Man began to create from the moment of his appearance. Paintings, sculptures and other artifacts whose age is impressive are still found by scientists today. We have collected 10 oldest works of art found in different time and in different corners peace. And there is no doubt that women were the source of inspiration for the ancient masters.
1. Prehistoric rock art - 700 - 300 thousand years BC
The oldest examples of prehistoric rock art found to date are a form of pictogram, called "cups" by archaeologists, which are sometimes carved with longitudinal grooves. Cups are depressions carved into walls and rock tops. At the same time, they are often ordered in rows and columns. Such rock artifacts have been found on all continents. Some indigenous peoples in Central Australia still use them today. The oldest example of such art can be found in the Bhimbetka cave in central India.
2. Sculptures - 230,000 - 800,000 BC
The oldest human sculpture is the Venus of Hole Fels, which is 40,000 years old. However, there is a much older statue, around the authenticity of which there are heated debates. This statue, discovered on the Golan Heights in Israel, was named Venus from Berehat Ram. If this is in fact a real sculpture, then it is older than the Neanderthals and probably made by the predecessor of Homo sapiens, namely Homo erectus. The figurine was found between two layers of volcanic stone and soil, radiological analysis of which showed staggering figures - from 233,000 to 800,000 years. The debate around the discovery of this figurine intensified after a figurine called "Tan-Tan" was found in nearby Morocco, which was between 300,000 and 500,000 years old.
3. Drawings on the shell of ostrich eggs - 60,000 BC
Ostrich eggs were an important tool in many early cultures, and decorating their shells became an important form of self-expression for people. In 2010, researchers from Diepkloof in South Africa discovered a large cache containing 270 fragments of ostrich eggs, which were decorated with decorative and symbolic drawings. The two different main motifs in these designs were hatched stripes and parallel or converging lines.
4. The oldest rock paintings in Europe - 42,300 - 43,500 BC
Until recently, it was thought that Neanderthals could not create works of art. That changed in 2012 when researchers working in the Nerja Caves in Malaga, Spain discovered drawings that predate the famous drawings in the Chauvet Cave in southeastern France by more than 10,000 years. Six drawings on the walls of the cave were made with charcoal, and radiocarbon analysis showed that they were created between 42,300 and 43,500 years before our era.
5. Oldest handprints - 37,900 BC
Some of the oldest drawings ever made have been found on the walls of the Sulawesi caves in Indonesia. They are almost 35.5 years old and almost as old as the paintings in El Castillo Cave (40,800 years old) and the cave paintings in Chauvet Cave (37,000 years old). But the most original image in Sulawesi is 12 handprints made with ocher, which are at least 39,900 years old.
6. The oldest bone figurines - 30,000 BC
In 2007, archaeologists from the University of Tübingen were excavating on a plateau in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. They discovered a cache of small animals carved from bone. Bone figurines were made neither more nor less - 35,000 years ago. Five more figurines carved from mammoth tusk were discovered in the Vogelherd Cave in southwestern Germany. Among these finds were the remains of two lion figurines, two fragments of mammoth figurines, and two unidentified animals. Radiocarbon analysis and the rock layer in which they were found show that the bone sculptures were made during the Aurignacian culture, which is associated with the first appearance of modern man in Europe. Tests show that the figurines are 30,000 to 36,000 years old.
7. The oldest ceramic figurine - 24,000 - 27,000 BC
The Vestonice Venus is similar to other Venus figurines found around the world and is a 11.3 cm nude female figure with large breasts and wide hips. This is the first known ceramic sculpture made from fired clay, and is older than the period in which fired clay began to be widely used to make pottery and figurines by 14,000 years. The figurine was discovered during excavations on July 13, 1925 in Dolni Vestonice, South Moravia, Czechoslovakia.
8. The first landscape painting - 6000 - 8000 BC
Chatal-Hyuyuk painting is the oldest known landscape painting in the world. However, this claim is disputed by many scholars who claim that it is a depiction of abstract shapes as well as leopard skin. What it really is, no one knows. In 1963, archaeologist James Mellaart was excavating at Çatal_Hüyük (modern Turkey), one of the largest Stone Age cities to have been found. He discovered that one of the many frescoes used to decorate the dwelling depicts, in his opinion, a view of the city, with the Hasan Dag volcano erupting nearby. A study in 2013 partly confirmed his theory that this is actually a landscape. It was discovered that there was a volcanic eruption near the ancient city at that time.
9. Earliest Christian illustrated manuscript - 330-650 AD
In medieval times and earlier, books were an extremely scarce commodity, and were considered virtually treasures. Christian scribes decorated book covers with precious stones and painted pages with calligraphy patterns. In 2010, in a remote monastery in Ethiopia, researchers discovered the gospel of Garima. This Christian manuscript was originally thought to have been written in the year 1100, but radiocarbon dating has shown the book to be much older, dating from 330-650 AD. This wonderful book may be related to the time of Abba Garima, the founder of the monastery where the book was discovered. Legend has it that he wrote the gospel in one day. To help him with this task, God stopped the movement of the Sun until the book was finished.
10. The oldest oil painting is from the 7th century AD.
In 2008, scientists discovered the world's oldest oil painting in a Bamyan cave monastery in Afghanistan. Since 2003, scientists from Japan, Europe and the United States have been working to preserve as much of the art as possible at Bamiyan Monastery, which was dilapidated by the Taliban. In the labyrinth of caves, walls were found covered with frescoes and paintings that depict the Buddha and other characters of mythology. Researchers believe that studying these images will provide invaluable information about cultural exchange along between different parts of the world on the Silk Road.
It is worth noting that today, among peaceful pastorals, noble portraits and other works of art that evoke only positive emotions, there are strange and shocking canvases, such as.
Plan of work Subject MHK. MHC subject. Artistic legacy ancient world: The Artistic Heritage of the Ancient World: Fine Arts; art; the beginning of the history of architecture; the beginning of the history of architecture; theatre, music and dance. theatre, music and dance. Homework assignment. Homework assignment.
What is this subject and what does its study give us? MHK assumes an appeal not to one or several types of art, but to the whole world of artistic culture (fine arts, music, literature, theater), which is defined as a way and product of people's artistic activity. MHK assumes an appeal not to one or several types of art, but to the whole world of artistic culture (fine arts, music, literature, theater), which is defined as a way and product of people's artistic activity. The purpose of this course is to introduce students into the world of artistic culture, to teach them to navigate in it, to develop an aesthetic taste. The purpose of this course is to introduce students into the world of artistic culture, to teach them to navigate in it, to develop an aesthetic taste.
