Cave Paintings
Cave paintings tell you that early humans spent time in caves. They had paint. They decorated. They wore clothing. They hunted for animals using tools. They lived in groups.
Cave paintings are paintings found on cave walls and ceilings, and especially refer to those of prehistoric origin The earliest such art in Europe dates back approximately 40,000 years ago, and is found in Spain. |
In the beginning, there were no words, no alphabet, no books. Yet, early cave men found a way to communicate their hopes, their dreams and their victories.
Later, archeologists discovered the paintings in the Hall of Bulls Cave in Lascaux, France. What was so interesting about this find was that it showed so many different kinds of animals. It would seem as though they used this cave over and over again for artwork, with many different artists taking turns. |
What is even more interesting is that a very long time ago, when cave men were alive, only a few very special people were allowed to create art. They were called Shaman or hunter-magicians. Early cave men believed that if they drew an animal on a wall, they would capture its spirit and the Shaman would be able to control the success of the hunt.
When early cave men artists or Shaman first created art, there was no such thing as paint or brushes or canvas. They had to work with what they could find. They used the cave walls instead of paper or canvas, twigs or leaves as brushes and different types of dirt and berries for paint. |
The animals were drawn with attention to detail, but the people were usually stick figures. Many of these early man artists also drew outlines of their hands. Was this a way of signing their art?
Most cave painting were done with crushed minerals such as ochre. Ochre is a soft stone that can easily be crushed and comes in various colours, like various shades of rusty reds and shades of yellow. Chalky limestone is white. Wood charcoal is black. They used stones to carve, twigs and bunched leaves for brushes, possibly blood or crushed berries or mud mixed with water to make a paste. Usually the paste that they make would be applied by fingers or twigs and bunched leaves, sometimes they could use stones to carve the image before they paint over it |
Interestingly, these caves and their paintings were not found by archeologists. The first caves with cave paintings were found in France. Some children, playing in the woods, discovered the entrance to a cave, long forgotten. The entrance was hidden by a tree. Once the first cave had been found, and its importance realised, people started looking for more caves and found them. It is very likely that more caves with more cave paintings are still waiting to be found.
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