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1. Cave Paintings In India
2. Famous Cave Paintings
3. Cave Paintings At Lascaux

A World Heritage Site, Bhimbetka Caves in Madhya Pradesh are known for their prehistoric art and architecture.

The Bhimbetka rock shelters are an archaeological site in central India that spans the prehistoric paleolithic and mesolithic periods, as well as the historic period.^[1][2] It exhibits the earliest traces of human life on the Indian subcontinent and evidence of Stone Age starting at the site in Acheulian times.^[3][4][5] It is located in the Raisen District in the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh about 45 kilometres (28 mi) southeast of Bhopal. It is a UNESCO world heritage site that consists of seven hills and over 750 rock shelters distributed over 10 kilometres (6.2 mi).^[2][6] At least some of the shelters were inhabited more than 100,000 years ago.^[2][7] The rock shelters and caves provide evidence of, according to Encyclopædia Britannica, a 'rare glimpse' into human settlement and cultural evolution from hunter-gatherers, to agriculture, and expressions of spirituality.^[8]

Some of the Bhimbetka rock shelters feature prehistoric cave paintings and the earliest are about 30,000 years old.^[9] These cave paintings show themes such as animals, early evidence of dance and hunting.^[10][11] The Bhimbetka site has the oldest known rock art in the Indian subcontinent,^[12] as well as is one of the largest prehistoric complexes.^[8][13]

Etymology[edit]

The name Bhimbetka (भीमबेटका) is associated with Bhima, a hero-deity of the epic Mahabharata.^[14] The word Bhimbetka is said to derive from Bhimbaithka (भीमबैठका), meaning 'sitting place of Bhima'.^[14]

Location[edit]

The Rock Shelters of Bhimbetka is 45 kilometers southeast of Bhopal and 9 km from Obedullaganj city in the Raisen District of Madhya Pradesh at the southern edge of the Vindhya hills. South of these rock shelters are successive ranges of the Satpura hills. It is inside the Ratapani Wildlife Sanctuary, embedded in sandstone rocks, in the foothills of the Vindhya Range.^[8][15] The site consists of seven hills: Vinayaka, Bhonrawali, Bhimbetka, Lakha Juar (east and west), Jhondra and Muni Babaki Pahari.^[1]

History[edit]

W. Kincaid, a British India era official, first mentioned Bhimbetka in a scholarly paper in 1888. He relied on the information he gathered from local adivasis (tribals) about Bhojpur lake in the area and referred to Bhimbetka as a Buddhist site.^[16] The first archaeologist to visit a few caves at the site and discover its prehistoric significance was V. S. Wakankar, who saw these rock formations and thought these were similar to those he had seen in Spain and France. He visited the area with a team of archaeologists and reported several prehistoric rock shelters in 1957.^[17]

It was only in the 1970s that the scale and true significance of the Bhimbetka rock shelters was discovered and reported.^[16] Since then, more than 750 rock shelters have been identified. The Bhimbetka group contains 243 of these, while the Lakha Juar group nearby has 178 shelters. According to Archaeological Survey of India, the evidence suggests that there has been a continuous human settlement here from the Stone Age through the late Acheulian to the late Mesolithic until the 2nd-century BCE in these hills. This is based on excavations at the site, the discovered artifacts and wares, pigments in deposits, as well as the rock paintings.^[18]

The site contains the world’s oldest stone walls and floors.^[19]

Barkheda has been identified as the source of the raw materials used in some of the monoliths discovered at Bhimbetka.^[20]

The site consisting of 1,892 hectares was declared as protected under Indian laws and came under the management of the Archaeological Survey of India in 1990.^[21] It was declared as a world heritage site by UNESCO in 2003.^[8][22]

Auditorium cave[edit]

Of the numerous shelters, the Auditorium cave is one of the significant features of the site. Surrounded by quartzite towers which are visible from several kilometers distance, the Auditorium rock is the largest shelter at Bhimbetka. Robert Bednarik describes the prehistoric Auditorium cave as one with a 'cathedral-like' atmosphere, with 'its Gothic arches and soaring spaces'.^[23] Its plan resembles a 'right-angled cross' with four of its branches aligned to the four cardinal directions. The main entrance points to the east. At the end of this eastern passage, at the cave's entrance, is a boulder with a near-vertical panel that is distinctive, one visible from distance and all directions. In archaeology literature, this boulder has been dubbed as 'Chief's Rock' or 'King's Rock', though there is no evidence of any rituals or its role as such.^[23][24][25] The boulder with the Auditorium Cave is the central feature of the Bhimbetka, midst its 754 numbered shelters spread over few kilometers on either side, and nearly 500 locations where rock paintings can be found, states Bednarik.^[23]

Rock art and paintings[edit]

• The only painting in the caves showing, 'a man' being hunted by a beast, a horned boar

• Mesolithic dancers at Bhimbetka

• An eroded painting in the Bhimbetka caves shows 'Nataraj' dancing and holding a trishula or trident

The rock shelters and caves of Bhimbetka have a large number of paintings. The oldest paintings are found to be 30,000 years old, but some of the geometric figures date to as recently as the medieval period. The colors used are vegetable colors which have endured through time because the drawings were generally made deep inside a niche or on inner walls. The drawings and paintings can be classified under seven different periods.

Period I – (Upper Paleolithic): These are linear representations, in green and dark red, of huge figures of animals such as bison, tigers and rhinoceroses.

