Stockstad

HE FIRST PEOPLE TO EXPLORE THE PAINTED CAVES OF FRANCE AND Spain entered an almost unimaginably ancient world. Hundreds of yards from the entrances and accessed through long, narrow underground passages, what they

found in the deep recesses of these caves astounded them and still fascinates us, for the walls and ceilings of these caves hold paintings and engravings that record herds of animalsseen 30,000 years ago, some of the very first images in the history of art. Scholars of prehistory-archaeologists and anthropologists-study every aspect of material culture, while art historians usually focus on those things that to twenty-first century eyes seem superior in craft and beauty. But 30,000 years ago our ancestors were not making "works of art." They were flaking, chipping, andpolishing flints into arrows or scrapers, not sculptures, however beautiful the forms of these tools appear to us. The creation of the images we see today on the walls of the Chauvet cave in a gorge in the Ardeche region of southeastern France (fig. 1-1) must have seemed a vitally important activity to their makers in terms of everyday survival, for they were painted in areas far from the caveentrance, beyond use as living quarters, without access to natural daylight, and were visited over many years. What we perceive as "art" was a matter of necessity to these ancient image makers. Images of horses, deer, mammoths (extinct ancestors of elephants), aurochs (extinct ancestors of oxen), and other animals cover the walls and ceilings deep within the caves. The animals are easily identifiable, forthe painters represent the essence of well-observed animals-their meat-bearing flanks, their powerful legs, and dangerous horns or tusks. What a leap of intelligence and imagination we witness here! The painters have transformed their memories of active, three-dimensional figures into fixed, two-dimensional images. Without the aid of written words and using only the formal language of line andcolor, these prehistoric painters seem to communicate with us. Prehistoric art interests art historians, archeologists, and anthropologists alike. For them, art is only one clue-along with fossils, pollen, and artifacts-to an understanding of early human life and culture. Although specialists continue to make progress toward understanding when and how these works were created, we will never know whysome of them were made. The sculpture, paintings, and structures that survive are only a tiny fraction of what was created over a very long span of time. For that reason, the conclusions and interpretation any of us draw from them are only theoretical, making prehistoric art one of the most speculative areas of art history.

1-1. Wall painting with horses , rhinoceroses , and aurochs , Chauvetcave , vallon-Pont-d'Arc, Ardeche gorge, France. c. 25,000-17,000 BCE. Paint on limestone.

I

40,000 BCE
A c. 40,000-800 ( ) UPPER PALEOLITHIC A c. 18,000-15,000 LAST ICE AGE

TIMELINE 1-1. Prehistoric Periods in Europe . The Upper Paleolithic lasted until about 8000 BCE and overlapped the Neolithic as the last Ice Age glaciers receded northward. Metals began to be used in southern Europeduring the Neolithic; by about 2300 BCE the Bronze Age had begun in northern Europe, followed in about 1000 BCE by the Iron Age.

Skara Brae .

A

T LAN TIC
C)CEAN

ORKNEY ISLANDS

SCANDINAVIA

SCOTLAND Skarpsal l i ng SEA DENMARK .Trundholm RUSSIA
GERMANY

Cornalaragh. Newgrange . UNITED IRELAND KINGDOM
WALES ENGLA\U .Stonehenge

E U R O P E `
BRITTANY Menec, Carnac FRANCELascaux Altamir . La Mouthe 'Pech-Merle

Hohlenstein - Stadel. CZECH

Ostrava

Petrkovice REPUBLIC' Willendorf

UKRAINE Mezhirich

SWITZ.

AUSTRIA ROMANIA

CANT4BRIAA'44rs ;Vallon-Pont-d'Arc Brassempouy' • Chauvet . Le Tuc d'Audoubert ' Montagnac SPAIN Cogul. \ Le Mas d'Azil

Map 1 - 1. Prehistoric Europe. As the Ice Age glaciers receded, Paleolithic, Neolithic, Bronze Age, and...