the rock with a sharp tool,
first
(12)
Sketch of lines drawn by fingers on the clay of the roof at Altamira.
The head of a cowlike animal is at the right.
was less than four feet, the rock was covered with natural
yellow-red clay. Sautuolo saw designs in the clay that ap-
peared to have been scratched into it by fingers. He made
drawings of these scratches for the notes he was keeping on
his discoveries.
DISCOURAGEMENT AND
DISAPPOINTMENT
In 1880, Sautuolo wrote an article telling of his discoveries
in theAltamira cave. In his article he stated that the paintings
had been made by Stone Age artists. The article was brought
(13)
to the attention of King Alfonso XII of Spain. With much
royal fanfare, the king came to see the cave paintings for
himself. He was so impressed that he permitted his name to
be inscribed on the wall near the entrance, as a sign of his
favor.
Later that year, the International Congress of Anthropol-
ogy and Prehistoric Archaeology was to meet in Lisbon.
(Anthropology is the science that deals with the study of
man. Archaeology deals with the study of relics left by an-
cient man.) Sautuolo wanted his report on the Altamira cave
to be read and discussed at the congress. He knew that this
body must first approve it before scientists all over the world
would acknowledge its truth. He also hoped that some of the
members would come to Altamira when the meeting was
over to see the paintings for themselves.
But Sautuolo was doomed to disappointment. When his
friend Professor Vilanova showed the program committee
Sautuolo's report and asked that be read before the entire
it
(14)
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Santillana del
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La Pasiega
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Las Monedas
La Haza
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FRANCE
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one inch equals about 10 miles
(15)
J
IN THE VEZERE VALLEY
IN FRANCE
In 1895, four French schoolboys living in Les Eyzies made
a discovery that led to proof of the true age of the paintings
at Altamira.
Les Eyzies is a village in the valley of the Vezere River, a
branch of the Dordogne. The Vezere valley is a region of
fields, meadows, and low rolling hills. The four boys were
playing in a barn at LaMouthe, about two miles from the
village. The barn was built against the back of a small cave.
In the far wall of the barn they noticed a hole that appeared
to lead into a dark, empty space. They dug at the hole with
sticks to enlarge it, and climbed through.
There, back of the barn wall, was a large cave whose open-
ing had been hidden by fallen rock. The boys lit candles
that they had been carrying in their pockets, and looked
around. They saw a chamber strewn with stones, among
which they recognized some that had been worked into tools.
The stone tools were like those. one of their teachers had
shown them. He had also told the boys of the caves in their
own section of France, where many such tools had been
found, and had further explained that stone tools showed
that Stone Age men once lived in the caves. Now the boys
realized they had come upon no ordinary cave. This one at
LaMouthe must also have been inhabited by Stone Age
people.
The Vezere River near Les Eyzies. Many small caves are worn into the
limestone cliffs that rise above the river at this point.
Perigueux
SOME PAINTED
Cougnac
CAVES OF
SOUTHERN
SPAIN
FRANCE Peche-Mer/e
At this point, the boys were too excited to leave the cave.
They explored it further and saw a wall of loose rocks at the
rear. Removing some of the rocks, they worked their way
through the wall, and found themselves in another chamber.
There, by the light of their candles, the boys saw figures of
animals engraved on the wall.
The boys did not know what to make of the engravings.
While most of them resembled modern animals, some were
of animals not known to have lived in France for thousands
of years.
(18)
The four boys scrambled out of the cave to seek expert
advice. Fortunately, it was easily available at Les Eyzies, for
the town was the center for the study of Stone Age man,
particularly the type called Cro-Magnon man. (This was the
earliest example then known of modern man, Homo sapiens.)
The name was given this type of man because skeletons be-
longing to it were first found, in 1868, in a cave called Cro-
Magnon near Les Eyzies. This town in the Vezere valley thus
became the gathering place for archaeologists studying pre-
historic man. The boys rushed to one of the most famous of
them, Emile Riviere, with the story of their discovery.
Riviere was as excited as the boys. With the help of a team
of workmen, he cleared the cave at LaMouthe and confirmed
the fact that there were many Stone Age tools scattered in
the rubble. And, inside the cave, he found a few faded paint-
ings in addition to the engravings the boys had seen.
Upon examining the stone tools and the pictures of ancient
animals, Riviere came to the conclusion that the engravings
and paintings were made by Stone Age people. He believed
this to be so for the same reason that Sautuolo had at Alta-
chamber
mira. First, because the entrance to the decorated
was closed by debris containing Stone Age implements, and
second, because some of the pictures were of animals no
longer living in France.
