Cave

Altamira, a cave in Cantabria, Spain was one of the first recognized decorated caves. It’s famous for the outstanding artistic quality of the paintings it contains, as well as the quantity of motifs preserved. The subject matter of the painting is dominated by animals, such as horses, bison, bulls, and goats. (Conkey 1980:611)

There are a few humans depicted as well as an abundance of hand stencils. The limited color palette includes different hues of black, yellow, and red. These colors were obtained from charcoal, burned bones, manganese oxides, and other iron oxides. (Guthrie 2005:13) The cave itself is actually a series of various passages.

In its entirety, it is 270 meters long and height varies from 2 to 12 meters and the width from six to twenty meters. (Conkey 1980:609) Its contents were preserved when a rockfall, 13,000 years ago, sealed the entrance. The cave remained undiscovered until 1868 when detonations from a nearby rock quarry created a crack. (Conkey 1980:610)

Discovery and Excavations

Marcelino Sanz de Sautuola, a wealthy landowner with a degree and law and an interest in archaeology, had been unearthing animal bones and stone tools from the floor of the cave’s entrance since 1976. The cave’s paintings were discovered in 1879 his eight-year-old daughter Maria.

For two years, Sautuola and Juan Vilanova y Piera of the University of Madrid excavated the cave. (Conkey 1980:609) The discoveries generated controversy about whether or not the findings were authentic. Many thought that a modern artists created the paintings because ancient humans were not capable of art.

It was not until 1902 that the existence of Paleolithic art was accepted by the scientific community. (Abadia 2004:321) Altamira contains the earliest known examples of Stone Age painting. They were painted using an airbrush method that involved setting one hollow bone perpendicularly in a container of ochre, and holding another hollow bone in the artist’s mouth. The artist would then blow across the open hollow bone and force the ochre up the vertical bones and onto the surface of the rock. (Garcia-Diez 2005:19)

A second excavation was completed by Ermillo Alcalde del Rio from 1903 and 1905. He excavated approximately 20 square meters of the entrance. He differentiated between two large stages, the Solutreana and the Magdaleniana, using the color and texture of the soil, and the varying presence of limestone pebbles and marine shells. (Conkey 1981:22)

The first level has a thickness of .45 meters and the second of .80 meters. This level is where a lot of the portable art, such as the engraved shoulder blades of stags and bison, was found. (Abadia 2004:334)

From 1924 to 1925, Hugo Obermaier widened the area of excavation by 10 meters squared. He excavated to 2.5 meters, where rocky soil prevented him from going any deeper. He found Font Robert projectile points which are indicative of the Perigordian period (dated 35,000 BP-20,000 BP) and of very early occupants. (Guthrie 2005:43)

The latest excavation was done by Joaquin Gonzales Echegaray and L.G. Freeman in 1981. They decided to excavate an intact vestibule as opposed to the entrance. They limited their excavation to the upper Magdalenian level and found artefacts such as an engraved deer shoulder blade and bone and stone tools. (Straus 2000:3)

These dates vary between 18,500 BP and 13,900 BP. During the Magdalenian period, the art work became more varied and the number of animal species depicted increased. There were more mountain goals and deer, as well as semi-human faces. There are also numerous small back strokes make throughout the caves which seemingly have no function nor regularity. (Straus 2000:6)

Dating

The Altamira paintings were dated in 2008 using uranium-thorium dating, in which a uranium series is applied to the calcifications. While the accuracy of this dating technique is still being debated, the results showed that the paintings were completed over a period of up to 20,000 years. (Garcia-Diez 2013:4104)

Excavations of the cave floor found deposits of artefacts from the Upper Solutream period (dated at 18,500 years ago) and from the Lower Magdalenian Period (dated at 16,500-14,000 years ago.) The portable art has been dated by radiocarbon to 14,480 years ago. (Abadia 2004:328) The oldest works found belonged to Aurignacian culture and were dated at 35,000 years ago which also marks the beginning of human occupation of Northern Spain. (Garcia-Diez 2013:4101)

Significance

The work done at Altamira truly changed the way archaeologists and anthropologists perceived prehistoric human beings. The paintings and rock engravings are the most visually powerful examples of Paleolithic art and culture, especially because they are so numerous and vividly colored.

