The caveman cartoons: How prehistoric artists make their paintings MOVE Prehistoric cave artists used cartoon-like techniques to give the impression that their images were moving across cave walls, two French researchers have suggested. A new study of cave art across France – in which animals appear to have multiple limbs, heads and tails – has found that the paintings are actually primitive attempts at animation. When the images are viewed under the unsteady light of flickering flames the images can appear to move as the animals they represent do, the research claims. They make the incredible claim that prehistoric man foreshadowed the invention of cinema by creating art with a rudimentary understanding of the principle of persistence of vision. ‘Some 20 animals, principally horses, have the head, legs or tail multiplied.’ When these paintings are viewed by flickering torchlight the animated effect ‘achieves its full imact’, he added. Mr Azéma and Mr Rivère claim their remarkable theory is backed up by the discovery that ancient engraved discs were used as thaumatropes – formerly claimed to have been invented in 1825 by astronomer John Hershel.
The Discovery of Fire (link) "The discovery of fire, or, more precisely, the controlled use of fire, was one of mankind's first great innovations. Fire allows us to produce light and heat, to cook plants and animals, to clear forests for planting, to heat-treat stone for making stone tools, to keep predator animals away, and to burn clay for ceramic objects. It has social purposes as well. Fires serve as gathering places, as beacons for those away from camp, and as spaces for special activities".
Dogs: (Prehistoric) Man's Best Friend | National Geographic "University of Alberta scientists have uncovered in Siberia prehistoric graves containing dog remains carefully buried with decorative mementos or alongside the canines' human owners. The finds—dated to be 5,000 to 8,000 years old—reveal that dogs were held in high esteem even in ancient times and that humans used these animals as both personal and work companions".
A frieze of horses and rhinos near the Chauvet cave’s Megaloceros Gallery, where artists may have gathered to make charcoal for drawing. Chauvet contains the earliest known paintings, from at least thirty-two thousand years ago. Photograph by Jean Clottes / Chauvet Cave Scientific Team
The Lion Man: an Ice Age masterpiece Discovered in the Hohlenstein Stadel in the Swabian Alps of southwest Germany, the Lion Man of Hohlenstein Stadel is the oldest known anthropomorphic animal carving. The 38,000 BC sculpture is the earliest discovered artwork in Europe to depict a male figure. The Hohlenstein Stadel is one of three caves to produce important paleontological evidence. The 11-inch Lion Man was carved using simple flint cutting tools. This outstanding piece was discovered in 1939 by archaeologist Robert Wetzel.
The Lion Man: an Ice Age masterpiece (link) "This was a lot of time for a small community living in difficult conditions to invest in a sculpture that was useless for their physical survival. Allowing this to be done might suggest that the purpose of the image was about strengthening common bonds and group awareness to overcome dangers and difficulties. Some support for this exists at the cave itself". "Stadel Cave, where the Lion Man was found, is different. It faces north and does not get the sun. It is cold and the density of debris accumulated by human activities is much less than at other sites". "This was not a good place to live. Lion Man was found in a dark inner chamber, carefully put away in the darkness with only a few perforated arctic fox teeth and a cache of reindeer antlers nearby". "These characteristics suggest that Stadel Cave was only used occasionally as a place where people would come together around a fire to share a particular understanding of the world articulated through beliefs, symbolised in sculpture and acted out in rituals". My thoughts: Could it be that Lion Man could have been a child's toy, that simply was worn away by generations of play, and left behind as worthless, during a hasty evacuation? Was it one of many toy figures that survived as the last lion-man standing? We really don't know it's original purpose. I lean towards this simpler story.
Life After Fire "Since we didn’t discover fire, that means that Homo sapiens have never actually lived without controlled fire in our lives—talk about creature comforts. While the Millennials are the first to be born into the digital age without knowing what life without a computer is, the first Homo sapiens had perhaps an even more incredible advantage. And don’t get them started on avocado toast"!
Adventure Beings "Homo sapiens are distinguished from other species for a wide range of reasons, but one of the most fundamental and intriguing ways is in their exploratory nature. Homo sapiens and only Homo sapiens ventured out into the open seas and traveled across the water in search of new land. Other species simply stopped once they hit water, limiting them to Europe and Asia".
Prehistoric bear jawbone from Potočka Zijalka cave -- also the oldest musical instrument The jawbone from the Potočka Zijalka cave particularly stunned them, with three holes in the wall above the mandibular (nerve) canal which appear likely to be the work of human hands. Mira and Matija proved that the bear jawbone is not only sound-producing, but actually sounds rather wonderful. The jawbone's nerve canal is a natural whistle pipe. Jawbones from Potočka Zijalka cave, Mokriška Jama (Mokrica cave) and Betalov Spodmol cave, with snapped off crown outgrowths (and such is the case with the majority of the finds) and with one hole or more (or indeed even without) could all serve as musical instruments. If the crown outgrowth is snapped off, it is easier to get to the natural, sharp jaw flute mouthpiece (a sharp opening into the nerve canal). When the prehistoric hunter sipped the nutritious marrow out of the canal, the jawbone would have become audible as a result. Thus a spontaneous discovery could have led to the deliberate use and making of these prehistoric instruments, which closely linked man with the bear in rituals of worship -- at the time of the Neanderthals and Cro-Magnons, the bear was the most venerated being.
I was recently given some neckbones from a pig. I slow cooked them until the meat fell off the bones. When I ate them, I saw this. Of course, it was bone colored but I thought it would be pretty painted. So I painted it. It's not nearly this big. I'm going to bore a hole through the top and use it on my Christmas tree....... or maybe wear it for a necklace. I wonder if prehistoric ladies wore bones for necklaces.
I was watching a show called "The History of Man and Horses." It said that early cave drawings showed that horses were hunted for food before a more symbiotic relationship was formed...or so they claimed.