essay on pre historic rock art

Origins of rock art in Africa

Rock art and the origins of art in africa.

The oldest scientifically-dated figurative rock art in Africa dates from around 26,000–28,000 years ago and is found in Namibia.

Between 1969 and 1972, German archaeologist, W.E. Wendt, researching in an area known locally as “Goachanas,” unearthed several painted slabs in a cave he named Apollo 11, after NASA’s successful moon landing mission.

Seven painted stone slabs of brown-grey quartzite, depicting a variety of animals painted in charcoal, ochre and white, were located in a Middle Stone Age deposit (100,000–60,000 years ago). These images are not easily identifiable to species level, but have been interpreted variously as felines and/or bovids; one in particular has been observed to be either a zebra, giraffe or ostrich, demonstrating the ambiguous nature of the depictions.

Apollo 11 Cave Stones, Namibia, quartzite, c. 25,500–25,300 B.C.E. Image courtesy of State Museum of Namibia.

Art and our modern mind

While the Apollo 11 plaques may be the oldest discovered representational art in Africa, this is not the beginning of the story of art. It is now well-established, through genetic and fossil evidence, that anatomically modern humans (Homo sapiens sapiens) developed in Africa more than 100,000 years ago; of these, a small group left the Continent around 60,000–80,000 years ago and spread throughout the rest of the world.

Recently discovered examples of patterned stone, ochre and ostrich eggshell, as well as evidence of personal ornamentation emerging from Middle Stone Age Africa, have demonstrated that “art” is not only a much older phenomenon than previously thought, but that it has its roots in the African continent. Africa is where we share a common humanity.

The first examples of what we might term “art” in Africa, dating from between 100,000–60,000 years ago, emerge in two very distinct forms: personal adornment in the form of perforated seashells suspended on twine, and incised and engraved stone, ochre and ostrich eggshell. Despite some sites being 8,000 km and 40,000 years apart, an intriguing feature of the earliest art is that these first forays appear remarkably similar. It is worth noting here that the term “art” in this context is highly problematic, in that we cannot assume that humans living 100,000 years ago, or even 10,000 years ago, had a concept of art in the same way that we do, particularly in the modern Western sense. However, it remains a useful umbrella term for our purposes here.

Incised ochre from Blombos Cave, South Africa. Photo by Chris. S. Henshilwood © Chris. S. Henshilwood

Pattern and design

The practice of engraving or incising, which emerges around 12,000 years ago in Saharan rock art, has its antecedents much earlier, up to 100,000 years ago. Incised and engraved stone, bone, ochre and ostrich eggshell have been found at sites in southern Africa. These marked objects share features in the expression of design, exhibiting patterns that have been classified as cross-hatching.

One of the most iconic and well-publicised sites that have yielded cross-hatch incised patterning on ochre is Blombos Cave, on the southern Cape shore of South Africa. Of the more than 8,500 fragments of ochre deriving from the MSA (Middle Stone Age) levels, 15 fragments show evidence of engraving. Two of these, dated to 77,000 years ago, have received the most attention for the design of cross-hatch pattern.

For many archaeologists, the incised pieces of ochre at Blombos are the most complex and best-formed evidence for early abstract representations, and are unequivocal evidence for symbolic thought and language. The debate about when we became a symbolic species and acquired fully syntactical language—what archaeologists term ‘modern human behaviour’—is both complex and contested. It has been proposed that these cross-hatch patterns are clear evidence of thinking symbolically, because the motifs are not representational and as such are culturally constructed and arbitrary. Moreover, in order for the meaning of this motif to be conveyed to others, language is a prerequisite.

The Blombos engravings are not isolated occurrences, since the presence of such designs occur at more than half a dozen other sites in South Africa, suggesting that this pattern is indeed important in some way, and not the result of idiosyncratic behaviour. It is worth noting, however, that for some scholars, the premise that the pattern is symbolic is not so certain. The patterns may indeed have a meaning, but it is how that meaning is associated, either by resemblance (iconic) or correlation (indexical), that is important for our understanding of human cognition.

Fragments of engraved ostrich eggshells from the Howiesons Poort of Diepkloof Rock Shelter, Western Cape, South Africa, dated to 60,000 BP. Courtesy of Jean-Pierre Texier, Diepkloof project. © Jean-Pierre Texier

Personal ornamentation and engraved designs are the earliest evidence of art in Africa, and are inextricably tied up with the development of human cognition. For tens of thousands of years, there has been not only a capacity for, but a motivation to adorn and to inscribe, to make visual that which is important. The interesting and pertinent issue in the context of this project is that the rock art we are cataloguing, describing and researching comes from a tradition that goes far back into African prehistory. The techniques and subject matter resonate over the millennia.

Additional resources:

British Museum African Rock Art Image Project

Apollo 11 (ca. 25,500–23,500 B.C.) and Wonderwerk (ca. 8000 B.C.) Cave Stones on the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History

Trust for African Rock Art

© Trustees of the British Museum

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The Meaning of European Upper Paleolithic Rock Art

Rock art (also known as parietal art) is an umbrella term which refers to several types of creations including finger markings left on soft surfaces, bas-relief sculptures, engraved figures and symbols, and paintings onto a rock surface. Cave paintings, above all forms of prehistoric art, have received more attention from the academic research community.

Rock art has been recorded in Africa , the Americas, Asia, Australia, and Europe . The earliest examples of European rock art are dated to about 36,000 years ago, but it was not until around 18,000 years ago that European rock art actually flourished. This was the time following the end of the Last Glacial Maximum (22,000-19,000 years ago) when climatic conditions were beginning to improve after reaching their most critical point of the Ice Age . Upper Paleolithic rock art disappeared suddenly during the Paleolithic-Mesolithic transition period, around 12,000 years ago, when the Ice Age environmental conditions were fading.

It has been suggested that there is a correlation between demographic and social patterns and the flourishing of rock art: In Europe, the rock art located in the Franco-Cantabrian region (from southeastern France to the Cantabrian Mountains in northern Spain) has been studied in great detail. During the late Upper Paleolithic, this area was an ideal setting for prolific populations of several herbivorous species and, consequently, a high level of human population could be supported, which is reflected in the abundance of the archaeological material found in the region. However, in recent years the geographic region in which Upper Paleolithic rock art is known has increased significantly.

After over a century of discussion about the 'meaning' of rock art, no complete scholarship consensus exists, and several explanations have been proposed to account for the proliferation of this prehistoric art. What follows is a brief summary of some of the explanations that have been put forward to account for the meaning of European Upper Paleolithic rock art.

Art for Art's Sake

This is possibly the simplest of all theories about Upper Paleolithic rock art. This view holds that there is no real meaning behind this type of art, that it is nothing but the product of an idle activity with no deep motivation behind it, a "mindless decoration" in the words of Paul Bahn. As simple and innocent as this view may sound, it has some important implications. Some late 19th- and early 20th-century scholars saw people in the Upper Paleolithic communities as brute savages incapable of being driven by deep psychological motivations, and they even rejected the idea that rock art could have any connection with religion /spiritual concerns or any other subtle motivation. This approach is not accepted today, but it was an influential one in the early years of archaeology .

Boundary Markers

Some scholars have claimed that rock art was produced as boundary markers by different communities during the time when climatic conditions increased the competition for territory between Upper Paleolithic hunter-gatherer communities. Cave art, according to this view, is seen as a sign of the ethnic or territorial divisions within the different Upper Paleolithic human groups coexisting in a given area. Cave art was used as a marker by hunting-gathering communities in order to indicate to other groups their 'right' to exploit a specific area and avoid potential conflicts. Michael Jochim and Clive Gamble have made very similar arguments: they proposed the idea that the Franco-Cantabrian region was a glacial refugium with such a high population density during the Upper Paleolithic that art was used as a social-cultural device to promote social cohesion in the face of the otherwise inevitable social conflict.

This argument is in line with demographic and social patterns during the Upper Paleolithic. More population density meant more competition and territorial awareness. However, this model has some flaws. Hatfield and Pittman note that this approach is not consistent with the stylistic unity displayed by some rock art traditions. David Whitley has observed that this argument is not only filled with a dose of 'western bias.' but it also contradicts the fact that no ethnographic study provides support for this claim. It could also be said that if Upper Paleolithic groups increased their awareness of territoriality, it is reasonable to expect some sort of indication of this in the archaeological record, such as an increase of signs of injuries inflicted with sharp or blunt weapons in human remains, or other signs of trauma that could be linked to inter-group conflicts. Although in this case it is possible that if the art actually helped to avoid conflict, no such signs would be detected.

Structuralist Hyphothesis

By analyzing the distribution of the images in different caves, André Leroi-Gourhan suggested that the distribution of the cave paintings is not random: he claimed there is a structure or pattern in its distribution, sometimes referred to as a 'blueprint'. Most horses and bison figures were, according to Leroi-Gourhan's studies, located in central sections of the caves and were also the most abundant animals, about 60% of the total. Leroi-Gourhan added that bisons represented female and horse male identity. He argued that some unchanging concepts relating to male and female identity were the basis of rock art. In the words of Paul Mellars:

Paleolithic art might be seen as reflecting some fundamental "binary opposition" in Upper Paleolithic society, structured (perhaps predictably) around the oppositions between male and female components of society (Mellars, in Cunliffe 2001: 72).

In addition to studying the figurative art, Leroi-Gourhan also paid attention to the abstract motifs and tried to explain them within the context of the structuralist thought that was dominant during his time in linguistics, literary criticism, cultural studies, and anthropology, especially in France. Structuralist thought claims that human cultures are systems that can be analyzed in terms of the structural relations among their elements. Cultural systems contain universal patterns that are products of the invariant structure of the human mind: proof of this can be detected in the patterns displayed in mythology , art, religion, ritual, and other cultural traditions.

Initially, this explanation was very popular and widely accepted by scholars. However, when André Leroi-Gourhan attempted to fit the evidence into his standard layout scheme, a correlation could not be proven. It also became evident, as more rock art was discovered, that each site had a unique layout and it was not possible to apply a general scheme that would fit all of them.

Although unsuccessful, the approach of André Leroi-Gourhan was influential. He also has another important merit: at the time, structuralist thought was dominant in many academic disciplines: by attempting a structuralist explanation of rock art, Leroi-Gourhan was seeking to show that Upper Paleolithic people were not ignorant savages but were people with cognitive capacity, just like people today.

Hunting Magic

Another suggestion is that Upper Paleolithic rock art is a manifestation of sympathetic magic, designed as an aid for hunting, in the words of Paul Mellars, to "secure control over particular species of animals which were crucially important human food supply". Some supporting evidence of this view includes the fact that sometimes the animals were apparently depicted with inflicted wounds, coupled with ethnographic analogy based on supposed similarities between Upper Paleolithic art and Australian Aboriginal rock art. Magic rituals may not have a direct material outcome, but this type of practice surely boosts the confidence and has a direct psychological benefit (a form of placebo effect), increasing the success of hunting activities. In this context, Upper Paleolithic rock art is seen as a tool to magically benefit the groups' subsistence, encouraging the success of the hunters.

