PREHISTORIC ART

C.30,000 BCE C.1300 BCE THE PAINTED CAVES

The Great Hall When the cave paintings at

of the Bulls
c.15,00013,000 BCE
Lascaux Cave, nr. Lascaux were revealed to the
Montignac, France
Lascaux is both the most famous
and the most richly decorated of
public in 1948, the overriding
all the painted caves. In all, more
than 900 figures of animals have reaction was astonishment. How
been identified. The most
spectacular examples are located could primitive people with so
in a chamber dominated by six
huge bulls, the largest of which
is more than 17ft (5.2m) long.
few resources have produced
pictures of such sophistication?
With each new discovery, this
sense of wonder has returned. In the 1990s, the age of the oldest painted
cave was pushed back to around 30,000 BCE and there is every likelihood
that, in the future, this boundary may go back even further. Meanwhile,
scientic advancesradiocarbon dating, accelerator mass spectrometry,
and DNA analysisare providing an increasingly detailed understanding of
both the paintings and their archaeological settings. The sheer number of
surviving decorated caves also continues to grow. At present, more than 360
have been recorded in Western Europe alone. Comparable sites have also
been found in many other parts of the world, conrming that cave art was
a truly global phenomenon.
 PREHISTORIC ART 013

CONTEXT Landmarks in rock art

c.38,000 BCE Start of the Upper Paleolithic

Period, the nal phase of the Paleolithic
Artists from the Ice Age Age. It is subdivided into toolmaking
phases known as industries.

Cave paintings in Europe were produced by
hunter-gatherer communities in the later stages
of the Ice Age. When the paintings were rst
studied, it was assumed that the images simply
reected the everyday lives of these people.
It soon became clear, however, that many of
these caves were not normally inhabited and,
in addition, that the paintings were executed in
places where they could not be seen. As a
result, it was suggested that some caves were
sanctuaries and that the act of painting served
some ritual purpose.
For many years, the most popular theory was
that the paintings were associated with hunting
magic. By depicting large, healthy creatures
deposits showed that, in many cases, the cave
artists were not portraying the beasts they
actually ate. At Lascaux, for instance, 90
percent of the food remains were reindeer
bones, but this animal was depicted only once.
In recent years, new theories have
proliferated. Some scholars have argued that
individual animals should not be viewed in
isolation. They believe that it is more helpful to
look at the entire panel, including its various
signs (hands, arrows, grids). The hypotheses
arising from the Chinese Horse (see pp.2021)
illustrate this approach.
There is also great interest in the links with
shamanism. In the 19th and 20th centuries,
c.34,000 BCE The Aurignacian industry,
named after a site in Aurignac, emerges
in France. The earliest cave paintings
are produced.
c.28,00020,000 BCE The time of the
Gravettian industry, named after a site at
La Gravette in the Dordogne area of France.
The Venus gurines date from this period.
c.16,00010,000 BCE The closing
phase of the Upper Paleolithic era is the
Magdalenian industry, named after the site
of La Madeleine in France. The nest cave
paintings are created during this era.
c.13,0008500 BCE The Late Glacial
period, when the ice sheets gradually
begin their retreat.

their ideal food sourcethe cavemen were
hoping to ensure the future supply of these
animals for their hunters. Gradually though, as
more paintings were discovered, a aw in this
theory became apparent. The study of food
KEY EVENTS
European anthropologists gained important c.80003000 BCE The Neolithic Wet
insights into the rock art of southern Africa by Phase, a milder period when Saharan
studying the shamanistic practices of local north Africa is habitable.
Bushmen. Since then, scholars have explored
parallels with European cave painting.

