Prehistoric rock paintings. Types and features of the art of primitive society. Rock painting. Ancient petroglyphs. Bhimbetka rock dwelling animals
All over the world, speleologists in deep caves find confirmation of the existence of ancient people. Rock paintings have been excellently preserved for many millennia. There are several types of masterpieces - pictograms, petroglyphs, geoglyphs. Important monuments of human history are regularly included in the World Heritage Register.
Usually on the walls of the caves there are common plots, such as hunting, battle, images of the sun, animals, human hands. People in ancient times attached sacred significance to the paintings, they believed that they were helping themselves in the future.
Images were applied by various methods and materials. For artistic creation, animal blood, ocher, chalk and even bat guano were used. A special type of murals are hewn murals, they were beaten out in stone with the help of a special cutter.
Many caves are not well studied and are limited in visiting, while others, on the contrary, are open to tourists. However, most of the precious cultural heritage is lost without supervision, without finding its researchers.
Below is a short excursion into the world of the most interesting caves with prehistoric rock paintings.
Ancient rock paintings.
Bulgaria is famous not only for the hospitality of the inhabitants and the indescribable color of the resorts, but also for the caves. One of them, with the sonorous name of Magura, is located north of Sofia, not far from the town of Belogradchik. The total length of the cave galleries is more than two kilometers. The halls of the cave have colossal dimensions, each of them is about 50 meters wide and 20 meters high. The pearl of the cave is a rock painting made directly on the surface covered with bat guano. The paintings are multi-layered, here are a number of paintings from the Paleolithic, Neolithic, Eneolithic and Bronze Ages. The drawings of ancient Homo sapiens depict figures of dancing villagers, hunters, many outlandish animals, constellations. The sun, plants, tools are also represented. Here begins the story of the festivities of the ancient era and the solar calendar, scientists assure.
The cave with the poetic name Cueva de las Manos (Spanish for “Cave of Many Hands”) is located in the province of Santa Cruz, exactly one hundred miles from the nearest settlement, the city of Perito Moreno. The art of the rock painting in the hall, 24 meters long and 10 meters high, dates back to 13-9 millennium BC. An amazing painting on limestone is a three-dimensional canvas, decorated with handprints. Scientists have built a theory about how the surprisingly crisp and clear handprints turned out. Prehistoric people took a special composition, then they put it in their mouths, and through a tube they blew it with force onto a hand attached to the wall. In addition, there are stylized images of a man, rhea, guanaco, cats, geometric figures with ornaments, the process of hunting and observing the sun.
Enchanting India offers tourists not only the delights of oriental palaces and charming dances. In north central India, there are huge mountain formations of weathered sandstone with many caves. Once upon a time, ancient people lived in natural shelters. About 500 dwellings with traces of human habitation have been preserved in the state of Madhya Pradesh. The Indians called the rock dwellings the name of Bhimbetka (on behalf of the hero of the Mahabharata epic). The art of the ancients here dates back to the Mesolithic era. Some of the paintings are minor, and some of the hundreds of images are very typical and vivid. 15 rock masterpieces are available for contemplation of those who wish. Mostly, patterned ornaments and battle scenes are depicted here.
Rare animals and venerable scientists find shelter in the Serra da Capivara National Park. And 50 thousand years ago here, in the caves, our distant ancestors found shelter. Presumably, this is the oldest community of hominids in South America. The park is located near the town of San Raimondo Nonato, in the central part of the state of Piauí. Experts counted more than 300 archaeological sites here. The main surviving images date back to 25-22 millennium BC. The most amazing thing is that extinct bears and other paleofauna are painted on the rocks.
