On December 18, 1994, the famous French speleologist Jean Marie Chauvet discovered a cave gallerycancient images of animals. The discovery was named in honor of its discoverer — Chauvet cave. We decided to talk about the most beautiful caves with rock paintings.
Chauvet Cave
The discovery of the Chauvet Cave in the south of France near the town of Pont d'Arc became a scientific sensation that forced us to reconsider the existing understanding of the art of ancient people: it was previously believed that primitive painting developed in stages. At first, the images were very primitive, and more than one thousand years had to pass for the drawings on the walls of the caves to reach their perfection. Chauvet's find suggests the opposite: the age of some images is 30-33 thousand years, which means that our ancestors learned to draw even before moving to Europe. Found rock painting represents one of the oldest examples of cave art in the world, in particular, the drawing of black rhinoceroses from Chauvet is still considered the most ancient. The south of France is rich in such caves, but none of them can compare with the Chauvet Cave either in size, or in the preservation and skill of the drawings. Mostly animals are depicted on the walls of the cave: panthers, horses, deer, as well as woolly rhinoceros, tarpan, cave lion and other animals of the Ice Age. In total, 13 images were found in the cave. various types animals.
Now the cave is closed to tourists, as changes in air humidity can damage the images. Archaeologists can only work in a cave for a few hours a day. Today the Chauvet Cave is national treasure France.
Caves of Nerja
The Caves of Nerja are an amazingly beautiful series of huge caves near the city of Nerja in Andalusia, Spain. They received the nickname "Prehistoric Cathedral". They were discovered by accident in 1959. They are one of the main attractions of Spain. Some of their galleries are open to the public, and one of them, which forms a natural amphitheater and has excellent acoustics, even hosts concerts. In addition to the world's largest stalagmite, several mysterious drawings were discovered in the cave. Experts believe that seals or fur seals are depicted on the walls. Fragments of charcoal were found near the drawings, the radiocarbon dating of which gave an age between 43,500 and 42,300 years. If experts prove that the images were made with this charcoal, the seals of the Nerja Cave will turn out to be significantly older than the cave paintings from the Chauvet Cave. This will once again confirm the assumption that Neanderthals had creative imagination abilities no less than those of Homo sapiens.
Kapova Cave (Shulgan-Tash)
This karst cave was found in Bashkiria, on the Belaya River, in the area of which the Shulgan-Tash nature reserve is now located. This is one of the longest caves in the Urals. Cave paintings of ancient people from the Late Paleolithic era, the likes of which can only be found in very limited places in Europe, were discovered in Kapova Cave in 1959. Images of mammoths, horses and other animals are made mainly with ocher, a natural pigment based on animal fat, their age is about 18 thousand years. There are several charcoal drawings. In addition to animals, there are images of triangles, stairs, and oblique lines. The most ancient drawings, dating back to the early Paleolithic, are in the upper tier. On the lower tier of the Kapova Cave there are later images of the Ice Age. The drawings are also notable for the fact that human figures are shown without the realism inherent in the animals depicted. Researchers suggest that the images were made in order to appease the “gods of the hunt.” In addition, cave paintings are designed to be perceived not from one specific point, but from several angles. To preserve the drawings, the cave was closed to the public in 2012, but an interactive kiosk was installed in the museum on the territory of the reserve for everyone to look at the drawings virtually.
Cueva de las Manos cave
Cueva de las Manos (“Cave of Many Hands”) is located in Argentina, in the province of Santa Cruz. Cueva de las Manos became world famous in 1964 thanks to the research of archeology professor Carlos Gradin, who discovered many wall paintings and human handprints in the cave, the oldest of which date back to the 9th millennium BC. e. More than 800 prints, overlapping each other, form a multi-colored mosaic. Until scientists came to unanimous opinion about the meaning of the images of hands, from which the cave got its name. Mostly left hands were captured: out of 829 prints, only 36 were right hands. Moreover, according to some researchers, the hands belong to teenage boys. Most likely, drawing an image of one’s hand was part of the initiation rite. In addition, scientists have built a theory about how such clear and clear palm prints were obtained: apparently, a special composition was taken into the mouth and forcefully blown through a tube onto a hand attached to the wall. In addition to handprints, on the walls of the cave there are depictions of people, rhea ostriches, guanacos, cats, geometric figures with ornaments, and hunting processes (the pictures show the use of bolas, a traditional throwing weapon of the Indians South America) and observations of the sun. In 1999 the cave was included in the list World Heritage UNESCO.
After visiting the Altamira cave in northern Spain, Pablo Picasso exclaimed: “After the work in Altamira, all art began to decline.” He wasn't joking. The art in this cave and in many other caves that are found in France, Spain and other countries is among the greatest artistic treasures that have ever been created.
Magura Cave
Magura Cave is one of the largest caves in Bulgaria. It is located in the northwestern part of the country. The cave walls are decorated with prehistoric cave paintings created approximately 8,000 to 4,000 years ago. More than 700 drawings were discovered. The drawings depict hunters, dancing people and many animals.