What do we mean by the word "culture"? Originally the Latin word "culture" meant "cultivation of the earth." In the Romance languages, the term "culture" is used in similar meanings: upbringing, education, development, improvement. Thus, the concept of "culture" means everything that is created by human labor as a result of material and spiritual development. This is not only the result, but the very process of people's creative activity.
What does the study of the MHC give us? Studying the MHC, we begin to understand that art deals with the eternal problems of mankind. Studying the MHC, we begin to understand that art deals with the eternal problems of mankind. We get the opportunity to conduct a dialogue with partners of any era. Traveling into the depths of centuries, we expand our horizons, our inner world. This gives us harmony, which is so necessary for a person. We get the opportunity to conduct a dialogue with partners of any era. Traveling into the depths of centuries, we expand our horizons, our inner world. This gives us harmony, which is so necessary for a person. Studying ancient civilizations, we understand the patterns of development of modern culture. Studying ancient civilizations, we understand the patterns of development of modern culture.
Thoughts of great people about art Thoughts of great people about art Art is a window to the world. The originality of a nation is created by communication, not isolation, kindness to others, not anger... DS Likhachev Art is a window to the world. The originality of a nation is created by communication, not isolation, kindness to others, not anger... DS Likhachev Good is beautiful, but there is nothing beautiful without harmony. Plato Dobro is beautiful, but there is nothing beautiful without harmony. Plato
Terminological educational program Totemism belief in a supernatural connection between a group of people and a group of material objects. Animals (rarely plants or other objects) most often acted as totems. Each tribe had its own “relative animal” and considered it to be its protector and patron. Totemism is the belief in a supernatural connection between a group of people and a group of material objects. Animals (rarely plants or other objects) most often acted as totems. Each tribe had its own “relative animal” and considered it to be its protector and patron.
People made up stories about these animals. This is how the first totemic myths were born, which constituted the sacred history of the clan and gave ideas about the world. People made up stories about these animals. This is how the first totemic myths were born, which constituted the sacred history of the clan and gave ideas about the world. Rites are closely connected with totemic mythology. Performing the ceremony, primitive people "conjured". For example, they believed that if you scatter shiny pebbles, cast spells and perform a ritual dance, then it will definitely rain. Rites are closely connected with totemic mythology. Performing the ceremony, primitive people "conjured". For example, they believed that if you scatter shiny pebbles, cast spells and perform a ritual dance, then it will definitely rain.
Did primitive art exist? In 1879, an amateur archaeologist, a Spanish nobleman, Don Marcelino de Sautuola, decided to excavate in the cave of Altamira. One day, an archaeologist took his little daughter Maria with him. Going deep into the cave, the girl saw on the ceiling images of bison, painted in bizarre poses. In 1879, an amateur archaeologist, a Spanish nobleman, Don Marcelino de Sautuola, decided to excavate in the cave of Altamira. One day, an archaeologist took his little daughter Maria with him. Going deep into the cave, the girl saw on the ceiling images of bison, painted in bizarre poses.
Bison. Rock painting of Altamira cave Spain BC Spain, Cantabria
She called her father. Sautuola was struck by this discovery, which, however, did not bring him happiness. The images of animals were so perfect that other scientists did not believe that they were made by a primitive artist, and accused Sautuola of deceit. And only new discoveries of works of art by primitive man, made after the death of Sautuola, confirmed the authenticity of the murals of Altamira. She called her father. Sautuola was struck by this discovery, which, however, did not bring him happiness. The images of animals were so perfect that other scientists did not believe that they were made by a primitive artist, and accused Sautuola of deceit. And only new discoveries of works of art by primitive man, made after the death of Sautuola, confirmed the authenticity of the murals of Altamira.
Goat. Rock painting of Altamira cave Spain BC Spain, Cantabria
What did the primitive artists paint with? Apparently, the main artistic tool was a wool brush, a stick, or just a finger. In the drawings, they tried to convey the main thing. Everything insignificant was swept aside, and the characteristic, on the contrary, was exaggerated and generalized. It turned out "to all bison bison." Animals were depicted as fat, fleshy, so that the hunt was successful. Apparently, the main artistic tool was a wool brush, a stick, or just a finger. In the drawings, they tried to convey the main thing. Everything insignificant was swept aside, and the characteristic, on the contrary, was exaggerated and generalized. It turned out "to all bison bison." Animals were depicted as fat, fleshy, so that the hunt was successful.
Paint for painting was obtained from natural dyes, rubbing minerals and plants. Here is how Alan Marshal describes the color scheme of primitive artists in the story “In the Cave” Paint for painting was obtained from natural dyes, rubbing minerals and plants. Here is how Alan Marshal describes the color scheme of primitive artists in the story “In the Cave” “The drawings were made in red, brown, yellow tones, as well as purple paint. Crushed pieces of ocher served as paint. White paint, found in many drawings, was prepared from white clay or crushed limestone. The black paint that was made from charcoal, were rarely used. Most often, hunters resorted to dark brown and yellow tones. People rarely appeared in these drawings. Most often, animals were depicted... The entire surface of the rock is painted with ocher of different shades. If you squint your eyes, it seemed that you see a huge bizarre pattern, filled with all the colors of the earth. "The drawings were made in red, brown, yellow, and purple tint. Crushed pieces of ocher served as paint. White paint, found in many drawings, was prepared from white clay or crushed limestone. Black paint, which was made from charcoal, was used quite rarely. Most often, hunters resorted to dark brown and yellow tones. People rarely appeared in these drawings. Most often, animals were depicted... The entire surface of the rock is painted with ocher of different shades. If you squint your eyes, it seemed that you see a huge bizarre pattern filled with all the colors of the earth.
Rock painting of Altamira cave Spain BC Spain, Cantabria
What made primitive man draw, cut, sculpt? Primitive artists spent great efforts to create murals, figurines and the first architectural structures from huge stones, not for entertainment or decoration of their homes. Their main task was to help themselves and their fellow tribesmen in hunting, the craft of the strong and brave. Primitive artists spent great efforts to create murals, figurines and the first architectural structures from huge stones, not for entertainment or decoration of their homes. Their main task was to help themselves and their fellow tribesmen in hunting, the craft of the strong and brave. Hunting belonged to all the thoughts and feelings of a person, because it was the main source of food and clothing. Even while resting, everyone thought about the cunning and insidious opponent of the beast. And the hand habitually drew familiar contours. Hunting belonged to all the thoughts and feelings of a person, because it was the main source of food and clothing. Even while resting, everyone thought about the cunning and insidious opponent of the beast. And the hand habitually drew familiar contours.
