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Cave Art Slide

This document discusses prehistoric cave art found in places like the Cave of Lascaux in France. It describes pictographs as paintings on surfaces like cave walls and petroglyphs as designs carved into rock. Cave art is significant as it provides evidence of early human culture and symbolic thought. The Cave of Lascaux contains over 600 paintings of animals from around 17,000 years ago, including horses, bison, and other wildlife. Scholars have debated the purpose of this ancient art, with theories including religious expression, magic for hunting, or recording visions and dreams. The document presents examples of cave art and suggests creating one's own as a homework assignment.

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335 views49 pages

Cave Art Slide

This document discusses prehistoric cave art found in places like the Cave of Lascaux in France. It describes pictographs as paintings on surfaces like cave walls and petroglyphs as designs carved into rock. Cave art is significant as it provides evidence of early human culture and symbolic thought. The Cave of Lascaux contains over 600 paintings of animals from around 17,000 years ago, including horses, bison, and other wildlife. Scholars have debated the purpose of this ancient art, with theories including religious expression, magic for hunting, or recording visions and dreams. The document presents examples of cave art and suggests creating one's own as a homework assignment.

Uploaded by

keremaktug
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Prehistoric Cave Art

Pictograph: Petroglyph:
Painting on a surface like a cave wall. Design carved into rock or other surface.
Why is Prehistoric Art So
Important?
It demonstrates early human expression of
beliefs or actions. In other words, it is
evidence of early human culture.
It is evidence for our unique ability for
symbolic thought, i.e., to use symbols to
represent beliefs or ideas.
Art sets us apart from the rest of the animals
who create things simply to survive; art is
one of the things that makes us uniquely
human.
Cave of Lascaux, France
Discovered by
four boys in
1940.

Caves are filled


with pictographs
and petroglyphs
that were made
about 17,000
years ago.
There are almost 600 pictures of animals, mostly horses.

Other animals painted are stags, bulls, bison, and ibex.

Only one man is painted.


Think about some of these facts.

The caves were extremely dark.

The caves were not easy to access.

The paintings demonstrate amazing artistic talent.

WHY WOULD THEY TAKE TIME TO PAINT


INSTEAD OF SEARCH FOR FOOD?
PowerPoint created by Amy J McCray, WKU Anthropology Undergrad. 2005.
Possible Reasons for Cave Art
Decoration?
Represent clan/tribe?
To mark possession / show ownership?
Symbols of opposites, e.g., signs?
Male Signs of Lascaux?
Female Signs of Lascaux?
Signs Found on Artifacts in the
Cave Compared to Paintings
Antler tips

 Does this indicate ownership?


 Are these tribal marks?
Is Cave Art Evidence of Early
Religious Beliefs?
Traditional Interpretations of
Cave Art

Religious/spiritual purpose: to show a


connection/dependence on the animal
kingdom?
OR
Survival: a kind of “magic” (to hunt or gain
the power of the animals)?
The Shaman?
Cave Art = Spiritual Connection to the Animal Kingdom
A Hunter? (The Wounded Man)
Cave Art = “Good Luck” or “Magic” to Hunt Animals?
Most Recent Interpretation of
Cave Art
To express inner visions, dreams, hallucinations
To paint what they saw in a trance, i.e, altered-
states of consciousness
Animals as “spirit guides,” e.g., in South Africa, the eland
and the San shaman-hunter.
Guess the Animal(s) Game

Look at the following cave art from a variety


of sources (Lascaux, Chauvet, a few
modern interpretations, etc.) and try to
guess the kinds of animals that have been
depicted. Sometimes there are many
animals mixed together. DO NOT SHOUT
OUT THE NAMES!
Horse
Stag
Boar
Deer
Owl
Hyena and a Panther
Mammoths
Ibexes
Bear
Penguins
Bison
Bison – Modern Painting
Horse
Bison
Man
(Sorcerer
of the
Chauvet Cave)
Lions and Rhinos
Horses and Bison
Rhino
Bear
Horses
Wolf – Modern Painting
Hand stencil (Chauvet Cave)
CAVE ART PROJECT

You are going to create your own cave art!

What are some similarities that you noticed in


the cave art you have seen?
Simple Pictures
Outline Drawings with Shading
What Colors are Used?
Now you will create your own cave art
for a homework assignment.
Remember, art is one of the things that makes us
human.

FOLLOW THE INSTRUCTIONS


YOU ARE GIVEN!
This is NOT Cave Art
References
Coy, Fred, Thomas C. Fuller, Larry G. Meadows, and James L.
Swauger. Rock Art of Kentucky. University Press of Kentucky,
Lexington, KY, 2003.
Google Images. 1 December 2005.
<http://www.google.com/imghp?hl=en&tab=wi&q=>
The Caves of Lascaux. 1 May 2005.
<http://www.culture.gouv.fr/culture/arcnat/lascaux/en/>
References
Coy, Fred, Thomas C. Fuller, Larry G. Meadows, and James L.
Swauger. Rock Art of Kentucky. University Press of Kentucky,
Lexington, KY, 2003.
Google Images. 1 December 2005.
<http://www.google.com/imghp?hl=en&tab=wi&q=>
The Caves of Lascaux. 1 May 2005.
<http://www.culture.gouv.fr/culture/arcnat/lascaux/en/>
THE END

Please note that a small handful of slides for


this PowerPoint were taken off the internet
and added to by William Jones, the teacher
of the Grade 6 Social Studies class, Ancient
Civilizations (2007-2013). The references
were created by the author of the original
short PowerPoint.

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