Cueva de las Manos
Cueva de las Manos is located in Southern Argentina. The name can be literally translated as “Cave of Hands”. Most of the images in the cave are left hands, but there are also hunting scenes and images of animals. The paintings are believed to have been created between 13,000 and 9,500 years ago.
Bhimbetka
Located in central India, Bhimbetka contains over 600 prehistoric rock art. The drawings depict people living in the cave at that time. The animals were also given a lot of space. Images of bison, tigers, lions and crocodiles were found. The oldest painting is believed to be 12,000 years old.
Serra da Capivara
Serra da Capivara is a national park in northeastern Brazil. This place is home to many stone shelters, which are decorated with rock paintings that represent ritual scenes, hunting, trees, animals. Some scientists believe that the oldest rock art in this park is from 25,000 years ago.
Laas Gaal
Laas Gaal is a complex of caves in northwestern Somalia that contain some of the earliest known art on the African continent. Prehistoric cave paintings are estimated by scientists to be between 11,000 and 5,000 years old. They show cows, ceremonially dressed people, domestic dogs and even giraffes.
Tadrart Akakus
Tadrart Akakus forms a mountain range in the Sahara Desert, in western Libya. The area is famous for its rock art dating back to 12,000 BC. up to 100 years. The paintings reflect the changing conditions of the Sahara Desert. 9,000 years ago, the surrounding area was full of greenery and lakes, forests and wild animals, as evidenced by cave paintings depicting giraffes, elephants and ostriches.
Chauvet Cave
Chauvet Cave, in the south of France, contains some of the earliest known prehistoric cave paintings in the world. The images preserved in this cave may be about 32,000 years old. The cave was discovered in 1994 by Jean Marie Chauvet and his team of speleologists. The paintings found in the cave represent images of animals: mountain goats, mammoths, horses, lions, bears, rhinoceroses, lions.
Rock art of Kakadu
Located in Australia's Northern Territory, Kakadu National Park contains one of the largest concentrations of Aboriginal art. The oldest works are believed to be 20,000 years old.
Altamira Cave
Discovered in the late 19th century, Altamira Cave is located in northern Spain. Surprisingly, the paintings found on the rocks were like this high quality that scientists have long doubted their authenticity and even accused the discoverer, Marcelino Sanz de Sautuola, of forging the painting. Many people do not believe in the intellectual potential of primitive people. Unfortunately, the discoverer did not live to see 1902. In this mountain the paintings were recognized as authentic. The images were made with charcoal and ocher.
Paintings of Lascaux
The Lascaux Caves, located in southwest France, are decorated with impressive and famous cave paintings. Some of the images are 17,000 years old. Most of the rock paintings are depicted far from the entrance. The most famous images of this cave are images of bulls, horses and deer. The biggest rock art in the world - a bull in the Lascaux cave, whose length is 5.2 meters.
Primitive (or, in other words, primitive) art geographically covers all continents except Antarctica, and in time - the entire era of human existence, preserved by some peoples living in remote corners of the planet to this day.
Most ancient painting found in Europe (from Spain to the Urals).
Well preserved on the walls of the caves - the entrances turned out to be tightly blocked thousands of years ago, the same temperature and humidity were maintained there.
Not only wall paintings have been preserved, but also other evidence of human activity - clear traces of the bare feet of adults and children on the damp floor of some caves.
Causes of origin creative activity and functions of primitive art. Human need for beauty and creativity.
Beliefs of the time. The man portrayed those whom he revered. People of that time believed in magic: they believed that with the help of paintings and other images they could influence nature or the outcome of the hunt. It was believed, for example, that it was necessary to hit a drawn animal with an arrow or spear in order to ensure the success of a real hunt.
Periodization
Now science is changing its opinion about the age of the earth and the time frame is changing, but we will study according to the generally accepted names of periods.1. Stone Age
1.1 Ancient Stone Age - Paleolithic. ... up to 10 thousand BC
1.2 Middle Stone Age - Mesolithic. 10 – 6 thousand BC
1.3 New Stone Age - Neolithic. From 6th to 2nd thousand BC
2. Bronze Age. 2 thousand BC
3. Age of Iron. 1 thousand BC
Paleolithic
Tools were made of stone; hence the name of the era - the Stone Age.1. Ancient or Lower Paleolithic. up to 150 thousand BC
2. Middle Paleolithic. 150 – 35 thousand BC
3. Upper or Late Paleolithic. 35 – 10 thousand BC
3.1 Aurignac-Solutrean period. 35 – 20 thousand BC
3.2. Madeleine period. 20 – 10 thousand BC The period received this name from the name of the La Madeleine cave, where paintings dating back to this time were found.
The most early works primitive art dates back to the late Paleolithic. 35 – 10 thousand BC
Scientists are inclined to believe that naturalistic art and the depiction of schematic signs and geometric shapes arose simultaneously.
Pasta drawings. Impressions of a person’s hand and a random interweaving of wavy lines pressed into damp clay by the fingers of the same hand.
The first drawings from the Paleolithic period (ancient Stone Age, 35–10 thousand BC) were discovered at the end of the 19th century. Spanish amateur archaeologist Count Marcelino de Sautuola three kilometers from his family estate, in the Altamira cave.
