World's First Artists

Archaeology Magazine ^ | January/February 2022 | Eric A. Powell

[SunkenCiv]

There are around 400 caves in France and Spain that contain painted art made between 40,000 and 12,000 years ago. Many of these bear hand prints or paintings created by children between the ages of two and 12. Experts have long wondered why such young children were taken into some of the deepest and darkest caves in Europe on treks that would have been quite treacherous. A new study suggests that children may have played a special role as mediators between the physical and spiritual worlds, according to a statement released by Tel Aviv University. The prevailing hypothesis has been that toddlers and pre-teens were brought along for educational purposes so that knowledge and tradition could be passed down to the next generation. But the new research proposes that children were also considered to have unique mental and cognitive traits different from adults, which allowed them to communicate with entities from the beyond that were believed to be accessible from the cavern depths. "Many of these societies regarded caves as gateways to the underworld where, through shamanic rituals, they could communicate with cosmic entities and inhabitants of the underworld, to resolve existential problems," said archaeologist Ran Barkai. "In this context, young children were perceived as liminal beings, belonging to both the realm they had left just recently (before birth) and the world they currently inhabit. Thus, small children were considered particularly suited to bridging the gap between the worlds and delivering messages to non-human entities." Read the original scholarly article about this research in Arts.

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TOPICS: History; Science; Travel
KEYWORDS: caveart; epigraphyandlanguage; france; godsgravesglyphs; ranbarkai; spain

[SunkenCiv]

Handprints and footprints (left) and 3-D scan of handprints and footprints (right) [World's First Artists | Top 10 Discoveries of 2021 | January/February 2022 | Eric A. Powell]

Courtesy David Zhang

[SunkenCiv]

The rest of the 'caveart' keyword, sorted:

