The amount of reading on cave art from Hughes only touches barely on what it means to anthropologists, archaeologists, and artists. Yes, it was widely assumed before 1995 or so that early humans made cave drawing as a part of religious ritual, hunting habits, or perhaps for aesthetic pleasure. The fact that there were no depictions of predatory animals at Ardeche basically gets rid of the hunting idea. It is also hard to believe that these cave paintings were for any artistic use either, because it is really hard to get to some of these locations inside the complex of caves. Sometimes a cave would expand underground for miles, and much of it has never seen daylight. The drawing of the shaman from in Altered States (the reindeer-looking man on its hind legs), is an artist's adaptation of what was drawn on a cave wall in Dordogne, France. Henri Breuil, the artist, said about the cave: "How the artists who drew it could have worked four meters above the floor was a problem which I had to solve myself and without a ladder... there is a small, projecting rock where one's right foot can rest; then, taking a firm hold... and making a complete half turn, it is possible to sit quite comfortably on the uneven surface... It is difficult to hold at the same time a lamp, one's paper and pencil and a drawing board for the retouching of a tracing, taking care at the same time not to slide downwards." (Art Across Time; Laurie Schneider Adams, pg. 33) I knew that reading the part about the shamans was familiar to me so I went back to an art history book of mine and found that quote. I think that's pretty cool, and whoever those people were, they had to be quite limber to pull off some of the drawings that we know of.
The other cool part about the cave paintings are the handprints and dots that we find. Hughes's suggestion was that these people (shamans or otherwise) had ingested some form of "psychotropic power plant" to create these masterpieces. Of course they don't teach this in high school or survey college courses. It is assumed that they were some way of communicating between people or tribes, but to think that this is where aestheticism began was something I had not thought of before.
When it comes to shamans or "psychotropic power plants," you need look no further than Hollywood. They are kind enough to give us creativity beyond normal boundaries. I'm sure all the guys in this class have seen the movie "300," and I'm hoping some girls have too, but if you recall with me, Leonitus went to the oracle at Delphi (forgive me if this isn't right, I haven't seen the movie since it was in theaters) to ask what he should do about going to battle. The oracle was a teenage girl, hopped up on drugs, and for Hollywood's sake she was floating through the air. We see these kind of thing at the Acropolis, also (back in the day when there were priestesses in the temple).
And as for Lennon being the walrus, everyone should check out "Across the Universe." Comes to theaters September 14th. Talk about being on drugs... see what The Beatles were really up to when Julie Taymor adapts 16 of their songs into a new-age musical. It'll be cool. I suggest a class field trip. http://movies.aol.com/movie/across-the-universe/25070/video/trailer/1849672
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Nice post. Lascaux’s rich inventory of art were the fine works of the Cro-magnon man. You can find most primitive lunar calendar ever created on the walls of the Lascaux Caves. You must see string of thirteen dots ending in a square shape that point out to the Moon’s half monthly cycle. The empty square represents the missing Moon. Chamber of Felines has an assortment of a seemingly smaller section of beautiful carvings and pictures. people are very much attracted to such work of art. For more details refer
Caves Of Lascaux
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