Paleolithic Art

Magapansgat pebble, from South Africa. C. 3,000,000 BCE. Natural History Museum, London
This small pebble was discovered in 1925 in a cave in Africa

It was found amongst the bones of Australopithecus, a predecessor of modern humans

Paleontologists believe that the owner of the pebble recognized its resemblance to a
human face, and carried it back to the cave for safekeeping

Is this how art began — with the simple recognition of “resemblance” or “likeness”?

Although the act of recognizing a human likeness in the features of the pebble may
indicate the beginning of a capacity for symbolic thinking, it was not until much later in
human evolution that our ancestors began to modify materials to “re-present” the world
in symbolic form

The creation of art, like the development of language, pre-supposes a high level of
intellectual sophistication, and the species that found and saved the Magapansgat
pebble had not yet achieved this level of cognitive development

In fact, it was not until modern humans (Homo Sapiens – which literally means “wise
man”) emerged on the world stage that “art” as a form of symbolic visual communication
began to appear.

The critical factor was the size of our brain: we didn’t start making art until we had
gained the capacity to think — and all of this happened thousands of years before the
invention of writing!

So art began when the human brain evolved to its modern capacity, and the oldest
examples can be found in Africa, where our ancient ancestors originated

Engraved ochre from Blombos Cave. 90,000-100,000 BP
But we didn’t start out making art like Pablo Picasso or Michelangelo

Engraved ochre from Blombos Cave. 90,000-100,000 BP
This engraved piece of ochre may not be pretty to look at, but it shows evidence for the
human capacity for symbolic thinking far earlier than previously thought possible

Fragments of engraved
ostrich eggshells from the
Howiesons Poort of
Diepkloof Rock Shelter,
Western Cape, South Africa,
dated to 60,000 BP
Much of the earliest evidence of human creativity consists of indecipherable geometric
markings, or objects of personal adornment

Animal facing left, from the Apollo 11 Cave, Namibia, ca. 23,000 BCE. Charcoal on stone, approx. 5″X 4 1/4″. State Museum of Namibia, Windhoek.
This painted slab was found in the “Apollo 11” cave in southwestern Namibia in 1969

Using radiocarbon dating, archaeologists estimate that it is 25,500-25,300 years old,
making it one of the oldest examples of representational art to be found on the African
continent

Decorated with simplified representations of animals, the slabs were painted with
pigments made from ground charcoal and ochre

It is difficult to identify the animals because they lack specific detail

Although we may never know the meaning of the image (the absence of any written
record doesn’t help!), many of the characteristics of the Upper Paleolithic art that we will
study are already present here, including the focus on animals as subject matter, and
the use of a strictly profile view

The Apollo 11 Cave drawings might be thought of as the “student sketchbooks” for the
artists who painted the later and more famous caves in France and Spain.

The real story begins in the Upper Paleolithic era, when climate change prompted
migration North (50,000-10,000 years ago)

This is why the largest concentration of Paleolithic art can be found in Europe, rather
than in Africa

VOCABULARY
Before moving to the next section, it might be helpful to define a few vocabulary terms

VOCABULARY
Prehistory/Prehistoric Before recorded history
Paleolithic Old Stone Age
Stone Age Stone tools
Neolithic New Stone Age

Dating
B.C. Before Christ
B.C.E. Before Common Era
BP Before Present
Radiocarbon dating Measure based on
decay rate of carbon in
organic matter
WARNING: Dating always approximate, and
often highly contested!!!!

Upper Paleolithic
Middle Paleolithic
Lower Paleolithic
The Paleolithic period is also divided into three broad stages, based on the layers of
excavations (the oldest stuff being found in the lowest levels of excavations, and the
newest stuff being found closest to the top)

Finally, the Upper Paleolithic period is further divided into cultural periods (based on
lifestyles and tool technologies), which are given varying dates by different experts. You
DO NOT have to know these, but I am listing them in case you come across them

Mobiliary Art Small portable carvings and sculptures
made from bones, antlers, stone

Our earliest ancestors used stone tools to make decorated weapons and small portable
sculptures

They also made decorated weapons and tools, and small “doodles” on antlers and
bones

Spear thrower carved as a mammoth, Late Magdalenian, about 12,500 years old From the rockshelter of Montastruc, Tarn-et-Garonne, France
British Museum
Many of these carved artifacts represent animals, and indicate a remarkably high level of
skill