The ethnographic data indicating that magic plays a significant role in tribal life does not only come from Australian Aboriginal groups. Other examples are found among the native Kiriwina people who live in Papua New Guinea, where the levels of superstition and magic ceremonies rise with the levels of uncertainty: when it comes to canoe building, for example, we read that magic

is used only in the case of the larger sea-going canoes. The small canoes, used on the calm lagoon or near the shore, where there is no danger, are quite ignored by the magician (Malinowski 1948: 166, emphasis added).

This emphasizes the idea that magic can be a psychological response to conditions where uncertainty grows, which is what we would expect in the case of hunters affected by increasing population pressure.

In this explanation, Upper Paleolithic art is the result of drug-inducing trance-like states of the artists. This is based on ethnographic data linked to San rock art in Southern Africa, which has some common elements with European Upper Paleolithic art.

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Lewis-Williams has argued that some of the abstract symbols are actually depictions of hallucinations and dreams. The San religious specialists, or Shamans, perform their religious functions under a drug-induced state: going into trance allows them to enter into the 'spirit realm', and it is during this states that shamans claim to see 'threads of lights' which are used to enter and exit the spirit realm. When the human brain enters into certain altered states, bright lines are part of the visual hallucinations experienced by the individuals: this pattern is not linked to the cultural background but rather a default response of the brain. Long, thin red lines interacting with other images are present in San rock paintings and are considered to be the 'threads of light' reported by the shamans, while the spirit realm is believed to be behind the rock walls: some of the lines and other images appear to enter or exit from cracks or steps in the rock walls, and the paintings are 'veils' between this world and the spirit world.

This is another solid argument. Nonetheless, there is no basis to generalize the idea of shamanism as the cause of European rock art as a whole. Shamanic practices could be, at best, considered a specific variation of the religious and magical traditions. Shamans do not create magic and religion; instead, it is the propensity for believing in magic and religion present in virtually every society that is the origin of shamans. Ultimately, this argument rests on magic and religious practices, not far from the argument that sees art as a form of hunting magic.

Since almost all cultural developments have multiple causes, it seems reasonable to suppose that the development of the Upper Paleolithic has a multi-causal explanation rather than a single cause. None of the arguments presented above can account fully for the development of Upper Paleolithic rock art in Europe.

Anthropological studies worldwide commonly emphasize the religious/spiritual origin of rock art. This is not the only origin detected through ethnographic studies; there are examples of secular use, but it is apparently the most frequent. However, it could also be the case that art in the European Upper Paleolithic had a different meaning from the communities that ethnographers have been able to study. Archaeology has been able to detect caves that may have been connected to rituals and magic at least in some Upper Paleolithic communities of Europe. Human burials were found in the Cussac cave associated with Paleolithic art: according to some authors, this stresses the religious/spiritual character of the rock art found in some caves.

If the assumption that at least some European rock was created for religious reasons can be accepted, then it is safe to suppose that rock art is just the most archaeologically visible evidence of prehistoric ritual and belief, and unless rock art was the only and exclusive material expression of the religious life of prehistoric communities, we can assume that there is an entire range of religious material that has not survived. Some of the Upper Paleolithic portable art could also be connected to religious aspects and be part of the 'material package' of prehistoric ritual.

Our knowledge about the meaning of Upper Paleolithic rock and portable art should not be considered either correct or incorrect, only fragmentary. The element of uncertainty, which involves the rejection of any form of dogmatic or simplistic explanation, is likely to always be present in this field of study. This should lead to flexible models complementing each other and the willingness to accept that, as more evidence is revealed, arguments will have to be adjusted.

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Bibliography

• Bahn, P. The New Penguin Dictionary of Archaeology. Penguin, 2004.
• Bailey, G. Hunter-Gatherer Economy in Prehistory. Cambridge University Press, 2009.
• Cook, J. Ice Age Art. British Museum Press, 2013.
• Cunliffe, B. The Oxford Illustrated History of Prehistoric Europe. Oxford University Press, 2001.
• Darvill, T. Concise Oxford Dictionary of Archaeology. Oxford University Press, 2008.
• Frazer, J. The Golden Bough. Oxford University Press, 2009.
• Hatfield, G. and Pittman, H. (ed). Evolution of Mind, Brain, and Culture. University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, 2013.
• Leeming, D. Oxford Companion to World Mythology. Oxford University Press, 2009.
• Lewis-Williams, D. and Challis, S. Deciphering Ancient Minds. Thames and Hudson Ltd, 2011.
• Malinowski, B. Magic, Science and Religion and Other Essays 1948. Kessinger Publishing, LLC, 1948.
• Renfrew, C. and Bahn, P. Archaeology. Thames & Hudson, 2012.
• Renfrew, C. and Morley, I. (ed). Becoming Human: Innovation in Prehistoric Material and Spiritual Culture. Cambridge University Press, 2009.
• Scarre, C. The Human Past. Thames & Hudson, 2013.

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Violatti, C. (2015, February 10). The Meaning of European Upper Paleolithic Rock Art . World History Encyclopedia . Retrieved from https://www.worldhistory.org/article/787/the-meaning-of-european-upper-paleolithic-rock-art/

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Violatti, Cristian. " The Meaning of European Upper Paleolithic Rock Art ." World History Encyclopedia . Last modified February 10, 2015. https://www.worldhistory.org/article/787/the-meaning-of-european-upper-paleolithic-rock-art/.

Violatti, Cristian. " The Meaning of European Upper Paleolithic Rock Art ." World History Encyclopedia . World History Encyclopedia, 10 Feb 2015. Web. 28 Jun 2024.

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rock art , drawing , painting, or similar work on or of stone, usually from the ancient or prehistoric era, though it continued to be practiced in some areas of Africa during the 19th century and possibly later. Rock art includes pictographs (drawings or paintings), petroglyphs (carvings or inscriptions), engravings (incised motifs), petroforms (rocks laid out in patterns), and geoglyphs (ground drawings). The ancient animals, tools, and human activities depicted often help shed light on daily life in the distant past, though the images are frequently symbolic rather than representative. A single site may have art that dates to several different centuries. Rock art may have played a role in prehistoric religion , possibly in connection with ancient myths or the activities of shamans . Important sites are located in Europe, Asia, Africa, Australia, and North and South America.

Rock artists used a number of techniques and materials. To draw or paint, they made pigments from finely ground clay, minerals, or charcoal . Artists applied pigments as solids, the way chalk is applied to a blackboard, or blew pigment onto a surface through a pipe. In addition, they bound pigments with water, urine, animal blood, plant juices, or egg yolk and applied the mixture to surfaces by using their fingers or brushes made from animal hair, feathers, or split sticks. Engravings were made with fingers on soft walls or with flint tools on hard surfaces.

Some of the earliest forms of rock art are cave paintings. The first painted cave acknowledged as being Paleolithic—that is, from the Stone Age—was Altamira in northern Spain. Experts deemed that the work was done by modern humans ( Homo sapiens ) in multiple stages between about 36,000 and 15,000 years ago. The art discovered there features paintings and engravings, often in combination; for example, the bison figures that predominate were first engraved and then painted. These images were executed in a vivid bichrome of red and black, and some also have violet tones. Other figures include horses, deer, anthropomorphic characters, handprints, and hand stencils. In many cases, the creator of the images exploited the natural contours of the rock surface to add a three-dimensional quality to the work.

France also is home to some of the most famous examples of cave art , including that in Lascaux cave, near Montignac. The art there was done during various periods, as far back as 17,000 years ago. It consists of approximately 600 painted and drawn animals and symbols and nearly 1,500 engravings. The paintings were done on a light background in various shades of red, black, brown, and yellow. In places, scaffolding was clearly used to reach high on walls and ceiling. Among the most remarkable pictures are huge depictions of aurochs ; a curious-looking two-horned animal (misleadingly nicknamed the “unicorn”), perhaps intended as a mythical creature; red deer with fantastic antlers; numerous horses; the heads and necks of several stags, which appear to be swimming across a river; a series of six felines; two male bison; and a rare narrative composition , at the bottom of a shaft, that has been variously interpreted as a hunting accident or as a shamanistic scene. The many animals represented in the Hall of Bulls, the cave’s famed gallery, are bulls whose heads are depicted in profile but whose horns are portrayed from the front. This is an example of “twisted perspective,” wherein the painter’s approach is more descriptive than optical.

The cave paintings in Europe were long considered to be the earliest examples of figurative art, but discoveries reported in the 21st century called that assumption into question. Archaeologists were able to date cave paintings in Indonesia to some 40,000 years ago. The works include a trio of cowlike creatures on the island of Borneo and a massive hunting scene on the island of Celebes (Sulawesi). The latter depicts several therianthropes, composite human-animal figures, that appear to be pursuing wild pigs and some kind of dwarf bovid. The site also contains hand stencils, which the artist made by pressing a clean hand against a rock surface and blowing pigment around it through a pipe.

One of the largest collections of rock art in Asia is found in west-central Madhya Pradesh state, India . The Bhimbetka rock shelters and caves feature more than 100 paintings, some of which are over 10,000 years old. The older works, which display great vitality and narrative skill, have been categorized into different prehistoric periods. The oldest, dating to the Late Paleolithic Period (Old Stone Age), consist of large linear representations of rhinoceroses and bears. Paintings from Mesolithic (Middle Stone Age) times are smaller and portray human activities in addition to animals. Drawings from the Chalcolithic Period (early Bronze Age) showcase early humans’ conceptions of agriculture. Finally, decorative paintings dating to early historical times depict religious motifs, including tree gods and magical sky chariots. The rock art of Bhimbetka provides a rare glimpse at a sequence of cultural development from early nomadic hunter-gatherers to settled cultivators and their expressions of spirituality.

Rock art in Africa is diverse in subject, technique, and age. Archaeologists have found paintings and engravings of humans, animals, and geometric patterns within caves and on exposed rocks. Because art on exposed rocks can wear away over time, many old examples of African rock art may have been lost. The continent is home not only to some of the oldest works of rock art but also to some of the most recent. In some areas the production of rock art flourished up to the 19th century, while in others it may have continued into the 21st century.

The earliest known rock art in the Sahara is about 7,000 to 12,000 years old. The Messak Plateau , in southwestern Libya , is home to thousands of depictions of wild animals engraved on the sides of cliffs. These works include life-size images of elephants, giraffes, crocodiles, buffaloes, ostriches, and hippopotamuses, all of which normally occupy grasslands or savannas. This suggests that the region’s climate, though extremely dry today, was once sufficiently wet to support habitat for such creatures. Similarly, a famous example of rock art consisting of life-size rock carvings of two giraffes at a site known as Dabous, in north-central Niger, suggests a wetter, more hospitable past. Each of the giraffes has a line running from its mouth or nose toward a human figure. Similar motifs have been found elsewhere in the Sahara, but scholars are unsure of their significance.