SUDDENLY, [A
PAINTING OF] A
BIG RED BEAR
ROSE UP BEFORE
US. TRANSFIXED,
WE STAYED FOR
A MOMENT TO
ADMIRE IT
1995 | Eliette Brunel Deschamps
French speleologist, on discovering Chauvet

A precarious existence
Some of the masterpieces of prehistoric art were
produced in the harshest of conditions. Hunter-gatherers
struggled to survive during the final phases of the Ice
Age. Their standard environment was usually a frozen
landscape or a bleak tundra. When the climate was at
its worst, they took refuge in caves.
014 ANCIENT AND MEDIEVAL

BEGINNINGS
A SHOCKING DISCOVERY
In December 1994, three spelunkers were exploring a cave
in the Ardche Valley in France, when they came across a
series of painted chambers. After radiocarbon tests were
carried out, archaeologists were astonished to discover
that the paintings were far older than other known
examples. The earliest section dates to around 30,000 BCE,
while a second period of habitation dates from about
25,000 BCE. The cave has been named after one of the
speleologists, Jean-Marie Chauvet, while his companions,
Eliette Brunel and Christian Hillaire, have given their names
to individual chambers. The discovery of the Chauvet Cave
made experts revise their views on the Aurignacian period and
on the nature and purpose of cave painting itself. The animals
depicted are different from those in later caves. Alongside the
usual herbivores, there are images of dangerous creatures
that were rarely pursuedbears, lions, and woolly rhinos.
This undermined the theory that cave paintings were
designed solely for hunting rituals.

ARTISTIC INFLUENCES
I POINTED THE
Historians have long been skeptical of the idea that cave paintings are
PICTURES OUT TO straightforward reections of the daily life of the hunter-gatherer. As more and
MY FATHER, BUT more images have become available for study, they have analyzed every symbol
HE JUST LAUGHED. and every unusual pose for hints about their purpose. Increasingly, it seems likely
that the cave artists were inuenced by their ritual practices and beliefs.
SOON, HOWEVER,
HE GOT MORE Painted symbols are found in many caves.
The Panel of the Hand
INTERESTED... Hands are particularly common, taking the Stencils, c.30,000 BCE, is
form of handprints, palm prints, or stenciled situated deep inside Chauvet
HE WAS SO outlines. Often, they are combined with an Cave, near the entrance to

EXCITED HE COULD animal image. In this case, the charcoal line the Candle Gallery. Nr.
to the left is part of a mammoth. Vallon-Pont-dArc, France

HARDLY SPEAK
c.1923 | Maria de Sautuola
Daughter of local landowner Marcelino
de Sautuola, on the discovery of the
Altamira cave paintings
Red ocher is one of the most common Himba women
pigments found in cave painting. It also grinding red ocher that
appears to have had a deeper, symbolic is then mixed with butter,
signicance. It was daubed on cult gurines, ash, and a perfumed resin
as well as on the bodies of the dead and to produce a balm that
their grave goods. protects the skin.

Shamanistic practices may be linked with

Bird-headed Man
many of the cave paintings. This strange with a disemboweled bison,
scene, unparalleled in Paleolithic art, shows c.15,00013,000 BCE, in a
a bird man, who may be dead or in a trance, barely accessible sanctuary
lying next to a bird stick that may be either called the Shaft at Lascaux.
a spear thrower or a ritual implement. Nr. Montignac, France

Unusual poses in the animal paintings have A curled-up bison,

taxed the ingenuity of archaeologists. The c.16,00014,000 BCE,
favored theory is that this bison is rolling follows the rounded contours
in its urine, in order to create territorial of a roof boss on the ceiling
markings. However, it has also been at the Altamira cave. Nr.
Santillana del Mar, Spain
interpreted as dying, sleeping, or giving birth.
 PREHISTORIC ART 015