“Probably, the inhabitant of the cave thought, the soul, the beast, lives in the drawing. You just need to draw him with an arrow in his side or beaten with a stone and sing a witching song. “Probably, the inhabitant of the cave thought, the soul, the beast, lives in the drawing. You just need to draw him with an arrow in his side or beaten with a stone and sing a witching song. But witchcraft needs a secret, and now a painting appears in hard-to-reach caves, where you can perform mysterious rites. But witchcraft needs a secret, and now a painting appears in hard-to-reach caves, where you can perform mysterious rites.
From what sources do scientists learn about primitive culture? Archeology is the science of antiquity, which studies the past on the basis of the material remains of human activity: dwellings, tools, food. Archeology is the science of antiquity, which studies the past on the basis of the material remains of human activity: dwellings, tools, food. Ethnography is a science that studies the everyday and cultural characteristics of the peoples of the world, the so-called traditional art. Ethnography is a science that studies the everyday and cultural characteristics of the peoples of the world, the so-called traditional art.
Special area of the primitive visual arts ornament. A special area of primitive fine art is ornament. In the Paleolithic era, an ornament appears in the form of parallel wavy lines, teeth, spirals, which were used to cover tools. But the ornament received the greatest development in the Neolithic era with the advent of pottery. Pottery was decorated with a variety of geometric patterns. Creating an ornament in the pattern and likeness of nature, a person strove for the knowledge of natural signs. In the Paleolithic era, an ornament appears in the form of parallel wavy lines, teeth, spirals, which were used to cover tools. But the ornament received the greatest development in the Neolithic era with the advent of pottery. Pottery was decorated with a variety of geometric patterns. Creating an ornament in the pattern and likeness of nature, a person strove for the knowledge of natural signs.
Willendorf Venus Austria BC e.
The origins of architecture The origins of architecture and the building art of mankind begin from the time when ancient people, not content with shelters created by nature (caves, grottoes), began to build artificial residential structures. This was due to a sharp climate change offensive ice age. After all, the warm climate of the early Paleolithic made it possible not to take care of clothes and housing at all. The origins of architecture and the building art of mankind begin from the time when ancient people, not content with shelters created by nature (caves, grottoes), began to build artificial residential structures. This was due to a sharp change in climate with the onset of the ice age. After all, the warm climate of the early Paleolithic made it possible not to take care of clothes and housing at all.
In the Bronze Age, structures made of huge stones, the so-called megaliths (from the Greek. big and stone), reached their highest development. There is no written evidence of the purpose of the megalithic structures, and scientists have come to the conclusion that they were used for religious ceremonies and as observatories. These structures are usually associated with the worship of the ancestors of fire or the sun. In the Bronze Age, structures made of huge stones, the so-called megaliths (from the Greek. big and stone), reached their highest development. There is no written evidence of the purpose of the megalithic structures, and scientists have come to the conclusion that they were used for religious ceremonies and as observatories. These structures are usually associated with the worship of the ancestors of fire or the sun.
1. Menhirs are vertically placed stones of various sizes, standing separately or forming long alleys. The sizes of menhirs range from 1 to 20 m. Menhirs can be either scarcely hewn stones or made in the form of a monumental sculpture. They, as a rule, were not associated with burials and performed an independent function (for example, they marked the place for carrying out any rituals). 1. Menhirs are vertically placed stones of various sizes, standing separately or forming long alleys. The sizes of menhirs range from 1 to 20 m. Menhirs can be either scarcely hewn stones or made in the form of a monumental sculpture. They, as a rule, were not associated with burials and performed an independent function (for example, they marked the place for carrying out any rituals) 2. Dolmens are a structure of two vertically placed raw stones, covered by a third. The design of these structures already contains load-bearing and carried parts. The most perfect type of dolmen is four well-hewn vertical slabs, forming a quadrangle in plan and covered with a horizontal slab. Apparently, these structures served as a designation of the burial place or an altar. 2. Dolmens are a structure of two vertically placed raw stones, covered by a third. The design of these structures already contains load-bearing and carried parts. The most perfect type of dolmen is four well-hewn vertical slabs, forming a quadrangle in plan and covered with a horizontal slab. Apparently, these structures served as a designation of the burial place or an altar.
3. Cromlechs stone slabs or pillars placed in a circle. These are the most complex megalithic structures. Sometimes cromlechs surrounded the mound, sometimes they existed independently and consisted of several concentric circles. The most famous and complex of the cromlechs is located in England, near Stonehenge (from the English stone, moat). 3. Cromlechs stone slabs or pillars placed in a circle. These are the most complex megalithic structures. Sometimes cromlechs surrounded the mound, sometimes they existed independently and consisted of several concentric circles. The most famous and complex of the cromlechs is located in England, near Stonehenge (from the English stone, moat).
The cave was discovered on December 18, 1994 in the south of France, in the department of Ardèche, in the steep bank of the canyon of the river of the same name, a tributary of the Rhone, near the town of Pont d'Arc, by three speleologists Jean-Marie Chauvet, Eliette Brunel Deschamps and Christian Hillaire.
All of them already had extensive experience in exploring caves, including those containing traces of prehistoric man. The half-filled entrance to the then nameless cave was already known to them, but the cave had not yet been explored. When Eleth, squeezing through a narrow opening, saw a large cavity stretching into the distance, she knew that she needed to return to the car behind the stairs. It was already evening, they even doubted whether they should postpone further examination, but nevertheless they returned behind the stairs and went down into the wide passage.
The researchers stumbled upon a cave gallery, where a flashlight beam picked out an ocher spot on the wall from the darkness. It turned out to be a "portrait" of a mammoth. No other cave of the south-east of France, rich in "murals", can be compared with the newly discovered one, named after Chauvet, neither in size, nor in the preservation and skill of drawings, and the age of some of them reaches 30-33 thousand years.
Speleologist Jean-Marie Chauvet, after whom the cave got its name.