For several years afterward the cave at LaMouthe re-
mained a curiosity visitedby few people. Archaeologists did
not go so far as to say that the engravings were recent, but
neither were they as sure as Riviere that the art was the work
of Stone Age man. Then, in 1901, the discovery of two other
caves in the Vezere valley finally settled the matter.
(19)
LES COMBARELLES,
FONT-DE-GAUME,
AND BACK TO ALTAMIRA
The first of these caves was discovered at Les Combarelles,
about two and a half miles from Les Eyzies. One of the men
who had worked LaMouthe saw some engrav-
for Riviere at
ings on a wall of the cave. Because he was not an expert, he
hesitated to explore the cave by himself. And, he particu-
larly wanted three scholars of prehistoric archaeology to ex-
amine the engravings first. These were Dr. Louis Capitan,
Denis Peyrony, and a young priest, Abbe Henri Breuil, who
had come to study at Les Eyzies.
Abbe Breuil was at that time twenty-four years old. He had
been ordained a priest, but was not assigned to a parish. His
teachers at the seminary had recognized that Breuil had un-
usual interest and scholarship in the study of prehistoric
man. So, he was assigned do research and to teach the sub-
to
ject of human paleontology the study of ancient life as
based on fossils. Although he was still young when the en-
gravings at Les Combarelles were discovered, Breuil was
already highly respected for his knowledge of prehistoric
archaeology.
The next day the three scientists went to examine the cave
at Les Combarelles. The cave was shaped like a long corridor
or gallery. The walls on both sides of the gallery were en-
(20)
1
(21)
with pictures on its walls. This cave was at Font-de-Gaume,
only a mile from Les Combarelles.
The walls of the cave at Font-de-Gaume bore many engrav-
ings, but in addition, paintings in both monochrome and poly-
chrome. The paintings were in red, yellow, brown, and
shaded black. The subjects were bison, mammoths, horses,
bears, reindeer, and woolly rhinoceroses.
Now, the woolly rhinoceros, like the mammoth, had lived
in Europe at the time of Cro-Magnon man. This was added
proof that the paintings, as well as the engravings, had been
made by Cro-Magnon man.
A whole year passed before Dr. Capitan, Denis Peyrony,
and Abbe Breuil had worked up enough evidence about the
age of the cave art to present to other scientists. When this
evidence was presented in 1902, archaeologists finally agreed
that the cave art of southwestern France was at least 15,000
years old.
Still, Abbe was not completely satisfied. He won-
Breuil
dered whether archaeologists had not made a grave mistake
in declaring the art in the cave at Altamira a fraud. He went
to one of his old teachers of prehistory and archaeology,
Abbe Emile Cartailhac, with the plan that they visit the
Altamira cave together.
In 1902, the archaeologist-priests, two of the world's most
highly regarded students of prehistoric man and his art, came
to Altamira. After studying the cave paintings thoroughly,
they declared that the art was indeed the work of Ice Age
man. Sautuolo had been right from the beginning.
This announcement soon turned the attention of other
scientists in the field to northern Spain. For although the
(22)
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Skeleton of Cro-Magnon man found in a cave in the Dordogne valley.
Reproduction of bison in Font-de-Gaume made by Abbe Breuil.
(24)
Cave Art at Altamira. This book is still read and studied by
most students of prehistoric man. Indeed, Breuil is consid-
ered the pioneer in the study of Ice Age art.
Painted hands in the cave of Castillo. Some animals are drawn in outline
and some designs whose meaning is unknown can also be seen.
/^
5
xV
i
DISCOVERY OF THE
<LASCAUX CAVE
Four boys from Montignac, the oldest seventeen years,
were out hunting rabbits on September 12, 1940. The dog
Robot, belonging to one of the boys, scampered along at their
heels. The boys climbed a hill south of the village, where
they knew of a hole left by the roots of a fallen tree. They
thought they might chase some rabbits out of the hole.
Robot sniffed around the hole, then crawled in to explore
it. But he did not come out. The ground seemed to have swal-
lowed him. The boys were mystified until they heard a faint
barking from under the ground. Marcel Ravidat decided to
go down into the hole to rescue the dog. Using sticks and the
small knives they carried, the boys widened the hole until
Ravidat could squeeze through.
