Rock carvings of ancient people. Types and features of the art of primitive society

All over the world, speleologists in deep caves find confirmation of the existence of ancient people. Rock paintings have been excellently preserved for many millennia. There are several types of masterpieces - pictograms, petroglyphs, geoglyphs. Important monuments of human history are regularly included in the World Heritage Register.

Usually on the walls of the caves there are common plots, such as hunting, battle, images of the sun, animals, human hands. People in ancient times attached sacred significance to the paintings, they believed that they were helping themselves in the future.

Images were applied by various methods and materials. For artistic creation, animal blood, ocher, chalk and even bat guano were used. A special type of murals are hewn murals, they were beaten out in stone with the help of a special cutter.

Many caves are not well studied and are limited in visiting, while others, on the contrary, are open to tourists. However, most of the precious cultural heritage is lost without supervision, without finding its researchers.

Below is a short excursion into the world of the most interesting caves with prehistoric rock paintings.

Ancient rock paintings.

Bulgaria is famous not only for the hospitality of the inhabitants and the indescribable color of the resorts, but also for the caves. One of them, with the sonorous name of Magura, is located north of Sofia, not far from the town of Belogradchik. The total length of the cave galleries is more than two kilometers. The halls of the cave have colossal dimensions, each of them is about 50 meters wide and 20 meters high. The pearl of the cave is a rock painting made directly on the surface covered with bat guano. The paintings are multi-layered, here are a number of paintings from the Paleolithic, Neolithic, Eneolithic and Bronze Ages. The drawings of ancient Homo sapiens depict figures of dancing villagers, hunters, many outlandish animals, constellations. The sun, plants, tools are also represented. Here begins the story of the festivities of the ancient era and the solar calendar, scientists assure.

The cave with the poetic name Cueva de las Manos (Spanish for “Cave of Many Hands”) is located in the province of Santa Cruz, exactly one hundred miles from the nearest settlement, the city of Perito Moreno. The art of the rock painting in the hall, 24 meters long and 10 meters high, dates back to 13-9 millennium BC. An amazing painting on limestone is a three-dimensional canvas, decorated with handprints. Scientists have built a theory about how the surprisingly crisp and clear handprints turned out. Prehistoric people took a special composition, then they put it in their mouths, and through a tube they blew it with force onto a hand attached to the wall. In addition, there are stylized images of a man, rhea, guanaco, cats, geometric figures with ornaments, the process of hunting and observing the sun.

Enchanting India offers tourists not only the delights of oriental palaces and charming dances. In north central India, there are huge mountain formations of weathered sandstone with many caves. Once upon a time, ancient people lived in natural shelters. About 500 dwellings with traces of human habitation have been preserved in the state of Madhya Pradesh. The Indians called the rock dwellings the name of Bhimbetka (on behalf of the hero of the Mahabharata epic). The art of the ancients here dates back to the Mesolithic era. Some of the paintings are minor, and some of the hundreds of images are very typical and vivid. 15 rock masterpieces are available for contemplation of those who wish. Mostly, patterned ornaments and battle scenes are depicted here.

Rare animals and venerable scientists find shelter in the Serra da Capivara National Park. And 50 thousand years ago here, in the caves, our distant ancestors found shelter. Presumably, this is the oldest community of hominids in South America. The park is located near the town of San Raimondo Nonato, in the central part of the state of Piauí. Experts counted more than 300 archaeological sites here. The main surviving images date back to the 25-22 millennium BC. The most amazing thing is that extinct bears and other paleofauna are painted on the rocks.

The Republic of Somaliland recently seceded from Somalia in Africa. Archaeologists in the area are interested in the Laas-Gaal cave complex. Here are rock paintings from the 8th-9th and 3rd millennium BC. On the granite walls of the majestic natural shelters, scenes of the life and life of the nomadic people of Africa are depicted: the process of grazing, ceremonies, and playing with dogs. The local population does not attach any importance to the drawings of their ancestors, and uses the caves, as in the old days, for shelter during the rain. Many of the studies have not been studied properly. In particular, there are problems with the chronological reference of the masterpieces of the Arab-Ethiopian ancient rock paintings.

Not far from Somalia, in Libya, there are also rock paintings. They are much earlier, and date back almost to the 12th millennium BC. The last of them were applied after the birth of Christ, in the first century. It is interesting to observe, following the drawings, how the fauna and flora changed in this area of ​​the Sahara. First we see elephants, rhinoceros and fauna characteristic of a rather humid climate. Also of interest is the clearly traced change in the lifestyles of the population - from hunting to settled cattle breeding, then to nomadism. To get to Tadrart Acacus, one has to cross the desert to the east of the city of Ghats.