The discovery of the Chauvet cave on December 18, 1994 became a sensation, which not only pushed back the appearance of primitive drawings by 5 thousand years ago, but also overturned the concept of the evolution of Paleolithic art that had developed by that time, based, in particular, on the classification of the French scientist Henri Leroy-Gourhan . According to his theory (as in the opinion of most other specialists), the development of art went from primitive forms to more complex ones, and then the earliest drawings from Chauvet should generally belong to the pre-figurative stage (dots, spots, stripes, winding lines, other scribbles) . However, the researchers of Chauvet's painting found themselves face to face with the fact that the oldest images are almost the most perfect in their execution of the Paleolithic ones known to us (the Paleolithic ones are at least: it is not known what Picasso, who admired the Altamira bulls, would say if he happened to see lions and Chauvet bears!). Apparently, art is not very friendly with the evolutionary theory: avoiding any stage structure, it somehow inexplicably arises immediately, out of nothing, in highly artistic forms.
Here is what Abramova Z.A., the leading specialist in the field of Paleolithic art, writes about this: “Paleolithic art arises as a bright flash of flame in the mists of time. finds a direct continuation in subsequent eras ... It remains a mystery how the Paleolithic masters achieved such high perfection and what were the paths along which the echoes of the art of the ice age penetrated Picasso's brilliant work "(quoted from: Sher Ya. When and how did art arise? ).
(source - Donsmaps.com)
The drawing of black rhinos from Chauvet is considered the oldest in the world (32.410 ± 720 years ago; information on a certain "new" dating comes across on the Web, giving Chauvet painting from 33 to 38 thousand years, but without credible references).
On the this moment, this is the oldest example of human creativity, the beginning of art, not burdened with history. Typically, Paleolithic art is dominated by drawings of animals that people hunted - horses, cows, deer, and so on. The walls of the Chauvet are covered with images of predators - cave lions, panthers, owls and hyenas. There are drawings depicting a rhinoceros, tarpans and a number of other animals of the Ice Age.
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In addition, in no other cave there are so many images of a woolly rhinoceros, an animal that was not inferior to a mammoth in terms of “dimensions” and strength. In terms of size and strength, the woolly rhinoceros was almost as good as the mammoth, its weight reached 3 tons, body length - 3.5 m, front horn dimensions - 130 cm. The rhinoceros died out at the end of the Pleistocene, before the mammoth and cave bear. Unlike mammoths, rhinos were not herd animals. Probably because this powerful animal, although it was a herbivore, had the same vicious disposition as their modern relatives. This is evidenced by the scenes of violent "rock" fights of rhinos from Chauvet.
The cave is located in the south of France, on the steep bank of the canyon of the Ardege River, a tributary of the Rhone, in a very picturesque place, in the vicinity of the Pont d'Arc ("Arched Bridge"). This natural bridge is formed in the rock by a huge ravine up to 60 meters high.
The cave itself is "mothballed". Entrance to it is open exclusively to a limited circle of scientists. Yes, and those are allowed to enter it only twice a year, in spring and autumn, and work there for only a couple of weeks for several hours a day. Unlike Altamira and Lascaux, Chauvet has not been "cloned" yet, so ordinary people like you and me will have to admire the reproductions, which we will certainly do, but a little later.
"In the fifteen-plus years since the discovery, there have been far more people who have been to the top of Everest than have seen these drawings," writes Adam Smith in a review of Werner Herzog's documentary on Chauve. Haven't tested it, but it sounds good.
So, the famous German film director, by some miracle, managed to get permission to shoot. The film "The Cave of Forgotten Dreams" was filmed in 3D and screened at the Berlin Film Festival in 2011, which, presumably, attracted the attention of the general public to Chauvet. It is not good for us to lag behind the public.
Researchers agree that the caves containing drawings in such a quantity were clearly not intended for habitation and were not prehistoric art galleries, but were sanctuaries, places of rituals, in particular, the initiation of young men entering adulthood (about this evidenced, for example, by preserved baby footprints).
In the four "halls" of the Chauvet, along with connecting passages with a total length of about 500 meters, more than three hundred perfectly preserved drawings depicting various animals, including large-scale multi-figured compositions, were found.
Eliette Brunel Deschamps and Christian Hillair - participants in the opening of the Chauvet cave.
The murals also answered the question - did tigers or lions live in prehistoric Europe? It turned out - the second. Ancient drawings of cave lions always show them without a mane, which suggests that, unlike their African or Indian relatives, they either did not have one, or it was not so impressive. Often these images show the tuft on the tail characteristic of lions. The coloring of the wool, apparently, was one-color.
In Paleolithic art for the most part there are drawings of animals from the "menu" of primitive people - bulls, horses, deer (although this is not entirely accurate: it is known, for example, that for the inhabitants of Lasko the main "forage" animal was reindeer, while on the walls of the cave it is found in single copies). In general, one way or another, commercial ungulates predominate. Chauvet in this sense is unique in the abundance of images of predators - cave lions and bears, as well as rhinos. It makes sense to dwell on the latter in more detail. Such a number of rhinos, as in Chauvet, is no longer found in any cave.
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It is noteworthy that the first "artists" who left their mark on the walls of some Paleolithic caves, including Chauvet, were ... bears: in places, engraving and painting were done right on top of the traces of mighty claws, the so-called griffads.
In the late Pleistocene, at least two species of bears could coexist: brown bears have survived to this day, and their relatives - cave bears (large and small) died out, unable to adapt to the damp dusk of the caves. The big cave bear wasn't just big, it was huge. Its weight reached 800-900 kg, the diameter of the found skulls is about half a meter. From a fight with such an animal in the depths of a cave, a person, most likely, could not have emerged victorious, but some zoologists are inclined to assume that, despite the frightening size, this animal was slow, non-aggressive and did not pose a real danger.
An image of a cave bear made in red ocher in one of the first rooms.
The oldest Russian paleozoologist, Professor N.K. Vereshchagin believes that "among the hunters of the Stone Age, cave bears were a kind of beef cattle that did not require care for grazing and feeding." The appearance of the cave bear is conveyed in Chauvet as distinctly nowhere. It seems to have played a special role in the life of primitive communities: the beast was depicted on rocks and pebbles, its figurines were molded from clay, its teeth were used as pendants, the skin probably served as a bed, the skull was preserved for ritual purposes. So, in Chauvet, a similar skull was found, resting on a rocky foundation, which most likely indicates the existence of a bear cult.