It happened like this:
“The archaeologist decided to explore a cave in Spain and took his little daughter with him. Suddenly she shouted: “Bulls, bulls!” The father laughed, but when he raised his head, he saw huge painted figures of bison on the ceiling of the cave. Some of the bison were depicted standing still, others rushing at the enemy with inclined horns. At first, scientists did not believe that primitive people could create such works of art. It was only 20 years later that numerous works of primitive art were discovered in other places and the authenticity of cave paintings was recognized.”
Paleolithic painting
Altamira Cave. Spain.Late Paleolithic (Madeleine era 20 - 10 thousand years BC).
On the vault of the Altamira cave chamber there is a whole herd of large bison located close to each other.
Bison panel. Located on the ceiling of the cave. Wonderful polychrome images contain black and all shades of ocher, rich colors, applied somewhere densely and monochromatically, and somewhere with halftones and transitions from one color to another. A thick paint layer up to several cm. In total, 23 figures are depicted on the vault, if you do not take into account those of which only outlines have been preserved.
Fragment. Buffalo. Altamira Cave. Spain. Late Paleolithic. The caves were illuminated with lamps and reproduced from memory. Not primitivism, but the highest degree of stylization. When the cave was opened, it was believed that this was an imitation of hunting - the magical meaning of the image. But today there are versions that the goal was art. The beast was necessary for man, but he was terrible and difficult to catch.
Fragment. Bull. Altamira. Spain. Late Paleolithic.
Beautiful brown shades. Tense stop of the beast. They used the natural relief of the stone and depicted it on the convexity of the wall.
Fragment. Bison. Altamira. Spain. Late Paleolithic.
Transition to polychrome art, darker strokes.
Cave of Font de Gaume. France
Late Paleolithic.Silhouette images, deliberate distortion, and exaggeration of proportions are typical. On the walls and vaults of the small halls of the Font-de-Gaume cave there are at least about 80 drawings, mostly bison, two undisputed figures of mammoths and even a wolf.
Grazing deer. Font de Gaume. France. Late Paleolithic.
Perspective image of horns. Deer at this time (the end of the Madeleine era) replaced other animals.
Fragment. Buffalo. Font de Gaume. France. Late Paleolithic.
The hump and crest on the head are emphasized. The overlap of one image with another is a polypsest. Detailed study. Decorative solution for the tail. Picture of houses.
Wolf. Font de Gaume. France. Late Paleolithic.
Nio's Cave. France
Late Paleolithic.Round hall with drawings. There are no images of mammoths or other animals of glacial fauna in the cave.
Horse. Nio. France. Late Paleolithic.
Depicted already with 4 legs. The silhouette is outlined with black paint, and the inside is retouched with yellow. The character of a pony-type horse.
Stone ram. Nio. France. Late Paleolithic. Partially contoured image, the skin is drawn on top.
Deer. Nio. France. Late Paleolithic.
Buffalo. Nio. Nio. France. Late Paleolithic.
Most of the images include bison. Some of them are shown wounded, with black and red arrows.
Buffalo. Nio. France. Late Paleolithic.
Lascaux Cave
It so happened that it was the children, and quite accidentally, who found the most interesting cave paintings in Europe:“In September 1940, near the town of Montignac, in the southwest of France, four high school students set off on an archaeological expedition they had planned. In place of a tree that had long been uprooted, there was a hole in the ground that aroused their curiosity. There were rumors that this was the entrance to a dungeon leading to a nearby medieval castle.
There was another smaller hole inside. One of the guys threw a stone at it and, judging by the sound of the fall, concluded that it was quite deep. He widened the hole, crawled inside, almost fell, lit a flashlight, gasped and called others. From the walls of the cave in which they found themselves, some huge animals were looking at them, breathing such confident power, sometimes seeming ready to turn into rage, that they felt terrified. And at the same time, the power of these animal images was so majestic and convincing that they felt as if they were in some kind of magical kingdom.”
Lascaux Cave. France.
Late Paleolithic (Madeleine era, 18 - 15 thousand years BC).
Called primitive Sistine Chapel. Consists of several large rooms: rotunda; main gallery; passage; apse.
Colorful images on the calcareous white surface of the cave.
The proportions are greatly exaggerated: large necks and bellies.
Contour and silhouette drawings. Clear images without aliasing. Large quantity male and female signs (rectangle and many dots).
Hunting scene. Lasko. France. Late Paleolithic.
Genre image. A bull killed by a spear gored a man with a bird's head. There’s a bird on a stick nearby—maybe his soul.
Buffalo. Lasko. France. Late Paleolithic.
Horse. Lasko. France. Late Paleolithic.
Mammoths and horses. Kapova cave. Ural.
Late Paleolithic.
KAPOVA CAVE- to the South. m Ural, on the river. White. Formed in limestones and dolomites. The corridors and grottoes are located on two floors. The total length is over 2 km. On the walls are Late Paleolithic paintings of mammoths and rhinoceroses
Paleolithic sculpture
Art of small forms or mobile art (small plastic art)An integral part of the art of the Paleolithic era consists of objects that are commonly called “small plastic”.