Period II – (Mesolithic): Comparatively small in size the stylised figures in this group show linear decorations on the body. In addition to animals there are human figures and hunting scenes, giving a clear picture of the weapons they used: barbed spears, pointed sticks, bows and arrows.^[10][11][26] Some scenes are interpreted as depicting tribal war between three tribes symbolised by their animal totems.^[1][27] The depiction of communal dances, birds, musical instruments, mothers and children, pregnant women, men carrying dead animals, drinking and burials appear in rhythmic movement.^[10][11][26]

Period III – (Chalcolithic) Similar to the paintings of the Mesolithic, these drawings reveal that during this period the cave dwellers of this area were in contact with the agricultural communities of the Malwa plains, exchanging goods with them.

Period IV & V – (Early historic): The figures of this group have a schematic and decorative style and are painted mainly in red, white and yellow. The association is of riders, depiction of religious symbols, tunic-like dresses and the existence of scripts of different periods. The religious beliefs are represented by figures of yakshas, tree gods and magical sky chariots.^{[citation needed]}

Period VI & VII – (Medieval): These paintings are geometric linear and more schematic, but they show degeneration and crudeness in their artistic style. The colors used by the cave dwellers were prepared by combining black manganese oxides, red hematite and charcoal.

One rock, popularly referred to as 'Zoo Rock', depicts elephants, barasingha (swamp deer), bison and deer. Paintings on another rock show a peacock, a snake, a deer and the sun. On another rock, two elephants with tusks are painted. Hunting scenes with hunters carrying bows, arrows, swords, and shields also find their place in the community of these pre-historic paintings. In one of the caves, a bison is shown in pursuit of a hunter while his two companions appear to stand helplessly nearby; in another, some horsemen are seen, along with archers. In one painting, a large wild boar is seen.^{[citation needed]}

The paintings are classified largely in two groups, one as depiction of hunters and food gatherers, while other one as fighters, riding on horses and elephant carrying metal weapons. the first group of paintings dates to prehistoric times while second one dates to historic times.^[28][29] Most of the paintings from historic period depicts battles between the rulers carrying swords, spears, bows and arrows.^[29]

In one of the desolate rock shelters, the painting of a man holding a trident-like staff and dancing has been named 'Nataraj' by archaeologist V. S. Wakankar.^[30][31] It is estimated that paintings in at least 100 rockshelters might have been eroded away.^[32]

See also[edit]

• Cumbe Mayo, Peru

References[edit]

1. ^ ^abcPeter N. Peregrine; Melvin Ember (2003). Encyclopedia of Prehistory: Volume 8: South and Southwest Asia. Springer Science. pp. 315–317. ISBN978-0-306-46262-7.
2. ^ ^abcJavid, Ali and Javeed, Tabassum (2008), World Heritage Monuments and Related Edifices in India, Algora Publishing, 2008, pages 15–19
3. ^'Chronology of Indian prehistory from the Mesolithic period to the Iron Age'. The microlithic occupation there is the last one, as the Stone Age started there with Acheulian times. These rock shelters have been used to light fires even up to recent times by the tribals. This is re-fleeted in the scatter of 14C dates from Bhimbetka
4. ^Kerr, Gordon (25 May 2017). A Short History of India: From the Earliest Civilisations to Today's Economic Powerhouse. Oldcastle Books Ltd. p. 17. ISBN9781843449232.
5. ^Neda Hosse in Tehrani; Shahida Ansari; Kamyar Abdi (2016). 'ANTHROPOGENIC PROCESSES IN CAVES/ROCK SHELTERS IN IZEH PLAIN (IRAN) AND BHIMBETKA REGION (INDIA): AN ETHNO-ARCHAEOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVE'. Bulletin of the Deccan College Research Institute. 76: 237–248. JSTOR26264790. the rock shelter site of Bhimbetka in Madhya Pradesh exhibits the earliest traces of human life
6. ^Rock Shelters of Bhimbetka: Advisory Body Evaluation, UNESCO, pages 43–44
7. ^Rock Shelters of Bhimbetka: Advisory Body Evaluation, UNESCO, pages 14–15
8. ^ ^abcdBhimbetka rock shelters, Encyclopaedia Britannica
9. ^Klaus K. Klostermaier (1989), A survey of Hinduism, SUNY Press, ISBN978-0-88706-807-2, .. prehistoric cave paintings at Bhimbetka (ca. 30000 BCE) ..
10. ^ ^abcYashodhar Mathpal, 1984, Prehistoric Painting Of Bhimbetka, Page 214.
11. ^ ^abcM. L. Varad Pande, Manohar Laxman Varadpande, 1987, History of Indian Theatre, Volume 1, Page 57.
12. ^Deborah M. Pearsall (2008). Encyclopedia of archaeology. Elsevier Academic Press. pp. 1949–1951. ISBN978-0-12-373643-7.
13. ^Jo McDonald; Peter Veth (2012). A Companion to Rock Art. John Wiley & Sons. pp. 291–293. ISBN978-1-118-25392-2.
14. ^ ^abMathpal, Yashodhar. Prehistoric Painting Of Bhimbetka. 1984, page 25
15. ^Rock Shelters of Bhimbetka: Continuity through Antiquity, Art & Environment, Archaeological Survey of India, UNESCO, pages 14–18, 22–23, 30–33
16. ^ ^abRock Shelters of Bhimbetka: Continuity through Antiquity, Art & Environment, Archaeological Survey of India, UNESCO, page 54
17. ^'Rock Shelters of Bhimbetka'. World Heritage Site. Archived from the original on 8 March 2007. Retrieved 15 February 2007.
18. ^Rock Shelters of Bhimbetka: Continuity through Antiquity, Art & Environment, Archaeological Survey of India, UNESCO, pages 15–16, 22–23, 45, 54–60
19. ^Kalyan Kumar Chakravarty; Robert G. Bednarik. Indian Rock Art and Its Global Context. Motilal Banarsidass. p. 29.
20. ^'Bhimbetka (India) No. 925'(PDF). UNESCO World Heritage Centre. Retrieved 28 April 2012.
21. ^Rock Shelters of Bhimbetka: Continuity through Antiquity, Art & Environment, Archaeological Survey of India, UNESCO, pages 10, 53
22. ^World Heritage Sites – Rock Shelters of Bhimbetka, Archaeological Survey of India
23. ^ ^abcRobert G Bednarik (1996), The cupules on Chief's Rock, Auditorium Cave, Bhimbetka, The Artifact: Journal of the Archaeological and Anthropological Society of Victoria, Volume 19, pages 63–71
24. ^Robert Bednarik (1993), Palaeolithic Art in India, Man and Environment, Volume 18, Number 2, pages 33–40
25. ^Singh, Manoj Kumar (2014). 'Bhimbetka Rockshelters'. Encyclopedia of Global Archaeology. Springer New York. pp. 867–870. doi:10.1007/978-1-4419-0465-2_2286. ISBN978-1-4419-0426-3.
26. ^ ^abDance In Indian Painting, Page xv.
27. ^D. P. Agrawal, J. S. Kharakwal. South Asian Prehistory: A Multidisciplinary study. Aryan Books International. p. 149.
28. ^Mathpal, Yashodhar (1984). Prehistoric Painting Of Bhimbetka. Abhinav Publications. p. 225.
29. ^ ^abJavid, Ali and Javeed, Tabassum (2008). World Heritage Monuments and Related Edifices in India. Algora Publishing. p. 20.CS1 maint: Multiple names: authors list (link)
30. ^Chakravarty, Kalyan Kumar. Rock-art of India: Paintings and Engravings. Arnold-Heinemann. p. 123. Nataraj figures from BHIM III E-19 and one from III F −16 are well decorated in fierce mood. Probably they represent conception of a fierce deity like Vedic Rudra.(Wa.kankar, op. cit)'.
31. ^Shiv Kumar Tiwari. Riddles of Indian Rockshelter Paintings. Sarup & Sons. p. 245.
32. ^Mithen, Steven (2006). After the Ice: A Global Human History, 20,000–5000 BC. Harvard University Press. p. 401. ISBN9780674019997.