• Archaeologists Uncovered a Painting That May Prove the Existence of a Mysterious Creature [05/02/2025]
• 3,000-Year-Old Cave Paintings Discovered in Rio De Janeiro Park, Brazil [04/14/2025]
• 8 Ancient Writing Systems That Haven't Been Deciphered Yet [02/18/2025]
• Ancient history's dark side: Horrific evidence of cannibalism found in Polish cave [02/12/2025]
• Woolly Rhinos Had A Hump On Their Back, Frozen Mummy Reveals [11/08/2024]
• 200-Year-Old South African Cave Painting May Depict an Animal Extinct for Over 200 Million Years [09/19/2024]
• 4,000-year-old rock art in Venezuela may be from a 'previously unknown' culture [08/08/2024]
• Man Destroyed a 6,000-Year-Old Cave Painting for a Facebook Photo [08/08/2024]
• Artwork in Indonesia is More Than 51,000 Years Old [07/17/2024]
• DNA Shows Native Americans Have Origin in Western Eurasia [11/06/2023]
• Ancient human faces emerge in the Amazon after 2,000 years: Extreme drought unveils previously unknown petroglyphs on the Manaus Riverbed [10/24/2023]
• New dating of cave art reveals history of Puerto Rican people [10/22/2023]
• Mysterious and Life-size camel carvings have been found in Saudi Arabian desert [10/19/2023]
• Missing topographical elements of Paleolithic rock art revealed by stereoscopic imaging [09/04/2023]
• İnkaya Cave excavations in Türkiye's western uncovers 86,000-year-old traces of human life [08/25/2023]
• Missing 'body' of ice age animal carving finally found -- but nobody knows what the animal is [08/11/2023]
• When Humans Discovered Time with Ben Bacon and Dr. Tony Freeth [07/24/2023]
• Memories of World War One soldiers kept alive by graffiti [07/11/2023]
• Oldest Neanderthal cave engravings ever are discovered in France -- and they date back 75,000 Years [06/22/2023]
• Archaeologists Discover Cave Paintings Using Drones [05/27/2023]
• Runes were just as advanced as Roman alphabet writing, says researcher [03/08/2023]
• Ancient code in Ice Age drawings solved [01/06/2023]
• The World's Oldest Animations Stretch All The Way Back to Cave Times [12/27/2022]
• Ancient South Australia cave art destroyed by vandals [12/21/2022]
• PICS: Centuries-old carvings found in Viking cave at abandoned home in Ukraine [11/25/2022]
• Peru: Cave art found on Inca Trail crossing Archaeological Park of Machu Picchu [09/21/2022]
• Maharashtra: Ancient stone age tools found in India cave [09/21/2022]
• Eerie Figures With Giant Heads Found Painted in a Rock Shelter in Tanzania [07/03/2022]
• Study: Spain's Cueva de Ardales Was Used by Ancient Humans for Over 50,000 years [06/06/2022]
• Largest known cave art images in US by Indigenous Americans discovered in Alabama [05/06/2022]
• The Largest Cave Drawings in North America Have Been Found in Alabama [05/05/2022]
• Does This Amazon Rock Art Depict Extinct Ice Age Mammals? [03/07/2022]
• Ancient Cave Sealed For 40,000 Years May Have Been Hideout of The Last Neanderthals [09/30/2021]
• Oldest example of immobile art immortalised in rock discovered in Tibet [09/18/2021]
• Study confirms ancient Spanish cave art was made by Neanderthals [08/15/2021]
• Salt erosion decaying world's oldest cave painting at rapid pace [06/14/2021]
• World's oldest known cave painting found in Indonesia [01/13/2021]
• Take A Virtual Tour Of Chauvet Cave, Home Of The Best Preserved Cave Paintings [12/22/2020]
• Sprawling 8-mile-long 'canvas' of ice age beasts discovered hidden in Amazon rainforest ... Ice age people painted these animals 12,600 years ago. [12/02/2020]
• Testing the DNA of cave art [07/02/2020]
• Small works of art on a large canvas [06/05/2020]
• Ancient cave with distinguished engravings depicting scenes of animals discovered in Sinai [05/04/2020]
• Rare Butchery Scene Found in 30,000-year-old Rock Art in India [04/30/2020]
• Cave Paintings of the Altamira Cave and Lascaux Cave, to Hurrian Hymns [04/11/2020]
• Ancient Art Found in Basque Country Changes Understanding of Prehistoric Society [03/16/2020]
• World's oldest cave art: Half-animal, half-human hybrids depicted on oldest discovered cave art [12/12/2019]
• Dating questions challenge whether Neandertals drew Spanish cave art [10/31/2019]
• Stone block with mysterious 12,000-year-old engravings discovered at prehistoric hunting site [06/06/2019]
• Did kangaroos ever live in India? A new discovery has some archaeologists hopping with excitement [05/16/2019]
• We should gene-sequence cave paintings to find out more about who made them [02/16/2019]
• This animal on a cave wall in Borneo is the oldest known figurative painting in the world [11/07/2018]
• Down to the last detail: How our ancestors with autistic traits led a revolution in Ice Age art [06/03/2018]
• Indonesian island found to be unusually rich in cave paintings [12/18/2017]
• Shuwaymis (oldest leashed dog carvings) (Seems to be origin of large number of new articles) [11/19/2017]
• Code hidden in Stone Age art may be the root of human writing [11/12/2016]
• High Altitude Archaeology: Prehistoric Paintings Revealed [06/19/2016]
• Bulgaria's Burgas Showcases for the first time 7,000-year-old... 'Pre-Alphabetic Writing' [06/13/2016]
• Cave art trove found in Spain 1,000 feet underground [05/29/2016]
• Stunning cave paintings found 300 metres below Spain [05/27/2016]
• 'Stone Age Art' In Upper Franconian Cave Not An Archaeological Sensation After All [05/22/2016]
• Prehistoric Hand Stencils In Spanish Caves Not Randomly Placed, Say Researchers [04/23/2016]