Between 1969 and 1972 a team of archaeologists working in the Apollo 11 Cave in southern Namibia (named for the 1969 NASA mission that first put people on the Moon) found rock fragments with drawings of animal figures in black, red, and white. The art was dated to some 30,000 years ago. Archaeologists believed that the Apollo 11 paintings were the oldest art in Africa until a discovery was made in South Africa in the early 21st century: in Blombos Cave, near the coast in Western Cape province, archaeologists found pieces of ochre that were engraved with designs more than 75,000 years ago.

These early examples point to humankind’s earliest beginnings in southern Africa, but scholars believe that most of the rock art in the region was made more recently, from 10,000 years ago to the 19th century, and possibly into the 21st. A good portion of the art was created by San people at sites in what are now Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa , and Zimbabwe. Subjects are varied, but the eland (a large antelope) is a commonly portrayed animal. There are also paintings of humans and therianthropes. In the section of the Drakensberg range along the border between Lesotho and KwaZulu-Natal province, South Africa, paintings depict humans with bows and quivers resting on their shoulders. Later rock art shows contact with European settlers, attested by numerous depictions of steam trains, ships, wagons, smoking pipes, and guns. In the Swartruggens, a rugged area on the eastern edge of the Cederberg range, northeast of Cape Town , prevalent rock art themes include figures wearing wide-brimmed hats and boots or wearing bell-shaped skirts with grid patterns, a popular European style in the 19th century.

The first humans arrived in Australia approximately 65,000 years ago, and archaeologists have dated Aboriginal rock art to some 30,000 years ago, but there may be older sites on the continent. Australian Aboriginal rock art encompasses many styles and subjects, including handprints and images of animals, humans, and spirit figures, some of which tell stories about how earth and people were created.

At one of the most famous sites, the Nawarla Gabarnmang rock shelter, on the Arnhem Land plateau in northern Australia, are well over a thousand paintings from various time periods. With parts dating back some 28,000 years, images overlap layer upon layer on the ceiling and on the many natural stone pillars that hold up the shelter’s stone roof. Some of the paintings were made in the so-called X-ray style , which is found primarily in northern Australia. The artist drew a silhouette of a figure and then its interior, often depicting the backbone, ribs, and internal organs. While surrounding sites are dominated by depictions of fish, the art at Nawarla Gabarnmang represents kangaroos and other macropods.

Petroglyphs can also be found in Australia. Thousands of rock engravings occur at sites on the Burrup Peninsula on the northwest coast. Produced from about 30,000 years ago to the mid-19th century, they depict a range of subjects in various styles, including geometric designs, human figures, and animals, some of which later became extinct, including the Tasmanian tiger .

Both North America and South America contain rock art in various forms. Native Americans in the western and southwestern parts of what is now the United States left many petroglyphs. The oldest in North America date to between 10,500 and 14,800 years ago and are located near Reno, Nevada, in a desert area that was once covered by Winnemucca Lake. Simple lines, swirls, and shapes that resemble diamonds, trees, and flowers were etched into the sides of boulders. The petroglyphs range in width from about 8 inches (20 cm) to some 3 feet (1 metre).

In eastern Brazil , Serra da Capivara National Park features paintings that may be some 25,000–50,000 years old. If they prove to be that old, the art would challenge the long-held view that humans first migrated into the Americas from the north, via the Bering Strait , about 13,000 years ago. Set within rock shelters of the park’s steep cliffs, the paintings depict humans and animals, often in such complex scenes as hunting, clashing, and engaging in sexual activity. Humans are sometimes shown dancing or moving in procession. The red deer is the most commonly depicted figure; other animals include the armadillo, capybara, tapir, jaguar, and lizard as well as the now extinct giant rhea. The figures are sometimes painted in outline, infilled, or decorated with patterns. Red is the most ubiquitous colour, but yellow and gray were also used. In Santa Cruz province, Argentina, the Cueva de las Manos (“Cave of the Hands”) has overlapping handprints in a variety of hues, constituting some of the finest examples of a common subject in rock art. They date to between 13,000 and 9,500 years ago. Although the cave takes its name from the handprints, it also contains hunting scenes and depictions of such animals as guanacos.

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Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History Essays

African rock art of the central zone.

Geoffrey Blundell Origins Centre, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa

October 2001

Of the three zones, the art of Central Africa is the least studied and least well understood. This zone stretches from the Zambezi River to below the Sahara Desert. The art differs significantly from that to the south and to the north in that images of animals and human beings do not predominate. Instead, the art is principally comprised of finger-painted, monochromatic geometric images . Because of the finger-painted  geometric images, some scholars are investigating the link between the central zone and the Khoi art of the southern zone .

There is one anomaly in the central zone—the art of  Kondoa District in central Tanzania . Although very faded with age, the art in this region is not finger-painted but, like the fine-line southern African images, is also brush-painted. In subject matter and style, it is more closely related to southern African San painting —and, in particular, that of Zimbabwe—than to any of the images in the central zone. It is believed that this enigmatic body of art is closely related to the Hadza and Sandawe people, who until recently were still involved in hunting and gathering .

Blundell, Geoffrey. “African Rock Art of the Central Zone.” In Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History . New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2000–. http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/croc/hd_croc.htm (October 2001)

Further Reading

Blundell, Geoffrey, ed. Origins: The Story of the Emergence of Humans and Humanity in Africa . Cape Town: Double Storey, 2006.

Coulson, David, and Alec Campbell African Rock Art: Paintings and Engravings on Stone . New York: Abrams, 2001.

Le Quellec, Jean-Loïc Rock Art in Africa: Mythology and Legend . Paris: Flammarion, 2004.

Smith, Benjamin Zambia's Ancient Rock Art: The Paintings of Kasama . Livingstone, Zambia: National Heritage Conservation Commission, 1997.

Additional Essays by Geoffrey Blundell

• Blundell, Geoffrey. “ San Ethnography .” (October 2001)
• Blundell, Geoffrey. “ African Rock Art: Game Pass .” (October 2001)
• Blundell, Geoffrey. “ African Rock Art of the Northern Zone .” (October 2001)
• Blundell, Geoffrey. “ African Rock Art of the Southern Zone .” (October 2001)
• Blundell, Geoffrey. “ Arts of the San People in Nomansland .” (October 2001)

Related Essays

• African Rock Art
• Introduction to Prehistoric Art, 20,000–8000 B.C.
• African Rock Art of the Northern Zone
• African Rock Art of the Southern Zone
• African Rock Art: Game Pass
• African Rock Art: Tassili-n-Ajjer (?8000 B.C.–?)
• African Rock Art: The Coldstream Stone
• Apollo 11 (ca. 25,500–23,500 B.C.) and Wonderwerk (ca. 8000 B.C.) Cave Stones
• Arts of the San People in Nomansland
• Great Zimbabwe (11th–15th Century)
• Ife (from ca. 6th Century)
• Ife Pre-Pavement and Pavement Era (800–1000 A.D.)
• Ife Terracottas (1000–1400 A.D.)
• Inland Niger Delta
• The Monumental Stelae of Aksum (3rd–4th Century)
• San Ethnography
• Rock Art in Africa
• Anthropomorphism
• Archaeology
• Central Africa
• C-Group Art
• Meroitic Period
• Painted Object
• Prehistoric Art
• Wall Painting

Europe: Prehistoric Rock Art

• Reference work entry
• First Online: 26 October 2020
• pp 4035–4047
• Cite this reference work entry

• Georges Sauvet 2 ,
• Cesar González Sainz 3 ,
• José Luis Sanchidrián 4 &
• Valentín Villaverde 5  

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Introduction

In its broadest sense, the term prehistoric rock art covers the whole of graphic manifestations affixed by prehistoric humans on rock surfaces of all kinds. The surfaces can be rocks out in the open air, walls protected by shallow rockshelters, or deep cave walls in total darkness. For deep cave situations, the term “parietal art” is often used, but these two terms cover the same reality. The phenomenon is widespread throughout the world, as it meets the basic needs of preliterate human societies. In Europe, prehistoric rock art extends from northern Norway to Andalusia and covers more than 30,000 years, from the Upper Paleolithic to the Roman conquest. As a result, it responds to an infinite number of motivations depending on beliefs, systems of social organization, and types of subsistence economies. In formal terms, it uses a wide range of techniques (engraving, sculpture, finger strokes in clay, line drawings, monochrome or polychrome painting) and a wide range of...

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Martínez Valle, R., coord. 2006. Arte rupestre en la Comunidad Valenciana . Valencia: Generalitat Valenciana.

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Villaverde Bonilla, V. 1994. Arte paleolítico de la cova del Parpalló . Valence: Diputació de València.

Further Reading

Lorblanchet, M. 1995. Les grottes ornées de la préhistoire. Nouveaux regards . Paris: Ed. Errance.

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Centre de Recherche et d’Etude de l’Art Préhistorique, Université de Toulouse-II, Toulouse, France

Georges Sauvet

Instituto Internacional de Investigaciones Prehistóricas de Cantabria (IIIPC), Universidad de Cantabria, Santander, Spain

Cesar González Sainz

Area de Prehistoria, Departamento de Geografía y Ciencias del Territorio, Facultad de Filosofía y Letras, Universidad de Córdoba, Córdoba, Spain

José Luis Sanchidrián

Departamento de Prehistoria y Arqueología, Universitat de València, Valencia, Spain

Valentín Villaverde

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Correspondence to Georges Sauvet .

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College of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences, Flinders University, Adelaide, SA, Australia

Claire Smith

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Sauvet, G., González Sainz, C., Sanchidrián, J.L., Villaverde, V. (2020). Europe: Prehistoric Rock Art. In: Smith, C. (eds) Encyclopedia of Global Archaeology. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-30018-0_1278

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Prehistoric Rock Painting: Theme, Expressions & Historical Perspective

Prehistoric Rock Paintings: Insights from Tools, Pottery, and Cave Drawings

The distant past before the existence of paper, language, or written records is referred to as prehistory. Understanding how people lived during prehistoric times was initially challenging. However, scholars have gained insights through excavations at prehistoric sites, revealing tools, pottery, dwellings, ancient human and animal remains, and cave drawings . By analyzing these findings, scholars have developed a relatively accurate understanding of prehistoric life. 

Expression of Thoughts: Beyond Survival to Cave Wall Masterpieces

When basic needs like food, water, clothing, and shelter were met, people sought to express themselves through art, particularly through painting and drawing on cave walls .