The Republic of Somaliland recently seceded from Somalia in Africa. Archaeologists in the area are interested in the Laas-Gaal cave complex. Here are rock paintings from the 8th-9th and 3rd millennium BC. On the granite walls of the majestic natural shelters, scenes of the life and life of the nomadic people of Africa are depicted: the process of grazing, ceremonies, and playing with dogs. The local population does not attach any importance to the drawings of their ancestors, and uses the caves, as in the old days, for shelter during the rain. Many of the studies have not been studied properly. In particular, there are problems with the chronological reference of the masterpieces of the Arab-Ethiopian ancient rock paintings.
Not far from Somalia, in Libya, there are also rock paintings. They are much earlier, and date back almost to the 12th millennium BC. The last of them were applied after the birth of Christ, in the first century. It is interesting to observe, following the drawings, how the fauna and flora changed in this area of the Sahara. First we see elephants, rhinoceros and fauna characteristic of a rather humid climate. Also of interest is the clearly traced change in the lifestyles of the population - from hunting to settled cattle breeding, then to nomadism. To get to Tadrart Acacus, one has to cross the desert to the east of the city of Ghats.
In 1994, on a walk, by chance, Jean-Marie Chauvet discovered the cave that later became famous. She was named after the caver. In the Chauvet cave, in addition to traces of the life of ancient people, hundreds of wonderful frescoes were discovered. The most amazing and beautiful of them depict mammoths. In 1995, the cave became a state monument, and in 1997, 24-hour surveillance was introduced here to prevent damage to the magnificent heritage. Today, in order to take a look at the incomparable rock art of the Cro-Magnons, you need to get a special permit. In addition to mammoths, there is something to admire, here on the walls there are handprints and fingers of representatives of the Aurignacian culture (34-32 thousand years BC)
In fact, the name of the Australian national park has nothing to do with the famous Cockatoo parrots. It's just that the Europeans mispronounced the name of the Gaagudju tribe. This nation is now extinct, and there is no one to correct the ignorant. The park is inhabited by natives who have not changed their way of life since the Stone Age. For thousands of years, Indigenous Australians have been involved in rock art. Pictures were painted here already 40 thousand years ago. In addition to religious scenes and hunting, stylized stories in drawings about useful skills (educational) and magic (entertainment) are sketched here. Of the animals, extinct marsupial tigers, catfish, barramundi are depicted. All the wonders of the Arnhem Land plateau, Colpignac and the southern hills are located 171 km from the city of Darwin.
It turns out that the first Homo sapiens reached Spain in the 35th millennium BC, it was the early Paleolithic. They left outlandish rock paintings in the Altamira cave. The art artifacts on the walls of the huge cave date back to both the 18th and 13th millennia. In the last period, polychrome figures are interesting, a kind of combination of engraving and painting, the acquisition of realistic details. The famous bison, deer and horses, or rather, their beautiful images on the walls of Altamira, often end up in textbooks for middle school students. The cave of Altamira is located in the Cantabrian region.
Lascaux is not just a cave, but a whole complex of small and large cave halls located in the south of France. Not far from the caves is the legendary village of Montignac. The paintings on the walls of the cave were drawn 17 thousand years ago. And they still amaze with amazing forms, akin to modern graffiti art. Scholars especially value the Hall of the Bulls and the Palace Hall of the Cats. What prehistoric creators left there is easy to guess. In 1998, the rock masterpieces were almost destroyed by mold, which arose due to an improperly installed air conditioning system. And in 2008, Lasko was closed to save more than 2,000 unique drawings.
Photo Travel Guide
Ancient rock paintings (petroglyphs) are found all over the world and have one thing in common, they describe animals, including those that are no longer found on earth. Many of these drawings are so well-preserved that experts thought they were fake at first glance. However, after careful examination, the images were found to be genuine. Below is a list of ten well-preserved prehistoric rock paintings.
Chauvet cave
A cave located near the commune of Vallon-Pont-d'Arc, in the valley of the Ardèche River in southern France. Contains the earliest known and best preserved rock art in the world dating from the Aurignacian era (36,000 years ago). The cave was discovered on December 18, 1994 by three cavers - Eliette Brunel, Christian Hillaire and Jean-Marie Chauvet. The drawings in the cave depict various animals from the Ice Age.
