Why did our ancestors living in Southern France Nearly 20 thousand years ago think it was important to create beautiful paintings of animals? Sept 12, 1940 The famous caves at Lascaux in France located near the village of Montignac, in the department of Dordogne, was discovered by 18-year-old Marcel Ravidat. Ravidat returned to the scene with three friends, Jacques Marsal, Georges Agnel, and Simon Coencas and their dog Robot, and entered the cave via a long shaft. The teenagers discovered that the cave walls were covered with depictions of animals. They contain some of the best-known Upper Paleolithic art. These paintings are estimated to be 17,300 to 19,000 years old painted by our Cromagnan ancestors. They primarily consist of images of large animals, most of which are known from fossil evidence to have lived in the area at the time. Hundreds of paintings of animals — and just one human — adorned the white calcite walls of what has since been billed the “Sistine Chapel of prehistoric art.” Some paintings showed an ability to draw perspective that experts thought hadnt fully developed until the Renaissance. It makes one wonder what is that we think us important that we capture in art produced by our own hands.
Posted on: Fri, 12 Sep 2014 20:54:25 +0000