Since it is the earliest instance of Paleolithic art, it contributes to modern day humans understanding the beginning of culture and art. (Guthrie 2005:23) It also gives insight into the mental capacities of prehistoric humans. Late 19th century scholars viewed prehistoric humans as only capable of violence and savagery but Altamira shows that art was most likely used as a social-cultural device that promoted cohesion, not conflict.

References Cited

• Guthrie, Dale R 2005 The Nature of Paleolithic Art. The University of Chicago Press. Chicago, IL Garcia-Diez, Marcos 2013
• Uranium series dating reveals a long sequence of rock art at Altamira Cave. Journal of Archaeological Science 40(11): 4098-4106.
  Conkey, Margaret
• 1980 The Identification of Prehistoric Hunter-Gatherer Aggregation Sites: The Case of Altamira. Current Anthropology 21(5): 609-630.
• 1981 A Century of Palaeolithic Cave Art. Archaeology. 34(4): 20-28
• Abadia, Oscar M 2004 Towards a Genealogy of the Concept of “Paleolithic Mobiliary Art” Journal of Anthropological Research. 60(3): 321-339
• Straus,Lawrence G 2000 Leslie Gordon Freeman: An American in Spanish Prehistory. Journal of Anthropological Research 56(1): 3-6

Three miles north of Marina, Florida Caverns State park offers more outdoor recreational opportunities than any other place I know of in Florida. What other spot do you know that has hiking, biking, camping, picnicking, horseback riding, cannoning, kayaking on rapids, boating, fishing birdwatchers, golfing, spring hunting, and, of course, spelunking? It is the caverns that give the state park its name. Created during the Depression as a ICC project, the 1,300-acre park is honeycombed with caves large and small.

This urn-Florida- like geological feature is the result of Florist’s limestone base bumping the ail end of the uplift that becomes the Appalachians. And while the caves here do not match Mammoth Cave or Carlsbad Caverns, they nonetheless have an impressive array of stalagmites, stalactites, columns, flowstone, and other formations created over thousands Of years by the steady drip Of water. One large cave may be visited on guided tours. The tour takes about 25 minutes, and the cavern is a constant temperature of 59 degrees.

Native Americans once used the caves for shelter and storage, and their history is told in the park’s informative museum. The rest of the caves are off limits or even gated to protect fragile formations and colonies of endangered gray bats. These shy insect-eating creatures are easily disturbed, but warmly welcomed by campers for the tons of mosquitoes they eat. Bats and insects are not the only residents in the park, which is a safe haven for alligators, deer, and beaver as well as home for a rich variety of birds, fish, and other wildlife.

Some have claimed sightings of the ivory-billed woodpecker in the area, although such are not confirmed and most believe this largest of all woodpeckers is now extinct. But if the ivory-billed survived anywhere, it might be in these rich floodplains. Gigantic beech, magnolia, sweet gum, and oak trees shade the lowland areas, and the understood flowers all year long with everything from columbine, native azalea, and sage to leafless, bottlers, and the lovely January-blooming topmasts lily.

The river floodplain trail is the best way to see the many faces of the area. In 30 minutes, you will go through natural tunnels, climb boulders, see virgin forest and some of the largest trees in the state, and be able to peek into several caves. The horse trails may also be hiked and loop along spring runs and through deep forest. Riders must provide their own horses. The Chipolata River bisects the park from north to south and is joined within it by two spring runs.

In the middle of the park, the river dips below ground for more than 1,000 yards before reappearing. A century ago, a channel was cut across the natural bridge so logs could be floated downstream. The ditch is narrow, fast, obstructed, and not recommended for the inexperienced paddled. Fed by rainwater and springs, the Chipolata can be very clear and is an easy paddle stream or down. Alligators bask in the few sunny spots, discouraging river swimming. Even so, there is a great spring group about a mile upstream of the boat ramp.