Magura Cave
Magura is a cave located near the village of Rabisha in the Vidin region, Bulgaria. In the cave, bones of a cave bear, cave hyena and other animals were found. And on its walls you can see drawings from different historical periods. They mainly depict female figures, hunters, animals, plants, the sun and stars.
The find includes about 5,000 Aboriginal drawings on rocks in Kakadu National Park, Australia. Most of the paintings were created around 2000 years ago. Interestingly, they depict not only animals such as white sea bass, catfish, kangaroos, rock couscous and others, but also their bones (skeletons).
Tadrart-Acacus
Tadrart Acacus is a mountain range in the Ghat Desert in western Libya, part of the Sahara. The massif is known for its prehistoric rock art, which spans the period 12000 BC. e. - 100 AD e. and reflects the cultural and natural changes in the area. The drawings depict animals such as giraffes, elephants, ostriches, camels and horses, as well as people in various situations of daily life, such as dancing and playing musical instruments.
Serra da Capivara is a national park located in the northeastern part of Brazil in the eastern state of Piauí. The park contains many caves containing examples of prehistoric art. The drawings, in great detail, depict animals and trees, as well as hunting scenes. A well-known site in the park, Pedra Furada contains the oldest remnants of human activity on the continent that have significantly altered the idea of American settlement. In order to preserve numerous prehistoric exhibits and drawings, the Brazilian government created this national park.
Lascaux Cave is located in the southwest of France and is famous for its rock paintings dating back to the Paleolithic period. The cave contains about 2,000 drawings, which can be grouped into three main categories: animals, human figures, and abstract signs. The cave is one of the places on the planet where you will not be allowed.
The Bhimbetka Rock Dwellings is an archaeological site of over 600 rock shelters located in Raisen District, Madhya Pradesh, India. These shelters contain the earliest traces of human activity in India; according to archaeologists, some of them could have been inhabited more than 100 thousand years ago. Most of the drawings are in red and white and depict animals such as crocodiles, lions, tigers and others.
Laas Gaal
Laas Gaal is a cave complex located on the outskirts of the city of Hargeisa in Somalia. Known for its well-preserved rock art. The drawings date back to the ninth - third millennium BC. e. and depict mostly cows, humans, giraffes, wolves, or dogs.
Altamira Cave is located near the city of Santillana del Mar, Cantabria in Spain. It was accidentally discovered in 1879 by amateur archaeologist Marcelino Sanz de Sautuola. This great archaeological discovery is known for its ancient rock paintings of the Upper Paleolithic era (35 - 12 thousand years ago), which depict bison, horses, wild boars, human palm prints and more.
Cueva de las Manos
Cueva de las Manos is a cave located in southern Argentina, in the province of Santa Cruz, in the Pinturas river valley. Known for archaeological and paleontological finds. First of all, these are rock paintings depicting human hands, the oldest of which date back to the ninth millennium BC. e. The left hands of teenage boys are depicted on the walls of the cave. This fact suggested that these images were part of an ancient rite. In addition to hands, the walls of the cave depict guanacos, rhea, cats and other animals, as well as hunting scenes for them.
The work of scientists can be compared to putting together a puzzle: each new detail can easily change the whole picture completely, destroying the already established ideas about the world. Archaeological finds of the 19th and 20th centuries helped to look into the past and learn more about the life of our ancestors. Most often, ancient artists painted animals on the rocks, without even thinking that they were passing on invaluable knowledge about the fauna to future generations.
Chauvet cave animals
On December 18, 1994, the entrance to a cave on the banks of the Ardèche River in the south was opened, blocked since the Ice Age. Jean-Marie Chauvet, Eliette Brunel Deschamps and Christian Hillaire decided to explore a place that they already knew about before. The beam of a flashlight, directed into the darkness, illuminated the rock image. On the wall near the entrance, a group of cavers saw. The researchers at that moment could not even imagine that a real treasure was waiting for them inside - 300 drawings, which are about 30 thousand years old.