The woolly rhinoceros died out a little earlier than the mammoth (according to various sources, from 15-20 to 10 thousand years ago), and, at least, in the drawings of the Madeleine period (15-10 thousand years BC), it almost never meets. In Chauvet, we generally see a two-horned rhinoceros with larger horns, without any trace of wool. Perhaps this is Merck's rhinoceros, which lived in southern Europe, but is much rarer than its woolly relative. The length of its front horn could be up to 1.30 m. In a word, the monster was something else.
There are practically no images of people. There are only chimera-like figures - for example, a man with a bison's head. No traces of human habitation were found in the Chauvet cave, but in some places on the floor footprints of the primitive visitors of the cave were preserved. According to researchers, the cave was a place for magical rituals.
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Previously, researchers believed that several stages could be distinguished in the development of primitive painting. At first, the drawings were very primitive. The skill came later, with experience. More than one thousand years had to pass for the drawings on the walls of the caves to reach their perfection.
Chauvet's discovery shattered this theory. The French archaeologist Jean Clott, having carefully examined Chauvet, stated that our ancestors must have learned to draw even before moving to Europe. And they arrived here about 35,000 years ago. The most ancient images from the Chauvet cave are very perfect works of painting, in which one can see both perspective and chiaroscuro, and different angles, etc.
Interestingly, the artists of the Chauvet Cave used methods not applicable anywhere else. Before drawing the picture, the walls were scraped and leveled. Ancient artists, having first scratched the contours of the animal, gave them the necessary volume with paints. "The people who painted this were great artists," confirms French rock-artist Jean Clotte.
A detailed study of the cave will take more than a dozen years. However, it is already clear that its total length is more than 500 m at one level, the height of the ceilings is from 15 to 30 m. Four successive "halls" and numerous side branches. In the first two rooms, the images are made in red ocher. In the third - engravings and black figures. There are many bones of ancient animals in the cave, and in one of the halls there are traces of the cultural layer. Found about 300 images. The painting is well preserved.
(source - Flickr.com)
There is speculation that such images with multiple contours layered on top of each other are some kind of primitive animation. When a torch was quickly moved along the drawing in a cave immersed in darkness, the rhinoceros "came to life", and one can imagine what effect this had on the cave "spectators" - the "Arrival of the train" by the Lumiere brothers is resting.
There are other considerations in this regard. For example, that a group of animals is thus depicted in perspective. Nevertheless, the same Herzog in his film adheres to "our" version, and you can trust him in matters of "moving pictures".
Now the Chauvet cave is closed to public access, since any noticeable change in air humidity can damage the wall paintings. The right of access, only for a few hours and subject to restrictions, can be obtained by only a few archaeologists. The cave has been cut off from the outside world since the Ice Age due to the fall of the rock in front of its entrance.
The drawings of the Chauvet cave amaze with the knowledge of the laws of perspective (the drawings of mammoths overlapping each other) and the ability to cast shadows - until now it was believed that this technique was discovered several millennia later. And for a whole eternity before the idea dawned on Seurat, primitive artists discovered pointillism: the image of one animal, it seems to be a bison, consists entirely of red dots.
But the most surprising thing is that, as already mentioned, the artists prefer rhinos, lions, cave bears and mammoths. Usually, the animals that were hunted served as models for rock art. "From all the bestiaries of that era, artists choose the most predatory, most dangerous animals," says archaeologist Margaret Conkey from the University of Berkeley in California. Depicting animals that were clearly not on the menu of the Paleolithic cuisine, but symbolized danger, strength, power, the artists, according to Klott, "learned their essence."
Archaeologists have paid attention to how exactly the images are included in the space of the wall. In one of the halls, a cave bear without a lower body is depicted in red ocher, so that it seems, Clott says, "as if he were coming out of the wall." In the same hall, archaeologists also found images of two stone goats. The horns of one of them are natural crevices in the wall, which the artist expanded.
Image of a horse in a niche (source - Donsmaps.com)
Rock art clearly played a significant role in the spiritual life of prehistoric people. This can be confirmed by two large triangles (symbols of the feminine and fertility?) and the image of a creature with human legs, but with the head and body of a buffalo. Probably, the people of the Stone Age hoped in this way to appropriate at least partially the power of animals. The cave bear, apparently, occupied a special position. 55 bear skulls, one of which lies on a fallen boulder, as if on an altar, suggest a cult of this beast. Which also explains the choice of the Chauvet cave by the artists - dozens of potholes in the floor indicate that it was a hibernation place for giant bears.
Ancient people came again and again to look at the rock art. The 10-meter "horse panel" shows traces of soot left by torches that were fixed in the wall after it was covered with paintings. These tracks, according to Konka, are on top of a layer of mineralized deposits covering the images. If painting is the first step towards spirituality, then the ability to appreciate it is undoubtedly the second.
At least 6 books and dozens of scientific articles have been published about Chauvet Cave, not counting sensational materials in the general press, four large albums of beautiful color illustrations with accompanying text have been published and translated into major European languages. The documentary film "The Cave of Forgotten Dreams 3D" is released on December 15 in Russia. The director of the picture is the German Werner Herzog.
picture Cave of Forgotten Dreams appreciated at the 61st Berlin Film Festival. More than a million people went to see the film. It is the highest grossing documentary film of 2011.
According to new data, the age of the coal with which the drawings on the wall of the Chauvet cave are drawn is 36,000 years old, and not 31,000, as previously thought.
Refined methods of radiocarbon dating show that the settlement modern man(Homo sapiens) of Central and Western Europe began 3,000 years earlier than thought, and happened faster. The time of joint residence of sapiens and Neanderthals in most parts of Europe has decreased from about 10 to 6 or less thousand years. The final extinction of European Neanderthals may also have occurred several millennia earlier.
Renowned British archaeologist Paul Mellars has published a review of recent advances in radiocarbon dating that have significantly changed our understanding of the chronology of events that took place more than 25,000 years ago.
Accuracy of radiocarbon dating in last years increased sharply due to two factors. First, there appeared methods of high-quality purification of organic substances, primarily collagen, isolated from ancient bones, from all impurities. When it comes to very ancient samples, even a tiny admixture of foreign carbon can lead to serious distortions. For example, if a 40,000-year-old sample contains only 1% of modern carbon, this would reduce the "radiocarbon age" by as much as 7,000 years. As it turned out, most of the ancient archaeological finds contain such impurities, so their age was systematically underestimated.