Called Bezel, the main spring has a clear shallow run from the east and leads to a lovely spring pool that strongly invites a dip, even a skinny dip when no one is around. Three more springs line the banks just below and above Bezel, and the park is a popular pull-out for overnight and weekend cancers. The official swimming area is yet another spring called Blue Hole. The spring forms three pools, one of which has a nice beach and dive littoral. The water in the main spring is a deep, milky blue and its 68 degrees are very refreshing on a hot summer day.

The Florida Caverns Golf Course is adjacent to the park and is a separate concession. Park fees are $3. 25 per car, and there are additional, if reasonable, charges for cavern tours, canoe rentals, camping, horseback riding, and golfing. The cavern tours are very popular, so call ahead if you plan a weekend visit. Development is increasing around the park, but once inside you can explore the glories of natural Florida in greater variety than just about anaphora.

Summary Plato’s Allegory of the Cave presents an enthralling concept that holds strong to this day. In the allegory three main ideas are illustrated : that we have been conditioned to a definite reality since birth, we scorn being brought into the ‘light’ of knowledge, and that we (as a society) reject anything that contradicts the notions of our preconceived reality. Clever Plato took these ideas and weaved them into an intriguing story of prisoners trapped in an underground cave, and then what happens when one of them was enLIGHTened.

Surprisingly it applies in many ways to our society in modern times, nowadays no one questions what is true and what is false. It’s exactly as Aldous Huxley feared, we’ve become lost in a sea of information which debilitates us to gain conscious understanding of information. We’ve been raised in a society of ‘don’t question it’ which leaves the people vulnerable to the people carrying the statues across the fire, creating our sense of reality. When we are first brought into this cave at the beginning of the allegory, it contains prisoners bound by chains in such a way as to force their heads to stare at this wall.

It continues to tell us that they’ve been this way since birth, and that a massive fire behind them that allows them to see shadows broadcast onto the wall, periodically people go be the fire with statues of people and creatures which cast shadows onto the wall and this ‘shadow world’ is what the prisoners consider their reality. They are all content with this knowledge and nothing changes until one of the prisoners is set free. The prisoner, once he’s set free, is blinded by the fire the moment he turns his head to face the fire.

He looks back to the shadows which he identifies as reality, and looks back and forth between the fire and the wall until he finally accepts that the fire may be more ‘real’. His enlightenment is continued as he’s forced up the stairs and forced into the sunlight to view the real world. He begins slowly only identifying shadows at first and slowly progresses until he’s able to identify the sun, and contemplate the sun as an idea and not just as an object.

He continues learning about this new reality until he is fully convinced. Remembering his former companions he grows full of pity for them, knowing that they don’t share his knowledge of what is ‘real’ and what is a mere shade of reality. With this thought in his head he heads back to the cave. Once he’s back in the cave his eyes are full of darkness and he’s unable to see things as clearly as his companions, for he had grown accustomed to the reality of light, because of this his former companions made fun of him.

They knew he wasn’t as adept to their reality, which they perceived as being the right one. Seeing what happened to their former companion when he was taken into the light, they decided that they’d never ascend because if they ascended they’d lose their sight of ‘reality’. With that the enlightened one left, knowing that his companions were lost in blissful ignorance, and he could do nothing to convince them for fear of death.

Candidate Name: Nathaniel J. Adiah Candidate Number: Subject: Geography School: Presentation College Chaguanas Year of Exam: Teacher’s Name: Aim: To identify, describe and account for the features of erosion and deposition along Las Cuevas Bay. Candidate Name: Candidate Number: Subject: Geography School: Year of Exam: Teacher’s Name: Aim: To identify, describe and account for the features of erosion and deposition along Las Cuevas Bay. Contents Aim:4 Methodology5

Introduction:6 Description of the Bay7 Presentation of findings – Analysis and Discussion8 Caves9 Arches10 Stumps11 Cliffs12 Blowholes13 Geos14 Headlands15 Coves16 Notches17 The Beach18 Conclusion20 Limitations21 Bibliography22 Aim: To identify, describe and account for the features of erosion and deposition along Las Cuevas Bay. Methodology Where? : Las Cuevas Bay When? : Monday 11th June, 2012. From 9:00 am – 1:30 pm How? : The class was split into six groups and each group studied a specific site along the beach.

