Paper No. : 03 Archeological Anthropology Module : 22 Palaeolithic Art of Europe Development Team Principal Investigator Prof. Anup Kumar Kapoor Department of Anthropology, University of Delhi Dr. M. K. Singh Paper Coordinator Department of Anthropology, University of Delhi Dr. D.K. Bhattacharya (Retd.Prof.) Content Writer Department of Anthropology, University of Delhi Prof. Falguni Chakraborty Content Reviewer Department of Anthropology, Midnapur University 1 Archeological Anthropology Anthropology Palaeolithic Art of Europe. Description of Module Subject Name Anthropology Paper Name 03 Archeological Anthropology Module Name/Title Palaeolithic Art of Europe. Module Id 22 2 Archeological Anthropology Anthropology Palaeolithic Art of Europe. PALAEOLITHIC ART OF EUROPE No other activity expresses man's feeling as directly as art does. These have been very successful media of communication of joy or sorrow and fear or of man's victory over them. Palaeolithic archaeology basically retrieves and analyzes human technology and economy, evidence of art, on the other hand, opens a window to his mind. Prehistoric art was practised by our ancestors either on stones or bones or on walls of caves. The art found executed on stones or bones or similar moveable objects is more widely distributed. This is called "art mobilier" or home art. As against these, the art executed on cave walls, ceilings or floors are called “art parietal" or cave art. Cave art is present mainly in southern France and northern Spain. Besides these cave art is also noted from Italy, Arctic Circle of Euro-Asia and Spanish levant. The latter groups of rock art are from Holocene period and hence cannot be included in Palaeolithic Art. In 1880, a Don Marcelino de Sautuola discovered the famous paintings of Altamira in Spain and was the first to suggest a possibility of these paintings to be of Palaeolithic antiquity. Unfortunately experts rejected such claim because the paintings looked too much bright and fresh to be of such antiquity. Subsequently more evidences of rock art started being reported. Since 1902 when Les Combarelles was described from France many enthusiasts started recording many more sites. Today in Western Europe alone we have nearly 200 rock art sites described. Rock art characteristics can be briefly described under such separate headings as context, motif, orientation, chronology and interpretation. The painting in many cases shows lines drawn by etching or engraving first and then painting on them. The colour used are black and various shades of ocher. Colours like green, blue, red, or white are seldom used. It is believed that such minerals as manganese or iron oxides have been crushed and mixed with either urine, blood or animal fat. Scaffolds must have been used to reach top levels of ceiling or even cave walls. Unfortunately we have no evidence of such scaffolding. Use of artificial light in the form of a lamp has been found only in one cave. Context: Most cave art is found deep inside cave or in crevices despite the fact that empty canvas is visible all around the accessible part of the cave. In many cases natural rock protuberances on the cave wall has been used to advantage to show the contour of the anatomy. In one or two cases a hole in the rock surface is used to show the eye of an animal by drawing the head skillfully around this natural whole. Sometimes a shell has been inserted in the whole to make the eye look real. Motif: One of the most significant characters of Palaeolithic rock art is their repeated super imposition. Barring few large panels almost all drawings and paintings are super imposed with many other figures. The most common motif in all these paintings is cows, bisons, horses and antilopes, Mammoths and rhinoceros are very rarely depicted. Landscapes and human figures are almost nearly absent. Another 3 Archeological Anthropology Anthropology Palaeolithic Art of Europe. important feature of rock art is that animals depicted are not always in proper orientation or in size. That is one can see a huge reindeer within the belly of which a small mammoth may be shown. Sometimes two animals are drawn in such a manner that they share part of their bodies. There are also instances where an animal may be shown with legs pointing upwards. Carnivores, birds or reptiles are also nearly unknown in Palaeolithic rock art of Europe. Chronology: Cave art is dated, in most cases, according to various styles enunciated as representing a period. These may be also based on styles of representation observed in objects of home art which come associated with datable cultural layers. Robert Bednarik in a recent paper dated some engravings on the basis of lime encrustration covering the panel and demonstrated how misbeading it is to use