Historical Perspective: British Scholars and the Art-Historical Journey

• Initiation: During the nineteenth century (the period of British rule), a few British colonial officers took active interest to study India’s past in collaboration with some Indian scholars.
• Systematic Study: It is out of such endeavours that a systematic study of architectural monuments, sculptures and paintings began in the Indian sub-continent. 
• Start Documentation: The first attempt in this regard was to document the monuments as they represented a very visible evidence of the bygone era. 
• Discoveries: Over a period of time with the archaeological explorations and excavations, many art-historical sites were discovered. 
• Provide Insight : Decipherment of inscriptions and study of coins played a significant role in our understanding of the past art traditions. 
• Study of Religion: With the study of religious texts, history of religion was studied and identification of icons/sculptures and paintings was initiated, which became a dominant area of early scholarship. 

Do You Know?

The prehistoric period in the early development of human beings is commonly known as the Old Stone Age or the Palaeolithic Age.

Prehistoric Cave Paintings: Prehistoric Rock Paintings in India’s Rock Shelters

• Discovery: Prehistoric cave paintings, dating back to the Upper Palaeolithic era , have been discovered in various parts of the world. 
• First Report: In India the earliest paintings have been reported from the Upper Palaeolithic times.
• Discovery: In India, the first Prehistoric Rock Paintings were found in 1867-68, by Archaeologist Archibold Carlleyle , before the discovery of Altamira in Spain .

• Renowned Archaeologists : Like Carlleyle, Cockburn, Anderson, Mitra, and Ghosh unearthed numerous sites with Prehistoric Rock Paintings in regions such as Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Bihar, and Uttarakhand. 
• Figures on Painting: These paintings featured stick-like human figures, animals like long-snouted creatures, foxes, and multi-legged lizards, as well as geometric patterns in white, black, and red ochre. 

• Lakhudiyar Site: The rock shelters on banks of the River Suyal at Lakhudiyar , near Almora, bear these prehistoric paintings
• Dancing Figurine: Some scenes even depicted hand-linked dancing human figures , and there was evidence of superimposed paintings , with black, red ochre, and white layers. 
• Superimposition: In these superimpositions of paintings, the earliest are in black; over these are red ochre paintings and the last group comprises white paintings. 

• Other Artistic Expression: Additionally, engravings on slabs were discovered in Kashmir, while granite rocks in Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh showcased various types of paintings in white, red ochre, or a combination of both, providing a fascinating glimpse into the artistic expressions of prehistoric humans.
• Famous Sites: The granite rocks of Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh provided suitable canvases to the Neolithic man for his paintings in famous sites like Kupgallu, Piklihal and Tekkalkota.

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Prehistoric Rock Art

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Book description

Paul G. Bahn provides a richly illustrated overview of prehistoric rock art and cave art from around the world. Summarizing the recent advances in our understanding of this extraordinary visual record, he discusses new discoveries, new approaches to recording and interpretation, and current problems in conservation. Bahn focuses in particular on current issues in the interpretation of rock art, notably the 'shamanic' interpretation that has been influential in recent years and that he refutes. This book is based on the Rhind Lectures that the author delivered for the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland in 2006.

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Frontmatter pp i-vi

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Contents pp vii-viii

Figures pp ix-xii, foreword by h. c. woodhouse pp xiii-xiv.

• By H. C. Woodhouse , Pretoria University, South Africa

Acknowledgements pp xv-xvi

Introduction pp 1-2, 1 - art on the rocks pp 3-31, 2 - myths and meanings pp 32-66, 3 - the emperor's new clothes i: sloppy tailoring pp 67-93, 4 - the emperor's new clothes ii: fashion disasters pp 94-136, 5 - location, location, location pp 137-159, 6 - the votive motive pp 160-169, 7 - mustn't crumble pp 170-196, conclusion pp 197-202, select bibliography pp 203-216, index pp 217-222, altmetric attention score, full text views.

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Prehistoric Art – History of Humanity’s Earliest Artforms

There was a time that humans had not yet developed any kind of written language. During this period, various art forms served as a practical method for imparting information between themselves and other tribes. Prehistoric art refers to prehistoric artifacts and art created in the Stone Age, Paleolithic and Neolithic periods.

Table of Contents

• 1.1.1 Lower and Middle Paleolithic Era
• 1.1.2 Upper Paleolithic
• 2.1 Asian Prehistoric Art
• 2.2 The Near East Prehistoric Art
• 2.3 European Prehistoric Art
• 2.4 African Prehistoric Art
• 2.5 Prehistoric Art of the Americas
• 3.1 Blombos Cave
• 3.2 Venus of Willendorf
• 3.3 Lubang Jeriji Saléh
• 3.4 Lascaux Cave Paintings
• 3.5 The Chauvet-Pont-d’Arc Cave
• 3.6 Göbekli Tepe
• 4.1 What Is Prehistoric Art?
• 4.2 What Techniques and Methods Were Used in Early Prehistory Art?

The Definition of Prehistoric Art

Prehistoric art could be defined as art that was created by people in an era where any form of written language had yet not been developed. The time in which various cultures throughout human history started developing their unique language systems varies greatly from region to region.

Before leaving historians a written record of daily events, prehistoric artists left a treasure trove of information behind through their prehistoric artifacts and prehistoric drawings.

Prehistoric artists recorded their daily experiences in mediums that have managed to make it through centuries of harsh exposure to changing environmental conditions, giving us detailed insights into what life was like in the earliest days of our species before the development of a written form of communication.

The Origins of Prehistoric Art

Around 500 000 years ago, one of our early ancestors took a shark’s tooth and engraved a zig-zag pattern on the surface of a seashell. Although the reason for its creation is unknown, it is considered to be the earliest existing example of art. As paleolithic art transitioned to neolithic art from the old stone age, we see the use of charcoal, a medium that has continued to artworks created by modern humans. Let’s look at the various periods during which art first began to emerge in prehistoric art history.

Lower and Middle Paleolithic Era

The engraved shell was said to come from the later years of the Lower Paleolithic, but most of the evidence points to the Middle Paleolithic as having the best examples of the use of art for expressive reasons instead of being purely practical in application, like elaborately carved stone tools.

Early hand axes like those found at a site by archeologists at Saint Acheul in France have been shown to contain a degree of symmetry and styling that could be evidence of creative expression.

Other potential candidates for the earliest examples can be found in the Blombos Cave in South Africa and the Venus of Tan-Tan in Morocco. The patterns found on the walls of the Blombos caves are dated to around 73, 000 years old and are thought to possibly be the earliest existing examples of art made by the human hand.

Upper Paleolithic

In a cave on the island of Borneo in 2018, scientists discovered what is thought to be the oldest known painting depicting the human form. It has been dated to somewhere between 40, 000 and 52, 000 years of age.

Some of the earliest uncontested examples of figurative prehistoric artifacts were found in Baden-Württemberg, Germany.

These also date to around 40, 000 years ago, the Venus of Hohle Fels being a well-known example of prehistoric art history from this period. Cave paintings from around 40, 000 to 10, 000 years ago are another source of Upper Paleolithic art depicting figurative forms and motifs, as well as the sculpture The Venus of Willendorf and several animal carvings, like the Wolverine pendant of Les Eyzies, which depicts a wolf engraved onto a bone.

Prehistoric Art Around the World

Various cultures around the world developed written languages at different times in human history, so each region has a unique story regarding its initial development of art. Let’s take a look at how prehistoric artworks first emerged in various regions across the globe, from Spain to Australia and everywhere in between. 

Asian Prehistoric Art

The prehistoric art history of Asia is specifically unique because the written language was adopted early on the continent, especially in China. Mesopotamian art is rarely defined as prehistoric, as written language took roots relatively early in the region, but the surrounding cultures such as the Persian, the Urartu, and Luristan cultures have all had impactful and highly detailed art traditions.

In Azerbaijan, dated to be around 12, 000 years old, there are approximately 6000 or more rock engravings that represent the figures of humans and animals engaged in various hunting scenarios, which are located at the National Park in Gobustan.

There are also objects that look similar in design to the Viking Longships. The earliest examples of paintings on the Indian sub-continent are petroglyphs such as those found at the Rock Shelters of Bhimbetka. Petroglyphs are images that are created when a surface such as a cave wall is scraped or picked at until an image is revealed.

In China’s Bronze Age, the Shang and Zhou Dynasties created many prehistoric artifacts such as bronze objects for ritualistic purposes.

Whereas in Japan, the first people to develop pottery were the ancient Jōmon people , dating to around the 11th millennium BC. The Jōmon used sticks or cords (sometimes braided) to create patterns on the wetted clay figures. In Korea, the first examples of art date from somewhere in 3000 BCE, consisting mostly of sculptures as well as petroglyphs according to more recent archeological discoveries.

The Near East Prehistoric Art

The world’s oldest megaliths can be found at the archeological site of Göbekli Tepe in Turkey . On pillars made during the Pre-Pottery Neolithic phase, one can find reliefs portraying human and animal figures as well as abstract patterns. Around the same time in 9000 BCE in Israel, the first known artwork representing two human figures engaged in intercourse, the Ain Sakhri , was said to have been made in Bethlehem.

It is the rise of the Achaemenid Empire that is seen as being the end of the prehistoric era in the Near East in the 6th century, however, writing had already existed for two thousand years by then. Yet this entire period is considered prehistoric despite some of the works having text such as the name of rulers displayed on them.

European Prehistoric Art

During the Stone Age, it was common for humans to carve animal figures onto objects such as bone or antlers, as well as the walls of caves. This was also the period of the Venus figurines. In certain places, simplistic pottery objects also began being created around this time. This age is divided into the Mesolithic and the Neolithic Age. The Mesolithic Period came after the Upper Paleolithic and before the Neolithic Age. In comparison to the other periods, there is little art that has survived from this period.

The art of the Iberian Mediterranean Basin, for example, is far less known when compared to similar sites from the Upper Paleolithic Period.

At sites such as Roca dels Moros, the art is mostly found on cliff faces exposed to the open-air environment. Containing the image of 45 figures, the subject seems to be mainly focused on the human form rather than animal figures. Figures can also be seen to be wearing noticeable garments of clothing and depict daily scenes like food gathering, hunting, engaged in a battle against feuding tribes, and dancing.

The figures depicted in this era are more energetic in their poses and smaller than their Paleolithic counterparts. Small, simply engraved pendants have also been discovered from this period. In the Neolithic Period, many Central European cultures tended to produce mostly female statues and very few examples of male figurines, as well as animal figures and detailed pieces of pottery.

Many megalithic monuments were built in this era such as Stonehenge and the Temples of Malta, some of which have spirals and other patterns carved into the huge stone structures such as the tomb in Ireland which is said to have been dated from somewhere around 32000 BC.

The Bronze Age in Europe saw the rise of new techniques in tool development and this had a great impact on the quality and speed in which artisans could create works of art.

It is due to the rising productivity that society in general began to experience a surplus of luxury items such as weapons that had been artfully decorated.

During this period we see many fine examples of decorated weapons such as ornamental swords and ax handles, as well as ceremonial helmets made of bronze. During the following Iron Age, the focus would shift to anthropomorphic sculptures, which attributed human characteristics to various animals and objects.