Hardly had he done so when Ravidat found himself sliding
down a slippery incline. He slid for a distance of about
twenty-five feet and ended up in a large cave. He shouted to
the other boys, who followed him down.
The boys lit matches in order to look around the dark cave.
The dim light of the matches revealed paintings on the walls.
Because they could not see much, they decided to come back
the next day with a better light. They also agreed to keep
their discovery a secret for the time being.
For five days the boys explored the cave by themselves.
They were not altogether ignorant of cave art, for they had
learned something about it in school from one of their teach-
(28)
ers,Monsieur Leon Laval, an amateur archaeologist. They
had also gone with him to visit the caves at Font-de-Gaume
and Les Combarelles. Here at Lascaux the boys realized that
they had found paintings more beautiful than any in the
Vezere valley. ,
THE PAINTINGS
AT LASCAUX
(Likemost other painted caves, the one at Lascaux is well
below ground level. Thus the caves are insulated against
weather above ground. Neither frost nor severe changes in
outside temperature reach them to weaken the rock walls.
And, because the caves were sealed for perhaps 15,000 to
20,000 years, no moisture-carrying or mold-carrying air could
(29)
enter. Due to these reasons the paint has not faded out
entirely, but has only become dulled.
Yet the paintings Lascaux have retained their glowing
at
colors over the centuries. "YThis is due to the unusual condition
of the cave walls. Long oefore the paintings were made, a
very thin transparent coating of the mineral calcite was
formed over the surface of the rock. Calcite is the crystalline
form of calcium carbonate, the chief mineral composing lime-
stone. Scientists think the calcite was deposited on the sur-
face of the rock by a slow seepage of calcite-carrying water.
The water then evaporated and left a thin coating of calcite
crystals.
This calcite film served as a varnish on the rock surface.
Paint applied to such a surface tends to keep its color better
than paint applied directly to porous limestone rock. After
the paintings were finished, calcite continued to be deposited
slowly, covering the work as a coat of varnish would. For
some unknown reason calcite stopped being deposited before
the color of the paint was dulled by a thick mineral coating.
Thus the paint was protected against fading and damage.
Almost as soon as one enters the cave, the beauty of the
Lascaux paintings is apparent. Just beyond a small vestibule
is the main hall of the cave, called the "Hall of the Bulls." It
is about one hundred feet long and thirty-two feet wide. The
(30)
even been known to have lived. Where the idea for such a
painting came from or why it was made is a total mystery.
The Hall of the Bulls is indeed well named. Pictures of four
giant bulls dominate the walls. One of the bulls is halfway
along the left wall, the other three are massed on the right
wall. The largest of the four bulls is over seventeen feet long,
the smallest about thirteen feet long. There is the head of a
fifth bull, but its body is missing. Abbe Breuil thought the
body had once been complete, but was gradually destroyed
by a draft of air that entered the cave at that point.
The bulls are outlined in black and painted in shades of
red, yellow, and brown. In some places the rounded shape of
the rock was used to give the impression of depth, almost as
if parts of the animal figure were sculptured out of the rock.
(31)
Right: The strange animal near the entrance to the Hall of the Bulls at
Lascaux. This animal has been called "the Unicorn" because of its
straight horns at the front of its head. Below right: Central section of the
paintings in the Hall of the Bulls, Lascaux. The stags are dwarfed by the
size of the bulls.
Head of the fourth bull in the Hall of the Bulls at Lascaux. The carefully
painted details of the mouth and eye show the painters had observed the
animal at close range.
<'<
v )
cows is jumping over a line of spritely, small horses. This
line of horses has been called the "frieze of little horses."
It is probably the most famous group of horses in any of the
cave paintings.
In fact, the outstanding figures in this whole gallery are
those of horses. One can almost see the quiver of their mus-
cles, so realistic are the paintings. There are running horses,
..****
Tectiforms, or abstract
designs, from the Castillo
cave in Spain. Designs
such as these are found in
all of the painted caves.
has been found for the "gratings" at the right and between the wild
goats. Below left: These horses have been called the "Chinese horses,"
because of their style of painting. There are a number of tectiforms on
this wall.
A narrow gallery branching from the right of the Hall of
the Bulls widens into another chamber. The gallery has many
engravings, but they are so small and so entangled that they
have been almost impossible to decipher. In addition, there
are paintings whose colors, although clear, are not as bright
as those elsewhere in the cave.