In 1994, on a walk, by chance, Jean-Marie Chauvet discovered the cave that later became famous. She was named after the caver. In the Chauvet cave, in addition to traces of the life of ancient people, hundreds of wonderful frescoes were discovered. The most amazing and beautiful of them depict mammoths. In 1995, the cave became a state monument, and in 1997, 24-hour surveillance was introduced here to prevent damage to the magnificent heritage. Today, in order to take a look at the incomparable rock art of the Cro-Magnons, you need to get a special permit. In addition to mammoths, there is something to admire, here on the walls there are handprints and fingers of representatives of the Aurignacian culture (34-32 thousand years BC)

In fact, the name of the Australian national park has nothing to do with the famous Cockatoo parrots. It's just that the Europeans mispronounced the name of the Gaagudju tribe. This nation is now extinct, and there is no one to correct the ignorant. The park is inhabited by natives who have not changed their way of life since the Stone Age. For thousands of years, Indigenous Australians have been involved in rock art. Pictures were painted here already 40 thousand years ago. In addition to religious scenes and hunting, stylized stories in drawings about useful skills (educational) and magic (entertainment) are sketched here. Of the animals, extinct marsupial tigers, catfish, barramundi are depicted. All the wonders of the Arnhem Land plateau, Colpignac and the southern hills are located 171 km from the city of Darwin.

It turns out that the first Homo sapiens reached Spain in the 35th millennium BC, it was the early Paleolithic. They left outlandish rock paintings in the Altamira cave. The art artifacts on the walls of the huge cave date back to both the 18th and 13th millennia. In the last period, polychrome figures are interesting, a kind of combination of engraving and painting, the acquisition of realistic details. The famous bison, deer and horses, or rather, their beautiful images on the walls of Altamira, often end up in textbooks for middle school students. The cave of Altamira is located in the Cantabrian region.

Lascaux is not just a cave, but a whole complex of small and large cave halls located in the south of France. Not far from the caves is the legendary village of Montignac. The paintings on the walls of the cave were drawn 17 thousand years ago. And they still amaze with amazing forms, akin to modern graffiti art. Scholars especially value the Hall of the Bulls and the Palace Hall of the Cats. What prehistoric creators left there is easy to guess. In 1998, the rock masterpieces were almost destroyed by mold, which arose due to an improperly installed air conditioning system. And in 2008, Lasko was closed to save more than 2,000 unique drawings.

Photo Travel Guide

December 18, 1994, the famous French speleologist Jean Marie Chauvet discovered the cave gallerycancient depictions of animals. The find was named after its discoverer — Chauvet cave. We decided to talk about the most beautiful caves with rock paintings.

Chauvet cave

The discovery of the Chauvet cave in the south of France near the town of Pont d'Arc became a scientific sensation that forced us to reconsider the existing idea of ​​the art of ancient people: it was previously believed that primitive painting developed in stages. At first, the images were very primitive, and more than one thousand years had to pass for the drawings on the walls of the caves to reach their perfection. The discovery of Chauvet suggests the opposite: the age of some images is 30-33 thousand years, which means that our ancestors learned to draw even before moving to Europe. The found rock art is one of the oldest examples of cave art in the world, in particular, the drawing of black rhinos from Chauvet is still considered the oldest. The south of France is rich in such caves, but none of them can be compared with the Chauvet cave either in size, or in the preservation and skill of the drawings. Mostly animals are depicted on the walls of the cave: panthers, horses, deer, as well as woolly rhinoceros, tarpan, cave lion and other animals of the Ice Age. In total, images of 13 different types of animals were found in the cave.
Now the cave is closed to tourists, as changes in air humidity can damage the images. Archaeologists can only work in a cave for a few hours a day. To date, the Chauvet cave is a national treasure of France.

Caves of Nerja

Nerja Caves is an amazingly beautiful series of huge caves near the city of Nerja in Andalusia, Spain. Received the nickname "Prehistoric Cathedral". They were discovered by accident in 1959. They are one of the main attractions of Spain. Some of their galleries are open to the public, and one of them, which forms a natural amphitheater and has excellent acoustics, even hosts concerts. In addition to the largest stalagmite in the world, several mysterious drawings were found in the cave. Experts believe that seals or fur seals are depicted on the walls. Fragments of charcoal were found near the drawings, radiocarbon dating of which gave an age between 43,500 and 42,300 years. If experts prove that the images were made with this charcoal, the seals of the Nerja cave will be significantly older than the cave paintings from the Chauvet cave. This once again confirms the assumption that the Neanderthals had the ability for creative imagination no less than that of a reasonable person.

