Paleolithic Cave Art

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Paleolithic Cave Art Anthropology 103
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The Context for Cave Art
We are considering the cave art of the Upper
Paleolithic. This is approximately 10,000 b.p.
However, recent redating of art at Chauvet
drawings indicates cave art at 29,700 and 32,400
years old. This is about 10,000 years older than
comparable cave art found in the Lascaux caves
that are around 17,000 years old.
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Theories on Cave Art
Sympathetic Magic (Abbe Breuil) An explanation
that suggests cave art was a representation of
Paleolithic hunting. Specifically, the portrayal
of animals was thought to bring luck in the hunt.
Paintings were thought to be situated in sacred
areas. Theory was popular until the 1960s.
Critique Very often the least hunted animals
were represented. Or, as in the case of the
reindeer, it was the most hunted and it was
rarely represented in cave art.
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Theories on Cave Art
Structuralist-Cognitive (Leroi-Gourhan) Studied
different art in its context (where different
animals and styles were found in caves).
Suggested the locations of the paintings were
significant and argued for the idea that cave
art represented the cosmology of early humans.
Argued that cave art could be divided into
symbols of maleness and femaleness. Argued for
continuity of meaning in cave art. Repudiated
the idea that cave art was found in the deep,
dark areas of caves.
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Theories on Cave Art
Ecological (Marshack) Studied cave art as well
as portable art to understand how much ecological
knowledge was contained in art. Found that
seasons were represented in art. Also suggested
that art was calendarical in nature.
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Theories on Cave Art
Structure (Conkey) Suggested that cave art
might represent social groups of different
sorts. Offered that cave art might have allowed
early humans to deal with stress. The
identification of different design elements may
tell us something about the presence of different
social groups. Artists made deliberate
selections of material and conscious aesthetic
decisions.
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Theories on Cave Art
Shamanistic-Trance (David Lewis-Williams) David
Lewis-Williams sees in the geometric and
representational forms the material correlates of
various stages of universal and neurologically
generated altered states of consciousness, most
commonly associated with shamanism.
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