The walls of this whole part of the cave are not covered
with the thin layer of calcite. This may be why the paintings
on them are not well preserved. It may also explain why so
Above left: Two bisons painted in red and black at Lascaux. They appear
to be on the lookout for danger. Below These stags in the side
left:
gallery at Lascaux seem to be swimming. The group has been called the
"frieze of swimming stags."
The scene in the well. The rhinoceros at the left was probably painted
at some other time and is not a part of the scene itself.
(40)
spear and its hanging out. In front of the bison is an
entrails
oddly drawn figure of a man falling backward, giving the
impression he was killed by the bison. Compared with the
artistic drawing of the bison, the man is crudely drawn in
outline. He has the head of a bird. His arms are motionless
and have four fingers for each hand, attached to the wrists
like little sticks.
A bird on the end of a stick is drawn under the man's fall-
(41)
However, something is known about the kind of men who
made the pictures in Lascaux, in Altamira, and in the other
caves. Human skeletons and skulls found in Les Eyzies and
elsewhere in the area have furnished a good clue to the pres-
ence and physical appearance of Cro-Magnon man. The art
in the caves and the implements found near them have given
scientists some idea of how these Ice Age men lived.
CRO-MAGNON MAN
Tools left by Cro-Magnon men show that they lived in the
Stone Age. When a scientist uses the term "Stone Age" he
does not mean a certain time in the earth's history, or a cer-
tain number of years ago. He means that people who made
and used stone tools, and who had not yet found out how to
use metal ones, lived in the Stone Age. There are some Stone
Age tribes living today, in remote parts of Australia and New
Guinea.
Cro-Magnon skeletons show that the men were tall, erect,
and powerfully built. The women were considerably shorter
than the men. The facial appearance of both men and women
was like that of modern Europeans, except that the Cro-
Magnon peoples' foreheads were higher. Scientists think that
if a Cro-Magnon man were to come alive today and was
(42)
tected by their thick fur, roamed the land. Reindeer, wild
horses, cave bears, bison, cave lions, and wild boars lived in
the meadows and woods.
in the
The people lived in the mouths of caves or under overhang-
ing rocks, where they found shelter from wind, rain, and
snow. They hunted animals and gathered fruits, nuts, roots,
and berries for food. They knew nothing about farming, but
they used fire for protection against animals at night, for
warmth, and for roasting meat.
The skins of animals provided them with clothing. Bone
and ivory needles were used to sew the skins into some type
of garment. Bone buttons and toggles have been found, show-
ing that the clothing was fastened close to the body. Sharp
awls for punching holes into skins have also been found. Cro-
Magnon man first punched holes in the skins he wanted to
sew together, then used a needle threaded with sinews of
animals for the actual sewing.
Tools were made of bone, ivory, or stone. Some wooden
tools were probably used as well, but none have been found,
for they have long since rotted away. The stone tools were
made of flint or a type of volcanic glass called obsidian.
These stones are very hard, but can readily be chipped into
a desired shape. Also, sharp-edged flakes can be broken off
flint and obsidian. The flakes can be trimmed to make sharp
(43)
r.
(44)
Anthropologists have divided the Upper Paleolithic indus-
try into four main groups, according to the type of tools
made. The groups were given names that came from the
places where the tools were first found. Since the earliest
finds of Cro-Magnon man and his industry were in southern
France, these groups all have French names.
The earliest industry was called the Aurignacian, from the
remains found in a cave in Aurignac, in the Pyrenees Moun-
tains. These Cro-Magnon men of the Aurignacian period left
many drawings and paintings on the walls of the caves. They
also left a number of small clay and stone figurines, mostly
of women.
The Aurignacian industry was followed by one called the
Gravettian. Tools of this period were found in La Gravette,
a cave in the Dordogne region. But although the earliest finds
of the Gravettian period were made in France, this industry
was widespread throughout the plains of eastern and central
Europe. Gravettian man left many figurines, almost entirely
of women and of animals. These figurines, only a few inches
high, were carved out of stone or ivory, or modeled in clay
and then fired.
The third industry was called the Solutrian, from the vil-
lage of Solutre. Some small clay and stone figures made by
Solutrian man have been found, but no drawings or paintings.
Solutrian industry is characterized by its especially fine
chipped stone spearpoints shaped like laurel leaves.
The Magdalenian industry, named for a cave called La
Madeleine, was the last and the most advanced of the four
groups. Magdalenian Cro-Magnon men were the great cave
artists of Spain and France.