TURNING POINT

Bison HENRI BREUIL

c.16,00014,000 BCE Altamira Cave, nr. Santillana del Mar, Spain A pioneering gure in the study
of the Paleolithic era, Henri Breuil
The extraordinary paintings at Altamira were discovered in 1879, (18771961) was ordained as a priest
and information about them was rst published in 1880. However, but never took up his duties. Instead,
he devoted himself to recording and
more than 20 years passed before they were generally accepted
analyzing the latest discoveries in cave
as genuine examples of Paleolithic art. Initially, experts had art. He visited sites throughout Europe,
dismissed Altamira as an elaborate, modern forgery, arguing that Africa, and China, and his encyclopedic
the colors were too vivid and the techniques too sophisticated knowledge on the subject enabled
for such an early date. Their amazement is understandable. him to calculate a more accurate

CONTEXT
chronology for the Palaeolithic age.
This remarkable bison was outlined in black and then colored
in. Shading was achieved by scraping away small areas of paint,
Henri Breuil, French archaeologist
and engraved lines were added at key pointsthe eyes, the and authority on prehistoric cave art
horns, and the hoovesto sharpen up the detail.
016 ANCIENT AND MEDIEVAL

TIMELINE WE NOW SHOULDERED

It is just over a century since historians accepted the idea that cave paintings A HEAVY BURDEN
dated back to the Upper Paleolithic era. The earliest European examples appear OF RESPONSIBILITY.
to date from around 30,000 BCE. However, as new discoveries are made and THIS INTACT SITE...
dating techniques become more sophisticated, this situation may change.
MUST BE PROTECTED
Many of the European paintings were produced inside deep, barely accessible
caves, which has aided their survival. Similar images have been found in Africa
AT ALL COSTS
and Australia, where the practice of creating them continued for far longer. 1995 | Eliette Brunel Deschamps
French speleologist, on the discovery of Chauvet

Megaceros Deer
Running
c.30,000 BCE Chauvet Candamo Cave
Cave, Ardche, France The oldest cave paintings in Spain may
The megaceros was a giant have been produced c.23,000 BCE, at La
deer, which is now extinct. Pea de Candamo. These include images
It did not return to southern of bison, bulls, and aurochs (wild cattle).
Europe after the Late
Glacial Period and
paintings of it are only
found in very old caves,
such as Chauvet
and Cougnac.

30,000 BCE 27,000

Neanderthals extinct Venus figurines

The remains of the last Neanderthals date from A number of small Venus
c.30,000 BCE. They have dominated the Middle sculptures date from
Paleolithic age, but are now replaced by c.26,000 BCE. Made from
modern humans. stone or mammoth tusks, the
women are often obese, with
few facial features and
REPLICA CAVES complex hair arrangements.
The most famous examples
Most cave paintings survived because they are from Willendorf in
Austria, and Lespugue and
were preserved in a stable microclimate, but this
Brassempouy in France.
changed as tourists ocked to view them. In the
1950s, ofcials at Lascaux noticed that algae and
calcite crystals were forming on the walls and the
paintings were beginning to fade. The cave was
closed in 1963 and a replicaLascaux IIwas
created for visitors in a nearby concrete bunker.

Replicas of cave paintings in Lascaux II

Venus of Willendorf
c.25,000 BCE Naturhistorisches
Museum, Vienna, Austria
Discovered in 1908, this is the
most famous of the Venus figurines
excavated from Paleolithic sites
across Europe. It was found at
Willendorf in Austria but must have
originated elsewhere, since its
CONTEXT

material (oolitic limestone) was not

locally available. Images of similar
figures were produced, either as
paintings or engravings, in
prehistoric caves.
 017

Black Cow
c.15,00013,000 BCE
Lascaux Cave, nr.
Montignac, France
This superb painting was
executed in a long, narrow
passage called the Nave.
It was superimposed on
a frieze of around twenty
horses, running in the
opposite direction. Henri
Breuil noted the twisted
perspective of this type
of image, with the body
shown in profile but some
details (such as the hooves
and horns) pictured frontally.