The second source of errors, which has finally been eliminated, is related to the fact that the content of the radioactive isotope 14C in the atmosphere (and, consequently, in the organic matter formed in different epochs) is not constant. The bones of people and animals that lived during periods of high levels of 14C in the atmosphere initially contained more of this isotope than expected, and therefore their age was again underestimated. In recent years, a number of extremely accurate measurements have been made that have made it possible to reconstruct the fluctuations of 14C in the atmosphere over the past 50 millennia. For this, unique marine deposits were used in some areas of the World Ocean, where precipitation accumulated very quickly, Greenland ice, cave stalagmites, coral reefs, etc. In all these cases, it was possible to compare radiocarbon dates for each layer with others obtained on the basis of ratios of oxygen isotopes 18O/16O or uranium and thorium.
As a result, correction scales and tables were developed, which made it possible to sharply improve the accuracy of radiocarbon dating of samples older than 25 thousand years. What did the updated dates say?
Previously it was believed that people modern type(Homo sapiens) appeared in southeastern Europe about 45,000 years ago. From here they gradually settled in a western and northwestern direction. The settlement of Central and Western Europe continued, according to "uncorrected" radiocarbon dates, for about 7 thousand years (43-36 thousand years ago); the average advance rate is 300 meters per year. Refined dates show that the settlement was faster and began earlier (46-41 thousand years ago; the rate of advancement is up to 400 meters per year). Approximately at the same rate, an agricultural culture later spread in Europe (10-6 thousand years ago), which also came from the Middle East. It is curious that both waves of settlement followed two parallel paths: the first along the Mediterranean coast from Israel to Spain, the second along the Danube valley, from the Balkans to South Germany and further to Western France.
In addition, it turned out that the period of cohabitation modern people and Neanderthals in most parts of Europe was significantly shorter than thought (not 10,000 years, but only about 6,000), and in some areas, for example, in western France, even less - only 1-2 thousand years. According to updated dates , some of the brightest examples of cave painting turned out to be much older than it was thought; the beginning of the Orignac era, marked by the appearance of various complex products made of bone and horn, also moved back in time (41,000 thousand years ago, according to new ideas).
Paul Mellars believes that the earlier published dates of the latest Neanderthal sites (in Spain and Croatia, both sites, according to "unspecified" radiocarbon dating, are 31-28 thousand years old) also need to be revised. In fact, these finds are most likely several millennia older.
All this shows that the indigenous Neanderthal population of Europe fell under the onslaught of the Middle Eastern newcomers much faster than thought. The superiority of the sapiens - technological or social - was too great, and neither the physical strength of the Neanderthals, nor their endurance, nor their adaptability to the cold climate could save the doomed race.
Chauvet's painting is amazing in many ways. Take, for example, angles. It was common for cave artists to depict animals in profile. Of course, this is also typical for most of the drawings here, but there are breaks, as in the above fragment, where the bison's muzzle is given in three quarters. In the following figure, you can also see a rare frontal image:
Maybe this is an illusion, but a distinct feeling of composition is created - the lions are sniffing in anticipation of their prey, but they still do not see the bison, and he clearly tensed up and froze, feverishly thinking where to run. True, judging by the dull look, it looks bad.
Remarkable running bison:
(source - Donsmaps.com)
At the same time, the "face" of each horse is purely individual:
(source - istmira.com)
The following panel with horses is probably the most famous and widely distributed among the people from the images of Chauvet:
(source - popular-archaeology.com)
In the recently released science fiction film Prometheus, the cave, which promises the discovery of an extraterrestrial civilization that once visited our planet, is copied clean from Chauvet, including this wonderful group, to which people who are completely inappropriate here are added.
Frame from the film "Prometheus" (dir. R. Scott, 2012)
You and I both know that there are no people on the walls of the Chauvet. What is not, is not. There are bulls.
(source - Donsmaps.com)
During the Pliocene and especially during the Pleistocene, ancient hunters exerted significant pressure on nature. The idea that the extinction of the mammoth, woolly rhinoceros, cave bear, cave lion is associated with warming and the end of the ice age was first questioned by the Ukrainian paleontologist I.G. Pidoplichko, who expressed the then-seemingly seditious hypothesis that man was to blame for the extinction of the mammoth. Later discoveries confirmed the validity of these assumptions. The development of methods of radiocarbon analysis showed that the last mammoths ( Elephas primigenius) lived at the very end of the Ice Age, and in some places survived until the beginning of the Holocene. The remains of a thousand mammoths were found at the Predmost site of a Paleolithic man (Czechoslovakia). There are mass finds of mammoth bones (more than 2 thousand individuals) at the Volchya Griva site near Novosibirsk, which are 12 thousand years old. The last mammoths in Siberia lived only 8-9 thousand years ago. The destruction of the mammoth as a species is undoubtedly the result of the activities of ancient hunters.
An important character in Chauvet's painting was a big-horned deer.
The art of the Upper Paleolithic animalists, along with paleontological and archaeozoological finds, serves as an important source of information about what animals our ancestors hunted. Until recently, the Late Paleolithic drawings from the Lascaux caves in France (17 thousand years) and Altamira in Spain (15 thousand years) were considered the oldest and most complete, but later the Chauvet cave was discovered, which gives us new spectrum images of the mammalian fauna of that time. Along with relatively rare drawings of a mammoth (among them is an image of a mammoth, strikingly reminiscent of the mammoth Dima discovered in the permafrost of the Magadan Region) or an alpine ibex ( Capra ibex) there are many images of two-horned rhinos, cave bears ( Ursus spelaeus), cave lions ( Panthera spelaea), tarpanov ( Equus gmelini).
The images of rhinos in the Chauvet Cave raise many questions. This is undoubtedly not a woolly rhinoceros - the drawings depict a two-horned rhinoceros with larger horns, without traces of wool, with a pronounced skin fold, characteristic of living species for a single-horned Indian rhinoceros ( Rhinocerus indicus). Maybe it's Merck's rhinoceros ( Dicerorhinus kirchbergensis), who survived in southern Europe until the end of the Late Pleistocene? However, if from the woolly rhinoceros, which was the object of hunting in the Paleolithic and disappeared by the beginning of the Neolithic, rather numerous remnants of skin with hair, horny growths on the skull were preserved (even the only stuffed animal of this species in the world is kept in Lvov), then from the Merck rhinoceros we have come down to only bone remains, and keratin "horns" were not preserved. Thus, the discovery in the Chauvet Cave raises the question: what kind of rhino was known to its inhabitants? Why are the rhinos from the Chauvet Cave shown in herds? It is very likely that Paleolithic hunters are also to blame for the disappearance of the Merck rhinoceros.
