PreHistoric Cave Art Petroglyphs Paleolithic Period 50 000

Pre-Historic Cave Art & Petroglyphs Paleolithic Period 50, 000 -10, 000 B. C. Created for Patterson Art Awareness by Liz Beutel

Cave Paintings from Altamira, Spain (discovered in 1879) Ø ØThis When is hera father bison, tried and just to tell one archeologists of many painted in about the caveamazing in Altamira, found historical accidentally find, they by a little didn’t girl. believe it was real because they were in such good condition even though they were 15, 000 years old!

Cave Paintings of Lascaux, France- 18, 000 B. C. Ø What animals do you see? • Horses • Deer • Bison • Bull Ø These are from another cave in France, but also painted by Cave People. 3

Cave Paintings of Lascaux, France- 18, 000 B. C. • ØDo Why you dothink you they thinkmay these have drawn were painted these while insidegoing a dark to sleep cave at instead night of inside? out where Maybe ifeveryone they drewcould the animals, see them? their hunt would go well. 4

Cave Paintings of Lascaux, France- 18, 000 B. C. Ø Lets watch a video of the actual caves and musuem (presenter double click on url and while waiting for youtube to load, ask questions below) http: //www. youtube. com/watch? v=Un. Sq 0 c 7 j. M-A Ø What tools do you think they painted with? Ø Where did they get the red, orange, yellow, brown and black colors to paint with? 5

Cave Paintings of Lascaux, France- 18, 000 B. C. • The tools they used were parts of the animal(bones, hair, or sticks they had around • The paint colors were also from nature. • Yellow ochre is a mineral, black from ash, brown from clay, red from iron or berries, they didn’t have a paint store to get supplies from. 6

Cave Paintings of Lascaux, France- 18, 000 B. C. ØWhat do think the pre-historic people were trying to do by painting all of these animals? Ø The video explained it was not a hunting picturethere are no hunters in the scene. Ø In some cave paintings the shape of a hand has color blown around the outside space. Maybe this was their signature since they didn’t have names? 7

Cave Paintings of Lascaux, France - 18, 000 B. C. Ø Do you think it was easy for them to paint with sticks on bumpy walls in a dark cave? • They Were very good for not even Knowing what a picture was or not having any art training. • Maybe that is how they got so good, they didn’t have time voids (t. v. ) or video games, or even books or written language then. They only had nature, animals and time to practice. • By using their creativity- the Pre-Historic Cave People were the first to record history with pictures!

Engraved Deer-Petroglyphs Les Combarelles, France Ø Look at this carving into stone from another cave in France! Carvings in stone are called Petroglyphs. Ø Imagine how difficult it must have been to carve this! The shape of the deer is so realistic and the lines of the antlers are so graceful!

Pre-Historic Art in France, Spain and the United States Ø Cave paintings and Petroglyphs have been found all over the world. But the most famous cave paintings are those of Lascaux, France and Altamira, Spain.

Pre-Historic Art Petroglyphs in the U. S. A Ø Most of the Petroglyphs found in the U. S. are from Native American Indians. Ø Some are pre-historic but most were created Within the last 200 -300 years. ches National Park, Utah Pyramid Lake in Nevada-o 14, 000 Years old!

Pre-Historic Art What Does is it all Mean? Ø Why pre-historic people began painting and etching on rock is still a mystery. Also a mystery is how similar images and symbols repeat across different populations and cultures? • Explanations by anthropologists published in 2010 Oxford Journal of Archaeology, state that they were created for religious beliefs. Many cultures had a Shaman (medicine man) who would see these patterns and images during a religious ritual.

Pre-Historic Art-Review and Closure Ø What did you like best about your Petroglyph artworks? • Your opinion Ø Who remembers the 2 most famous areas cave paintings where found in? • Altamira, Spain and Lascaux, France Ø What did archeologist state the reason for these cave paintings and carvings? • Probably religious rituals and visions the Shaman (Medicine Man) saw during ritual Ø Why is cave art so important? • Cave art is so important because it gave us the first History through pictures that Recorded who and what Lived 18, 000 years ago.