This carved antler is a spear-thrower
and is decorated with a leaping horse

The hunter would have inserted the
spear in the small slot, and used the
carved part as a handle

Bison with turned head, fragmentary spear thrower from La Madeleine, France, c. 12,000 BCE. Reindeer horn, 4” long
This fragment of a spear thrower depicts a bison, with its head turned sharply to the right

The distinctive characteristics of the animal have been observed in great detail, including
the distinctive shape of the skull, the texture of the mane, and even the subtle features
of the ear, nose, and mouth with its extended tongue

Most of these decorated objects depict animals: why do you think that is so?

Jack Black, in “Year One,” 2009
Photo By: Suzanne Hanover, SMPSP. © 2009 Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc. All Rights Reserved
Image source: http://www.allmoviephoto.com/photo/2009_year_one_007.html
Understanding context is important:
What was life was like in the stone age?

Andreas Lederer, Hadabel men in Tanzania returning from a hunt
Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hadza_people#/media/File:Hadazbe_returning_from_hunt.jpg
Our prehistoric ancestors were hunter gatherers, which means they hunted animals
and foraged for food

Andreas Lederer, Hadabel men in Tanzania returning from a hunt
Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hadza_people#/media/File:Hadazbe_returning_from_hunt.jpg
They were also nomadic, since they had to move around to follow the herds

This is why the art is small in scale – it had to be small enough to carry around

No cars
No phones
No Facebook
No fast food

Scene from “Year One,” starring Jack Black
Image source: http://www.collider.com/2009/06/18/year-one-review/
Life was precarious

Animals were vital to human existence as a source of food, and as a constant threat of
danger

Preoccupation with animals was therefore more than just an idle past time: knowledge
about animal features and behavior would have been vital to survival

In addition to animals, small figurines of women made from ivory, bone,
or stone, have been found in abundance at archaeological sites across
Europe

Venus of Willendorf, c. 28,000-25,000 BCE
Natural History Museum, Vienna
Female Figurine (Venus of Kostenki), c. 23,000- 21,000 BCE Limestone;
Hermitage Museum
When they were first discovered, archaeologists referred to them as “Venus” figures
because of their resemblance to Classical statues of the Roman goddess of love

Hermitage Museum
This designation is now considered misleading because there is no evidence to
support the implied conclusion that the figures represented “goddesses” – but the
name has stuck nonetheless!

The Venus of Willendorf was discovered at an archaeological site in Austria in 1908

Measuring just 4 3/8” tall, the figure is carved from a type of limestone that is not
local to the area, and there were traces of red ochre found on the surface, which
may have had some kind of ritual significance

Hermitage Museum
The small scale and lack of feet suggests she was made to be carried in the palm of
the hand

Unlike the Magapansgat pebble, which merely resembled a human face by
accident, the Venus of Willendorf was carved with the deliberate intention of
creating a likeness of the female form
Magapansgat pebble, from South Africa. C.
3,000,000 BCE. Natural History Museum, London

But scholars have determined that the navel was a natural indentation in the rock,
rather than a carved feature – so the inspiration may have come from a perceived
resemblance to the soft belly of a woman
Magapansgat pebble, from South Africa. C.
3,000,000 BCE. Natural History Museum, London

The figure has remarkably naturalistic details, such as the heavily sagging breasts and
soft pudgy belly

But it is also highly abstracted, with selective emphasis on certain parts of the body,
while other parts of the body seem to be de-emphasized

The emphasis seems to her enormously large breasts, belly, and buttocks – even her
pubic region has been carefully incised

But she has no face, no feet, and skinny little arms that are barely noticeable

Hermitage Museum
Venus figurine from Kostenki
Image source: http://donsmaps.com/kostenkivenus.html
This selective focus is common to all of the so-called Venus figures

Venus von Moravany, Mammoth Ivory, 22 000 - 24 000
Slovak Academy of Sciences in Nitra
Image source: http://www.donsmaps.com/moravanyvenus.html
They all have large, swelling bellies, breasts, and carefully delineated pubic regions

Venus of Dolni Vestonice Molded of clay and bone ash; 4 1/2 “
Dolni Vestonice, Czechoslovakia, 34000-26500 BC
And they all lack faces and feet

