1. LEVEL: 1ST ESO
UNIT 9. PRE-HISTORY
SUBJECT: SOCIAL SCIENCES
ACTIVITY: COMMENTARY OF TEXT
THE CAVE PAINTINGS
About 30.000 years ago, on the cave walls and shelters, the homo sapiens
sapiens started to paint and sculpt various themes, such as the profile of their hands,
symbols, animals and hunting or daily live scenes.
There are several explanations about the meaning of these paintings. It is thought
that the cave painting was part of a magical propitiation hunting ritual. It is also
believed that the caves with paintings were sanctuaries where ritual ceremonies were
performed. The Iberian Peninsula, rich in cave paintings, has good depictions of animals
in the Cantabrian area. The predominate Altamira cave is considered one of the best
caves in the world with magnificent paintings of bright colours.
Given the above data and after reading the text, answer the questions below:
“The most beautiful of these is the Altamira cave…On the ceiling of its great room the
exuberant colours of a herd of bisons can be seen, which mingle with horses, deer…The
bisons are highly realístic, painted using some spaces of the ceiling which the artist
adapted the form of the animal in different positions…
Ripoll Perelló,E. 1967, 54-57.
1. Where is the cave of Altamira?
2. What does the word “polychrome” refers to in the text?
3. How does the text describe that animals were painted?
4. What was the purpose of the paintings?
5. According to the text, what kind of animals were represented?
© Reyes Carrasco 2010