(45)
Aurignacian figurine of a woman, from
southwestern France. The head has been
broken off and been lost.
hand was rested against the cave wall and paint applied
around it.
(47)
As part of the religious practices of certain primitive tribes
today, some members mutilate a certain part of their bodies
as a personal sacrifice to their gods. Sometimes the mutila-
tion an offering to induce a god to grant a special favor;
is
[48)
The minerals were placed in hollowed-out pieces of rock
and pounded into a powder. Then the powder was moistened
with a liquid, or binder, so that the paint could be applied.
Several different kinds of binders were used. Animal blood,
vegetable juice, and egg white were among them. The most
common binder was melted animal fat. The pigments mixed
with fat produced an oil paint. Thus the cave paintings might
be considered the first oil paintings ever made.
Modern and scientists who have made studies of
artists
these cave paintings have closely examined the strokes of the
paint. They have come to the conclusion that the liquid paint
was applied with brushes made of hair or feathers, or with
small pads of fur or lichen. The pads were probably used
where large surfaces had to be painted. In most of the caves
the artists first made the outline with a fine brush, then cut
the outline with an engraving tool that anthropologists call a
"burin." At Altamira and in several other caves colored
crayons, little sticklike pieces of ocher, were found neatly
lined up on little stone benches. The crayons were sharpened,
somewhat like lipsticks. They were probably used to make
the outlines of the animals.
some paintings the color was blown onto
In the wall
through tubes made of hollow animal bones or of reeds.
A few such blow tubes were found near the entrance to the
Lascaux cave. By examining the paintings closely, anthropol-
ogists have figured out how the blow tubes were used. The
cave with a brush dipped in liquid
artists outlined the figure
paint, usually black. Then the whole surface to be painted
was smeared over with fat or oil. Next, powdered colors
were blown on, and the powder remained fixed to the oily
(49)
surface. Most of the pictures of hands were made in this way,
with the hand held against the wall, the paint tube held
left
in the right hand, and the paint blown around the left hand.
In painting the caves, there must have been a number of
artists working under the direction of one master artist. Some
were probably merely apprentices who held torches or lime-
stone lamps filled with animal fat to light the dark caves.
There must also have been assistants who ground the min-
erals into powder, mixed the paints, and handed them to the
artists.
(50)
ogists know this because several stone "sketch sheets" were
found near painted caves. Large-size reproductions of
in or
the figures on the small sketches could be recognized on the
cave walls.
Near one site, Limeuil, in southwestern France, one hun-
dred and thirty-seven small sketch sheets were found. Some
of the sketch sheets had good drawings on them, some had
poor ones. Many had corrections such as an art teacher
would have made. This has caused anthropologists to think
that an art school was located at Limeuil, where young artists
were trained.
A good sketch sheet must have been highly prized by its
owner. There is some evidence to show that it may even have
been sold to another artist. This evidence comes from the
painting of a bison in Font-de-Gaume. The bison has un-
usually powerful shoulders, found in no other painting. Be-
cause the bison is so distinctive, the original sketch sheet
from which it was painted was easily recognized. It was
found on a Cro-Magnon site about two hundred miles from
Font-de-Gaume. Apparently the original artist had traded his
sketch sheet after it had served its purpose.
(51)
Reproduction by Breuil of a bison with red-tipped arrows shown on its
(52)
Further evidence points to the possible use of these pic-
tures for purposes of sympathetic magic. A number of pic-
tures show dancing men, wearing animal skins or animal
masks. In one, the man wears the head of a deer. His hands
can be seen, covered with bear paws, while the tail of a wild
horse trails from his buttocks. These are the figures of sor-
cerers performing rites of magic, possibly dancing a beast
dance to charm the spirits of the animals.
If indeed the paintings were made for purposes of sympa-
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(54)
Real weapons may sometimes have been used, for some of
the paintings are scarred, as if darts had been thrown at them.
(55)
i
Mammoth and bulls painted on the walls of the cave at Pech-Merle,
France, discovered in 1922.
(56)
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ent from the one generally accepted. He agrees that the paint-
ings have religious meaning, but were not concerned with
sympathetic magic or the hunt. He thinks the caves were
temples of a complicated religion in which male and female
forces played a large part.
There are some disagreements with this theory among sci-
entists, but, nevertheless, it is being studied closely. The
theory has opened up a whole new train of ideas and reason-
ing that may yield a better understanding of the meaning of
cave art.