Dr. Jill Cook, curator of European pre-history at the British museum
What did they mean?
Archaeologists continue to debate the purpose or meaning of the Venus figures

Paul Mellars, a Cambridge
anthropologist, has proposed
that they reflect an “obsession
with sex,” and are an early form
of pornography

Our modern ideals of “beauty” are probably very different from what they were in
ancient times:

“The people who made this statue lived in a harsh ice-age environment where
features of fatness and fertility would have been highly desirable. In neurological
terms, these features amounted to hyper-normal stimuli that activate neuron
responses in the brain. So in Paleolithic people terms, the parts that mattered
most had to do with successful reproduction – the breasts and pelvic girdle.
Therefore, these parts were isolated and amplified by the artist’s brain.”
Venus of Willendorf: Exaggerated Beauty (PBS)

Brian Crowson, The Birth of Venus, 2013
Image source: https://www.pinterest.com/pin/465489311457291876/
The “pornography” hypothesis is based on the assumption that the artists who
made these statues were men

Dr. Jill Cook, curator of European pre-history at the British museum
Dr. Jill Cook, curator of European Pre-History at the British Museum, believes the
figures were made by women

Drawing upon the work of anthropologist Leroy McDermott, she argues that the
strange distortions of the figures reflect the perspective of women looking down at their
own bodies

This also accounts for the lack of faces – without mirrors, the artist would not be able
to see the features of their own face

Hermitage Museum
Despite differences of opinion, most experts agree that the figures have something
to do with fertility, because all of the emphasis seems to be on the childbearing
aspects of the body

In fact, it is quite remarkable how the figures capture the characteristic traits of
the pregnant female body

THE OLDEST WOMAN IN THE WORLD
For many years the Venus of Willendorf was believed to be the oldest representation of
a human being

Venus of Hohle Fels, c. 35,000-40,000 BCE
Photo: H. Jensen © Universität Tübingen.
Image source: http://donsmaps.com/hohlefelsvenus.htm
But the discovery of the Venus of Hohle Fels in 2008 changed all that

Measuring only 2.4 inches tall, this tiny little figure dates to 35,000 BCE, and is now
recognized as the oldest representation of a human yet to be found

Instead of a head, the figure has a small loop, indicating that it might have been worn as
a pendant

While the figure may appear grotesque to us, its emphasis on female fertility is
unmistakable

“You couldn’t get more female than this,” says Nicholas Conard, the Ohio-born
archaeologist whose University of Tübingen team found the sculpture at the bottom of a
vaulted cave in southwestern Germany in the fall of 2008. “Head and legs don’t matter.
This is about sex, reproduction.”
Smithsonian Magazine

Thanks for listening!
Next up: Paleolithic Cave Paintings

The most spectacular examples of Paleolithic art can be found in the painted caves of
France and Spain

Amongst the most famous are Lascaux, Altamira, Pech Merle, Niaux, and Chauvet

The artists who decorated these caves invested a great deal of effort in making
them
Image source: https://www.q-files.com/prehistoric/story-of-humans/cave-paintings

Caves are inhospitable environments (they’re dark, damp, and cold, and home to
scary creatures like lions, bears, snakes, and bats), and many of the paintings are
located in remote chambers that are difficult to access

With no natural light available, the pictures had to be made using torches, and in
some cases scaffolds were built to reach high ceilings and walls

Since people didn’t actually live in the caves, it is unlikely they were made for
“decoration”

We also know that the pictures were made over a long period of time – sometimes
thousands of years – so it is likely that their meaning and purpose was quite
significant.

The most famous Paleolithic cave is Lascaux, located in the Dordogne region of France

Entrance to the Lascaux Cave at the end of September, 1940. From left to right: Leon Laval, Marcel
Ravidat, Jacques Marsal and Henri Breuil
Image source: http://www.american-buddha.com/lascaux.7a.htm
It was discovered in 1940 by four teenagers who stumbled upon it by accident, and it
was opened to the public in 1948

But in1963 the cave was closed because exposure to carbon dioxide had caused the
pictures to deteriorate at an alarming rate -- tourists can now visit Lascaux 2, a full-scale
replica

The cave consists of a complex network of chambers and passageways, and is
decorated with as many as 900 images of animals

The pictures were made using mineral chunks for drawing, or ground to a powder and
mixed with water and fat to make paint

Paint brushes were made from animal hair or chewed twigs

The artists also used blow tubes to apply pigments, as well as “spitting” – a prehistoric
version of “airbrushing”!