African Prehistoric Art

The first known prehistoric drawing created by Homo Erectus was found by archeologists in Southern Africa in September 2018. The prehistoric drawing is estimated to be approximately 73, 000 years old, which is considerably older than what was previously discovered by about 43, 000 years. Some rock paintings made by the San people in the Drakensberg area are thought to be from the period 8000 BCE.

These paintings have remained remarkably clear and portray a multitude of human figures and animal motifs, most notably antelope. However, not all rock art in the area is thought to be ancient in origin, with a fairly unbroken tradition of painting that has continued until as recently as the 19th century, with horses displayed in some paintings, which there were none of in the local environment until introduced there by foreigners in the 1820s.

Rock art depicting pastoral scenery can be found at Laas Geel in northwestern Somalia. This formation of caves contains some of the earliest examples of cave paintings and prehistoric drawings in the region known as the Horn of Africa. They are estimated to have been made sometime between 9000 and 3000 BCE. In 2008, the earliest portrayal of a hunter riding a horse was discovered by archeologists.

It has been dated in the ballpark region of 1000 to 3000 BCE and was created in the typical Arabian/Ethiopian style.

Saharan Africa had its unique style and techniques, with depictions of fauna carved onto walls. Weirdly formed human figures were prominent throughout this period as well as a few animal depictions. As lifestyles changed for the people towards the end of this period, focus on the subject turned towards the depiction of domesticated animals, as well as decorative headdresses and ornate clothing.

During this time, figures became simplified in design and focussed on common domestic everyday scenes such as the herding of animals and dancing.

Prehistoric Art of the Americas

The Vero Beach Bome is the oldest known piece of art in the Americas and belongs to the Lithic Period. Dating back to approximately 11, 000 BCE, it is thought to be made of mammoth bone and has been etched with the image of a walking mammoth. In Mesoamerica, we find the Olmec Bird Vessel and Bowl, dated from around 1000 BC and both made from ceramic.

This is noteworthy for its time, as kilns had to reach temperatures above 900 degrees celsius for the ceramics to be produced, and outside of Egypt, they were the only known culture that was able to do so at this time.

Olmec art can easily be recognized by the use of reflective iconography within a religious context as well as being highly stylized. However, despite being stylized, there are also examples of more naturalistic Olmec art depicting the human form. Large monumental figurines are abundant in this era as well as small carved figures made of jade.

Peru in South America has a long recorded history of human culture dating as far back as 10, 000 BCE.  Rock paintings in the Toquepala Caves have been dated as far back as 9500 BCE.  Beads have been found at ceremonial burial sites that are dated to be from somewhere between 8600 and 7200 BCE.  Ceramics have been found that date from around 1850 BCE.

The Initial Period for cultures in the Central Andean region lasted approximately somewhere from 1800 BCE to 900 BCE. Textiles from this period display an incredible complexity and included images such as birds with two heads and crabs with snakes for claws. Depending on how it is viewed, various subjects can seem to dominate the work in some kind of optically created illusion. Artwork that was considered portable at the time included jewelry made of shells and bones, clay female figures, and mirrors that were highly decorated.

The early Intermediate period is epitomized by work that was extremely demanding of its artist in both time and level of detail required for each piece and used an abundance of visual elements in a vividly colorful manner.

Famous Examples of Prehistoric Art

It is hard enough to ask the question “what is prehistoric art” without even considering the question ”who created the art, what was the name of the prehistoric artist?” These pieces of prehistoric art history were created before written languages had been developed yet, so the chances of us discovering a signature or name seem rather slim to none.

Yet, we have managed to learn much about the people who created these artworks as well the techniques they used, and what daily life was like for people in the very distant past.

Blombos Cave

Blombos Cave is situated 300kms from Cape Town in the Blombos Private Nature Reserve and is considered an extremely important archeological site. It is here that archaeologists found what is now thought to be the oldest known drawing created by human hands, and is estimated to be about 73, 000 years old based on surrounding deposits.

Very little is known about humans from this period, so it comes as a surprise to researchers that humans from this time would display an ability to create works of art.

Researchers hope the find will assist them in gaining insight into our species’ first attempts at the use of symbols – a technique of communication and representation that would pave the way for mathematics and the formation of spoken and written languages.

One artifact from this location is a tiny piece of ochre stone, measuring a diameter comparable to the length of a couple of thumbnails. The flake of stone has six distinct lines drawn on it as well as three curved diagonal lines running across it. The lines end suddenly, hinting at the possibility that the pattern extended further beyond the edges of what remains of the flake, in a far more complex manner than initially available to see from the flake he found.

There has been much debate on his assertions that it was made by Homo Sapiens and intentionally created, and several attempts were made at replicating the potential techniques used by a group of French experts. They analyzed the chemical composition of the pigments, and after replicating various techniques, it was concluded that the most likely substance used to create the lines was ochre.

Venus of Willendorf

The Venus of Willendorf was discovered in 1908 at the site of Willendorf in Austria by digger Johann Veran during excavations. It has been carved out of oolitic limestone not found in its native region and slightly tinted in pigment made of red ochre. Based on it being made from non-native stone, this sculpture is thought to have been produced somewhere else and then transported to where it was later found.

Some believe it was created as some kind of goddess symbol of fertility, a charm that brings one good luck, or even possibly a talisman designed as an aphrodisiac.

The figure consists mostly of a female torso and breasts, with the arms present, but not anatomically represented, they seem understated and shrunk. There is a head visible, but one that does not show any features except a stylized pattern perhaps meant to represent braided hair or some kind of head cap.

The feet also seem to be missing or were perhaps not ever part of the initial design, to begin with. It is believed to be a fertility statue as the body parts associated with reproduction seem to be disproportionately exaggerated.

This is one of many sculptures from the Paleolithic Period that have been titled “Venus” sculptures even though they greatly outdated the culture and theology behind the Venus from mythology known by traditional scholars.

There has been some speculation that perhaps the carvings were created by women themselves as a means of self-representation. This was in a time when there were no reflective surfaces such as mirrors and the proportions of the figurines seem to match up with the associated angle a woman would see of her own body if looking down at it.

Lubang Jeriji Saléh

Borneo island is home to a limestone complex of caves known as the Lubang Jeriji Saléh. At around 40, 000 years old, it is thought to be one of the oldest figurative paintings known to the world. Located in the East Kalimantan mountains, this series of caves are covered in images of hands that have been made visible through applying flashes of bright orange ochre and iron oxide paint to the walls, spraying the colors over the hand, and leaving an outline of it amongst the burst of colors on cave walls.

These hand outlines have been dated to have been created around 52, 000 years ago. It is amongst these paintings that we also find the bull, thought to be the first figurative painting created by human hands approximately 40, 000 years ago. The illustrated bovine stretches over a rocky canvas measuring more than five feet in length and has been applied to the limestone walls using red ochre paint.

In 2018, scientists were able to do a more in-depth analysis of samples taken from the site and concluded that the site was decorated in three stages over time. During the first stage, the hands and bull were added. In the second stage, complex motifs were added, using stencils and a mulberry-colored paint mix. During the third and final phase, water vessels, designs of geometric patterns, and human-like figures were added to the cave walls.

The team that led the research of the site in 2018 originally concluded that this was the first known example of a figurative painting by a prehistoric artist.

However, they have since made further discoveries of artworks in caves in Sulawesi that are even older at around 44, 000 years of age. This discovery still holds much significance for art historians, however, as it shows us that cave art gave rise at the same time in Asia as it did in Europe. Experts agree that the finding is very significant to archeological discovery, yet has little to offer in terms of data on the early origins of art geographically speaking.

Lascaux Cave Paintings

The Vézère Valley is home to many famously decorated caves that were first discovered in the early days of the 20th century. Amongst them, one of the most well-known would be the Lascaux cave paintings . Renowned for its Paleolithic era cave paintings, the caves are situated in Dordogne, a region of southwestern France. They are most highly revered for the complexity of design, outstanding quality of production, age, and sheer scale. The paintings are estimated to be in the region of 20, 000 years of age.

A cave complex consisting of several areas, Lascaux was discovered on 12 September 1940 and later that year was honored with historic monument protection status.

Lascaux caves are part of several cave complexes in the area that were added to the UNESCO list of World Heritage Sites, yet they remain in constant danger of further deterioration and are the constant source of symposiums for archeologists and scientists to discuss how to handle these artworks to ensure a legacy that spans even further into the future.

Archeologists have identified several distinct sections of the cave complex, giving them such titles as The Great Hall of the Bulls , The Chamber of Felines , and The Shaft of the Dead Man . Abstract symbols, animal effigies, and human figures form the three groups that the more than 2000 figures on the cave walls can be divided into.

The majority of these images have been impressed on the wall with painted mineral pigments, although others have been chiseled into the stone’s facade.

The paintings in Lascaux caves mainly consist of 364 horse figures, as well as ninety stags and various other animals such as felines, rhinos, cows, a single bear, bison, and even a human. In the Hall of Bulls, we find the most well-known image of the cave, the four black bulls, one of which alone is 17 feet in diameter, which makes it the largest known painting of an animal in cave art.

The Chauvet-Pont-d’Arc Cave

Archeologists have concluded that the figurative cave paintings in the Chauvet Cave are some of the most well-preserved examples of prehistory art around the globe. The cave is situated on a cliff made from limestone in Ardeche, Southeast France, and was first discovered on 18th December 1994.

It is considered by many art historians and archeologists to be an extremely important prehistoric site, with UNESCO granting the cave’s World Heritage status in 2014.

Various groups of researchers have gathered significant data and understanding of the culture that may have created it over the years. Not only were paintings discovered by archeologists, but also the fossil remnants and markings of animals, many of which no longer exist today.

Recent carbon dating studies have isolated two periods in which the caves were habituated by humans, a period from 37, 000 to 33, 500 years ago and another period following that from 31,000 to around 28,000 years ago.

All that remains from the latter period are the prints of a child’s foot, the sooty remnants of the community fireplace, and blackened stains on the cave walls from the use of torches.

The child’s footprints could be the oldest prints of the human foot that can accurately be dated, as, after the visitation of the child who made the prints, the cave remained untouched until its rediscovery in 1994 due to a landslide or something similar.

Göbekli Tepe

Göbekli Tepe is situated in Southeastern Anatolia in Turkey and is considered by historians to be a site of significance for human civilization and the development of culture and art. The Mesolithic age mound is a prime example of megalithic art. Göbekli Tepe was formed by one settlement built upon another settlement in the same place over time, the debris and remnants from the former settlements stacking up over the decades to create a mound that exceeds fifteen meters in height and around 300 meters in diameter.

The multi-layered complex has been carbon-dated to around 9559 BCE and it is said to contain the oldest stone structures bearing artwork engraved upon it.