Paleolithic art does not know the concepts of good and evil. Both the peacefully grazing rhinoceros and the lions ensconced in ambush are parts of a single nature, from which the artist himself does not separate himself. Of course, you can’t get into the head of a Cro-Magnon man and you can’t talk “for life” when you meet, but I can understand and at least understand the idea that art at the dawn of mankind still does not oppose nature in any way, a person is in harmony with the outside world. Every thing, every stone or tree, not to mention animals, is considered by him as carrying meaning, as if the whole world were a huge living museum. At the same time, there is no reflection yet, and the questions of being are not raised. This is such a pre-cultural, heavenly state. Of course, we will not be able to fully feel it (as well as return to paradise), but suddenly we will be able to at least touch it, communicating through tens of millennia with the authors of these amazing creations.
We do not see them resting alone. Always hunting, and always almost a whole pride.
In general, the admiration of primitive man for the huge, strong and fast animals surrounding him, whether it be a big-horned deer, a bison or a bear, is understandable. It is even somehow ridiculous to put yourself next to them. He didn't set it. There is much to learn from us, who fill our virtual “caves” with immeasurable quantities of our own or family photographs. Yes, something, but narcissism was not characteristic of the first people. But the same bear was depicted with the greatest care and trepidation:
The gallery ends with the strangest drawing in the Chauvet, with a definite cult purpose. It is located in the farthest corner of the grotto and is made on a rocky ledge, which has (for good reason, presumably) a phallic shape.
In literature, this character is usually referred to as a "sorcerer" or taurocephalus. In addition to the bull's head, we see another, lion's, female legs and a deliberately enlarged, let's say, bosom, which forms the center of the entire composition. Against the background of their colleagues in the Paleolithic workshop, the craftsmen who painted this sanctuary look like pretty avant-garde artists. We know individual images of the so-called. "venus", male sorcerers in the form of animals and even scenes hinting at the intercourse of an ungulate with a woman, but to mix all of the above so thickly ... It is assumed (see, for example, http://www.ancient-wisdom.co.uk/ francech auvet.htm) that the image of the female body was the earliest, and the heads of a lion and a bull were completed later. Interestingly, there is no overlay of later drawings on the previous ones. Obviously, the preservation of the integrity of the composition was part of the artist's plans.
and look again at andAltamira is a vast limestone cave in northern Spain, near the city of Santander, in the Cantabrian mountains. Today it has gained worldwide fame thanks to the oldest rock carvings of animals found here. It is called the Sistine Chapel of Primitive Art.
The name of the Spanish amateur archaeologist Don Marcelino de Sautuola, the discoverer of the murals of Altamira, has gone down in history forever. Don Marcelino de Sautuola was a lawyer by profession and an explorer and archaeologist by vocation. The entrance to the cave was buried in antiquity, and was found in 1868 by the local hunter Modesto Cubillas Perez. Soon everyone in this district already knew about the existence of the cave, shepherds hid here from bad weather and hunters arranged a halt. Rumors spread about the beauty and secrets of the cave. Such a lover of antiquities as Sautuola, of course, could not remain indifferent. Having found the entrance to the cave, he lit a candle and, feeling the walls, began to make his way along a narrow passage into its very depths. Soon he found himself inside a room that resembled the dwelling of an ancient man.
I first came to Sautuola Cave in 1875. Here he found bones and teeth of ancient animals, the skeleton of a cave bear. The cave attracted and bewitched.
Returning to Altamira in November 1879, he began excavations in the cave and discovered new stone tools, bones, and traces of a Paleolithic hearth. One day, he took his nine-year-old daughter Maria with him to the excavations. She was a little scared, but then the girl got used to it and climbed into the very depths. Everything was so interesting and mysterious! Huge icicles-stalactites hung from the ceiling, casting mysterious and bizarre shadows in the uneven candlelight. Everything here was interesting for Mary, and her height allowed her to freely examine the vaults of the cave where her father could only pass by bending over. Therefore, it is not surprising that it was the girl who unexpectedly discovered amazing drawings on the low ceiling of the side grotto that covered the dark vaults of the cave. Suddenly the girl saw bulls. Maria dropped the candle and rushed to her father with a loud cry. Her exclamation: “Daddy, bulls!!!” entered the history of archeology. These were unusually realistic images of bulls one and a half to two meters in size. "Where do the bulls come from?" Her father reassured her. But when the archaeologist looked at the drawings, he himself became very excited. Amazing drawings of an ancient man were opened before the father and daughter. Primitive artists depicted mammoths, bison, horses, cave lions in their works. These paintings are characterized by simplicity of execution and amazing accuracy with which primitive artists painted animals. When they first saw the drawings, medieval scholars doubted their authenticity. Only years later, similar drawings were discovered in the caves of France and the Urals. Among the drawings were images of extinct animals, which proved that they were drawn by a primitive man! The world-famous Shulgan-Tash (Kapova) cave is located in the Southern Urals in hard-to-reach forest places, where Asia meets Europe. It is located on the right bank of the Agidel River. The cave attracts people to itself now just as it did in ancient times. In the pitch darkness of underground halls, on uneven walls, an ancient man painted his first pictures here.
For fourteen thousand years separating us from that time, the cave has safely hidden the works of ancient artists under a layer of streaks, waiting for the hour when, found again, they will be duly appreciated by distant descendants.
They entered, exhausted by the storm,
Settled in a cave for the night ...
With his hand, he wiped her frozen cheeks from her cheeks,
Cold frost, and snow removed from the eyelashes.
Very tired, went skiing * for a long time
And did they check if there was game in the snares?
They carried booty and simple luggage
In their leather shoulder bags.
The man looked at his friend
She looked sad and bright ...
He took pity on her and said: Dear!
We were lucky with our overnight stay.
He made a fire from damp branches.
The fire flared up a little, but smoked.
I made a bed out of spruce paws,
And put the skin of the beast on top.
How the companion settled comfortably,
Curled up in silence.
And so firmly, like a child, instantly fell asleep,
Sobbing plaintively about something in a dream.