Each group carried out a number of tests: wave height, using a metre stick; wave frequency, using a stopwatch; width of the beach, using a measuring tape. Introduction: Las Cuevas Bay is a 2. 2 kilometer raised beach named after the caves that lie on the southwestern end of the beach. Las Cuevas Bay is located approximately 7 kilometers east of Maracas Bay along the North Coast Road. This beach is extremely popular for both bathing and camping. The beach was chosen because of the fact that it has a lot of observable features. Description of the Bay Las Cuevas Bay is approximately 2. kilometers long and its width is 74 feet. It is a bay head beach with a horse shoe shape. At the time of the study rain was falling and there was a gentle breeze. It was during high tide. The beach gradient was gentle and uniform. The waves were constructive (8 waves per minute). Presentation of findings – Analysis and Discussion Bar graph 1: showing the number of each feature seen on the beach The bar graph above shows that the most prevalent feature on the beach was the cliffs. Most of the features observed were seen at the eastern end of the beach. Caves

A cave is a natural underground hollow in the rock, usually large enough for a human being to enter. The solution of carbonate rocks such as limestone takes place mostly below the water table in the zone of saturation or the phreatic zone. The water table sinks as the rocks are dissolved and caves are formed. Arches Stumps Cliffs Sea cliffs are formed when waves strike vigorously against a steep coast. Blowholes Geos Headlands Coves Notches The Beach The beach is the only depositional feature. Line graph 1: wave frequency at different points along the beach

Erosional Features| Depositional Features| Caves| Beach| Cliffs| | Geos| | Headlands| | Coves| | Blowhole| | Notches| | Stumps| | Arches| | Conclusion A number of features were observed although the beach is now raised so present processes have no great effect on any features except the beach. Las Cuevas Beach is a stable beach system with several erosional features and only one depositional feature, which is the beach itself. Limitations Some limitations on this study are: 1) The weather 2) Timeframe 3) Tide Bibliography

Have you ever wondered whether, Plato, if he were alive in the 20 century, would he be a brilliant movie director, with productions that earned more than $400 million? Both Plato’s “Allegory of Cave” and Andy and Lana Wachowski’s movie “The Matrix” explore the abstruse question of perception of truth. What is truth, and how do we determine what is truth? “I know this steak doesn’t exist. I know that when I put it in my mouth, the Matrix is telling my brain that it is juicy and delicious. This quote from the Matrix vividly illustrates the truth that how people perceive is the way they think, their realization of the truth is due to the world in which they live. Different people may have different perceptions of knowledge, which leads them to a distinct understanding of truth. It is about personal experience seeking the truth, in the process to knowledge – an image does not accurately reflect reality that is the challenge for both Socrates and Neo, the protagonist in the Matrix.

Considering one day there is a chicken that has lived with ducks since he was born, and never seen other chicken. Will that chicken ever know he is a chicken, or even when he sees other chicken, does he know it is a chicken? The prisoners in the cave have been chained together and have been separated from the outside world since birth. Consequently, their perceptions of objects are based on the shadows of those things, shadows produced by firelight in the cave as true representations. The environment where they have lived creates a world basic on their perception of things.

Like Plato mentioned in the story: “To them, I said, the truth would be literally nothing but the shadows of the images. ” The prisoners form their own opinion about things they perceive as true representation. By comparison, people who live in the Matrix accept the buildings and the things around them as the truth. However, the truth they have been accepting is merely their opinion, but no necessarily an opinion formed through knowledge. “If real is what you can feel, smell, taste and see, then ‘real’ is simply electrical signals interpreted by your brain”.

This quote identities are the result of opinions formed their brains. The tunnel in the Allegory of Cave and the red pill in The Matrix are the keys that open the door of knowledge for them. In the world of the Matrix, or the Cave, where everyone accepts objects as the truth, and real, like the shadows on the wall of the cave, this is a way to realize truth, to decide to walk through the tunnel and to pick a red pill, is a choice to enter a world of knowledge. As it is mentioned in the Matrix, “You take the blue pill – the story ends, you wake up in your bed and believe whatever you want to believe.