The most common motifs were the depiction of various animals such as boars, bulls, foxes, and lions. Only a few examples of imagery depicting the human figure have been found at this particular site, a notable exception being the relief of a naked female crouching down on the ground. The true purpose of this site remains shrouded in mystery, but the archeologist Klaus Schmidt has suggested that the site was most likely used as a cult center or holy place during the Neolithic period. This is largely evident by the unusual number of megaliths that were used in the construction of the layout of the site.

In summary, we have learned that prehistoric art predates the use of written language by various cultures throughout human history. We have also seen how the period of transformation for each culture to one based on written text differs from region to region. There are examples of early cave art that appear simultaneously in both Asia and Europe.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is prehistoric art.

Prehistoric art refers to all art that was created before cultures had developed more complex forms of expression and communication such as a written language. Prehistoric art can not only be described as art found on cave walls, but also prehistoric sculpture such as the Venus figurines. Some of the earliest examples of prehistoric art in civilized communities are the huge monoliths found in ancient sites such as Gobekli Tepe and many others.

What Techniques and Methods Were Used in Early Prehistory Art?

As with any era, artists that created prehistory art were limited by the resources available to them at the time they lived. The very first art was made from tools and canvases readily accessible to them such as cave walls, bones, and pigments such as ochre and burnt wood. Not only did they use various pigments to paint on surfaces, but also carved images on bone, stone, and walls, as well as made various pieces of clay sculpture and pottery from available materials in the region.

Isabella studied at the University of Cape Town in South Africa and graduated with a Bachelor of Arts majoring in English Literature & Language and Psychology. Throughout her undergraduate years, she took Art History as an additional subject and absolutely loved it. Building on from her art history knowledge that began in high school, art has always been a particular area of fascination for her. From learning about artworks previously unknown to her, or sharpening her existing understanding of specific works, the ability to continue learning within this interesting sphere excites her greatly.

Her focal points of interest in art history encompass profiling specific artists and art movements, as it is these areas where she is able to really dig deep into the rich narrative of the art world. Additionally, she particularly enjoys exploring the different artistic styles of the 20 th century, as well as the important impact that female artists have had on the development of art history.

Learn more about Isabella Meyer and the Art in Context Team .

Cite this Article

Isabella, Meyer, “Prehistoric Art – History of Humanity’s Earliest Artforms.” Art in Context. November 19, 2021. URL: https://artincontext.org/prehistoric-art/

Meyer, I. (2021, 19 November). Prehistoric Art – History of Humanity’s Earliest Artforms. Art in Context. https://artincontext.org/prehistoric-art/

Meyer, Isabella. “Prehistoric Art – History of Humanity’s Earliest Artforms.” Art in Context , November 19, 2021. https://artincontext.org/prehistoric-art/ .

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Prehistoric Era Art – Rock Paintings (Indian Culture Series – NCERT)

Last updated on September 11, 2023 by ClearIAS Team

We suggest aspirants start from the book published by NCERT on Indian Culture and then move on to other online and offline sources. The book is titled  ‘An Introduction to Indian Art’ – Part 1. Though many aspirants might not be aware, this textbook provides valuable knowledge for a beginner.

Clear IAS is starting a compilation of the important aspects of Indian culture based on the book ‘An Introduction to Indian Art’ – Part 1 so that aspirants can save time.

Table of Contents

What’s inside: An Introduction to Indian Art’ – Part 1

This NCERT textbook for Class XI extensively covers the tradition of cave paintings in the pre-historic era and their continuation in mural paintings of Buddhist era and later on in various parts of the country, Buddhist, Jain, and Hindu sculptural and architectural developments. During the Indo-Islamic period and before the Mughal rule, another era dawned upon India, which saw massive constructions in the form of forts and palaces. Different aspects of all these styles have been discussed to introduce students with the fabric of India’s culture. The approach is mostly chronological , and it extends from the pre-historic period till the Mughals.

Prehistoric Rock Paintings in India

What is prehistoric?

• The distant past when there was no paper or language or the written word, and hence no books or written document, is called as the Prehistoric period.
• It was difficult to understand how Prehistoric people lived until scholars began excavations in Prehistoric sites.
• Piecing together of information deduced from old tools, habitat, bones of both animals and human beings and drawings on the cave walls scholars have constructed fairly accurate knowledge about what happened and how people lived in prehistoric times.
• Paintings and drawings were the oldest art forms practiced by human beings to express themselves using the cave wall as their canvas.

Prehistoric Period: Paleolithic Age, Mesolithic Age, and Chalcolithic Age

The drawings and paintings can be catagorised into seven historical periods. Period I, Upper Palaeolithic; Period II, Mesolithic; and Period III, Chalcolithic. After Period III there are four successive periods. But we will confine ourselves here only to the first three phases.  Prehistoric Era art denotes the art (mainly rock paintings) during Paleolithic Age, Mesolithic Age and Chalcolithic Age.

(1) Paleolithic Age Art

• The prehistoric period in the early development of human beings is commonly known as the ‘Old Stone Age’ or ‘Palaeolithic Age’.
• The Paleolithic period can be divided into three phases: (1) Lower Palaeolithic (2.5 million years-100,000 years ago) (2) Middle Palaeolithic (300,000-30,000 years ago) (3) Upper Palaeolithic (40,000-10,000 years ago)
• We did not get any evidence of paintings from lower or middle paleolithic age yet.
• In the Upper Palaeolithic period, we see a proliferation of artistic activities.
• Subjects of early works confined to simple human figures, human activities, geometric designs, and symbols.
• First discovery of rock paintings in the world was made in India (1867-68) by an Archaeologist, Archibold Carlleyle , twelve years before the discovery of Altamira in Spain (site of oldest rock paintings in the world).
• In India, remnants of rock paintings have been found on the walls of caves situated in several districts of Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Karnataka, Bihar, and Uttarakhand.
• Some of the examples of sites early rock paintings are Lakhudiyar in Uttarakhand, Kupgallu in Telangana, Piklihal and Tekkalkotta in Karnataka, Bhimbetka and Jogimara in Madhya Pradesh etc .
• Paintings found here can be divided into three categories: Man, Animal, and Geometric symbols .
• Human beings are represented in a stick-like form.
• A long-snouted animal, a fox, a multi-legged lizard are main animal motifs in the early paintings (later many animals were drawn).
• Wavy lines, rectangular filled geometric designs and a group of dots also can be seen.
• Superimposition of paintings – earliest is Black, then red and later White.
• In the late historic, early historic and Neolithic period the subjects of paintings developed and figures like Bulls, Elephants, Sambhars, Gazelles, Sheep, Horses, styled human beings, tridents and rarely vegetal motifs began to see.
• The richest paintings are reported from Vindhya range of Madhya Pradesh and their Kaimurean extension into U.P.
• These hills are fully Palaeolithic and Mesolithic remains.
• There are two major sites of excellent prehistoric paintings in India: (1) Bhimbetka Caves, Foothills of Vindhya, Madhya Pradesh. (2) Jogimara caves, Amarnath, Madhya Pradesh.

Bhimbetka Caves

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• Continuous occupation of the caves from 100,000 B.C– 1000 A.D
• Thus, it is considered as an evidence of long cultural continuity .
• It was discovered in 1957-58.
• Consists of nearly 400 painted rock shelters in five clusters.
• One of the oldest paintings in India and the world (Upper paleolithic). The features of paintings of three different phases are as follows (even though Bhimbetka contains many paintings of periods later, different from what is explained below, as we are dealing with the prehistoric period only, we are concluding by these three):

 Upper Palaeolithic Period:

• Paintings are linear representations, in green and dark red, of huge animal figures, such as Bisons, Tigers, Elephants, Rhinos and Boars beside stick-like human figures.
• Mostly they are filled with geometric patterns.
• Green paintings are of dances and red ones of hunters.

(2) Mesolithic period Art:

• The largest number of paintings belongs to this period.
• Themes multiply but the paintings are small in size.
• Hunting scenes predominate
• Hunters in groups armed with barbed spears pointed sticks, arrows, and bows.
• Trap and snares used to catch animals can be seen in some paintings.
• Mesolithic people loved to point animals.
• In some pictures, animals are chasing men and in others, they are being chased by hunter men.
• Animals painted in a naturalistic style and humans were depicted in a stylistic manner.
• Women are painted both in nude and clothed.
• Young and old equally find places in paintings.
• Community dances provide a common theme.
• Sort of family life can be seen in some paintings (woman, man, and children).

(3) Chalcolithic period Art:

• Copper age art.
• The paintings of this period reveal the association, contact and mutual exchange of requirements of the cave dwellers of this area with settled agricultural communities of the Malwa Plateau.
• Pottery and metal tools can be seen in paintings.
• Similarities with rock paintings: Common motifs (designs/patterns like cross-hatched squares, lattices etc)
• The difference with rock paintings: Vividness and vitality of older periods disappear from these paintings.

Some of the general features of Prehistoric paintings (based on the study of Bhimbetka paintings)

• Used colours, including various shades of white, yellow, orange, red ochre, purple, brown, green and black.
• But white and red were their favourite.
• The paints used by these people were made by grinding various coloured rocks.
• They got red from haematite (Geru in India).
• Green prepared from a green coloured rock called Chalcedony.
• White was probably from Limestone.
• Some sticky substances such as animal fat or gum or resin from trees may be used while mixing rock powder with water.
• Brushes were made of plant fiber.
• It is believed that these colours remained thousands of years because of the chemical reaction of the oxide present on the surface of rocks.
• Paintings were found both from occupied and unoccupied caves.
• It means that these paintings were sometimes used also as some sort of signals, warnings etc.
• Many rock art sites of the new painting are painted on top of an older painting.
• In Bhimbetka, we can see nearly 20 layers of paintings, one on top of another.
• It shows the gradual development of the human being from period to period.
• The symbolism is inspiration from nature along with slight spirituality.
• Expression of ideas through very few drawings (representation of men by the stick like drawings).
• Use of many geometrical patterns.
• Scenes were mainly hunting and economic and social life of people.
• The figure of flora, fauna, human, mythical creatures, carts, chariots etc can be seen.
• More importance for red and white colours.

Compiled by: Jijo Sudarshan

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Reader Interactions

June 22, 2015 at 10:52 pm

Very valuable

July 17, 2015 at 9:59 am

Please give advice on how many questions we can attempt safely in cs preliminary2015 GS paper since CSAT is only a qualifying one.

June 27, 2016 at 2:27 pm

65 to 70 would be good enough without negatives.

July 22, 2015 at 9:15 pm

Seriously! this helps a lot.. thanks a lot

June 20, 2016 at 9:46 am

jogimara is in Chhatisgarh. So plz give right details…

June 24, 2016 at 2:51 pm

Seriously! this helps me a lot.. thanks a lot..!!!! Ambadnya

August 12, 2016 at 6:02 pm

from which site i can download Introduction to Indian Art – PartI book

January 1, 2018 at 7:14 pm

mesolithic people loved to paint animals not point as mentioned above

October 1, 2018 at 9:50 am

Thanku sir…it’s very useful for us…good compilation…

October 25, 2018 at 11:16 pm

February 25, 2019 at 5:57 pm

very nice answer that influenced me a lot

April 24, 2021 at 10:16 pm

It said that the first discovery of rock painting was in 1967-68, but then later said bhimbetka cave was discovered in 1957-58, which crontradict the first statement. Am i misunderstanding, can anyone explain?