The techniques used by ancient artists in their work are unique. Nothing similar has been found at other archaeological sites. First, the wall was scraped and leveled, then the contours of the drawings were scratched and the necessary volume was created with paints, accents were placed. The methods of drawing images in the halls of the cave are different. In the first two, the artists used red ocher; in the third, they mainly made engravings; all the figures in the third room are black.
Another distinctive feature of this rock art is an unusual artistic technique. Scientists suggest that multiple contours that are layered on top of each other helped create the effect of moving pictures.
Primal animation can be seen when the torch moves quickly - the animals seem to start moving. The attention of the researchers was attracted by the figure of a cave bear, which seems to be coming out of the wall - the lower part of the body is deliberately not drawn. Some animals are drawn by talented artists not in profile, as was customary at that time, but in front.
The first artists in the Chauvet cave were not people, but bears. Some drawings are applied over the marks left by their claws.
Animals of the Laas-Gaal cave complex
A few hours from Somalia is the small town of Hargeis. In the caves on its outskirts, ancient rock art was discovered, which was preserved so well that initially it was even considered a fake. Here you can see mostly cattle, on the walls there are also figures of people and their pets - dogs. There are images of giraffes.
It is noteworthy that some animals have been transformed with the light hand of the artist - there are decorations on the necks of cows, and even clothes on some cows. It seems that they are participating in some kind of ritual or holiday. Researchers suggest that the cow was a sacred animal for the locals, which is why its images are made so carefully and in detail not only on the walls, but also on the vaults of the cave. Animal horns are unusual - they resemble a month. The rest of the figures are shown schematically, with dashes.
Ten previously unknown caves with ancient paintings were discovered by a group of French researchers in the Laas-Gaal region only in 2002-2003. The age of the images is 9-3 millennium BC. Local residents have known about them for a long time, but outside the state there was no information about such an archaeological discovery. Ancient painting cannot get the status of a world object, because it is located in a region where there is a constant war.
You can travel to the caves of Laas Gaal and see in detail the images of animals and figures of people found in them in Hargeisa in one of the series of the Places That Don’t Exist project by Simon Reeve.
Bhimbetka rock dwelling animals
In the dense forest of the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh in the Vindhya mountain range, caves were discovered that were shelters for our distant ancestors. As in the case of the Lass Grail, for a long time only local residents knew that cave paintings could be seen inside the mountain. Europeans began to explore these places at the end of the 19th century and discovered paintings inside. Rock painting - this is how scientists named their discovery in honor of one of the heroes of the popular Indian epic Mahabharata. As it was possible to find out, the age of some drawings is more than thirty thousand years. Since 2003, the object has been included in the UNESCO list.
All images are made in two colors - red and white. On the walls you can see scenes from the life of an ancient man: how our ancestors harvest, perform rituals and hunt. There are many images of animals, mostly horses and cows can be seen on the rocks.
Anyone can see ancient drawings - access to the cave is open not only to archaeologists, but also to tourists. You can explore the objects on your own, or you can go on a tour with a local guide.
Bulls of Lascaux Cave
Realism is one of the hallmarks of the images found in the southwest of France. It was not discovered by experienced archaeologists, but by local teenagers from Montignac. This event happened by chance - during a thunderstorm, a pine tree fell from a lightning strike, opening a small passage for inquisitive researchers. In the cave, the young men found ancient drawings, which they immediately reported to the teacher after returning home. The drawings are made in red, yellow and black colors. Some of them are so well preserved that scientists even had doubts about their authenticity and age.
All images can be divided into three groups: people, symbols and animals. Most of all here are drawings of animals. More often than others, horses and deer are found. The figures are not static, the movements of animals are skillfully conveyed by the ancient artist.