Image source:
http://www.schoolsprehistory.co.uk/2014/09/1
9/new-survey-open-for-teachers-on-changes-
in-britain-from-the-stone-age-to-the-iron-age/

Spotted horses and negative hand prints, Pech-Merle, France, c. 22,000 BCE
That is how we believe the negative hand prints were made in this image of a spotted
horse from Pech Merle

Animals dominate the imagery at Lascaux

Hall of Bulls, Lascaux, c. 15,000-13,000BCE
This is the Hall of Bulls (also called the Rotunda), one of the larger and more impressive
spaces at Lascaux

Hall of Bulls, Lascaux, c. 15,000-13,000BCE
It is decorated with three groups of animals: horses, cattle (cows and bulls), and stags
Horses
Bulls
Stags

The axial gallery includes
horses, cows, a black bull,
and a bison
Axial Gallery, Lascaux, c. 15,000-13,000BCE
Photo credit : N. Aujoulat © MCC-CNP
http://www.lascaux.culture.fr/index.php?fichier=02_02.xml

The Great Hall of Bulls, Lascaux
The animals are very large in scale, and are often painted (or “super imposed”) one on
top of the other, without regard for scale

In this image, the larger bull was painted right on top of a smaller horse, so they don’t
appear to have any kind of a narrative relationship

The animals are painted without a ground line, or any indication of setting

A ground line is simply a
line that indicates “place”
by establishing where the
ground is

Without a ground line, the figures seem to float, with no clear location of where they are
in space

The animals were drawn in one of two ways: using a contour line (or outline), or in a flat
silhouette

Second Bull, Great Hall of Bulls, Lascaux
http://www.lascaux.culture.fr/index.php?fichier=02_01_00_07.xml
In this image the bull is rendered with a simple outline

The Great Black Cow, The Nave, Lascaux
While this cow is rendered as a silhouette

The animals are always shown in profile – that is, from the side

Write
this
down
!
Image source: http://www.istockphoto.com/stock-illustration-6322985-farm-animal-
silhouette-collection.php
This is because the profile view offers the most informative angle

Poor guy! He
only has two
legs!
A more complicated angle would conceal important information that would make it
difficult to identify the animal

But the perspective of the animals is inconsistent

This bull is rendered from the side, but the horns are “twisted” so that they are seen from
the front

This convention, where the animal is represented in a combination of frontal and profile
views is called twisted perspective
TWISTED PERSPECTIVE:
The body is seen from the side, but
the horns are shown frontally

It means that the artist did not depict the animal exactly the way it appeared to the eye
(what is called “optical perspective”); instead, the artist adjusted the image to conform to
what the mind knows to be true (this is called “conceptual perspective”)

So what is the dominant
subject matter of
Paleolithic art?
Doris Day in Teachers Pet (1958)
Image source: http://www.dorisday.net/teacher_s_pet.html

Common Subjects
So far, we have seen
only animals and
women . . .

Men are actually
RARE in Paleolithic art!
Doris Day in Teachers Pet (1958)
Image source: http://www.dorisday.net/teacher_s_pet.html

The Shaft Scene, Lascaux
There are a few rare representations of humans in cave paintings. The most famous is
the so-called Shaft Scene at Lascaux (also called the “Well Scene” or “Scene of the
Dead Man”), located in a deep shaft within the cave

While the animals are remarkable in their naturalism (i.e. lifelike in character), the man is
a simple stick-figure with a bird-like head

The scene suggests a dramatic narrative, since the man seems to be threatened by a
bison that rears its head ferociously

The bison has been wounded, either by a spear, or by the rhinoceros that exits the
scene to the left, and we can see his entrails spilling out from his loins.

This scene is unique in Paleolithic art for two reasons:
1. because it depicts a man
2. because it seems to tell a story

Thanks for Listening!
Next up: The Cave at Chauvet

The cave at Chauvet Pont d’Arc was discovered in 1994

When it was discovered it was a big deal because it was the oldest cave yet to be
discovered

It also overturned everything we thought we knew about cave art!