These are three types of objects:
1. Figurines and other three-dimensional products carved from soft stone or other materials (horn, mammoth tusk).
2. Flattened objects with engravings and paintings.
3. Reliefs in caves, grottoes and under natural canopies.
The relief was embossed with a deep outline or the background around the image was cramped.
Relief
One of the first finds, called small plastic, was a bone plate from the Chaffo grotto with images of two fallow deer:
Deer crossing the river. Fragment. Bone carving. France. Late Paleolithic (Magdalenian period).
Everyone knows a wonderful one French writer Prosper Merimee, author of the fascinating novel "Chronicle of the Reign of Charles IX", "Carmen" and other romantic stories, but few people know that he served as a security inspector historical monuments. It was he who handed over this record in 1833 to the historical museum of Cluny, which was just being organized in the center of Paris. It is now kept in the Museum of National Antiquities (Saint-Germain en Lay).
Later, a cultural layer of the Upper Paleolithic era was discovered in the Chaffo Grotto. But then, just as it was with the painting of the Altamira cave, and with other visual monuments of the Paleolithic era, no one could believe that this art was older than ancient Egyptian. Therefore, such engravings were considered examples of Celtic art (V-IV centuries BC). Only in late XIX c., again, like cave paintings, they were recognized as the most ancient after they were found in the Paleolithic cultural layer.
The figurines of women are very interesting. Most of these figurines are small in size: from 4 to 17 cm. They were made from stone or mammoth tusks. Their most noticeable distinguishing feature is their exaggerated “plumpiness”; they depict women with overweight figures.
"Venus with a Cup" Bas-relief. France. Upper (Late) Paleolithic.
Goddess of the Ice Age. The canon of the image is that the figure is inscribed in a rhombus, and the stomach and chest are in a circle.
Sculpture- mobile art.
Almost everyone who has studied Paleolithic female figurines, with varying degrees of detail, explains them as cult objects, amulets, idols, etc., reflecting the idea of motherhood and fertility.
"Venus of Willendorf". Limestone. Willendorf, Lower Austria. Late Paleolithic.
Compact composition, no facial features.
"The Hooded Lady from Brassempouy." France. Late Paleolithic. Mammoth bone.
Facial features and hairstyle have been worked out.
In Siberia, in the Baikal region, a whole series of original figurines of a completely different stylistic appearance was found. Along with the same overweight figures of naked women as in Europe, there are figurines of slender, elongated proportions and, unlike European ones, they are depicted dressed in thick, most likely fur clothes, similar to “overalls”.
These are finds from the Buret sites on the Angara and Malta rivers.
Conclusions
Rock painting. Peculiarities pictorial art Paleolithic – realism, expression, plasticity, rhythm.
Small plastic.
The depiction of animals has the same features as in painting (realism, expression, plasticity, rhythm).
Paleolithic female figurines are cult objects, amulets, idols, etc., they reflect the idea of motherhood and fertility.
Mesolithic
(Middle Stone Age) 10 - 6 thousand BCAfter the glaciers melted, the familiar fauna disappeared. Nature becomes more pliable to humans. People become nomads.
With a change in lifestyle, a person’s view of the world becomes broader. He is not interested in an individual animal or a random discovery of cereals, but in the active activity of people, thanks to which they find entire herds of animals and fields or forests rich in fruits.
This is how the art of multi-figure composition arose in the Mesolithic, in which it was no longer the beast, but man, who played the dominant role.
Changes in the field of art:
The main characters of the image are not an individual animal, but people in some kind of action.
The task is not in a believable, accurate depiction of individual figures, but in conveying action and movement.
Multi-figure hunts are often depicted, scenes of honey collection, and cult dances appear.
The character of the image changes - instead of realistic and polychrome, it becomes schematic and silhouetted. Local colors are used - red or black.
A honey collector from a hive, surrounded by a swarm of bees. Spain. Mesolithic.
Almost everywhere where planar or three-dimensional images of the Upper Paleolithic era were discovered, in artistic activity people of the subsequent Mesolithic era seemed to be experiencing a pause. Perhaps this period is still poorly studied, perhaps the images made not in caves, but in the open air, were washed away by rain and snow over time. Perhaps among the petroglyphs that are very difficult to accurately date, there are some that date back to this time, but we do not yet know how to recognize them. It is significant that small plastic objects are extremely rare during excavations of Mesolithic settlements.
Of the Mesolithic monuments, literally a few can be named: Stone Tomb in Ukraine, Kobystan in Azerbaijan, Zaraut-Sai in Uzbekistan, Shakhty in Tajikistan and Bhimpetka in India.
In addition to rock paintings, petroglyphs appeared in the Mesolithic era.
Petroglyphs are carved, carved or scratched rock images.
When carving a design, ancient artists used a sharp tool to knock down the upper, darker part of the rock, and therefore the images stand out noticeably against the background of the rock.
In the south of Ukraine, in the steppe there is a rocky hill made of sandstone rocks. As a result of severe weathering, several grottoes and canopies were formed on its slopes. In these grottoes and on other planes of the hill, numerous carved and scratched images have been known for a long time. In most cases they are difficult to read. Sometimes images of animals are guessed - bulls, goats. Scientists attribute these images of bulls to the Mesolithic era.