21,000 18,000 15,000 BCE

Great Auk
c.25,00017,000 BCE
Cosquer Cave, nr. Marseille, France
The paintings in this extraordinary cave were
discovered in 1991 by Henri Cosquer, the
manager of a diving centera vital factor, since
the entrance to the site is now underwater.
The depictions of marine creatures include
great auks, monk seals, and octopuses.
Panel of Spotted Horses
c.26,00020,000 BCE Pech Merle Cave, Lot, France
Paleolithic artists liked to exploit the contours of the surfaces that
they were working on. Here, the painted heads are tiny, but the
animal to the right seems more convincing, because the adjacent
rock is shaped like a horses head. In 2011, scientists found DNA
evidence to suggest spotted horses like these actually existed.
018 ANCIENT AND MEDIEVAL

Bison
c.11,500 BCE
Niaux Cave, nr. Tarascon-sur-Arige, France
At Niaux, most of the animal paintings were executed in
a large, domed chamber called the Salon Noir. Chemical
tests have shown that the paint was made from
manganese dioxide, coupled with biotite and feldspar.

15,000 BCE 12,000

El Castillo c.11,000 BCE

According to radiocarbon tests, By c.11,000 BCE the
several paintings of bison are Weichsel Glaciationone
produced at the Spanish cave of the final phases of the
of El Castillo c.13,500 BCE. Great Ice Ageis
In all, around 250 animal drawing to a close in
images are present here. northern Europe.

MASKS AND SHAMANISM

Bradshaw Aboriginal This imposing gure,
painting with massive biceps and
c.15,000 BCE Mount Elizabeth
Station, Kimberley Region, horns, has been nicknamed
Western Australia the great god of Sefar.
Bradshaw figures take their name "Roundhead" worshippers
from Joseph Bradshaw, the settler appear to kneel before him.
who first recorded them in 1891. Some scholars regard the
[AN EXPRESSION OF] These rock paintings have been horns and mask as
exposed to the elements, but their
THE IDEAS THAT MOST colors have remained fresh
evidence of shamanistic
practices among the
DEEPLY MOVED THE because they are coated in a
film of fungi and bacteria. Saharan peoples. In
BUSHMAN MIND addition, they view some
of the stranger scenes
AND FILLED IT WITH depicted at Sefar as
RELIGIOUS FEELINGS visions brought on during
CONTEXT

trances, or alternatively by
1874 | Wilhelm Bleek hallucinogenic substances
German linguist, on the rock art of southern Africa used during the rituals. Sefar, Tassili nAjjer,
Algeria, c.6,000 BCE
 PREHISTORIC ART 019

Elands
c.1500 BCE
Game Pass Shelter, Drakensberg, South Africa
The paintings at Game Pass Shelter provided archaeologists
with the clearest evidence of the links between rock art and
shamanism. Elands (large antelopes) were at the heart of ritual
ceremonies, because shamans thought the animals spiritual
potency would enable them to enter a trance state.
Human Figures and Mouon
c.4500 BCE Tan Zumaitak,
Tassili nAjjer Plateau, Algeria
The rock paintings at Tassili nAjjer were
produced before the Sahara became a
desert. This example dates from the early
roundhead phase, when figures were
depicted with few facial features. The
painting shows the herdsmen tending
mouflons (large-horned sheep).

9000 6000 3000 1000 BCE

Kamares Ewer
c.1900 BCE
National Archaeological
Museum, Iraklion, Crete
This ewera large jugwas made
by the Minoans on Crete, one of the
Ceremonial Cow first European peoples to make use
c.3000 BCE Laas Gaal, nr. Hargeisa, Somalia of a potters wheel. This example
The paintings in the rock shelters of Laas Gaal are a reminder was found at the Palace of Phaistos,
of a time when this arid part of Africa was lush and fertile, with but most wares of this kind were
wild cattle roaming free. Here, a long-horned cow, portrayed as excavated at Kamares itself, a cave
a divine spirit, is worshipped by a herdsman. sanctuary on Mount Ida.