So let’s review what we have learned about the typical characteristics of cave art so we
can appreciate just how unique the imagery at Chauvet really is

SUBJECT MATTER: horses, cattle (cows and bulls), and stags

Although impressive in size, these animals are “herbivores,” which means they do not
prey on meat

Predatory animals like lions, tigers, and bears, were rarely represented – and when they
were, they were depicted in remote sections of the cave

We also learned that animals were typically depicted in twisted perspective, where the
body is shown in profile, but the horns are “twisted” frontally
TWISTED PERSPECTIVE:
The body is seen from the side, but
the horns are shown frontally

We also learned that narrative scenes are rare – as in the so-called “shaft scene” at
Lascaux, where the stick-figure man, the bison, and rhinoceros, seemed to be conceived
together to tell a story

Elsewhere at Lascaux, the animals are placed randomly – sometimes painted one on
top of one another – so they were not intended to be seen as a cohesive narrative

At Chauvet, we see lots of predatory animals, including lions and bears
Chauvet Cave, Vallon-Pont-d’Arc. c. 30,000-28,000 or 15,000-13,000 BCE.

Instead of being randomly placed, the animals seem to have been conceived together in
a narrative scene, as seen in the fighting rhinos here

We also see a sophisticated use of shading to make the animal heads seem rounded –
rather than a flat silhouette

And the animal horns are seen in true perspective, rather than twisted frontally

We also see the use of repetition to create the effect of movement through time

The images are like key frames in an animation

Prior to the discovery at Chauvet, it was assumed that the earliest art would be crude
and un-sophisticated, and became more naturalistic over time

But the discovery of Chauvet seemed to reverse that progression

The older cave actually reveals more sophisticated techniques such as shading,
perspective, and narrative

Next up: Theories of Interpretation

Paleolithic Art
Theories of Interpretation

There have been many theories to explain the possible meaning and purpose of
Paleolithic cave painting, but the absence of any written history makes it impossible to
ever know for sure
Dr. Jean Clottes, one of the leading pre-historians who has studied the caves of France and Spain

Tony Husband, “Private View,” Image source: http://www.megalithic.co.uk/modules.php?op=modload&name=a312&file=index&do=showpic&pid=80569
Art for Art’s Sake
One of the oldest theories is called Art for Art’s Sake

This theory proposes that the images were made for purely aesthetic reasons (i.e. for
decoration)

But this theory has been dismissed by most experts, for a variety of reasons:

In the first place, it is unlikely that our ancient ancestors had the kind of “leisure
time” that would have been necessary to create these works

Secondly, caves are very inhospitable environments, so it would have been
impossible to simply “enjoy” the pictures

Given the time and effort it took to create these works of art, most experts believe
that the images must have had deeper symbolic meaning or purpose than just
“decoration”

The paleontologist Abbe Breuil in the Lascaux cave in1948
Image source: http://www.la-croix.com/Culture/Simon-Coencas-dernier-aventurier-grotte-Lascaux-2016-12-08-1300808960
The most popular theory of interpretation was developed by the French priest and
pre-historian Abbe Breuil in an influential book published in 1952

His analysis was based on ethnographic comparisons with aboriginal tribes who
practiced a form of sympathetic magic in their hunting rituals:

“Breuil claimed that the Paleolithic rock paintings, like those of the Arunta, were
created in ceremonies intended to multiply game animals, as well as to ensure
successful kills by means of magical images of slaughtered prey . . .
Hunting Magic and Abbe Breuil

“By making images of animals penetrated by spears, the cave hunters were
attempting to kill the animals the images resembled, or, more precisely, to render the
game susceptible to being killing by hunting parties”

Image source: http://www.waitingfornextyear.com/?p=3662
The theory is called Sympathetic Magic, and it is based on the principle of “like produces
like”

Image source: http://www.waitingfornextyear.com/?p=3662
“What is done to the properly made image of an object is done to that object itself, as when a
sorcerer sticks pins in a doll resembling his victim in an effort to destroy him. By making images
of animals penetrated by spears, the cave hunters were attempting to kill the animals the
images resembled, or, more precisely, to render the game susceptible to being killing by hunting
parties.”