styles as representing a chronology. Leroi- Gourham (1965) had suggested the following style chronology. Period I This includes most figures or signs known from their earliest appearance upto the end of developed Gravettian. The rock art of this period is mostly in the form of engravings or certain signs and some rough profile of animals. The face and body details are entirely absent. Period II This includes figures from last part of Gravettian and continues till early part of Solutrean. The animals during this period show realistic representation of neck, back and belly outline. The legs occasionally show knee joints and hoofs. The head and snout features of the animals still lack great degree of detail. Negative palm impression starts occurring from this period and is found to continue in the subsequent periods. Period III This includes art from developed Solutrean and continues till early Magdalenian. In this period one can observe the first attempt of representing such details as body contours, hairy coats, mane and similar other details. Most of these are achieved by filling in the relevant parts of the body with a colour wash. The highest degree of abstraction in engravings is said to have been achieved in this period. The so called “trap" and “hut" signs of Lascaux and other sites are ascribed to this period. Period IV (Early) This includes the works of art that belongs to middle Magdalenian stages. The figures are now done with more than one colour. These multichrome paintings show body contours in most conventional manner. The animals are shown in motion in many cases. 4 Archeological Anthropology Anthropology Palaeolithic Art of Europe. Period IV (Late) This includes works of art belonging to upper Magdalenian period. The animals drawn continue to be multichrome and naturalistic. Both negative and positive palm prints are quite common during each of the stages of period IV. Period IV (Out goint) This includes works of art belonging to the end of Magdalenian to the transition of epi- Palaeolithic. Animal forms continue to be naturalistic. Signs of various kinds including female genital etc, are grouped together as tectiforms. The various stages of development of art demonstrate a high degree of regional variation within the Franco-Cantabrian region. In some caves dots have been preferred to an outline, while in others natural rock bosses or protuberances have been used to represent the anatomical contours of the animal’s body. The cave of La Rouffignac in Dordogne district of France is nearly 10 km. long and the first works of art appears nearly 2km. from the entrance of the cave. Similarly there are caves where one has to take a boat to enter the area where art begins to appear. The two most famous sites of rock art which have been studied in detail are Lascaux in France and Altamira in Spain. Lascaux: This is the finest of all cave painting sites of France. It is 100 meters long with 2 axial galleries. The work of art is spread over the main hall and the galleries. Surprisingly very little super imposition is done in the major panels. The painted animals are rather large in size, sometimes measuring as much as 5.5 meters in length. The main chamber measuring 30x10 meters is decorated with polychrome paintings of bulls and some other animals. Because of the predominance of bulls this chamber has been called the "hall of the bulls". This hall also contains the curious and much discussed paintings of the so-called 'unicorn measuring 1.65 meters in length. Another 2.70 meter long horse in red wash and parts of its head and feet in black wash occurs in the same chamber. The main chamber opens into a gallery and the far end of this gallery terminates into a vertical shaft which is nearly 5 meters in depth. This is referred to as the “shaft of the dead man". Near its floor has a scene painted on a flat protuberant rock. This shows an impaled bison standing with a human figure in a position of lying on its back in front of it. The bison has its tail up and the hair on its body bristling. A spear is shown pierced through its hind quarters and some of its entrails hang down from its belly. The human figure is schematically drawn with single straight lines representing the body, hands and legs. The man has a bird like face. He is shown with an erected phallus. A stick with a bird sitting on it is struck in the ground by the side of the prostrate man. Besides these numerous horses, bovids and cervidae are also painted in the various galleries. French archaeologists feel that Lascaux represents both late Gravettian as also paintings upto middle Magdalenian period. 5 Archeological Anthropology Anthropology Palaeolithic Art of Europe. Altamira: This is a 280 meter long cave with most spectacular polychrome paintings of Spain.