Cave Art

Origin and Evolution of Cave Art

The earliest displays of artistic activity or “natural creativity” of prehistoric populations are seen in Aucheulean times. In that period, the animal was used in ceremonies as an image of special kind. For that purpose, animal carcasses or bodies (or their most important fragments, often head only) were brought to the caves, where people lived, and usually were displayed at specially prepared places, situated at the central part of the cave or next to the entrance (Torralba in Spain, Leringen in Germany). Sometimes, numerous animal fragments were placed at caves used only for that purpose (i.e., Early Paleolithic Bear Caves—Drahelauh in Switzerland, Regourdout in France).

The next period of cave art evolution, or the stage of the “natural model,” as argued by Russian archaeologist A. Stolyar, is marked by first attempts of animal body (or its fragments) simulation. It begins with the exhibition of the animal head on at first natural and later artificial rock platforms, which at the end of this stage were accompanied by primitive clay simulations of headless animal bodies; sometimes such compositions were covered by natural animal hide (Bazua in Italy, Peche-Merlet in France).

Such activity soon develops into the creation of three-dimensional sculptures made of clay (the “clay period”). Their size, at first close to real, decreased, leading to the bas-relief genre of visual art (Tuque d'Odoubert in France,Castere-Godena in Italy). This is most likely when statuettes and other forms of mobile art began to spring up (Dolni Vestonice,Pavlov).

The most brilliant examples of cave art in the form of paintings on cave walls are connected with the stage of “monumental animalistic masterpieces,” after A. Stolyar, within the last20,000 years of the Upper Paleolithic. During that time, prehistoric graphics went through many changes, which schematically could be represented as follows: profile contours of static “bipedal” figures shaped by stable line; inner shading, detailing of the contour; simple composition of similar animals or their pairs; painting of the contour in the form of monochromatic spots; “fresco” and color tone technique; appearance of dynamics and perspective, depth of image; complex compositions consisting of different figures (sometimes human being included) on the earth surface; and frontal perspective composition.

Function and Historical Interpretation of Cave Art

In contemporary prehistory, cultural anthropology, and art studies, there are few attempts to conceptualize cave art in all its historical, technological, and stylistic forms. Most existing cave art interpretations usually involve a separate case study, with scarce analogies in neighboring territories. Nonetheless, a series of theories and hypotheses have been elaborated.

The magical (or ritual) explanation for cave art was one of the earliest speculations of its function. The animal was the center of ritual activities (totemic, magic, and other forms) of Paleolithic hunter-gatherers; animal images on cave walls most probably were realistically identified with live animals. Inherent in [Page 453]the function of prehistoric cave art is the principle of analogy, which implies that one can control the object if one controls its image.

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