You take the red pill – you stay in Wonderland and I show you how deep the rabbit-hole goes. ” In both the story and the movie, everyone is so close to knowledge of the truth that they just need to put their foot across the threshold; nevertheless, it is the hardest step to enter door in their mind. It is a leap of faith into the unknown. “And if he is compelled to look straight at the light, will he not have a pain in his eyes which will make him turn away to take and take in the objects of vision which he can see, and which he will conceive to be in reality clearer than the things which are now being shown to him? This quote amply illustrates that everything is decided in their mind, it is their choice, and although Socrates and Neo suffer some physical discomfort in making the journey, they are now in the world of knowledge, the world of real truth. The profound brilliance of the sun can provide another source of discomfort, it cannot be seen directly through human eyes due to the intensity of the power it emits. Similarly, Socrates and Neo experience some physical suffering, such as, pain in their eyes and muscle problems while witnessing at true light for the first time. Why does my muscle hurt? Because you never used it. ” This conversation dramatizes the difficulty faced by people as they make the transition from the limited world they know to the real world. The process of accepting and being able to “see” the real world is arduous; and comes about as a result of enormous changing in their belief and challenging knowledge of what they have long accepted. Knowledge is a concept that many philosophers, over thousands of years, strive to experience.

Knowledge can be extremely powerful, but it can be illusive as well; however, once into the world of knowledge, people can distinguish the real truth from what they help as true. “And the first he will see the shadows best, next the reflections of men and other objects in the water……,Last of he will be able to see the sun,…… and he will contemplate him as he is. ” Plato believed that, as long as there is a gradual process of adapting to the light, Socrates will be available adjust, and to see through the essence of things.

In Plato’s Allegory of Cave, Socrates is fully aware of the truth after a process of adjusting to the light of real world, and then he returns to the cave and tries to teach to the others, the truth he has discovered. “Men would say of him that up he went and down…… and they would put him to death. ” In spite of his efforts, the chained prisoners reject the real world due to the pain that is brought to them by the lights, they prefer to maintain the illusion of the images they saw as truer representations than the objects in the real world. Similarly, Cypher, the character in the Matrix, has been freed to see the real world.

Unlike people who accept the truth and try to fight the agents in the Matrix, Cypher wants to go back to Matrix without knowing anything about real world. “The Matrix isn’t real. I disagree, Trinity. I think that the Matrix can be more real than this world. ” People who free themselves may not perceive reality, like Cypher, he chooses go back to the Matrix because there is less suffering than in the real world. The same as the prisoners in Plato’s story, they would rather accept the illusion they see as truth, than go to the real world due to the pain it brings to them.

Knowledge is the place where people want to be but may not necessarily be able to be in there. Even for people in the world of truth, the real world, who may also be bogged down in their search for truth, as apart from what they accepted before; this takes people’s mind to accept the changes from the previous knowledge held. In the Matrix, Neo does not confirm the truth in the real world where he is, until he accepts the training offered by Morpheus. Moreover, near the end of the movie, he makes the simple statement: “My name…is Neo! in which he accepts himself in the real world instead of the name, Thomas Anderson, used in the Matrix – a world build by computer programs. In comparison to the Allegory of the Cave, Socrates accepts the truth after he adapts to the real world and sees things clearly in the real world. As it is mentioned in the story “Last he will be able to see the sun……; and he will contemplate him as he is” No one can enlighten anyone else toward the world of knowledge, people have to enlighten themselves in their own minds.

What is truth? The truth itself is a personal definition and realization of things in the world around us. Truth is a concept that seeks deeply to be defined in people’s minds; everyone has their subjective opinion of what truth it is. In both the story and the movie, some people realize the real truth but others do not; there is no right or wrong, just different view toward knowledge. Even now, the truth that people are accepting is not truth; even truth itself may not be truth.