External links[edit]

Cave paintings are a type of parietal art (which category also includes petroglyphs, or engravings), found on the wall or ceilings of caves. The term usually implies prehistoric origin, but cave paintings can also be of recent production: In the Gabarnmung cave of northern Australia, the oldest paintings certainly predate 28,000 years ago, while the most recent ones were made less than a century ago.^[1]

The oldest known cave paintings are over 40,000 years old (art of the Upper Paleolithic), found in both the Franco-Cantabrian region in western Europe, and in the caves in the district of Maros (Sulawesi, Indonesia). The oldest type of cave paintings are hand stencils and simple geometric shapes; the oldest undisputed examples of figurative cave paintings are somewhat younger, close to 35,000 years old.^[2]A 2018 study claimed an age of 64,000 years for the oldest examples of (non-figurative) cave art in Iberia, which would imply production by Neanderthals rather than modern humans.^[3] In November 2018, scientists reported the discovery of the oldest known figurative art painting, over 40,000 (perhaps as old as 52,000) years old, of an unknown animal, in the cave of Lubang Jeriji Saléh on the Indonesian island of Borneo.^[4][5]

• 2Subjects, themes, and patterns
• 3Paleolithic cave art by region
• 4Holocene cave art

Dating[edit]

Nearly 340 caves have now been discovered in France and Spain that contain art from prehistoric times. Initially, the age of the paintings had been a contentious issue, since methods like radiocarbon dating can produce misleading results if contaminated by samples of older or newer material,^[6] and caves and rocky overhangs (where parietal art is found) are typically littered with debris from many time periods. But subsequent technology has made it possible to date the paintings by sampling the pigment itself, torch marks on the walls,^[7] or the formation of carbonate deposits on top of the paintings.^[8] The subject matter can also indicate chronology: for instance, the reindeer depicted in the Spanish cave of Cueva de las Monedas places the drawings in the last Ice Age.

The oldest known cave painting is a red hand stencil in Maltravieso cave, Cáceres, Spain. It has been dated using the uranium-thorium method^[8] to older than 64,000 yearsand was made by a Neanderthal.^[3]

The oldest date given to an animal cave painting is now a bull dated circa as over 40 000 years, at Lubang Jeriji Saléh cave, East Kalimantan, Borneo, Indonesia.^[9] Before this discovery, the oldest known cave painting was a depiction of a pig with a minimum age of 35,400 years, at Timpuseng cave in Sulawesi, Indonesia.^[2]

The earliest known European figurative cave paintings are those of Chauvet Cave in France. These paintings date to earlier than 30,000 BCE (Upper Paleolithic) according to radiocarbon dating.^[10] Some researchers believe the drawings are too advanced for this era and question this age.^[11] However, more than 80 radiocarbon dates had been obtained by 2011, with samples taken from torch marks and from the paintings themselves, as well as from animal bones and charcoal found on the cave floor. The radiocarbon dates from these samples show that there were two periods of creation in Chauvet: 35,000 years ago and 30,000 years ago. One of the surprises was that many of the paintings were modified repeatedly over thousands of years, possibly explaining the confusion about finer paintings that seemed to date earlier than cruder ones.^[12]

In 2009, cavers discovered drawings in Coliboaia Cave in Romania, stylistically comparable to those at Chauvet.^[13] An initial dating puts the age of an image in the same range as Chauvet: about 32,000 years old.^[14] J dilla donuts zip.