Stone grave. South of Ukraine. General view and petroglyphs. Mesolithic.
South of Baku, between the southeastern slope of the Greater Caucasus Range and the Caspian coast, there is a small Gobustan plain (country of ravines) with hills in the form of table mountains composed of limestone and other sedimentary rocks. On the rocks of these mountains there are many petroglyphs of different times. Most of them were discovered in 1939. Large (more than 1 m) images of female and male figures made with deep carved lines received the greatest interest and fame.
There are many images of animals: bulls, predators and even reptiles and insects.
Kobystan (Gobustan). Azerbaijan (territory of the former USSR). Mesolithic.
Grotto Zaraout-Qamar
In the mountains of Uzbekistan, at an altitude of about 2000 m above sea level, there is a monument widely known not only among archaeological specialists - the Zaraut-Kamar grotto. The painted images were discovered in 1939 by local hunter I.F. Lamaev.
The painting in the grotto is made with ocher of different shades (from red-brown to lilac) and consists of four groups of images, which include anthropomorphic figures and bulls. 
Here is the group in which most researchers see bull hunting. Among the anthropomorphic figures surrounding the bull, i.e. There are two types of “hunters”: figures in clothes that flare out at the bottom, without bows, and “tailed” figures with raised and drawn bows. This scene can be interpreted as a real hunt by disguised hunters, and as a kind of myth.
The painting in the Shakhty grotto is probably the oldest in Central Asia.
“I don’t know what the word Shakhty means,” writes V.A. Ranov. “Perhaps it comes from the Pamir word “shakht,” which means rock.”
In the northern part of Central India, huge cliffs with many caves, grottoes and canopies stretch along river valleys. A lot of rock carvings have been preserved in these natural shelters. Among them, the location of Bhimbetka (Bhimpetka) stands out. Apparently these picturesque images date back to the Mesolithic. True, we should not forget about the unevenness in the development of cultures in different regions. The Mesolithic of India may be 2-3 millennia older than in Eastern Europe and Central Asia.
Some scenes of driven hunts with archers in the paintings of the Spanish and African cycles are, as it were, the embodiment of the movement itself, taken to the limit, concentrated in a stormy whirlwind.
Neolithic
(New Stone Age) from 6 to 2 thousand BC.Neolithic- New Stone Age, the last stage of the Stone Age.
Periodization. The entry into the Neolithic coincides with the transition of culture from an appropriating (hunters and gatherers) to a producing (farming and/or cattle breeding) type of economy. This transition called the Neolithic Revolution. The end of the Neolithic dates back to the time of the appearance of metal tools and weapons, that is, the beginning of the Copper, Bronze or Iron Age.
Different cultures entered this period of development in different times. In the Middle East, the Neolithic began around 9.5 thousand years ago. BC e. In Denmark, the Neolithic dates back to the 18th century. BC, and among the indigenous population of New Zealand - the Maori - the Neolithic existed back in the 18th century. AD: Before the arrival of Europeans, Maori used polished stone axes. Some peoples of America and Oceania have still not completely transitioned from the Stone Age to the Iron Age.
Neolithic, like other periods primitive era, is not a specific chronological period in the history of mankind as a whole, but characterizes only the cultural characteristics of certain peoples.
Achievements and activities
1.
New features of people's social life:
- The transition from matriarchy to patriarchy.
- At the end of the era in some places (Anterior Asia, Egypt, India) a new formation class society, that is, social stratification began, the transition from a tribal-communal system to a class society.
- At this time, cities begin to be built. Jericho is considered one of the most ancient cities.
- Some cities were well fortified, which indicates the existence of organized wars at that time.
- Armies and professional warriors began to appear.
- We can quite say that the beginning of the formation of ancient civilizations is associated with the Neolithic era.
2.
The division of labor and the formation of technologies began:
- The main thing is that simple gathering and hunting as the main sources of food are gradually being replaced by agriculture and cattle breeding.
The Neolithic is called the “age of polished stone.” In this era, stone tools were not just chipped, but already sawed, ground, drilled, and sharpened.
- Among the most important tools in the Neolithic is the ax, previously unknown.
spinning and weaving developed.
Images of animals begin to appear in the design of household utensils.
Ax in the shape of a moose head. Polished stone. Neolithic. Historical Museum. Stockholm.
A wooden ladle from the Gorbunovsky peat bog near Nizhny Tagil. Neolithic. State Historical Museum.
For the Neolithic forest zone, fishing became one of the leading types of economy. Active fishing contributed to the creation of certain reserves, which, combined with hunting animals, made it possible to live in one place all year round.
The transition to a sedentary lifestyle led to the appearance of ceramics.
The appearance of ceramics is one of the main signs of the Neolithic era.
The village of Catal Huyuk (Eastern Turkey) is one of the places where the most ancient examples of ceramics were found.
Cup from Ledce (Czech Republic). Clay. Bell Beaker culture. Chalcolithic (Copper-Stone Age).