Plato’s work in the Allegory of the Cave emphasizes the actualization of reality and truth. Fredrick Douglass’ life, which is portrayed in Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave, is similar to Plato’s philosophical idea presented in “The Allegory of the Cave. ” Plato, a Greek philosopher introduces the significant meaning of reality and truth through his philosophical text. He illustrates the difference between illusion and the real world, which represents reality. In comparison, Frederick Douglass was an African American who had limited rights since he was a slave.

Douglass decided to escape the darkness and get educated to become aware of the outside world. The definition of progress in both tales, are very similar. In both stories, there are four major progressions. First, both stories begin with men who are in the stage of ignorance. Second, these men are somehow able to escape from their bondage to ignorance. Third, they are enlightened. Fourth, they go back to their fellow friends, who are still bound to ignorance, and enlighten them. “The Allegory of the Cave” and the Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass share the path to knowledge from ignorance.

Initially, the idea of imprisonment is implied. The people from the cave were tied up along the wall with fire that created shadow against a wall. In “The Allegory of the Cave”, the shadows caused misrepresentation of the real world, or ignorance. On the other hand, Douglass was held back from learning how to read and write by society during that time period. Unfortunately, his identity was forced upon him to be a slave, since there was racism, oppression, discrimination, degradation and segregation between white persons and black persons.

Therefore, it was difficult for African-Americans to speak, know, or understand freedom. At first, it was impossible for the two groups, those chained in the cave and African-Americans, to affect their immediate environment, or realistic elements, since they lacked liberty. In addition, exclusion from the freedom to interact with the “real world” led to other people accepting the way they live, believing there was no other choice. In the second stage, Douglass and one of the prisoners from the cave received the opportunity to explore the real world.

When Douglass was sent to Baltimore, he gained new insight and was introduced to a new world. Douglass was eager and strongly felt the necessity for gaining an education. Despite all the possible obstacles and consequences, Douglass was eager and felt the necessity to learn how to read and write. He tried to get the help from the his surroundings to obtain an education. However, the most important lesson he got was that he started to realize the real reason for the existence of slavery.

On the other hand, the man freed from the cave was forced to adapt himself to a new environment. Looking at the light, numerous living organisms, and other objects had created a different interpretation of his existent. In both situations, it was extremely difficult to accept the reality for both Fredrick Douglass and the freed man. Despite initial difficulties and fears, realizing and observing another reality created an eye-opening moment. In the third stage, Douglass gained much insight through his education, which led him to read books about slavery.

Later on, anger builds up as Douglass discovers the forced identity on him and he started to rebel against his masters. In comparison, as the time went on, the freed man got used to the new surroundings available to him. He realized that sunlight and other objects were useful and beneficial. Later, the freed man realized that the sun is an essential part of the world we live in. The final stage in both pieces of literature was the most important. Their final goal was to educate others who were still living in darkness, or ignorance.

The freed man took as many prisoners out of the cave to help them attain knowledge. In addition, upon contemplation of these steps, one may make the following philosophical reasoning: perception of reality is learned through our observations. In comparison, Douglass was eager to seek freedom and got himself to New York. However, he did not end his journey there but fought for the rights of those stilled enslaved. In addition, he eventually wrote about life story to educate others and to motivate others to stand up for equality.

Plato and Douglass came from different time periods in history, along with different styles of text. Plato represented his text philosophically and allegorically but the literature that Douglass represented was presented in non-fictional and historical context. However, the time period did not affect the perspectives towards human beings. “Plato’s The Allegory of the Cave” and Douglass’ Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave showed their respective audience how the idea in relation to ignorance, education, and the way of perceiving of the reality is similar.

One of greatest known art periods, the Paleolithic era, was around 32,000 to 11,000 years ago. Pieces of art from this time period can be placed into two categories; small, detailed figurines/objects, and cave art. The figurines were often carved from bone, stone, or clay. These were materials artists could easily get ahold of. These pieces of art were mostly found in Europe and Siberia. Unlike the portable pieces, cave art was discovered in northern spain as well as France. These often took the form of paintings, or engravings on the walls of caves or on rock like surfaces.