In Australia, cave paintings have been found on the Arnhem Land plateau showing megafauna which are thought to have been extinct for over 40,000 years, making this site another candidate for oldest known painting; however, the proposed age is dependent on the estimate of the extinction of the species seemingly depicted.^[15] Another Australian site, Nawarla Gabarnmang, has charcoal drawings that have been radiocarbon-dated to 28,000 years, making it the oldest site in Australia and among the oldest in the world for which reliable date evidence has been obtained.^[16] How to taken 3 game download on android mobile.

Other examples may date as late as the Early Bronze Age, but the well-known Magdalenian style seen at Lascaux in France (c.15,000 BCE) and Altamira in Spain died out about 10,000BCE, coinciding with the advent of the Neolithic period. Some caves probably continued to be painted over a period of several thousands of years.^[17]

The next phase of surviving European prehistoric painting, the rock art of the Iberian Mediterranean Basin, was very different, concentrating on large assemblies of smaller and much less detailed figures, with at least as many humans as animals. This was created roughly between 10,000 and 5,500 years ago, and painted in rock shelters under cliffs or shallow caves, in contrast to the recesses of deep caves used in the earlier (and much colder) period. Although individual figures are less naturalistic, they are grouped in coherent grouped compositions to a much greater degree.

Subjects, themes, and patterns[edit]

The most common subjects in cave paintings are large wild animals, such as bison, horses, aurochs, and deer, and tracings of human hands as well as abstract patterns, called finger flutings. The species found most often were suitable for hunting by humans, but were not necessarily the actual typical prey found in associated deposits of bones; for example, the painters of Lascaux have mainly left reindeer bones, but this species does not appear at all in the cave paintings, where equine species are the most common. Drawings of humans were rare and are usually schematic as opposed to the more detailed and naturalistic images of animal subjects. One explanation for this may be that realistically painting the human form was 'forbidden by a powerful religious taboo.'^[18] Kieran D. O'Hara, geologist, suggests in his book Cave Art and Climate Change that climate controlled the themes depicted.^[19]Pigments used include red and yellow ochre, hematite, manganese oxide and charcoal. Sometimes the silhouette of the animal was incised in the rock first, and in some caves all or many of the images are only engraved in this fashion, taking them somewhat out of a strict definition of 'cave painting'.

Similarly, large animals are also the most common subjects in the many small carved and engraved bone or ivory (less often stone) pieces dating from the same periods. But these include the group of Venus figurines, which have no real equivalent in cave paintings.^{[citation needed]}

Hand stencils, made by placing a hand on the wall and blowing pigment at it (probably through a pipe of some kind), form a characteristic image of a roughly round area of solid pigment with the uncoloured shape of the hand in the centre, which may then be decorated with lines or dashes. These are often found in the same caves as other paintings, or may be the only form of painting in a location. Some walls contain many hand stencils. Similar hands are also painted in the usual fashion. A number of hands show a finger wholly or partly missing, for which a number of explanations have been given. Hand images are found in similar forms in Europe, Eastern Asia and South America.^[20]

Theories and interpretations[edit]

Henri Breuil interpreted the paintings as hunting magic to increase the abundance of prey.

Another theory, developed by David Lewis-Williams and broadly based on ethnographic studies of contemporary hunter-gatherer societies, is that the paintings were made by paleolithic shamans.^[21] The shaman would retreat into the darkness of the caves, enter into a trance state, then paint images of his or her visions, perhaps with some notion of drawing out power from the cave walls themselves.

R. Dale Guthrie, who has studied both highly artistic and lower quality art and figurines, identifies a wide range of skill and age among the artists. He hypothesizes that the main themes in the paintings and other artifacts (powerful beasts, risky hunting scenes and the representation of women in the Venus figurines) are the work of adolescent males, who constituted a large part of the human population at the time.^{[22][verification needed]} However, in analyzing hand prints and stencils in French and Spanish caves, Dean Snow of Pennsylvania State University has proposed that a proportion of them, including those around the spotted horses in Pech Merle, were of female hands.^[23]

Paleolithic cave art by region[edit]

Europe[edit]

Well-known cave paintings include those of:

• Cave of El Castillo, Spain (~40.000 y.o.)
• Chauvet Cave, near Vallon-Pont-d'Arc, France (~35,000 y.o.)
• Cave of La Pasiega, Cuevas de El Castillo, Cantabria, Spain (~30,000 y.o.?)
• Caves of Arcy-sur-Cure, France (~28,200 y.o.)
• Cosquer Cave, with an entrance below sea level near Marseille, France (~27,000 y.o.)
• Caves of Gargas, France (~27,000 y.o.)
• Grotte de Cussac, France (~25,000 y.o.)
• Pech Merle, near Cabrerets, France (25,000 y.o.)
• Lascaux, France (~17,000 y.o.)
• Cave of Niaux, France (~17,000 y.o.)
• Font-de-Gaume, in the Dordogne Valley, France (~17,000 y.o.)
• Cave of Altamira, near Santillana del Mar, Cantabria, Spain (~15,500 y.o.)
• La Marche, in Lussac-les-Châteaux, France (~15,000 y.o.)
• Les Combarelles, in Les Eyzies de Tayac, Dordogne, France (~13,600 y.o.)
• Magura Cave, Bulgaria (~10,000 y.o.)

Other sites include Creswell Crags, Nottinghamshire, England (~14,500 ys old cave etchings and bas-reliefs discovered in 2003), Peștera Coliboaia in Romania (~29,000 y.o. art?),^[24] and Kapova Cave in Russia (~16,000 y.o. art).

Rock painting was also performed on cliff faces; but fewer of those have survived because of erosion. One example is the rock paintings of Astuvansalmi (3000–2500 BC) in the Saimaa area of Finland.