January 18, 2022 at 11:43 am

First painting was discovered in 1867-68 not in 1967, read the above details again.. Make sense now?

April 4, 2023 at 12:07 pm

The first discovery of rock paintings in the world was made in India by archaeologist Archibald Carlleyle in 1867 – 68 (in Sohagighat, Mirzapur District, Uttar Pradesh).

January 18, 2022 at 11:44 am

April 4, 2023 at 12:33 pm

Hello Sir/Madam, ” JOGIMARA CAVE PAINTINGS ” are in CHATTISGARH (NOT IN MADHYA PRADESH) Plz do edit…

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Characterizing the pigments and paints of prehistoric artists

Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences

This paper offers a broad and critical overview of current discussions on the potential uses and the characterization of pigments in prehistory, with a special focus on prehistoric rock art. Today, analytical approaches to pigments and paints allow us to go beyond the identification of the elemental and molecular composition of these archaeological remains, to explore also raw material procurement, transformation and use strategies of interest to investigate the technological and socio-cultural practices of prehistoric artists and their change over space and time. The paper also summarizes the palette of prehistoric artists, as well as the techniques and analytical strategies used to date to characterize prehistoric pigments and paints (colours, raw materials, binders and recipes) used in prehistoric rock art.

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Although prehistoric sites frequently contain numerous fragments and traces of many different kinds of colouring matter, intensive study of this type of archaeological remains began only recently. Such studies, aimed at determining how raw materials formed and changed over time, and how they were transported by the groups of humans who used them, are extremely valuable as they reveal shared strategies, that is, cultural traditions and the spaces in which they developed. The scope of this paper focusses on the description of the main geological contexts in which ferruginous colouring materials form and are found. In the framework of a collective research program called Pigmentothèque (iron- and manganese-rich rocks and minerals library), geological surveys are conducted taking into consideration the geological settings in which colouring materials are present and using a common record and sampling methodology which is followed by petrophysical, mineralogical and chemical analyses bas...

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In this work we analyze the pigments used in the decoration of red and yellow motifs present in the portable art of the Parpalló Cave (Gandía, Spain), one of the most important Palaeolithic sites in the Spanish Mediterranean region. Energy dispersive X-ray fluores-cence spectrometry (EDXRF) and spectrophotometry in the visible region (CIEL*a*b*color coordinates and spectral reflectance curves) were used to perform in situ fast analyses of the red and yellow motifs with portable equipment and to characterize their elemental composition and their colorimetric perception, respectively. According to the elemental composition , the intensity of the fluorescence iron signals in red and yellow motifs are higher than average values in the rock substrates. As expected, red motifs possess high values of the chromatic coordinate a* and yellow motifs possess high values of b*. This characterization was complemented with FT-IR analyses of microsamples detached from the red and yellow colored zones of a small set of plaquettes. Our results show that the artists used red and yellow pigments in the decoration likely derived from natural iron oxides as hematite and goethite.

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This paper explores the processes involved in the production of prehistoric paintings using inorganic pigmentation. The focus for discussion involves a number of rock-shelter sites that contain rock art within the western part of the Iberian Peninsula, with particular reference to the sites that contain Schematic rock art. A direct date cannot be obtained on rock art that is made with inorganic pigments. However, sampling and subsequent analysis has clearly shown that pigments were produced using tried and tested recipes that involved the use of sometimes organic binders. This paper will explore the chemical and mineralogical qualities of sampled pigments from a selected number of sites within Spain and Portugal and suggest that pigmentation was more than just applying paint to rock.

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Indian Heritage & Culture

Make Your Note

Rock Art (Part-1)

• 01 Mar 2021
• 10 min read
• GS Paper - 1
• Indian Art Forms
• Indian Heritage Sites
• Rock Arts are ancient, human-made markings/paintings/sculptures made on natural stone.
• Rock art consists of paintings, drawings, engravings, stencils, prints, bas-relief carvings and figures in rock shelters and caves, on boulders and platforms.
• Prehistoric rock paintings, rock-cut architectures of caves & temples and sculptures carved out of rock are some examples of rock art in India.
• Petroglyphs: These are carved into the rock surface
• Pictographs: These are painted onto the surface
• Earth figures: These are formed on the ground

Significance of Rock Art

• It also has great significance to humanity generally. Its beauty, its symbolism, and its rich narrative means that it is widely appreciated and treasured internationally, regionally, and locally.
• Tribal communities rely on the rock arts for deriving their cultural connections by following the customs engraved in the rock art.
• Source of history: The rock arts serve, as a “historical record”, detailing the hunting habits and ways of life of the local communities.

Prehistoric Rock Paintings

• The prehistoric paintings were generally executed on rocks and these rock engravings are called Petroglyphs.
• Remnants of rock paintings have been found on the walls of the caves situated in several districts of Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Uttarakhand and Bihar.
• Upper Paleolithic Paintings

Mesolithic Paintings

Chalcolithic Paintings

• Petroglyphs depicting hunting scenes, processions of animals and dancing human figures are the main themes in the rock art of Jammu and Kashmir.
• In Uttarakhand, paintings of rows of anthropomorphic figures are a common motif.
• South India has both pictographs as well as petroglyphs.
• Petroglyphs are also seen in Karnataka where carvings depicting figures of humped cattle, deer and hunting scenes are found on boulders.

Upper Palaeolithic Paintings

• In this time period, the primitive man made greatest cultural progress. It was characterized by the emergence of regional stone tool industries with tools made up of bone, teeth, and horns.
• In India its sites were discovered in Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Central Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, southern Uttar Pradesh, and South Bihar Plateau.
• One of the most common minerals was ochre or geru (Haematite) mixed with lime and water.
• The white, dark red and green were used to depict large animals.
• Red was used for hunters and the green mostly for dancers.
• Depiction of animals: The paintings mainly depict huge animal figures, such as bisons, elephants, tigers, rhinos and boars besides stick-like human figures.
• While the start and end dates of the Mesolithic Period vary by geographical region, it dates approximately from 10,000 BCE to 8,000 BCE.
• This period mainly saw the use of red colour.
• It has a larger variety of themes but the paintings are smaller in size.
• People hunting in groups
• Hunting armed with barbed spears, pointed sticks, arrows and bows.
• Primitive men with traps and snares probably to catch animals.
• Depicted animals include elephants, bison, tiger, boar, deer, antelope, leopard, panther, rhinoceros, fish, frog, lizard, squirrel and at times birds.
• In many of the rock-shelters we find hand prints, fist prints, and dots made by the fingertips.

Bhimbetka Rock Paintings

• The caves of Bhimbetka were discovered in 1957–58 by V. S. Wakankar
• It was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2003.
• In some places, there are as many as 20 layers of paintings, one on top of another
• However, most of the paintings belong to the Mesolithic age.
• Haematite ores were used for red colour and white probably from Limestone.
• Green prepared from a green coloured rock called Chalcedony.
• The Brushes were made of plant fibre.
• Various animals like elephant, bison, deer, peacock and snake are depicted.
• Hunting scenes and war scenes with armed men.
• Simple geometric designs and symbols.
• Chalcolithic period: The period between the late Neolithic and the early Bronze Age, during which human societies started experimenting with metal tools and slowly reorganizing their societies, is called the Chalcolithic period.
• These cave paintings show skins of spotted deer left drying.
• Thousands of years ago, paintings and drawings had already appeared on the seals of Harappan civilization.
• There are many paintings of men riding horses and elephants with men carrying bow and arrow, indicating preparedness for skirmishes.
• Other paintings from this period also have depictions of musical instruments like the harp.
• Some of the paintings have complex geometrical shapes like the spiral, rhomboid and circle.
• Jogimara cave paintings were created before the Ajanta and Bagh Caves and belong to Pre-Buddha caves.
• These are dated to be painted around 1000 BCE.
• Similar paintings can be seen in the Ghodasar and Kohabaur rock art sites in the district of Koriya.
• Another interesting site is in Chitwa Dongri (Durg district) where a chinese figure riding a donkey, pictures of dragons and agricultural sceneries are found.

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Prehistoric Rock Paintings, Types, Features and Significance

Prehistoric art paintings were usually painted on rocks, and these rock carvings were referred to as Petroglyphs. The first prehistoric art paintings were uncovered in Madhya Pradesh's.

Table of Contents

Prehistoric Rock Paintings

Petroglyphs are the name given to prehistoric rock carvings that were typically painted on rocks. The Bhimbetka caves in Madhya Pradesh are where the earliest prehistoric artwork were discovered. The earliest forms of art that people used to express themselves on a cave wall as a canvas were paintings and sketches. In order to prepare for the UPSC Civil Service Exam, you can use this article to understand the ideas around the Prehistoric Rock Paintings.

Prehistoric Rock Paintings Background

The sketches and paintings can be used to identify seven historical eras. In 1957–1958, archaeologist V.S. Wakankar found the Bhimbetaka paintings. These paintings frequently include tigers, bison, and other big game creatures. Because they feature elephants, rhinoceroses, cattle, snakes, spotted deer, barasingha, and other creatures, they are known as the “Zoo Rock Shelter.” Three significant phases can be identified in prehistoric paintings:

• Palaeolithic Period
• Mesolithic Period

Chalcolithic Period

Upper palaeolithic period (40000–10000 bc).

Minerals were used as paints since the walls of the rock shelter caves were made of quartzite. One of the most common minerals was ochre, also known as geru, when combined with lime and water. By adding other minerals to their colour palette, they were able to produce hues like red, white, yellow, and green.

White, dark red, and green were used to depict large animals like bison, elephants, rhinos, tigers, and others. In human sculptures, red was typically utilised for hunters and green for dancers. In Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Karnataka, Bihar, and Uttarakhand in India, remnants of rock paintings have been found on cave walls.

Early rock painting sites include Lakhudiyar in Uttarakhand, Kupgallu in Telangana, Piklihal and Tekkalkotta in Karnataka, Bhimbetka and Jogimara in Madhya Pradesh, among others. These paintings fall into three categories: Man, Animal, and Geometric Symbols.

Upper Palaeolithic Period Features

The human form is portrayed as a stick figure. A long-snouted animal, a fox, and a multi-legged lizard are typical animal motifs in the early paintings (many other creatures were later created). There are more wavy lines, geometric patterns filled with rectangles, and a cluster of dots.Beginning with black, moving through crimson, and ending with white, paintings are layered one on top of the other. One of India’s and the world’s oldest paintings, dating to the Upper Palaeolithic, is Bhimbetka.