How many things happened to them during the day!
We fell into the snow, but we continued on.
In the darkness, an insidious lynx attacked ...
The man saved them black toy nights.
He looked anxiously at his girlfriend -
Tired, the shadows of the eyelids became clearer.
She slept so sweetly, serenely.
They found a wonderful lodging for the night here!
The darkness around was immeasurable, endless...
Outside the walls of the cave, the world did not sleep.
About something forest owls hooted,
The polar wolf howled lingeringly...
The primitive world was alive and close.
Here everyone needs to keep their ears open!
A man threw twigs into the fire,
The fire burned so bright and warm!
The man hid his girlfriend affectionately.
How the hair fell apart! Tender!
I thought: I'll make a gift cute,
I'll draw the animals for her at night.
One of the walls of the cave is very smooth.
The artist drew a line instantly.
And I realized - I can draw freely,
Coal glided so deftly in his hands.
Here is the wolf! They ran away from the beast yesterday
Fierce skiing across the pond...
Here is the seal that dived from them,
Having made a hole briskly in thin ice.
The artist painted everything, as if in a frenzy.
And the ancient world appeared here as if alive.
When that girlfriend wakes up in the morning,
Then he exclaims with admiration: You are my friend!
And smile gently, winged...
The man drew, drew, created...
When tired, then froze, amazed -
The primitive world on the wall came to life at that moment.
Years passed... Millennia passed.
Our contemporary wandered in that region.
Settled to spend the night in a cave
And he spread out his sleeping bag.
I lit the flashlight... Illuminating everything brightly.
A trembling ray glided along the wall ...
And the man suddenly screamed with delight.
That ray revealed an ancient drawing to us ...
* In the thirties of the 20th century, petroglyphs were found - carved images on a stone basis - with images of skiers and ski tracks in Karelia in the town of Zalavruga. An image of a skier, which is about 4 thousand years old, was found in the White Sea region.
Photo from the Internet - Drawings of an ancient man.
Reviews
The discovery of an ancient rock painting in a Gibraltar cave, which scientists believe was made by Neanderthals about 39,000 years ago, has become a real sensation in the scientific world. If the discovery turns out to be true, then history will have to be rewritten, because it turns out that the Neanderthals were not at all primitively stupid savages, as is commonly believed today. In our review, there are a dozen unique rock paintings that were found at different times and made a splash in the world of science.
1. Rock of the white shaman
This 4,000-year-old ancient rock art is located in the lower reaches of the Pecoe River in Texas. The giant image (3.5 m) shows the central figure surrounded by other people performing some rituals. It is assumed that the figure of a shaman is depicted in the center, and the picture itself depicts the cult of some forgotten ancient religion.
2. Kakadu Park
national park Kakadu is one of the most beautiful places for tourists in Australia. It is especially valued for its rich cultural heritage - the park has an impressive collection of local Aboriginal art. Some of the rock paintings at Kakadu (which has been listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site) are nearly 20,000 years old.
3. Chauvet Cave
Another UNESCO World Heritage Site is located in the south of France. More than 1000 different images can be found in Chauvet Cave, most of them animal and anthropomorphic figures. These are some of the oldest images known to man: their age dates back to 30,000 - 32,000 years. About 20,000 years ago, the cave was filled with stones and it has been preserved in excellent condition to this day.
4. Cueva de El Castillo
In Spain, the "Cave Cave" or Cueva de El Castillo was recently discovered, on the walls of which the oldest rock paintings in Europe were found, their age is 4,000 years older than all the rock paintings that were previously found in the Old World. Most images show handprints and simple geometric shapes, although there are also images of strange animals. One of the drawings, a simple red disk, was made 40,800 years ago. It is assumed that these paintings were made by Neanderthals.
5. Laas Gaal
Some of the most ancient and well-preserved rock paintings on the African continent can be found in Somalia, in the Laas Gaal (Camel Well) cave complex. Despite the fact that they are "only" 5,000 to 12,000 years old, these rock paintings are perfectly preserved. They depict mainly animals and people in ceremonial robes and various decorations. Unfortunately, this remarkable cultural site is not eligible for World Heritage status as it is located in an area where there is constant war.
6. Bhimbetka rock dwellings
The rock dwellings at Bhimbetka represent some of the earliest traces of human life on the Indian subcontinent. In natural rock shelters, there are paintings on the walls that are about 30,000 years old. These paintings represent the period of development of civilization from the Mesolithic to the end of prehistoric times. The drawings depict animals and people in daily activities such as hunting, religious ceremonies and, interestingly, dancing.
7. Magura
In Bolgari, the rock paintings found in the Magura cave are not very old - they are between 4,000 and 8,000 years old. They are interesting with the material that was used to apply the images - guano (litter) bat. In addition, the cave itself was formed millions of years ago and other archaeological artifacts, such as the bones of extinct animals (for example, a cave bear).
8. Cueva de las Manos
The "Cave of Hands" in Argentina is famous for its extensive collection of prints and images of human hands. This rock painting dates back to 9,000 - 13,000 years. The cave itself (more precisely, the cave system) was used by ancient people as early as 1,500 years ago. Also in Cueva de las Manos you can find various geometric figures and images of hunting.
9. Altamira Cave
The paintings found in the cave of Altamira in Spain are considered a masterpiece of ancient culture. The stone paintings of the Upper Paleolithic (14,000-20,000 years old) are in exceptional condition. As in the Chauvet cave, a collapse sealed the entrance to this cave about 13,000 years ago, so the images remained in their original form. In fact, these drawings are so well preserved that when they were first discovered in the 19th century, scientists thought they were fake. It took a long time until technology made it possible to confirm the authenticity of the rock art. Since then, the cave has proved so popular with tourists that it had to be closed in the late 1970s because a large number of carbon dioxide from the breath of visitors began to lead to the destruction of the painting.
10. Lascaux Cave
This is by far the most famous and most significant collection of rock art in the world. Some of the most beautiful 17,000 year old paintings in the world can be found in this cave system in France. They are very complex, very carefully made and at the same time perfectly preserved. Unfortunately, the cave was closed over 50 years ago due to the fact that under the influence of carbon dioxide exhaled by visitors, the unique images began to collapse. In 1983, a reproduction of a part of the cave called Lasko 2 was discovered.
Of great interest are and. They will be of interest not only to professional historians and art critics, but also to everyone who is interested in history.
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