When Marcelino Sanz de Sautuola first encountered the Magdalenian paintings of the Altamira cave, Cantabria, Spain in 1879, the academics of the time considered them hoaxes. Recent reappraisals and numerous additional discoveries have since demonstrated their authenticity, while at the same time stimulating interest in the artistry and symbolism^[25] of Upper Palaeolithic peoples.

Cave Paintings In India

East and Southeast Asia[edit]

Originating in the Paleolithic period, the rock art found in Khoit Tsenkher Cave, Mongolia, includes symbols and animal forms painted from the walls up to the ceiling.^[27] Stags, buffalo, oxen, ibex, lions, Argali sheep, antelopes, camels, elephants, ostriches, and other animal pictorials are present, often forming a palimpsest of overlapping images. The paintings appear brown or red in color, and are stylistically similar to other Paleolithic rock art from around the world but are unlike any other examples in Mongolia.

In Indonesia the caves in the district of Maros in Sulawesi are famous for their hand prints. About 1,500 negative handprints have also been found in 30 painted caves in the Sangkulirang area of Kalimantan; preliminary dating analysis as of 2005 put their age in the range of 10,000 years old.^[28] A 2014 study based on uranium–thorium dating dated a Maros hand stencil to a minimum age of 39,900 years. A painting of a babirusa was dated to at least 35.4 ka, placing it among the oldest known figurative depictions worldwide.^[2]

The Padah-Lin Caves of Burma contain 11,000-year-old paintings and many rock tools.

In November 2018, scientists reported the discovery of the oldest known figurative art painting, over 40,000 (perhaps as old as 52,000) years old, of an unknown animal, in the cave of Lubang Jeriji Saléh on the Indonesian island of Borneo.^[4][5]

India[edit]

Famous Cave Paintings

The Bhimbetka rock shelters exhibit the earliest traces of human life in India. The earliest paintings on the cave walls are believed to date to about 30,000 years ago. Similar paintings are found in other parts of India as well. In Tamil Nadu, ancient Paleolithic Cave paintings are found in Kombaikadu, Kilvalai, Settavarai and Nehanurpatti. In Odisha they are found in Yogimatha and Gudahandi. In Karnataka, these paintings are found in Hiregudda near Badami. The most recent painting, consisting of geometric figures, date to the medieval period. Executed mainly in red and white with the occasional use of green and yellow, the paintings depict the lives and times of the people who lived in the caves, including scenes of childbirth, communal dancing and drinking, religious rites and burials, as well as indigenous animals.^[29]

Southern Africa[edit]

Cave paintings found at the Apollo 11 Cave in Namibia are estimated to date from approximately 25,500–27,500 years ago.^[30]

In 2011, archaeologists found a small rock fragment at Blombos Cave, about 300 km (190 mi) east of Cape Town on the southern cape coastline in South Africa, among spear points and other excavated material. After extensive testing for seven years, it was revealed that the lines drawn on the rock were handmade and from an ochre crayon dating back 73,000 years. This makes it the oldest known rock drawing.^[31][32]

Australia[edit]

Significant early cave paintings, executed in ochre, have been found in Kakadu, Australia. Ochre is not an organic material, so carbon dating of these pictures is often impossible. Sometimes the approximate date, or at least, an epoch, can be surmised from the painting content, contextual artifacts, or organic material intentionally or inadvertently mixed with the inorganic ochre paint, including torch soot.^[7]

A red ochre painting, discovered at the centre of the Arnhem Land Plateau, depicts two emu-like birds with their necks outstretched. They have been identified by a palaeontologist as depicting the megafauna species Genyornis, giant birds thought to have become extinct more than 40,000 years ago; however, this evidence is inconclusive for dating. It may merely suggest that Genyornis became extinct at a later date than previously determined.^[15]

Hook Island in the Whitsunday Islands is also home to a number of cave paintings created by the seafaring Ngaro people.^[33]

Holocene cave art[edit]

The following sections present notable examples of prehistorc cave art dated to after the end of the Upper Paleolithic(to the Holocene, after c. 11,500 years ago).

Asia[edit]

In the Philippines at Tabon Caves the oldest artwork may be a relief of a shark above the cave entrance. It was partially disfigured by a later jar burial scene.^{[citation needed]}

The Edakkal Caves of Kerala, India, contain drawings that range over periods from the Neolithic] as early as 5,000 BCE to 1,000 BCE.^[34][35][36]

Horn of Africa[edit]

In 2002, a French archaeological team discovered the Laas Geel cave paintings on the outskirts of Hargeisa in the northwestern region of Somaliland. Dating back around 5,000 years, the paintings depict both wild animals and decorated cows. They also feature herders, who are believed to be the creators of the rock art.^[37] In 2008, Somali archaeologists announced the discovery of other cave paintings in Dhambalin region, which the researchers suggest includes one of the earliest known depictions of a hunter on horseback. The rock art is in the Ethiopian-Arabian style, dated to 1000 to 3000 BCE.^[38][39]

Additionally, between the towns of Las Khorey and El Ayo in Karinhegane is a site of numerous cave paintings of real and mythical animals. Each painting has an inscription below it, which collectively have been estimated to be around 2,500 years old.^[40][41] Karihegane's rock art is in the same distinctive Ethiopian-Arabian style as the Laas Geel and Dhambalin cave paintings.^[42][43] Around 25 miles from Las Khorey is found Gelweita, another key rock art site.^[41]

In Djibouti, rock art of what appear to be antelopes and a giraffe are also found at Dorra and Balho.^[44]

North Africa[edit]

Many cave paintings are found in the Tassili n'Ajjer mountains in southeast Algeria. A UNESCO World Heritage Site, the rock art was first discovered in 1933 and has since yielded 15,000 engravings and drawings that keep a record of the various animal migrations, climatic shifts, and change in human inhabitation patterns in this part of the Sahara from 6000 BCE to the late classical period.^[45] Other cave paintings are also found at the Akakus, Mesak Settafet and Tadrart in Libya and other Sahara regions including: Ayr mountains, Niger and Tibesti, Chad.