Monuments of Neolithic painting and petroglyphs are extremely numerous and scattered over vast territories.
Clusters of them are found almost everywhere in Africa, eastern Spain, in the territory former USSR- in Uzbekistan, Azerbaijan, on Lake Onega, near the White Sea and in Siberia.
Neolithic rock art is similar to Mesolithic, but the subject matter becomes more varied.
"Hunters". Rock painting. Neolithic (?). Southern Rhodesia.
For approximately three hundred years, the attention of scientists has been captivated by a rock known as the Tomsk Pisanitsa.
“Pisanitsa” are images painted with mineral paint or carved on the smooth surface of walls in Siberia.
Back in 1675, one of the brave Russian travelers, whose name, unfortunately, remained unknown, wrote down:
“Before reaching the fortress (Verkhnetomsk fortress), on the edges of the Tom River there lies a large and high stone, and on it are written animals, and cattle, and birds, and all sorts of similar things...”
Real scientific interest in this monument arose already in the 18th century, when, by order of Peter I, an expedition was sent to Siberia to study its history and geography. The result of the expedition was the first images of Tomsk writing published in Europe by the Swedish captain Stralenberg, who participated in the trip. These images were not an exact copy of the Tomsk writing, but conveyed only the most general outline rocks and placing drawings on it, but their value lies in the fact that on them you can see drawings that have not survived to this day.
Images of Tomsk writing made by the Swedish boy K. Shulman, who traveled with Stralenberg across Siberia.
For hunters, the main source of subsistence was deer and elk. Gradually, these animals began to acquire mythical features - the elk was the “master of the taiga” along with the bear.
The image of a moose plays the main role in the Tomsk writing: the figures are repeated many times.
The proportions and shapes of the animal’s body are absolutely faithfully conveyed: its long massive body, a hump on the back, a heavy large head, a characteristic protrusion on the forehead, a swollen upper lip, bulging nostrils, thin legs with cloven hooves.
Some drawings show transverse stripes on the neck and body of moose.
On the border between the Sahara and Fezzan, on the territory of Algeria, in a mountainous area called Tassili-Ajjer, bare rocks rise in rows. Now this region is dried up by the desert wind, scorched by the sun and almost nothing grows in it. However, the Sahara used to have green meadows...
- Sharpness and precision of drawing, grace and elegance.
- Harmonic combination of shapes and tones, the beauty of people and animals depicted with a good knowledge of anatomy.
- Swiftness of gestures and movements.
The small plastic arts of the Neolithic, like painting, acquire new subjects.
"The Man Playing the Lute." Marble (from Keros, Cyclades, Greece). Neolithic. National Archaeological Museum. Athens.
The schematism inherent in Neolithic painting, which replaced Paleolithic realism, also penetrated into small plastic art.
Schematic image of a woman. Cave relief. Neolithic. Croisard. Department of the Marne. France.
Relief with a symbolic image from Castelluccio (Sicily). Limestone. OK. 1800-1400 BC National Archaeological Museum. Syracuse.
Conclusions
Mesolithic and Neolithic rock paintingsIt is not always possible to draw a precise line between them.
But this art is very different from typically Paleolithic:
- Realism, accurately capturing the image of the beast as a target, as a cherished goal, is replaced by a broader view of the world, the image of multi-figure compositions.
- There appears a desire for harmonious generalization, stylization and, most importantly, for the transmission of movement, for dynamism.
- In the Paleolithic there was monumentality and inviolability of the image. Here there is liveliness, free imagination.
- In human images, a desire for grace appears (for example, if you compare the Paleolithic “Venuses” and the Mesolithic image of a woman collecting honey, or Neolithic Bushman dancers).
Small plastic:
- New stories appear.
- Greater mastery of execution and mastery of craft and material.
Achievements
Paleolithic- Lower Paleolithic
> > taming fire, stone tools
- Middle Paleolithic
>> exit from Africa
- Upper Paleolithic
> > sling
Mesolithic
- microliths, bow, canoe
Neolithic
- Early Neolithic
> > agriculture, cattle breeding
- Late Neolithic
>> ceramics
Chalcolithic (Copper Age)
- metallurgy, horse, wheel
Bronze Age
The Bronze Age is characterized by the leading role of bronze products, which was associated with improved processing of metals such as copper and tin obtained from ore deposits, and the subsequent production of bronze from them.The Bronze Age replaced the Copper Age and preceded the Iron Age. Generally, chronological framework Bronze Age: 35/33 - 13/11 centuries. BC e., but they differ among different cultures.
Art is becoming more diverse and spreading geographically.
Bronze was much easier to process than stone; it could be cast into molds and polished. Therefore, in the Bronze Age, all kinds of household items were made, richly decorated with ornaments and having a high artistic value. Ornamental decorations consisted mostly of circles, spirals, wavy lines and similar motifs. Particular attention was paid to decorations - they were large in size and immediately caught the eye.
Megalithic architecture
In 3 - 2 thousand BC. unique, huge structures made of stone blocks appeared. This ancient architecture was called megalithic.The term “megalith” comes from the Greek words “megas” - “large”; and "lithos" - "stone".