French Paleontologist Edouard Lartet was the first to discover Paleolithic art in the 1860’s. His first discovery was an embellished objects within the caves on Southern France. These discoveries were noted as ancient as they had many similarities to the figures found during the Stone Age. After the small discovery it became a must to find more. People began to dig in caves to look for certain objects, not giving thought to the art already noticeable on the walls.

It wasn’t until 1880 when the discovery of the Paleolithic paintings within the Spanish cave of Altamira were found and given great skepticism. In 1895, walls covered in engravings were discovered in La Mouthe, a cave in France. The lengths of time to discover these pieces of art was set back due to the debris that had originally blocked the entrance to the cave. In 1901, more engravings were found in the same region of France just in a difference cave, Font de Gaume.

It wasn’t until right after that that archaeologists stated that cave art has a true existence. A popular and well known cave, the Chauvet cave, was brought to light by Jean-Marie Chauvet in 1994. The cave is located in the Ardeche Valley in southeast France. This cave is home to many animal paintings that date back to 32,000 years, making them the oldest paintings to be discovered, yet.

It wasn’t that long ago that Paleolithic art was only found inside the cave. In 1981 archaeologists discovered multiple outdoor sites in spain, portugal and south africa. These sites were often found along rivers, on the side of large rocks, or on the entrances of caves. They’re expecting these paintings to be approximately 20,000 years old and were often engravings of human-like figures, horses, and wild cattle. Given the notable amount of repeated engravings/drawings scientists now think this type of artwork was common, despite the little that survived due to the erosion of wind and rain.

Art during this era was thought to either mean two things, figurative, meaning it translates animals and humans, or non figurative, meaning signs and symbols. Animals during this time could also be translated to more than one thing depending on period and region of its use. Art within caves would mostly show animals such as bison, horses or even deer. Fish and birds are also within the paintings and engravings but were usually used more for figurine art. Despite the use of them being different they have one thing in common, they’re all drawn using their profile, or from the side. Some animals are even imaginary, as in the unicorn translated from the cave in Lascaux, France.

Human bodys were not typically found in cave paintings but mostly in small portable statues. These figurines tended to be women yet their bodies often differed from what our social norm would be. For example the small female statues known as the Venus have larger than normal breasts, abdomen and hips. Statues that often represented woman had these over-sized aspects to them. They also didn’t have a face, no eyes or mouth. Making the focus be on their body and nothing else.

Materials used during the Paleolithic era were very broad. They used forms by simply changing the base of a material to give it a new meaning. Beads were also commonly made and used out of ivory. Figurines were made out of ivory or a soft stone, and some were made from clay. Art on cave walls was created using multiple techniques. Some images were created using the shape of the rock or stalagmites it is placed on. The shape would help put emphasis on certain points of the paintings.

On almost all wall sculptures there has been traces of a red pigment which tells scientists that they were painted. This red pigment is made of iron oxide which can be found in clays and ores. Black pigment was made out of manganese or charcoal. These materials were often only available in areas surrounding the cave. Painters often applied the paint with their fingers, giving them more control over the look they want. It was later discovered that some used animal hair brushes or small twigs were used to paint as well. Scientists have repeatedly found chunks of these pigments on cave floors believing they may have been used in pencil-like form.

Within cave art scientists also found paintings on the ceilings of the caves. Although some were too tall to even imagine painting on, others show holes in which were used to help support someone paint on the ceiling. Hearths were often used to shine light within the cave however in deep caves artists would need more of a portable light source. Archaeologists have only found a few known stone lamps, which are also known as torches. The debris of charcoal within the cave also proves that fires must have been lit to use as light.

Like I stated above on the ways painters applied the pigment was with their own hands, and eventually other tools were discovered. However to make special effects such as dots, figures or hand stencils, artists used a technique called “sprayed paint.” The artists would use a mixture of powder pigment, water, and a type of oil and use a straw to spit it onto the walls. This is a great way to help get different textures. Given that the size of cave paintings varies, this technique would have been of great help. For example some of the largest are over 2 m in length, and drawings of bulls at Lascaux measure as long as 5.5 m.