According to this theory, the ancient hunter would draw a picture of an animal and “kill”
it, magically bringing him luck in the hunt

This particular version of Sympathetic Magic is called “Hunting Magic” – and there is
plenty of visual evidence to support it

Many of the paintings appear to have spears or nick marks, suggesting they had been ritually
“killed”

Many of the small portable sculptures depicting animals also have markings such as “X’s”
suggesting they have been symbolically wounded as a way to bring luck in the hunt

There are several drawbacks to the theory of Sympathetic Magic: in the first place,
ethnographic comparisons lack scientific proof: just because a living
aboriginal society today engages in practices that appear similar to what may have
occurred amongst our ancient tribal ancestors, this does not constitute reliable
“evidence”

But one of the most significant drawbacks to the theory of Sympathetic Magic is that the
animals depicted were not the animals that were actually eaten!

“Today’s researchers have consistently demonstrated that the animals most often
represented in Paleolithic caves are among the ones least frequently consumed as food.
The people who lived under the ceiling and in the cave entry at Altamira ate almost no
bison, dining primarily on the meat of red deer (Cervus elaphus). Likewise, at Lascaux
images of horses, bovids and red deer dominate, whereas reindeer, the primary dietary
item in the food debris, aren’t depicted at all.”
Randall White, “Looking for Biilogical Meaning in Cave Art” (Book Review), American
Scientist (July-August 2006)

The other type of Sympathetic Magic described by Abbe Breuil is called “Fertility
Magic”

While Hunting magic was intended to bring about the destruction of animals, Fertility
Magic did the opposite

If a hunter wanted to increase the herd, he might picture a pregnant animal, or “multiply”
the number of animals in the picture, as if to achieve a magical “multiplication” of the
herds

Hermitage Museum
The so-called Venus figures may well have functioned as a form of Fertility Magic

Before the days of fertility drugs, magic was all they had!

Third Chinese Horse, Axial Gallery
The so-called “Chinese Horses” from Lascaux illustrates the visual evidence used to
support the Fertility Magic theory

Third Chinese Horse, Axial Gallery
The horses’ swelling bellies may indicate they are pregnant – thus expressing the desire
for the herds to multiply

A recent theory is that cave paintings were created as part of shamanistic rituals

San healing ritual, Bradshaw Foundation
http://www.bradshawfoundation.com/rari/page3.php
The theory is based on ethnographic comparison with the San people of Africa

San healing ritual, Bradshaw Foundation
http://www.bradshawfoundation.com/rari/page3.php
“Noting the similarity of prehistoric rock art with that created by some contemporary
traditional societies, archaeologists Jean Clottes and David Lewis-Williams suggest that
the ancient images were created by shamans, powerful individuals who were able to
contact the spirit world through trance and ritual.”
http://www.bradshawfoundation.com/books/shamans_of_prehistory.php

A somewhat different theory was put forth by Alexander Marshack, an amateur
Paleontologist who became a research associate at the Peabody Museum at Harvard

He believed that much ice age art functioned as seasonal calendars

The Blanchard Bone, c. 25,000-32,000 BCE carved segment of reindeer bone found in the Blanchard rock
shelter, France
Image source: http://donsmaps.com/cavepaintings.html
His study began with the Blanchard Bone, a small piece of reindeer bone dating to
25,000-32,000 BCE

When he studied the bone closely (using high tech magnification equipment) he
discovered that the markings corresponded to the phases of the moon over a two
month period. He concluded that the bone was actually a lunar calendar!

It means they could
predict the change
of seasons and
when the animals
would begin their
migrations
Which means
they could have
control over
their
environment

Marshack also studied other artifacts, such as the carved antler pictured above. It had
been lying around in a museum in France for years, and everybody assumed it was
just an example of Hunting Magic

The bone was engraved with several apparently unrelated elements: there is a bull and
cow seal, and an upside down salmon with the distinctive hook that it grows during the
Spring mating season
Male + female
seals
Salmon

There are also two snakes, with their genitals prominently showing — an occurrence
that is also common during Spring mating season
Snakes

Markings that were previously thought to be harpoons turned out to be a type of plant
that is common in France in the Spring

Finally, Marshack noted a schematic rendering of an ibex with an “X” over it — as if it
had been symbolically killed

He observed that even today the ibex come down from the mountains to graze in the
valleys in the (you guessed it) Spring

Marshack concluded that the bone was not an example of Hunting Magic (as had
previously been believed) but was instead a “seasonal calendar” recording the coming
of Spring

Ishango Bone, c. 25,000-20,000 BCE
Although Marshack’s theory remains a matter of debate, there are many
archaeological finds that suggest our human ancestors were a lot smarter than we
thought (hey, they had the same brain capacity as us!)