Megalithic architecture owes its appearance to primitive beliefs. Megalithic architecture is usually divided into several types:
1.
Menhir – single vertically standing stone, more than two meters high.
On the Brittany Peninsula in France, the so-called fields stretch for kilometers. menhirov. In the language of the Celts, the later inhabitants of the peninsula, the name of these stone pillars several meters high means “long stone”.
2.
Trilith is a structure consisting of two stones placed vertically and covered with a third.
3.
A dolmen is a structure whose walls are made of huge stone slabs and covered with a roof made of the same monolithic stone block.
Initially, dolmens served for burials.
Trilith can be called the simplest dolmen.
Numerous menhirs, trilithons and dolmens were located in places that were considered sacred.
4.
Cromlech is a group of menhirs and trilithes.
Stone grave. South of Ukraine. Anthropomorphic menhirs. Bronze Age.
Stonehenge. Cromlech. England. Bronze Age. 3 – 2 thousand BC Its diameter is 90 m, it consists of stone blocks, each of which weighs approx. 25 tons. It is curious that the mountains from where these stones were delivered are located 280 km from Stonehenge.
It consists of trilithons arranged in a circle, inside a horseshoe of trilithons, in the middle there are blue stones, and in the very center there is a heel stone (per day summer solstice the luminary turns out to be exactly above it). It is assumed that Stonehenge was a temple dedicated to the sun.
Age of Iron (Iron Age)
1 thousand BCIn the steppes of Eastern Europe and Asia, pastoral tribes created the so-called animal style at the end of the Bronze and beginning of the Iron Age.
"Deer" plaque. 6th century BC Gold. Hermitage. 35.1x22.5 cm. From the mound in the Kuban region. The relief plate was found attached to a round iron shield in the chief's burial. An example of zoomorphic art (“animal style”). The deer's hooves are made in the form of a "big-beaked bird."
There is nothing accidental or superfluous - a complete, thoughtful composition. Everything in the figure is conditional and extremely truthful and realistic.
The feeling of monumentality is achieved not by size, but by the generality of the form.
Panther. Badge, decoration of a shield. From a mound near the village of Kelermesskaya. Gold. Hermitage.
Age of Iron.
Served as a decoration for the shield. The tail and paws are decorated with figures of curled up predators.
Iron Age
Age of Iron. The balance between realism and stylization is broken in favor of stylization.
Cultural connections with Ancient Greece, the countries of the ancient East and China contributed to the emergence of new subjects, images and visual means in artistic culture tribes of southern Eurasia.
Scenes of a battle between barbarians and Greeks are depicted. Found in the Chertomlyk mound, near Nikopol.
Zaporozhye region Hermitage.
Conclusions
Scythian art – “animal style”. Amazing sharpness and intensity of images. Generalization, monumentality. Stylization and realism.Cave or rock paintings are drawings that are found on the walls and ceilings of caves and rock surfaces. Made during the prehistoric period, the images date back to the Paleolithic era, approximately 40,000 years ago. Some scientists believe that cave paintings of primitive people are a way of communicating with the outside world. According to another theory, the drawings were applied for ceremonial or religious purposes.
| http://mydetionline.ru |
History of discovery
In southwestern France and northern Spain, archaeologists have discovered more than 340 caves containing images from prehistoric times. Initially the age of the paintings was controversial issue, since the radiocarbon dating method may have been inaccurate due to the dirty surfaces that were examined. But further development technologies made it possible to establish the exact period of drawing images on the walls.
| http://allkomp.ru/ |
The chronology can also be determined by the themes of the drawings. Thus, the reindeer depicted in the Cueva de Las cave, which is located in Spain, dates back to the end Ice Age. The earliest drawings in Europe were discovered in the Chauvet Cave in France. They appeared 30,000 BC. The surprise for scientists was that the images had been altered many times over thousands of years, which caused confusion in the subsidization of the drawings.
Painting in three stages
There are monochrome and polychrome cave paintings. Polychrome rock painting was created in three stages and depended entirely on the experience and cultural maturity of the artist, lighting, type of surface and available raw materials. At the first stage, the contours of the depicted animal were outlined using charcoal, manganese or hematite. The second stage involved completing the drawing and applying red ocher or another pigment to the image. At the third stage, contours were drawn in black to visually enlarge the image.
Subjects and themes
The most common subject in the cave paintings of primitive people is the image of large wild animals. At the beginning of the Stone Age, artists painted:
- Lviv;
- rhinoceroses;
- saber-toothed tigers;
- bears.
Images of animals hunted by people appear during the Late Paleolithic period. The image of a person is a very rare phenomenon and the pictures are less realistic than painted figures of animals. IN primitive art There are no images of landscapes or landscapes.
Work of ancient artists
Prehistoric inhabitants of the planet discovered that paint made from animals and plants was not as stable as paint extracted from the earth. Over time, people have determined the property of iron oxides in the ground not to lose their original appearance. Therefore, they looked for hematite deposits and could walk tens of kilometers a day to bring the dye home. Modern scientists have discovered paths leading to deposits along which ancient craftsmen plied.