The Cave of Swimmers and the Cave of Beasts in southwest Egypt, near the border with Libya, in the mountainous Gilf Kebir region of the Sahara Desert. The Cave of Swimmers was discovered in October 1933 by the Hungarian explorer László Almásy. The site contains rock painting images of people swimming, which are estimated to have been created 10,000 years ago during the time of the most recent Ice Age.

Southern Africa[edit]

At uKhahlamba / Drakensberg Park, South Africa, now thought to be some 3,000 years old, the paintings by the San people who settled in the area some 8,000 years ago depict animals and humans, and are thought to represent religious beliefs. Human figures are much more common in the rock art of Africa than in Europe.^[46]

North America[edit]

Distinctive monochrome and polychrome cave paintings and murals exist in the mid-peninsula regions of southern Baja California and northern Baja California Sur, consisting of Pre-Columbian paintings of humans, land animals, sea creatures, and abstract designs. These paintings are mostly confined to the sierras of this region, but can also be found in outlying mesas and rock shelters. According to recent radiocarbon studies of the area, of materials recovered from archaeological deposits in the rock shelters and on materials in the paintings themselves, suggest that the Great Murals may have a time range extending as far back as 7,500 years ago.^[47]

Native artists in the Chumash tribes created cave paintings that are located in present-day Santa Barbara, Ventura, and San Luis Obispo Counties in Southern California. They include well executed examples at Burro Flats Painted Cave and Chumash Painted Cave State Historic Park.

There are also Native Americanpictogram examples in caves of the Southwestern United States. Cave art that is 6,000 years old was found in the Cumberland Plateau region of Tennessee.^[48]

South America[edit]

Serra da Capivara National Park is a national park in the north east of Brazil with many prehistoric paintings; the park was created to protect the prehistoric artifacts and paintings found there. It became a World Heritage Site in 1991. Its best known archaeological site is Pedra Furada.

It is located in northeast state of Piauí, between latitudes 8° 26' 50' and 8° 54' 23' south and longitudes 42° 19' 47' and 42° 45' 51' west. It falls within the municipal areas of São Raimundo Nonato, São João do Piauí, Coronel José Dias and Canto do Buriti. It has an area of 1291.4 square kilometres (319,000 acres). The area has the largest concentration of prehistoric small farms on the American continents. Scientific studies confirm that the Capivara mountain range was densely populated in prehistoric periods.

Cueva de las Manos (Spanish for 'Cave of the Hands') is a cave located in the province of Santa Cruz, Argentina, 163 km (101 mi) south of the town of Perito Moreno, within the borders of the Francisco P. Moreno National Park, which includes many sites of archaeological and paleontological importance.

The hand images are often negative (stencilled). Besides these there are also depictions of human beings, guanacos, rheas, felines and other animals, as well as geometric shapes, zigzag patterns, representations of the sun, and hunting scenes. Similar paintings, though in smaller numbers, can be found in nearby caves. There are also red dots on the ceilings, probably made by submerging their hunting bolas in ink, and then throwing them up. The colours of the paintings vary from red (made from hematite) to white, black or yellow. The negative hand impressions date to around 550 BCE, the positive impressions from 180 BCE, while the hunting drawings are calculated to more than 10,000 years old.^[49] Most of the hands are left hands, which suggests that painters held the spraying pipe with their right hand.^{[citation needed]}

Southeast Asia[edit]

There are rock paintings in caves in Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, and Burma. In Thailand, caves and scarps along the Thai-Burmese border, in the Petchabun Range of Central Thailand, and overlooking the Mekong River in Nakorn Sawan Province, all contain galleries of rock paintings. In Malaysia the oldest paintings are at Gua Tambun in Perak, dated at 2000 years, and those in the Painted Cave at Niah Caves National Park are 1200 years old. The anthropologist Ivor Hugh Norman Evans visited Malaysia in the early 1920s and found that some of the tribes (especially Negritos) were still producing cave paintings and had added depictions of modern objects including what are believed to be cars.^[50] (See prehistoric Malaysia.)

See also[edit]

References[edit]