Mesolithic Period (10000–4000 BC)

The era with the most artistic remains is the Mesolithic. There are many themes, however the paintings are small. Most of the scenes feature hunters. Groups of hunters used bows, arrows, pointed sticks, and barbed spears. Traps and snares used to catch animals are depicted in certain paintings.

A common past time for Mesolithic inhabitants was animal pointing. In some images, mankind are being chased by animals, while in others, they are being chased by hunters. Throughout this time period, red was frequently used. Compared to the Upper Palaeolithic Period, the size of the paintings decreased at this time. One of the most frequent scenes depicted in these paintings is group hunting, and several others show grazing and riding activities.

During this time, there were a rise in the amount of paintings that featured the colours green and yellow. Most of the paintings are representations of combat situations. Many artworks show men astride horses and elephants. Some of them are equipped with bows and arrows, showing that they are prepared for battle. The idea that man perfected the art of tanning skins for clothing and shelter is supported by the drawings of spotted deer skins drying.

Other pieces of art from this historical period also feature musical instruments like the harp. In several of the paintings, intricate geometrical forms like the spiral, rhomboid, and circle are seen. Some paintings from the later era can be found at the Jogimara caves in the Ramgarh hills in the Surguja district of Chhattisgarh. These were allegedly painted about the year 1000 BCE. Caves like the sanctuary of Udkuda, Garagodi, Khaperkheda, Gotitola, Kulgaon, and others may be found in the Kanker region of Chhattisgarh.

These shelters have images of a more affluent and stationary way of life, including human figurines, animals, palm prints, bullock carts, and other objects. Similar paintings can be seen at the Ghodasar and Kohabaur rock art locations in the Koriya district. Another remarkable site is Chitwa Dongri (Durg district), where we can observe murals of dragons, agricultural themes, and a Chinese figure riding a donkey.

Prehistoric Rock Paintings Significance

The colours utilised included white, yellow, orange, red ochre, purple, brown, green, and black. However, white and crimson were their preferred hues. These people used a variety of coloured pebbles to smash to create their paints. They turned red due to haematite (Geru in India). This green shade was achieved using the green rock chalcedony. White was most likely created by limestone.

Sticky substances like animal fat, gum, or tree resin may be used when combining rock powder with water. The brushes were made of plant fibre. These hues are assumed to have been preserved for thousands of years by the chemical reaction of the oxide that exists on the surface of rocks. There have been paintings found in both active and inactive caves. It implies that these pieces of art have occasionally served as signals, warnings, or other comparable functions.

Many of the new rock art locations feature earlier paintings that have been painted over. At Bhimbetka, paintings are visible stacked one over the other in about 20 layers. It shows how humanity has evolved over time, from one era to the next. In symbology, inspiration from nature is blended with a touch of mystical. Only a few illustrations are utilised to convey ideas (the stick-figure drawings symbolise males). There are several geometrical designs. The majority of the scenes included both hunting and depictions of people’s social and economic situations. There are various figures, including carts, chariots, humans, animals, and legendary monsters. Red and white are more significant colours.

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What is prehistoric rock painting?

Prehistoric Paintings - Art and Culture Notes Prehistoric paintings were usually painted on rocks, and these rock carvings were referred to as Petroglyphs.

What are the main features of prehistoric rock paintings?

Paintings are linear representations, in green and dark red, of huge animal figures, such as Bisons, Tigers, Elephants, Rhinos and Boars beside stick-like human figures. Mostly they are filled with geometric patterns. Green paintings are of dances and red ones of hunters.

Which place is famous for prehistoric rock paintings?

Two major sites of prehistoric rock/cave paintings in India: Bhimbetka Caves and Jogimara Caves (Amarnath, Madhya Pradesh).

Who discovered the prehistoric rock painting?

Rock Art (Part-1) Discovery in India: The first discovery of rock paintings in India was made in 1867–68 by an archaeologist, Archibold Carlleyle.

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Euclidean Geometry and the Art of Breadmaking: a Mathematical Symphony in the Kitchen

This essay is about the application of Euclidean geometry in the art of breadmaking. It explores how fundamental geometric principles, such as the relationships between points, lines, and shapes, play a crucial role in creating artisanal bread. From shaping dough to scoring patterns, Euclidean geometry ensures precision in the baking process. The essay highlights the geometric considerations in dough preparation, the iconic shape of baguettes, and the importance of scoring for controlled expansion. It also covers the arrangement of bread in the oven and the design of baking equipment, emphasizing how geometry contributes to achieving consistent and aesthetically pleasing results in breadmaking.

How it works

Euclidean geometry, with its roots in the ancient treatises of Euclid, forms the bedrock of many mathematical principles that structure our understanding of space and shapes. While traditionally associated with fields like architecture and engineering, these geometric concepts find an unexpectedly fitting application in the world of breadmaking. This intersection of precise mathematics and culinary art reveals how the logical rigor of Euclidean geometry can beautifully complement the creation of artisanal bread.

Euclid’s “Elements” established a series of axioms and theorems that define the relationships between points, lines, surfaces, and solids.

These foundational principles are mirrored in breadmaking, where precision is crucial to creating loaves that are both visually appealing and structurally sound. The geometric precision required in breadmaking, from shaping dough to scoring patterns, underscores the timeless relevance of Euclidean principles.

Breadmaking begins with the preparation of the dough, a process that is deeply influenced by geometric considerations. The shape and size of the dough pieces affect how they ferment and bake. Bakers must ensure that each piece of dough is shaped correctly to achieve an even rise and a uniform crumb structure. This involves understanding the geometry of spheres and cylinders, as dough is often shaped into these forms. The baker’s skill in shaping the dough impacts the final appearance and texture of the bread, much like how a sculptor uses geometric principles to shape their work.

One of the most beloved types of bread is the baguette, which relies heavily on geometric principles for its iconic shape. The baguette’s long, thin form is achieved through precise rolling and shaping techniques. The length and diameter of the dough must be carefully controlled to ensure even baking and a consistent crumb. This process highlights the importance of Euclidean geometry in achieving the desired proportions. Each baguette must be uniform in size and shape, requiring the baker to measure and adjust the dough with precision.

The scoring of the dough, a critical step in breadmaking, is another area where Euclidean geometry plays a vital role. Scoring involves making shallow cuts on the surface of the dough before baking, allowing it to expand and creating decorative patterns. The angles and lengths of these cuts are crucial for controlling the direction and extent of the expansion. For example, the classic “ear” of a baguette, a raised ridge that forms along the scored line, is a result of precise geometric calculations. Bakers use scoring patterns to enhance both the appearance and texture of the bread, much like how an artist uses lines and shapes to create a visual composition.

In addition to shaping and scoring, Euclidean geometry influences the arrangement of bread in the oven. The placement of loaves during baking affects heat distribution and airflow, which are critical for achieving an even bake. Bakers often arrange loaves in geometric patterns, such as grids or circles, to optimize space and ensure uniform baking. This geometric arrangement helps maintain consistent temperatures and prevents overcrowding, which can lead to uneven baking and poor texture.

The geometry of bread extends to the design of bread molds and baking equipment. The use of geometric shapes in these tools helps bakers achieve consistent results. For example, loaf pans are often rectangular or cylindrical, providing a uniform shape for sandwich bread and other loaves. The precise dimensions of these pans ensure that the dough bakes evenly, creating a consistent crumb and crust. Similarly, proofing baskets, used to support the dough during its final rise, are often designed with geometric patterns that imprint on the dough, adding both structure and decoration.

Moreover, the geometric principles extend to the fermentation process. The way dough ferments is influenced by its shape and volume, which affect how gases produced by yeast are distributed. Bakers must understand the geometry of spheres and cylinders to manage fermentation effectively, ensuring that the dough rises evenly and develops the desired texture. This involves calculating the volume and surface area of the dough, much like how a mathematician calculates the properties of geometric solids.

The educational value of combining Euclidean geometry with breadmaking is significant. Teaching students about geometric concepts through the hands-on activity of breadmaking provides a unique and engaging learning experience. Students can apply mathematical theories to real-world problems, seeing firsthand how geometry influences their creations. This interdisciplinary approach not only makes learning more enjoyable but also reinforces the practical applications of mathematical concepts.

In the broader context of art and design, the principles of Euclidean geometry can be seen influencing various forms of creative expression. From the symmetry in classical architecture to the geometric patterns in modern art, the impact of geometric principles is pervasive. In breadmaking, this influence is manifested in the precision and artistry required to create visually stunning loaves. By understanding and applying Euclidean geometry, bakers can elevate their craft, producing bread that is not only delicious but also aesthetically pleasing and structurally sound.

In conclusion, the intersection of Euclidean geometry and breadmaking reveals a captivating blend of mathematical precision and culinary artistry. From the intricate patterns that adorn the surface of a loaf to the precise measurements required for shaping and scoring dough, geometry provides a foundation for creating bread that is both beautiful and functional. This unique relationship not only enriches our understanding of both fields but also highlights the profound ways in which mathematics can enhance our appreciation of art and craftsmanship. Through this lens, we see that geometry is not just a subject of study but a fundamental element that shapes and inspires the beauty and functionality of the world around us.

Cite this page

Euclidean Geometry and the Art of Breadmaking: A Mathematical Symphony in the Kitchen. (2024, Jun 28). Retrieved from https://papersowl.com/examples/euclidean-geometry-and-the-art-of-breadmaking-a-mathematical-symphony-in-the-kitchen/

"Euclidean Geometry and the Art of Breadmaking: A Mathematical Symphony in the Kitchen." PapersOwl.com , 28 Jun 2024, https://papersowl.com/examples/euclidean-geometry-and-the-art-of-breadmaking-a-mathematical-symphony-in-the-kitchen/

PapersOwl.com. (2024). Euclidean Geometry and the Art of Breadmaking: A Mathematical Symphony in the Kitchen . [Online]. Available at: https://papersowl.com/examples/euclidean-geometry-and-the-art-of-breadmaking-a-mathematical-symphony-in-the-kitchen/ [Accessed: 29 Jun. 2024]

"Euclidean Geometry and the Art of Breadmaking: A Mathematical Symphony in the Kitchen." PapersOwl.com, Jun 28, 2024. Accessed June 29, 2024. https://papersowl.com/examples/euclidean-geometry-and-the-art-of-breadmaking-a-mathematical-symphony-in-the-kitchen/

"Euclidean Geometry and the Art of Breadmaking: A Mathematical Symphony in the Kitchen," PapersOwl.com , 28-Jun-2024. [Online]. Available: https://papersowl.com/examples/euclidean-geometry-and-the-art-of-breadmaking-a-mathematical-symphony-in-the-kitchen/. [Accessed: 29-Jun-2024]

PapersOwl.com. (2024). Euclidean Geometry and the Art of Breadmaking: A Mathematical Symphony in the Kitchen . [Online]. Available at: https://papersowl.com/examples/euclidean-geometry-and-the-art-of-breadmaking-a-mathematical-symphony-in-the-kitchen/ [Accessed: 29-Jun-2024]

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