Posted on 02/05/2006 7:34:22 PM PST by Pharmboy
PARIS -- Cave drawings thought to be older than those in the famed caves of Lascaux have been discovered in a grotto in western France, officials from the Charente region said Sunday.
A first analysis by officials from the office of cultural affairs suggests the drawings were made some 25,000 years ago, Henri de Marcellus, mayor of the town of Vilhonneur where the cave is located, told France-Info radio.
He said, however, that the date could only be confirmed by further investigations.
Cavers exploring a part of a grotto in the Vilhonneur forest made the discovery in December, the local newspaper Charente Libre reported Saturday.
News was withheld until a first investigation could be carried out, local officials said on French radio.
"If this first expertise is confirmed, the paintings discovered here (change) scientific findings date to Lascaux and Altamira in Spain," Michel Boutant, head of the local government, said on France-Info radio.
The famed Lascaux Cave in Montignac, in the Dordogne region of southwest France, has long been considered one of the finest examples of cave paintings. The art dates back 13,000 years, like those in Altamira, in northwest Spain.
However, the Chauvet cave, discovered in the mid-1990s in southeast France, features some 300 examples of Paleolithic animal art dating back in some cases 31,000 years.
(Excerpt) Read more at newsday.com ...
Quoi?
I agree that the talent for expressing yourself through drawing is genetic. It is in my family. My son was able to draw intricate pictures and make wonderful sculptures before he could read. I paint and my mother was a commercial artist. We never needed classes to teach us how, it was a natural ability. We just took them to perfect technique.
My father, sister and my daughter, on the other hand, can't draw to save their lives.
So says you. -Barney
LOL..... loved that
This is a result of some sort of genetic change that occurred in Europe first.
It was another poster who mentioned the possibility that the seemingly sudden appearance of cave art might be based on a genetic change. However, some families, like your own, are gifted, so there may be a genetic cause. Of course, children raised in an environment where art and music are going on, and where the implements, paint, brushes, clay, piano, stringed instruments are available, might be drawn to it even without a strong natural talent.
It's certainly a fascinating subject.
bttt
I'm a believer. The first movie I didn't walk out on twenty minutes into it. I didn't know it was a stoner trip and went around talking about it as if it were a religious experience.
After the caveman touched the rock he was able to comprehend that a stick or long bone could be an extension of himself, a tool for expressing his thoughts. The journey through infinity was great, trying to identify the histological slides going by.
The sequel was stupid. Everyone around me complained that they didn't show the first movie, then the sequel. Then when the sequel just became so boring and insulting you couldn't stand it anymore, people started hollering sarcastic remarks, some were really droll and witty; it got pretty tense, but then everyone started talking about the first movie and ignored the sacrilege on the screen.
That was such a great movie; they should never have made that sequel, although that they did just confirms what is obvious to a reasonably discerning half-wit, most of the "creative" types in commercial entertainment are crude louts.
We are learning more and more about things we don't know about our past. One problem is that 18,000 years ago when the ice age started its meltdown sea level was about 400 feet lower than it is today. This is why man could walk from Siberia to Alaska. Land areas in the Caribbean, like the Bahamas were much larger. Since man tends to like building his settlements at the mouths of rivers and near the sea, there must be a lot drowned out there. Unfortunately conventional archeology has not been very interested in searching for such traces.
I have often thought that a Journal of Undersea Archeology, Exploration and Adventure would be an interesting publication. I don't think one exists now.
The area of ocean between South Asia and Australia where Flores Island exists was one of the areas that was much larger when the water level was lower. I think they said the little people on Flores were dated between 12,000 and 18,000 years ago. If people started out on a large island that shrank as sea level rose, then smaller people would have had a better chance of survival. The same goes for the small Elephants and other small "large" animals.
Graham Hancock has written several interesting books exploring what may have happened after the ice melted. He also has web forum in his name.
BTW, perspective was in use long before the Dark Ages. However, they seem to have run out of "good artists" during that period, and a lot of politically motivated "copying" took place. Important people were painted large. Unimportant people were painted small. The Great Men were at the top. The women at the bottom
Think of Medieval, pre-Renaissance art as being more like an organization chart!
During the Renaissance, artists didn't exactly "discover" perspective. Rather, they figured out how it worked, and why. I think the Black Plague helped improve art at the time by destroying the hard and fast political structure that had prevailed for the last thousand years.
No one told this caver.
Spelunking buddy, we shall not forget you next time. (I used to do a bit of that myself in Kentucky...I will never forget those white cave crickets).
Ah yes, world class caving in Kentucky. Been there a few times but most of my caving is in Indiana.
This is old....as in old news. The french gov does maintain a nice web site for anyone wanting to see these images, http://www.culture.gouv.fr/culture/arcnat/chauvet/en/index.html
One of the most interesting things about this cave is the presence of human footprints and to me of nearly equal importance is the presence with that human of wolf/dog prints.
The dateline on the story was Feb 5, 2006. I thought this was the first announcement.
Oh...and thanks for the link.
And does the Liberty Bell have a crack? ;)
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