Credit: amiteshikha, CC BY 3.0 , via Wikimedia Commons
Posted on 09/04/2023 8:34:39 PM PDT by SunkenCiv
Research led by Complutense University, Madrid, has discovered an array of ancient cave paintings hidden among previously described cave art...
The researchers revisited La Pasiega cave's rock art using new digital stereoscopic recording methods and identified previously unnoticed animal figures within the cave art. Specifically, they discovered new depictions of horses, deer, and a large bovid (possibly an aurochs) that had not been recognized before.
Some figures were previously considered incomplete as if the artist simply gave up on the rendering midway through. Through stereoscopic photography and a better understanding of how natural rock formations were incorporated into the artwork, these incomplete figures were reinterpreted as complete animal depictions.
Stereoscopic photographs allowed the researchers to establish correlations between the images and the irregularities of the cave's rock walls. These correlations were not easily perceptible in traditional two-dimensional photographs.
By incorporating natural rock features into the depictions, the ancient artist used the existing environment to enhance or become part of the artwork, creating a harmonious interaction between human-made and natural elements. The technique can give depth and three-dimensionality to the depicted figures and scenes.
The topographical features of the cave walls could also have inspired the artists' imagination. Cave dwellers may have experienced pareidolia, the psychological phenomenon of seeing unintentional forms in nature, like seeing shapes in clouds. If a bulge of rock looks a little like a horse's head, the artist might imagine the complete form, filling in the rest of the details.
(Excerpt) Read more at phys.org ...
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Mike3044 Aug 25, 2023The photo illustrating this article is unrelated to it. The photo is from India and the art work is not paleolithic. This article is about much older cave paintings in Spain.
Where are the paintings of the aliens?
I really love cave art. But I have never understood why those artists could depict animals so elegantly and perfectly while representing humans as stick figures.
That’s how humans looked back then. It’s analogous to this:
https://www.gocomics.com/calvinandhobbes/2014/11/09
Thanks hm.
...or maybe they were just on the paleo diet...
They are riding horses!.................
Yup, and elephants.
The original article appeared in Antiquity magazine. But you have to pay $26 to access it.
Yes, they are elephants, and not mammoths or mastodons...............
It was done in 3-D!.......................
FR pays off again!
“Specifically, they discovered new depictions of horses, deer, and a large bovid (possibly an aurochs) that had not been recognized before.”
Hidden from eyes for centuries.
Alas, poor aurochs!
Thanks!
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