Whatever theory scientists support, they all agree on one
thing. Cave pictures were not meant for decoration. They
had a deep magical or religious meaning and were important
in the life of Ice Age man.
THOUSANDS OF YEARS
OF CAVE ART
Because the cave artists drew pictures of animals they
observed, earlier pictures show some animals that do not
appear in the later ones.For example, Font-de-Gaume has
especially fine paintings of mammoths and woolly rhinoc-
eroses among its older paintings. None of these animals ap-
pears in later ones, either at Font-de-Gaume or elsewhere. So
the later paintingsmust have been made many hundreds,
perhaps thousands, of years later when the mammoth and
woolly rhinoceros had disappeared from Europe.
(58)
Until 1947 only the approximate age of the cave paintings
was known. In that year a method called radiocarbon dating
was perfected. By this method, the age of any material up to
30,000 years old can be calculated fairly accurately, provided
The carbon, how-
the material contains the chemical carbon.
ever, must have come from a substance that was alive at
some time.
- Human and animal bones, pollen grains from plants, wood
charcoal from ancient and charcoal used to make black
fires,
(59)
Frieze of rhinoceroses in the cave of Rouffignac in France. The paintings
were discovered in 1956.
(60)
many of them. For when a cave was discovered, it was he
who was usually called upon to judge whether the art was
authentic Ice Age art. Most of his explanations of the meth-
ods used to paint the caves and the meanings of the paintings
themselves are widely accepted. Caves are still being
still
(61)
MEXICAN CAVE PAINTINGS
In the 1960's, an American on
writer, Erie Stanley Gardner,
vacation in Mexico, discovered cave paintings near a remote
village in Baja (Lower) California. The paintings were of men,
twelve to fifteen feet tall, and skillfully done in red and black.
One man appears to be the chief, because he wears a pecu-
liar three-pronged headdress. The left side of his body is
painted in black, and the right side in red. Farther down the
peninsula, aMexican guided the writer to another cave that
had pictures of both men and animals. One picture shows a
man who just He still stands with his hands out-
been killed.
stretched, although a number of arrows penetrate his body.
Nothing is known about the people who painted either of
these caves, except that they were probably Stone Age men.
Nor is anything known about the age of the paintings or the
reason they were made. Much more exploration and study
of these Mexican caves are necessary if the meaning of the
paintings be found.
is to
Other exciting Mexican cave paintings were reported
about seventy-five miles northeast of Acapulco in July, 1966,
by two American amateur archaeologists. These men had
heard rumors of paintings on cave walls deep inside the
caves. The paintings had been described to them as "witch-
craft works." They induced one of the local Mexicans to
guide them to the cave.
The men found paintings in colors of red, yellow, green,
black, and white on the wall, more than half a mile inside
ROCK PAINTINGS-
SPANISH LEVANTINE ART
The idea of painting on rock was not limited to Ice Age
men. Later groups of Stone Age men painted pictures on the
walls of overhanging ledges of rock or in rock shelters, but
almost none were deep inside the caves. Inland from the hilly
eastern coast of Spain, in a region called the Levant, a num-
ber of painted rock shelters have been found. The paintings,
(64)
although not as clear as the cave paintings, have been pre-
served because of the dryness of the climate in that region.
The rock Spanish Levantine art.
art of this region is called
Archaeologists do not agree about the age of these rock
paintings, but they do agree that the art is probably less than
10,000 years old.
There seems to be little or no connection between Spanish
Levantine art and that of the Cro-Magnon Ice Age art. Al-
though the rock shelters were also painted with colors
ures of people are not. The people are tall and thin, almost
like stick figures, but easily recognizable as people.
Pictures of animals are combined with pictures of people,
and form compositions that often tell a story. Hunting inci-
(66)
dents are shown, one of a man following the tracks of an
animal. Another scene shows
group of marching warriors
a
holding weapons. In one picture a fleeing warrior loses his
headdress as he collapses, his body pierced by several
arrows.
Some scenes afford a look into the daily lives of the people.
In one, a woman is walking, holding a child by the hand.
In another, two honey-gatherers are climbing a rope to a nest
of wild bees that are attacking them. Women and children
as well as men are shown in many of the pictures.
The reasons for painting the rocks are unknown. Some
painted rock shelters may have been places of worship. But
most of the pictures simply appear to tell a story or to record
an incident in the life of the people.
more than 5,000 years old, and some of them are only several
hundred years old.