Using sea shells as a reservoir for paint, working by candlelight or weak daylight, prehistoric painters used a variety of painting techniques and techniques. At first they painted with their fingers, and then moved on to crayons, moss pads, animal hair brushes, and plant fibers. They used a more advanced method of spraying paint using reeds or bones with special holes.
Holes were made in the bird's bones and filled with red ocher. By studying the cave paintings of ancient people, scientists have determined that such devices were used 16,000 BC. In the Stone Age, artists also used the techniques of chiaroscuro and foreshortening. In each era, new painting methods appear and the caves are replenished with drawings made in new styles over many centuries. The ingenious works of prehistoric artists have inspired many modern masters to create beautiful works.
September 12, 1940 Four French teenagers accidentally stumbled upon a narrow hole created by the fall of a pine tree, which was struck by lightning. They decided that this was the exit from an underground passage leading to the nearby ruins of a castle, and hoped to find treasure there. But when they got inside and saw huge drawings on the walls, they realized that it was not easy underground passage, and reported their finding to the teacher. This is how the Lascaux cave was discovered. 
All the walls of the cave were completely covered with amazing drawings of animals - bulls, bison, rhinoceroses, horses, deer, even a unicorn, drawn with ocher, soot and marl (a rock like clay) and outlined in dark outlines. Some of the drawings were life size!
The scientist A. Breuil spent several months in this cave, making all kinds of measurements and studying primitive painting. At first, art historians doubted the authenticity of the drawings, but a thorough examination rejected all suspicions of fakes, and the age of the images was estimated at 15 thousand years.
Very soon, many tourists began to come to the Lascaux cave and soon scientists noticed that the drawings were slowly beginning to collapse. This was due to the excess carbon dioxide exhaled by people visiting the caves. Soon tourists were no longer allowed into the Lascaux cave and it was mothballed, and a copy of it was created next to it - Lascaux II. It is a concrete structure, inside which rock paintings of selected parts of Lascaux have been accurately reproduced.
Osya and I really liked that on the official website you can take a virtual tour of the cave. In some places you can stop, zoom in on the drawing, look at it and read a short text about it (there is no Russian language on the site, but there is English). Here is the website: http://www.lascaux.culture.fr/#/en/02_00.xml
The figures of animals are drawn mainly in profile, in motion. It is interesting that when several animals accumulate in one scene at once, different sizes And different colors, and at the same time drawn so that one figure overlaps another, then the feeling of a cartoon is created if you move the window on the site. Probably, the same effect will happen if you move next to these drawings with a flashlight in your hands, it’s a pity that we can’t check it :)
On the walls of the cave there is only one image of a person: here you can see four figures combined into one compositional space - a bison pierced by a spear, a lying man, a small bird and a fuzzy silhouette of a retreating rhinoceros. The bison stands in profile, but its head is turned towards the viewer. The person is depicted schematically, as in children's drawings. Everything is drawn with a thick black line and is not filled with color. Scientists are still arguing about what exactly is shown in this picture: did the bison kill the man, and did the horse inflict a mortal wound on the bison? Or is it the other way around?
I showed Osya this picture and told him that the paints were mineral back then. The black paint was based on manganese, and the red paint was based on iron oxide. Pieces of minerals were ground into powder on stone slabs or on animal bones, for example, on the shoulder blade of a bison. This colored powder was stored in hollowed out bones or leather bags that were worn on the belt.
In this picture you can see the image of a huge bull. The figure of the right bull is the largest rock art in the world, its length is 5.2 meters.
To make it clearer what five meters is, we measured this distance in the apartment and estimated how huge the bull was.
Interestingly, in the Lascaux cave there is an image of a mythical animal - a unicorn:
But this big black bull, 3.71 meters long, is interesting because it was painted with paint sprayed through a special tube:
What you can do if your child is interested in these drawings:
- you can take craft paper, crumple it properly (we didn’t figure it out right away, but when we came across a crumpled piece of wrapping paper, Osya himself noticed that it turned out more textured and the surface resembled the surface of a stone) and hang it on the wall to draw memorable memories on it figures in charcoal, sanguine or multi-colored pastels. Or you can use paints if the child doesn’t want to get his hands dirty. The main thing is not to forget to cover the floor around it.
Or you can make natural paints - from clay and berries, and paint animals with them. And then make an outline separately with charcoal.
You can also try painting with homemade brushes. Offer your child a small stick, some grass/flower stems, and some string. Will he guess what can be done with them? And if you cut off the top layer of a dishwashing sponge, you can play that it is an animal skin that ancient people used to paint over a large area of the design. Shall we try?
To draw pictures, you can simply sit on a table or on the floor, or you can imagine that we are in a cave and draw on its walls and arches. Once, when we were playing at primitive people, we covered the area under the table with paper, and Osya left rock carvings while lying on his back.
This time we hung the drawings under the desk, then Osya blocked the entrance to the “cave” with pillows from the sofa, and we played as if we ourselves were walking and unexpectedly found such a treasure - a cave with ancient rock paintings. In the evening, when it was already dark, we turned off the light and climbed into the cave with flashlights and candles and looked at the images on the walls.