The hall of the bulls, which is sometimes called the Rotunda, deserves special attention. On the wall you can see four black bulls, the size of which is impressive. One of them is five meters high. This is the largest rock carving studied by scientists. It is believed to be life-size. In addition to bulls, here you can see other animals - horses, deer, bears. A lot of questions in the scientific world were caused by the drawing of a mysterious beast with a horn on its forehead. The researchers did not come to a consensus. Perhaps the ancient world was inhabited by unicorns, but so far this is only an assumption.
There is a small area in the cave, which is called the "Cat's hole", here you can see cats, the images of which are not so common in other caves.
Archaeologists hoped that they would find traces of burials in this cave, but nothing of the kind was found. Their eyes were presented with more and more new drawings, as well as household items and paints that ancient artists used in their work.
As with many other sites of archaeological discoveries, a sad story happened to the Lasko cave - because of the visit of the site by tourists, irreversible changes began to occur. There was mold on the walls.
A specially installed microclimate system did not seriously change the situation. Today the site is closed to tourists. Inside, there are sometimes archaeologists in protective suits who manually clean the walls of fungus.
You can see ancient paintings in an artificially recreated cave, located 200 meters from the original.
Colored Bulls of Altamira Cave
Today, drawings of bulls, skillfully preserved on stone by an ancient artist, are known to the whole world. On the vaults of the cave you can see a whole herd - 23 bulls in motion. Each animal is busy with its own business, and all together they make an indescribable impression on the audience.
Animals can rightfully be called the most popular heroes of the rock art of the ancient world. Drawing techniques and creative techniques vary significantly in different countries. From ancient painting, you can learn more about a person's life and his attitude to the world.
If at first our ancestors simply admired what they saw around and conveyed it in their drawings, then they began to conquer territories, conquering nature. Instead of separate images of animals, ancient artists began to depict hunting scenes for them.
Interesting and picturesque messages from the past - drawings on the walls of caves, which are up to 40 thousand years old - fascinate modern people with their conciseness.
What were they for the people of antiquity? If they served only to decorate the walls, then why were they performed in the remote corners of the caves, in those places where, most likely, they did not live?
The oldest of the found drawings were made about 40 thousand years ago, others are several tens of thousands of years younger. It is interesting that in different parts of the world the images on the walls of the caves are very similar - in those days people depicted mainly ungulates and other animals that were common in their area.
The image of hands was also popular: members of the community put their palms against the wall and outlined them. Such pictures are really inspiring: by pressing a palm to such an image, a person can feel as if he has formed a bridge between modern civilization and antiquity!
Below we bring to your attention interesting images made by ancient people from different parts of the world on the walls of caves.
Pettakere Lime Cave, Indonesia
Cave Pettakere 12 kilometers from the city of Maros. At the entrance to the cave, there are white and red outlines of hands on the ceiling - 26 images in total. The age of the drawings is about 35 thousand years. Photo: Cahyo Ramadhani/wikipedia.org
Chauvet cave, south of France
Images, whose age is about 32-34 thousand years, are placed on the walls of a limestone cave near the city of Valon-pon-d'Arc. In total, in the cave, which was discovered only in 1994, there are 300 drawings that amaze with their picturesqueness.
One of the most famous images from the Chauvet cave. Photo: JEFF PACHOUD/AFP/Getty Images
Photo: JEFF PACHOUD/AFP/Getty Images
Photo: JEFF PACHOUD/AFP/Getty Images
Photo: JEFF PACHOUD/AFP/Getty Images
Photo: JEFF PACHOUD/AFP/Getty Images
Cave of El Castillo, Spain
El Castillo contains some of the oldest examples of cave art in the world. The age of the images is at least 40,800 years.
Photo: cuevas.culturadecantabria.com
Covalanas Cave, Spain
The unique cave of Kovalanas was inhabited by people less than 45 thousand years ago!