• Chauvet Cave: The Most Accurate Timeline Yet Of Who Used The Cave And When [04/18/2016]
• Vanished! The Surprising Things Missing From Ancient Art [03/03/2016]
• 'Cave of forgotten dreams' may hold earliest painting of volcanic eruption [01/16/2016]
• Signs of world's first pictograph found in Gobeklitepe [07/25/2015]
• Coolest Archaeological Discoveries of 2014 [CHEESE!] [12/30/2014]
• Indonesian Cave Art Among Science's Top 10 Breakthroughs of 2014 [12/22/2014]
• Possible Neanderthal rock engraving in Gorham's Cave [12/09/2014]
• Hallucinogenic Plants May Be Key to Decoding Ancient Southwestern Paintings, Expert Says [11/16/2014]
• Scientists say Indonesia cave drawings the same age as those in Europe [10/09/2014]
• Study Claims Cave Art Made By Neanderthals [09/01/2014]
• Ice age lion figurine: Ancient fragment of ivory belonging to 40,000 year old animal figurine.... [08/02/2014]
• Prehistoric hunting scenes unearthed in Spanish cave [05/25/2014]
• Altamira cave paintings to be opened to the public once again [03/01/2014]
• Cave Art Reveals Ancient View of Cosmos [07/01/2013]
• World's Earliest Figurative Sculpture - Ice Age Lion Man (40,000 Year-Old Mammoth Ivory Statue) [02/08/2013]
• New dating puts cave art in the age of Neanderthals [06/15/2012]
• Famous Cave Paintings Might Not Be From Humans [06/15/2012]
• Spain claims top spot for world's oldest cave art (Is it a Neanderthal "painting?") [06/15/2012]
• The Top Four Candidates for Europe's Oldest Work of Art [05/19/2012]
• The writing on the wall: Symbols from the Palaeolithic [03/22/2012]
• Did Stone Age cavemen talk to each other in symbols? [03/12/2012]
• 'The Oldest (Neanderthal) Work Of Art Ever': 42,000-Year-Old Paintings Of Seals Found In Spain [02/08/2012]
• Is the Lion Man a Woman? Solving the Mystery of a 35,000-Year-Old Statue [12/12/2011]
• Prehistoric Cave Paintings of Horses Were Spot-On, Say Scientists [11/08/2011]
• Stone-age toddlers had art lessons, study says [10/08/2011]
• Tests confirm age of prehistoric carving in Wales [07/29/2011]
• Runestone hits the road with U-Haul (MN) [05/28/2011]
• Cave of Forgotten Dreams [05/17/2011]
• Missing Parts of Sphinx Found in German Cave [04/30/2011]
• Bear DNA is clue to age of Chauvet cave art [04/19/2011]
• The 30,000 Year Old Cave that Descends into Hell [01/21/2011]
• Who Invented the Alphabet: The Semites or the Greeks? [01/17/2011]
• Hunting for the Dawn of Writing, When Prehistory Became History [10/30/2010]
• Inside Lascaux: Rare, Unpublished (cave drawings - link only) [09/23/2010]
• Animal Connection: New Hypothesis for Human Evolution and Human Nature [07/23/2010]
• Megafauna cave painting could be 40,000 years old [05/31/2010]
• Religious beliefs are the basis of the origins of Palaeolithic art [03/31/2010]
• Magnificence on Cave Walls [01/25/2010]
• Mystery of the Narara caves [12/18/2009]
• Maha group finds cave paintings in Satpura ranges[India] [12/03/2009]
• The Oldest Lunar Calendar on Earth [09/21/2009]
• PICTURES: Prehistoric European Cave Artists Were Female [06/30/2009]
• Cave Painting Depicts Extinct Marsupial Lion [05/25/2009]
• Spanish Archaeologists Find Oldest Evidence of Man in Paraguay [ 5,000 years ] [03/02/2009]
• PHOTOS: Unusual Rock Art Trove Found in Australia [10/23/2008]
• Prehistoric cave paintings took up to 20,000 years to complete [10/04/2008]
• Many hands painted Lascaux caves [07/31/2008]
• Rare Cave Inscriptions [03/08/2008]
• Can Ice Age art survive Man's attempt to save it? (Lascaux Cave Paintings) [01/02/2008]
• Ice Age Cave Art Preserved [07/29/2007]
• Egypt's Oldest Known Art Identified, Is 15,000 Years Old [07/13/2007]
• Earliest Horse Figures Of Anatolia In Eskiºehir [02/27/2007]
• Paviland Cave And The Red Lady [01/17/2007]
• Implications for the Behavioral Modernity of Neandertals [08/28/2006]
• Ancient cave in France throws up rare finds [ Vilhonneur ] [06/02/2006]
• Are cave paintings really little more than the testosterone-fuelled scribblings of young men? [06/01/2006]
• Study: Modern Humans Killed Off Neanderthals Quickly [02/25/2006]
• Modern humans 'blitzed Europe'(Radiocarbon Dating Development) [02/23/2006]
• Modern humans took over Europe in just 5,000 years [02/23/2006]
• Humans vs. Neanderthals: Game Over Earlier [02/22/2006]
• Most cave art the work of teens, not shamans - A landmark study of Paleolithic art [02/15/2006]
• Cave Drawings Reportedly 25,000 Years Old [02/05/2006]
• Cave Paintings Reveal Ice Age Artists [12/07/2005]
• Modern humans, Neanderthals shared earth for 1,000 years [09/02/2005]
• Macro-Etymology: Paleosigns [writing 20,000 years ago?] [05/19/2005]
• Oldest rock art in Britain: 12,800 years [04/24/2005]
• Were Cavemen Painting For Their Gods? [03/06/2005]
• Ancient Engravings Found In Somerset Cave [02/08/2005]
• Unprecedented Ice Age Cave Art Discovered In UK [08/21/2004]
• Shell Beads From South African Cave Show Modern Human Behavior 75,000 Years Ago [04/30/2004]
• Cave Colours Reveal Mental Leap [12/11/2003]
• French Student Looks For Lefties Among Earliest Cave Painters [12/10/2003]
• Jerusalem Burial Cave Reveals: Apostle Simon Peter buried in the Patriarchate of Jerusalem [11/23/2003]
• Stone Age Code Red: Scarlet Symbols Emerge In Israeli Cave [11/08/2003]
• Britain And France In Dispute Over Cave Art [10/16/2003]
• Lion man takes pride of place as oldest statue: 30,000-year-old carving [09/05/2003]
• Archaeologists Unearth Britain's First Cave Pictures [06/15/2003]
• Science Shows Cave Art Developed Early [10/03/2001]