The style of the African pictures is very much like that of
the Spanish Levantine paintings. This has led scientists to
think that possibly large groups of people migrated between
Africa and Spain across a land bridge that once connected
the two continents.
(67)
Drawings made of Bushman cave paintings in South Africa.
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(72)
the finest of all, have been visited by many thousands of
people from all parts of the world.
At Altamira, heavy door has been set into the opening
a
of the cave to protect the paintings from damage that may
result from temperature changes. The door is opened only to
admit visitors, and is closed as soon as they have entered.
The cave is dimly lit by shaded electric lights. The lighting
is skillfully arranged, so that the visitor sees the paintings
by light such as Cro-Magnon man himself may have seen
them.
It no longer necessary to crouch to view the painted
is
ceiling. A deep, wide trench has been dug all around the
main hall of the cave as a path for visitors. The floor of the
trench averages about seven and a half feet from the ceiling.
In other parts of the cave, the floor has been dug out and
lowered to make walking easy. Spanish government guides
conduct parties into the cave and explain the paintings.
The Lascaux cave is entered through two massive metal
doors several yards apart. The outer door opens into a small
well-lighted vestibule. Only after the outer door is closed
is the second, inner door opened. And this is closed as soon
as the last person in the party enters the main hall. Here, and
in the rest of the cave, the lighting is the same as at Altamira.
Dim and subdued, it casts an air of mystery over the paint-
ings.
Until 1963, thetwo French government guides were Ravi-
dat and Marsal, two of the four discoverers of Lascaux in
1940. Then, unfortunately, in 1963 the cave was closed to
the public. In spite of all precautions to preserve the paint-
(73)
ings, a mold had begun to grow on the and to
paintings,
damage their colors. Scientists think the air exhaled by the
many visitors produced conditions favorable for the growth
of the mold.
Research is now being done to find a way to stop the pres-
ent mold growth and to prevent such damage in the future.
When the way is found, the cave will be opened once more.
Government officials hope this will be possible by 1970. You,
the reader, may be among the fortunate ones who will then
be able to see the paintings and Ravidat and Marsal may
be your guides.
(74)
APPENDIX I
In Spain
(75)
J
hands. A horse whose body is pierced with three arrows
is considered one of the proofs that Cro-Magnon man prac-
ticed sympathetic magic. A modern-type elephant is
painted in outline on one of the walls. This is one of two
paintings of elephants found in Spain.
La Haza at Ramales
Discovered in 1903.
A small cave with a few well-made paintings, mostly of
horses painted in red.
(76)
In France
Lascaux at Montignac
Discovered in 1940.
The most beautifully painted cave ever discovered. Poly-
chrome paintings of bulls, cows, deer, elk, and horses. One
painting of a human figure. The cave was closed to the
public in 1963 because of a growth of mold on the paint-
ings. May be reopened by 1970.
[77]
has several engravings of human figures with animal heads
or wearing animal masks.
Pech-Merle at Cabrerets
Discovered in 1922.
Paintings in black outline of horses, bison, and many mam-
moths. Has painting of fish in red outline. Has many paint-
ings of hands with red dots surrounding them. Engravings
show a cave bear pierced by arrows, and the figure of a
man pierced by a spear. This cave has unusual paintings
of spotted horses. There are many human footprints in the
clay of the floor.
(78)
Les Trois Freres near St. Girons (privately owned)
Discovered in 1914.
Some paintings. Has the finest collection of engravings
anywhere, of many animals. Has especially fine masked
human figures performing ritual dances. One picture, part-
ly engraved and partly painted, shows a sorcerer with a
human body and legs, but with a tail, antlers, cat's ears,
and a bearded mask. Dancing human footprints are em-
bedded in the clay floor.
(79)
J
APPENDIX II
RADIOCARBON DATING
(80)
Scientists compare the number of radiocarbon atoms pres-
ent in a piece of plant material of unknown age with a similar
plant material whose age they know. For example, suppose
a piece of ancient charcoal has half the number of radiocar-
bon atoms present as in a piece of modern charcoal of the
same size. Scientists then estimate the ancient charcoal to be
5,57040 years old. (A specially constructed Geiger counter
is used to detect the radiocarbon atoms in a sample.)
(81)
GLOSSARY
archaeologist a scientist who studies ancient peoples and
their culture by digging up and studying the relics left by
them.