Photo: cuevas.culturadecantabria.com
Photo: cuevas.culturadecantabria.com
The walls of the caves located near Covalanas and El Castillo are also decorated with numerous drawings made by people thousands of years ago. However, these caves are not so famous. Among them are Las Monedas, El Pando, Chufin, Ornos de la Pena, Culalvera.
Lascaux cave, France
The Lascaux cave complex in southwestern France was accidentally discovered in 1940 by a local resident, an 18-year-old guy named Marcel Ravid. A huge number of paintings on the walls, which are surprisingly well preserved, give this cave complex the right to claim the title of one of the largest galleries of the ancient world. The age of the images is about 17.3 thousand years.
On December 18, 1994, the famous French speleologist Jean Marie Chauvet discovered a cave gallery with ancient images of animals. The find 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 idea 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. The discovery of Chauvet 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. The found rock art is one of the oldest examples of cave art in the world, in particular, the drawing of black rhinos from Chauvet is still considered the oldest. The south of France is rich in such caves, but none of them can be compared 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, images of 13 different types of animals were found in the cave.
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. To date, the Chauvet cave is a national treasure of France.
Caves of Nerja
The Caves of Nerja are an amazingly beautiful series of huge caves near the city of Nerja in Andalusia, Spain. 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 largest stalagmite in the world, several mysterious drawings were found in the cave. Experts believe that seals or fur seals are depicted on the walls. Fragments of charcoal were found near the drawings, 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 be significantly older than the cave paintings from the Chauvet cave. This once again confirms the assumption that the Neanderthals had the ability for creative imagination no less than that of a reasonable person.
Photo: iDip/flickr.com, scitechdaily.com
Kapova Cave (Shulgan-Tash)
This karst cave was found in Bashkiria, on the Belaya River, in the area of \u200b\u200bwhich is now the Shulgan-Tash reserve. This is one of the longest caves in the Urals. Rock paintings of ancient people from the Late Paleolithic era, the likes of which can be found only 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, oblique lines. The most ancient drawings, dating from 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 the human figures are shown without the realism inherent in the animals depicted. The researchers suggest that the images were made in order to propitiate the "gods of the hunt." In addition, cave paintings are designed to be perceived not from one specific point, but from several angles of view. 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 take a virtual look at the drawings.
Cueva de las Manos Cave
Cueva de las Manos ("Cave of Many Hands") is located in Argentina, in the province of Santa Cruz. The world fame of Cueva de las Manos in 1964 was brought by 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. So far, scientists have not come to a consensus on the meaning of the images of hands, from which the cave got its name. Mostly left hands are captured: out of 829 prints, only 36 are right. Moreover, according to some researchers, the hands belong to teenage boys. Most likely, drawing the image of one's hand was part of the initiation rite. In addition, scientists have built a theory about how such clear and crisp palm prints were obtained: apparently, a special composition was typed into the mouth, and through the tube it was blown with force onto the hand attached to the wall. In addition to handprints, the walls of the cave depict people, Nanda ostriches, guanacos, cats, geometric figures with ornaments, hunting processes (the drawings show the use of bolas, a traditional throwing weapon of the Indians of South America) and observations of the sun. In 1999, the cave was included in the UNESCO World Heritage List.
Lascaux cave
The cave has been nicknamed the "Sistine Chapel of Primitive Paintings" and has no equal in terms of quantity, quality and preservation of rock carvings. It was discovered in 1940 by four teenagers near the town of Montignac, France. The picturesque and engraved drawings that are here do not have an exact date: they appeared around the 18th-15th millennium BC. e. and depict horses, cows, bulls, deer, bears. In total, there are about six hundred drawings of animals and almost one and a half thousand images carved on the walls. The drawings are made on a light background with shades of yellow, red, brown and black. Scientists say that ancient people did not live in this cave, but used it exclusively for painting, or the cave was something of a cult place. Lascaux Cave was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1979.
Andrey Matveev worked on the article
Materials used: http://smartnews.ru/articles/14122.html