1. ^Robert Gunn, Bruno David, Jean-Jacques Delannoy and Margaret Katherine, 'The past 500 years of rock art at Nawarla Gabarnmang, central-western Arnhem Land' in: Bruno David, Paul S.C. Taçon,Jean-Jacques Delannoy, Jean-Michel Geneste (eds.), The Archaeology of Rock Art in Western Arnhem Land, Australia (2017), pp. 303–328.
2. ^ ^abcM. Aubert et al., 'Pleistocene cave art from Sulawesi, Indonesia', Nature volume 514, pages 223–227 (09 October 2014).'using uranium-series dating of coralloid speleothems directly associated with 12 human hand stencils and two figurative animal depictions from seven cave sites in the Maros karsts of Sulawesi, we show that rock art traditions on this Indonesian island are at least compatible in age with the oldest European art. The earliest dated image from Maros, with a minimum age of 39.9 kyr, is now the oldest known hand stencil in the world. In addition, a painting of a babirusa (‘pig-deer’) made at least 35.4 kyr ago is among the earliest dated figurative depictions worldwide, if not the earliest one. Among the implications, it can now be demonstrated that humans were producing rock art by ∼40 kyr ago at opposite ends of the Pleistocene Eurasian world.'
3. ^ ^abRepresented by three red non-figurative symbols found in the caves of Maltravieso, Ardales and La Pasiega, Spain, these predate the arrival of modern humans to Europe by at least 20,000 years and thus must have been made by Neanderthals. D. L. Hoffmann; C. D. Standish; M. García-Diez; P. B. Pettitt; J. A. Milton; J. Zilhão; J. J. Alcolea-González; P. Cantalejo-Duarte; H. Collado; R. de Balbín; M. Lorblanchet; J. Ramos-Muñoz; G.-Ch. Weniger; A. W. G. Pike (2018). 'U-Th dating of carbonate crusts reveals Neandertal origin of Iberian cave art'. Science. 359 (6378): 912–915. doi:10.1126/science.aap7778. 'we present dating results for three sites in Spain that show that cave art emerged in Iberia substantially earlier than previously thought. Uranium-thorium (U-Th) dates on carbonate crusts overlying paintings provide minimumages for a red linear motif in La Pasiega (Cantabria), a hand stencil in Maltravieso (Extremadura), and red-painted speleothems in Ardales (Andalucía). Collectively, these results show that cave art in Iberia is older than 64.8 thousand years (ka). This cave art is the earliest dated so far and predates, by at least 20 ka, the arrival of modern humansin Europe, which implies Neandertal authorship.'
4. ^ ^abcZimmer, Carl (7 November 2018). 'In Cave in Borneo Jungle, Scientists Find Oldest Figurative Painting in the World - A cave drawing in Borneo is at least 40,000 years old, raising intriguing questions about creativity in ancient societies'. The New York Times. Retrieved 8 November 2018.
5. ^ ^abcAubert, M.; et al. (7 November 2018). 'Palaeolithic cave art in Borneo'. Nature. Retrieved 8 November 2018.
6. ^Welsh, Liz; Welsh, Peter (2000). Rock-art of the Southwest: a Visitor's Companion (1st ed.). Berkeley, California: Wilderness Press. p. 62. ISBN0-89997-258-6.
7. ^ ^abValladas, Helene (1 September 2003). 'Direct radiocarbon dating of prehistoric cave paintings by accelerator mass spectrometry'. Measurement Science and Technology. 14 (9): 1487–1492. doi:10.1088/0957-0233/14/9/301. Retrieved 30 December 2012.
8. ^ ^abHoffmann, D.L., Pike, A.W., García-Diez, M., Pettitt, P.B. and Zilhão, J., 2016. Methods for U-series dating of CaCO3 crusts associated with Palaeolithic cave art and application to Iberian sites. Quaternary Geochronology, 36, pp.104-119.
9. ^Aubert, M. et al Palaeolithic cave art in Borneo // Nature (2018)
10. ^Clottes, Jean (October 2002). 'Chauvet Cave (ca. 30,000 B.C.)'. Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Retrieved 11 May 2013.
11. ^Pettitt, Paul (1 November 2008). 'Art and the Middle-to-Upper Paleolithic transition in Europe: Comments on the archaeological arguments for an early Upper Paleolithic antiquity of the Grotte Chauvet art'. Journal of Human Evolution. 55 (5): 908–917. doi:10.1016/j.jhevol.2008.04.003. PMID18678392.
12. ^Zorich, Zach (March–April 2011). 'A Chauvet Primer'. Archaeology. 64 (2): 39.
13. ^Ghemis, Calin; Clottes, J.; Gely, B.; Prudhomme, F. (2011). 'An Exceptional Archaeological Discovery – the 'Art Gallery' in Coliboaia Cave'. Acta Archaeologica Carpathia. XLVI. ISSN0001-5229. Retrieved 7 March 2013.
14. ^Zorich, Zach (January–February 2012). 'From the Trenches – Drawing Paleolithic Romania'. Archaeology. 65 (1). Retrieved 7 March 2013.
15. ^ ^abMasters, Emma (May 31, 2010). 'Megafauna cave painting could be 40,000 years old'. Australian Broadcasting Commission (ABC). Retrieved 30 December 2012.
16. ^McGuirk, Rod (June 18, 2012). 'Australian rock art among the world's oldest'. Christian Science Monitor. AP. Retrieved 30 December 2012.
17. ^Gray, Richard (5 October 2008). 'Prehistoric cave paintings took up to 20,000 years to complete'. The Telegraph. Retrieved 30 December 2012.
18. ^Schiller, Ronald (1972). Reader's Digest: Marvels and Mysteries of The World Around Us. The Reader's Digest Association. pp. 51–55. LCCN72077610.
19. ^O'Hara, K. (2014). Cave Art and Climate Change, Archway Publishing.
20. ^Foundation, Bradshaw. 'Hand Paintings and Symbols in Rock Art'. bradshawfoundation.com.
21. ^Whitley, David S. (2009). Cave Paintings and the Human Spirit: The Origin of Creativity and Belief. Prometheus. p. 35. ISBN978-1-59102-636-5.
22. ^Guthrie, R. Dale (2005). 'Preface: Reassembling the Bones'. The Nature of Paleolithic Art. Chicago [u.a.]: Univ. of Chicago Press. ISBN978-0-226-31126-5. Retrieved 31 December 2012.
23. ^Hammond, Norman (September 11, 2009). 'Cave painters' giveaway handprints at Pech-Merle'. The Times. Retrieved 31 December 2012.
24. ^Tugman, Lindsey (1 September 2011). 'Oldest cave drawings found in Romanian cave'. CBS News. Archived from the original on 21 September 2013. Retrieved 11 May 2013.
25. ^https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hJnEQCMA5Sg Why are these 32 symbols found in caves all over Europe Genevieve von Petzinger
26. ^M. Aubert et al., 'Pleistocene cave art from Sulawesi, Indonesia', Nature volume 514, pages 223–227 (09 October 2014) 'using uranium-series dating of coralloid speleothems directly associated with 12 human hand stencils and two figurative animal depictions from seven cave sites in the Maros karsts of Sulawesi, we show that rock art traditions on this Indonesian island are at least compatible in age with the oldest European art. The earliest dated image from Maros, with a minimum age of 39.9 kyr, is now the oldest known hand stencil in the world.'
27. ^Khoit tsenkher cave rock painting – UNESCO World Heritage Centre
28. ^Chazine, J-M. (2005). 'Rock Art, Burials, and Habitations: Caves in East Kalimantan'(PDF). Asian Perspectives. 44 (1): 219–230. doi:10.1353/asi.2005.0006. Retrieved 12 May 2013.Fage, Luc-Henri (August 2005). 'Hands Across Time: Exploring the Rock Art of Borneo'. National Geographic. 208 (2): 44–45. Retrieved 7 October 2013.
29. ^'Rock Shelters of Bhimbetka'. World Heritage Site. Retrieved 2009-12-22.
30. ^'Apollo 11 (ca. 25,500–23,500 B.C.) and Wonderwerk (ca. 8000 B.C.) Cave Stones'. Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art. October 2000. Retrieved 11 May 2013.
31. ^St. Fleur, Nicholas (12 September 2018). 'Oldest Known Drawing by Human Hands Discovered in South African Cave'. The New York Times. Retrieved 15 September 2018.
32. ^Sample, Ian (2018-09-12). 'Earliest known drawing found on rock in South African cave'. the Guardian. Retrieved 2018-09-12.
33. ^'Whitsunday national park islands - Nature, Culture and History'. Queensland Government. The State of Queensland (Department of National Parks, Sport and Racing). Retrieved 16 October 2017.
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35. ^'Sarasvati River Indus Script Ancient Village Or'. Scribd.com. Retrieved 2012-08-17.
36. ^'Symbols akin to Indus valley culture discovered'. Hindustan Times. 2009-09-29. Archived from the original on 2011-01-28. Retrieved 2012-08-17.
37. ^Bakano, Otto (April 24, 2011). 'Grotto galleries show early Somali life'. AFP. Retrieved 11 May 2013.
38. ^Mire, Sada (2008). 'The Discovery of Dhambalin Rock Art Site, Somaliland'. African Archaeological Review. 25: 153–168. doi:10.1007/s10437-008-9032-2. Archived from the original on 27 June 2013. Retrieved 22 June 2013.
39. ^Alberge, Dalya (17 September 2010). 'UK archaeologist finds cave paintings at 100 new African sites'. The Guardian. Retrieved 25 June 2013.
40. ^Hodd, Michael (1994). East African Handbook. Trade & Travel Publications. p. 640. ISBN0-8442-8983-3.
41. ^ ^abAli, Ismail Mohamed (1970). Somalia Today: General Information. Ministry of Information and National Guidance, Somali Democratic Republic. p. 295.
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45. ^'Tassili n'Ajjer'. UNESCO World Heritage Center. Retrieved 31 December 2012.
46. ^Jaroff, Leon (1997-06-02). 'Etched in Stone'. Time. Retrieved 2008-10-07. Wildlife and humans tend to get equal billing in African rock art. (In the caves of western Europe, by contrast, pictures of animals cover the walls and human figures are rare.) In southern Africa, home to the San, or Bushmen, many of the rock scenes depicting people interpret the rituals and hallucinations of the shamans who still dominate the San culture today. Among the most evocative images are those believed to represent shamans deep in trance: a reclining, antelope-headed man surrounded by imaginary beasts, for example, or an insect-like humanoid covered with wild decorations.
47. ^'Baja California Rock Art Dated to 7,500 Years Ago'. news.nationalgeographic.com. Retrieved 2016-03-29.
48. ^Simekm Jan F.; Alan Cressler; Nicholas P. Herrmann; Sarah C. Sherwood (2013). 'Sacred landscapes of the south-eastern USA: prehistoric rock and cave art in Tennessee'. Antiquity. 87 (336): 430–446.
49. ^Le Comte, Christian (2003). Argentine Indians. Consorcio de Editores. ISBN987-9479-11-4.
50. ^Weber, George. 'The Semang'. The Negrito of Malaysia. Archived from the original on 24 July 2013. Retrieved 11 May 2013.

