Prehistoric Cave Paintings An Exploration of the Discovery at Lascaux, and Themes of Paleolithic Era Cave Paintings

Cave Paintings: The Prehistoric Novel As you may already know, before man had a written language, stories and history were passed down in other ways. We will explore cave paintings today as the prehistoric way of recording important events.

The Discovery at Lascaux On September 12, 1940, four teenagers stumbled upon a major discovery. When an old pine tree fell down, it showed a hole in the ground under its roots. The teenagers discovered the hole, went down inside of it, and found the historic cave paintings at Lascaux. It was thought that these paintings had been done originally more than 17,000 years ago.

The Exploration Continues Over the next days and weeks, months and years, the caves were explored, and several separate themes and caves were found. They are The Great Hall of the Bulls, The Painted Gallery, The Lateral Passage, The Chamber of Engravings, The Main Gallery, The Chamber of Felines, and the Shaft of the Dead Man.

A Painting From the Hall of the Bulls at Lascaux

An Image From the Painted Gallery at Lascaux

The Closing of the Cave In 1955, mold and plant life was noticed growing on the cave walls, which was dangerous for the cave paintings. In 1963, after several studies were done, it was decided that the cave would be closed to visitors. Once the visits to the cave had been cancelled, the causes of the changes were eliminated, and the original climate was restored. The Lascaux cave art returned to the state it was in on the day of its discovery. A life sized model, Lascaux II was to be opened, so visitors could still experience the cave. It remains open today.

Interpreting Cave Paintings

Cave Painting Themes Most cave paintings have these major themes: –Animals –Human representations –signs

What Do You See in This Picture? People Animals Spears/Weapons What do you think this picture might represent?

What Story Do You See in This Painting?

Other Cave Painting at Lascaux

More Images From Lascaux

Other symbols

Where did the colors come from? Paint pigments came mostly from minerals. Red was made from an iron oxide called hematite, or red ochre. White came from gypsum or diatomaceous earth. Black was made from charcoal or from manganese oxide. These ground-up pigments were mixed with a binder -- water, animal fat, or plant juices -- to make them into paint, which was applied to the rock with the fingers or with brushes made from animal tails. Chalk- like lines made with dry lumps of pigment can also be seen at some sites.

Lascaux Caves Video Video