The Ishango Bone, for example, is another exciting artifact that may indicate the very
first evidence of mathematical notation!

The bone appears to have been a “tally stick,” with the lines indicating numbers

Genevieve Von Petzinger, who has studied the abstract markings in Paleolithic caves
These kinds of discoveries have led others to wonder if writing existed far earlier than
previously suspected

The caves are actually filled with abstract notations such as dots, tectiforms, and
meanders that may represent an early form of writing

Genevieve Von Petzinger has assembled a comprehensive database of these
symbols, with the goal of figuring out how to decode them

Some experts have proposed that the “dots” that appear on the walls at Lascaux may
refer to stars

They argue that the Lascaux cave paintings are actually “star maps” that correlate with
the constellations of the night sky

Several Paleontologists have observed that there seems to be a consistent sequence
to the placement of animals in cave paintings (certain animals tend to appear in certain
locations, while other kinds of animals appear in other kinds of locations), and that
specific information about seasonal behaviors is included in the pictures (summer and
winter coats; antlers and horns that change according to season, or even mating
rituals).

Norbert Ajoulet has recently proposed that the placement of animals was intended to
represent the changing seasons

In his analysis of the Hall of Bulls at Lascaux, for example, he notes that the horses
(representing early Spring) were painted first; then the Aurochs (representing Summer)
were added later, and the stags (representing Autumn) were added next:

“Analysis of seasonal indicators establishes that each species represented at Lascaux
represents a very specific period of the calendar. The horses mark the end of winter or
the beginning of spring, the aurochs high summer, whereas the stags have been
represented with the attributes of autumn. This is not by chance. Each of these species
has been represented at a quite explicit phase of the annual cycle, at the beginning of
mating. At this time, they are extremely active and animated . . . The iconography of
this cave is, above all, a fantastic ode to life.”
Norbert Aujoulet, “Lascaux: Movement, Space, and Time,” Editions du Seuil, Paris,
2005

This suggests a quite sophisticated level of symbolism that goes well beyond the
simplistic theory of Hunting Magic!

Calling Lascaux the “Sistine Chapel of Prehistory,” Ajoulet argues that the images
represent a complex cosmology about the origins of time, the cycle of life, and the
changing of the seasons — an epic theme that indeed parallels the grand story of
Creation that Michelangelo depicted on the Sistine Ceiling!

'Some archaeologists think that it is impossible
to know what rock art means and that the
researcher's role is to study motifs and
techniques, try to date the works, establish as
far as possible whether these images were
structurally linked, but not attempt to interpret
them. From their point of view, we are faced
with a choice: either say nothing at all about
meaning, or make up stories that might seem
interesting but would lack any objective,
scientific basis.’
Dr. Jean Clottes, “World Rock Art,” 2002
http://www.bradshawfoundation.com/chauvet/chauvet_cave_pai
ntings.php
But as Dr. Jean Clottes observed, we can never know the true meaning of the caves
because the lack of written history makes it impossible to verify our theories

'Some archaeologists think that it is impossible
to know what rock art means and that the
researcher's role is to study motifs and
techniques, try to date the works, establish as
far as possible whether these images were
structurally linked, but not attempt to interpret
them. From their point of view, we are faced
with a choice: either say nothing at all about
meaning, or make up stories that might seem
interesting but would lack any objective,
scientific basis.’
Dr. Jean Clottes, “World Rock Art,” 2002
http://www.bradshawfoundation.com/chauvet/chauvet_cave_pai
ntings.php
But inclosing, I’ll mention a few other tantalizing questions that continue to intrigue the
experts

Spotted horses and negative hand prints, Pech-Merle, France, c. 22,000 BCE
Were caves classrooms?
This image of a spotted horse include hand prints and footprints on the ground
that are children-sized, suggesting the space might have been used as a kind of
classroom

Were the first calendars made by women charting their menstrual cycles?

Were the animals painted in the caves worshipped as gods?

As we will see, in later societies the gods will take on the attributes of animals, recalling
the majestic creatures painted on the walls of caves

Next up: Neolithic Art

Paleolithic Art

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