Cave Paintings At Lascaux

Further reading[edit]

• Dubowski, Mark (2010). Discovery in the Cave (Children's early reader). New York, USA: Random House. ISBN0-375-85893-8
• Fage, Luc-Henri; Chazine, Jean-Michel (2010). Borneo – Memory of the Caves. Le Kalimanthrope. ISBN978-2-9536616-1-3.
• Heyd, Thomas; Clegg, John, eds. (2005). Aesthetics and Rock Art. Ashgate Publishing. ISBN0-7546-3924-X.
• Curtis, Gregory (2006). The Cave Painters: Probing the Mysteries of the World's First Artists. Knopf. ISBN1-4000-4348-4.
• Nechvatal, Joseph (2005). 'Immersive Excess in the Apse of Lascaux'. Technonoetic Arts. 3 (3): 181–192. doi:10.1386/tear.3.3.181/1.

External links[edit]

• Bradshaw Foundation The recording of cave paintings around the world
• EuroPreArt database of European Prehistoric Art
• Tour of Afghan cave paintings from BBC News.
• Le Kalimanthrope Rock art of Borneo (Kalimantan, Indonesia)
• Journey through Art History, an outline of prehistoric art with emphasis on cave paintings from around the world.
• Human Timeline (Interactive) – Smithsonian, National Museum of Natural History (August 2016).