Aurignacian the earliest period in Upper Paleolithic in-
dustry in France and Spain. The period began about 25,000
years ago and lasted about 5,000 years.
awl a thin-pointed tool used to pierce small holes in leather
or fur.
burin a stone tool with a sharp, chisel-like edge.
calcite the crystalline form of calcium carbonate, the chief
mineral in limestone.
Cro-Magnon a type of man living in Europe, particularly
in France and northern Spain during the last part of the
latest ice age. The type first appeared about 40,000 years
ago.
flint a hard mineral usually chunks embedded in
found in
limestone or chalk. Stone Age man used it for making
sharp tools because it could be chipped or flaked to make
a sharp cutting edge.
frieze a horizontal band on a wall, decorated with paintings
or sculpture.
Gravettian a period in upper Paleolithic industry that fol-
lowed the Aurignacian. Gravettian industry was wide-
spread throughout the eastern and central plains of Europe.
limestone a rock made almost entirely of the chemical
calcium carbonate. Limestone is light-colored rock, usually
(82)
whitish, yellowish, or gray. It is sedimentary rock, origi-
nally formed under the sea.
Magdalenian the last period of the Upper Paleolithic in-
dustry in France and Spain. It dates from about 20,000
years ago and was at its height between 10,000 and 8000
B.C.
mammoth an extinct type of elephant that lived where the
climate was cold. It was a very large animal with a hairy
coat and long curved tusks.
manganese oxide a black mineral found in pockets in clay
formed from decomposed limestone. The mineral was
ground into powder and used in making black paint.
monochrome painting a painting made in one color.
obsidian a mineral, usually black. It is volcanic glass. It
(83)
prehistoric archaeology the branch of archaeology that
deals with prehistoric man.
radiocarbon dating method of determining the age of a
a
once living substance by calculating the number of radio-
carbon atoms still present in that substance.
Solutrian a period in Upper Europe
Paleolithic industry in
that came between the Gravettian and the Magdalenian.
Solutrians left neither paintings nor engravings on cave
walls. They left some clay figures. They are noted for their
special type of stone tools.
Spanish Levantine art the paintings found on the rock of
shelters inland from the coast of eastern Spain, in a region
called the Spanish Levant.
sympathetic magic "magic" practiced by some
a type of
groups of people. People who practice sympathetic magic
believe that they gain power over an animal or a person by
making an image of that animal or person.
tectiforms line designs found in decorated caves. Some are
shaped like gratings, some like fence palings, some are
squares, rectangles, or triangles. A few early archaeologists
thought they represented roofs or dwellings, thus gave them
the name "tectiform." The word comes from a Latin word
meaning "roof," or "covering."
toggle a small rod or bolt placed through a loop as a
fastening.
Wisconsin glacial period the last period of Pleistocene gla-
ciation. began about 100,000 years ago and ended with
It
(84)
heavy woolly coat. It lived in regions where the climate
was cold.
Wurm glacial period the European name for the Wisconsin
glacial period.
(85)
INDEX
Acapulco, Mexico, 62 Cave art,
(86)
El Castillo cave, 27 Montignac, France, 27, 28
Musee de l'Homme (Museum of
Font-de-Gaume, 22, 24, 51, 58, 59 Man), Paris, 55
"Frieze of little horses" (Lascaux),
34 New Guinea, 42
New Zealand, rock art in, 72
Gardner, Erie Stanley, 62 Nyasaland, rock art in, 71
Gravettian industry, 45
Olmec culture (Mexico), 64
Hall of the Bulls (Lascaux cave),
30-31 Paleolithic, defined, 44
Homo sapiens, 19 Paleontology, defined, 20
Paris Exhibition of 1878, 4
International Congress of Anthro- Peyrony, Denis, 20, 21, 22
pology and Prehistoric Archaeol- Pleistocene Ice Age, 21
ogy (1880), 14-15
Italy, caves in, 61 Ravidat (French guide), 28, 73, 74
Rhodesia, rock art in, 71
Kapovaya cave (Urals), 61 Riviere, Emile, 19
Robot (dog), 28
La Gravette, France, 45 Rock painting. See Spanish Levan-
LaMouthe, France, 16, 19, 20, 21 tine art and African rock art.
(87)
Tectiforms, defined, 34 Vezere valley, 16, 27
Villanova, Juan, 6, 14
University of Madrid, 6
Upper Paleolithic, defined, 43-44,
Wisconsin glaciation period, 21
industries of, 45
Wiirm glaciation period, 21
Ural Mountains, 61
(88)
Photos Courtesy of:
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