[SunkenCiv]

Finger paintings on a wall of Rouffignac Cave, France

Dr. Van Gelder

[SunkenCiv]

[chajin]

Many of these societies regarded caves as gateways to the underworld

Can you dig it?

[ansel12]

******the new research proposes that children were also considered to have unique mental and cognitive traits different from adults, which allowed them to communicate with entities from the beyond that were believed to be accessible from the cavern depths. “Many of these societies regarded caves as gateways to the underworld where, through shamanic rituals, they could communicate with cosmic entities and inhabitants of the underworld, to resolve existential problems,” said archaeologist Ran Barkai. “In this context, young children were perceived as liminal beings, belonging to both the realm they had left just recently (before birth) and the world they currently inhabit. Thus, small children were considered particularly suited to bridging the gap between the worlds and delivering messages to non-human entities.”******

I don’t know the subject, but really???

For those who do know, how are they piecing that all together?

[PIF]

For those who do know, how are they piecing that all together?

—
Theory, supposition, guesses, & grants

[ckilmer]

yes that was my thought too.

How did these people become mind readers.

[ansel12]

I wonder what the reaction of a 1960 archeologist’s lecture hall would be to a member informing them of these wonderfully insightful conclusions?

[Harmless Teddy Bear]

It was a daycare.

[Verginius Rufus]

"Many of these bear hand prints..."

I have seen photos of human hand prints from these caves, but none of bear hand prints. Shouldn't that be "paw prints"?

It's amazing that people in the East Indies and in western Europe, about the same time, got the idea of marking surfaces with hand prints.

[SunkenCiv]

:^)

[Vaduz]

Cave man warning RUN

[PIF]

I wonder what the reaction of a 1960 archeologist’s lecture hall would be to a member informing them of these wonderfully insightful conclusions?
—

Applause for staunchly upholding the status quo against all information, data, artifacts, scientific breakthroughs, & interdisciplinary insights to the contrary. 1960s archeologists were even more wedded to the status quo than the current ones are.