Kapova Cave (Shulgan-Tash)

This karst cave was found in Bashkiria, on the Belaya River, in the area of ​​\u200b\u200bwhich is now the Shulgan-Tash reserve. This is one of the longest caves in the Urals. Rock paintings of ancient people from the Late Paleolithic era, the likes of which can be found only in very limited places in Europe, were discovered in Kapova Cave in 1959. Images of mammoths, horses and other animals are made mainly with ocher - a natural pigment based on animal fat, their age is about 18 thousand years. There are several charcoal drawings. In addition to animals, there are images of triangles, stairs, oblique lines. The most ancient drawings, dating from the early Paleolithic, are in the upper tier. On the lower tier of the Kapova cave there are later images of the Ice Age. The drawings are also notable for the fact that the human figures are shown without the realism inherent in the animals depicted. The researchers suggest that the images were made in order to propitiate the "gods of the hunt." In addition, cave paintings are designed to be perceived not from one specific point, but from several angles of view. To preserve the drawings, the cave was closed to the public in 2012, however, an interactive kiosk was installed in the museum on the territory of the reserve for everyone to take a virtual look at the drawings.

Cueva de las Manos Cave

Cueva de las Manos ("Cave of Many Hands") is located in Argentina, in the province of Santa Cruz. The world fame of Cueva de las Manos in 1964 was brought by the research of archeology professor Carlos Gradin, who discovered many wall paintings and human handprints in the cave, the oldest of which date back to the 9th millennium BC. e. More than 800 prints, overlapping each other, form a multi-colored mosaic. So far, scientists have not come to a consensus on the meaning of the images of hands, from which the cave got its name. Mostly left hands are captured: out of 829 prints, only 36 are right. Moreover, according to some researchers, the hands belong to teenage boys. Most likely, drawing the image of one's hand was part of the initiation rite. In addition, scientists have built a theory about how such clear and crisp palm prints were obtained: apparently, a special composition was typed into the mouth, and through the tube it was blown with force onto the hand attached to the wall. In addition to handprints, the walls of the cave depict people, Nanda ostriches, guanacos, cats, geometric figures with ornaments, hunting processes (the drawings show the use of bolas, a traditional throwing weapon of the Indians of South America) and observations of the sun. In 1999, the cave was included in the UNESCO World Heritage List.

More than three million years ago, the process of formation of the modern species of people began. The sites of primitive man have been found in various countries of the world. Our ancient ancestors, exploring new territories, encountered unfamiliar natural phenomena and formed the first centers of primitive culture.

Among the ancient hunters, people with extraordinary artistic talents stood out, who left many expressive works. There are no corrections in the drawings made on the walls of the caves, since the unique masters had a very firm hand.

Primitive thinking

The problem of the origin of primitive art, reflecting the lifestyle of ancient hunters, has been worrying the minds of scientists for several centuries. Despite its simplicity, it is of great importance in the history of mankind. It reflects the religious and social spheres of the life of that society. The consciousness of primitive people is a very complex interweaving of two principles - illusory and realistic. It is believed that this combination had a decisive impact on the nature of the creative activity of the first artists.

Unlike modern art, the art of past eras is always connected with the everyday aspects of human life and seems more earthly. It fully reflects primitive thinking, which does not always have a realistic coloring. And the point here is not the low level of skill of the artists, but the special purposes of their creativity.

The emergence of art

In the middle of the 19th century, archaeologist E. Larte discovered an image of a mammoth in the La Madeleine cave. So, for the first time, the involvement of hunters in painting was proved. As a result of the discoveries, it was established that art monuments appeared much later than tools.

Representatives of homo sapiens made stone knives, spearheads, and this technique was passed down from generation to generation. Later, people used bones, wood, stone and clay to create their first works. It turns out that primitive art arose when a person had free time. When the problem of survival was solved, people began to leave a huge number of monuments of the same type.

Kinds of art

Primitive art, which appeared in the late Paleolithic era (more than 33 thousand years ago), developed in several directions. The first is represented by rock paintings and megaliths, and the second - by small sculptures and carvings on bone, stone and wood. Unfortunately, wooden artifacts are extremely rare in archaeological sites. However, the objects created by man that have come down to us are very expressive and silently tell about the skill of ancient hunters.

It must be admitted that in the minds of the ancestors, art did not stand out as a separate field of activity, and not all people had the ability to create images. The artists of that era possessed such a powerful talent that he himself burst out, splashing bright and expressive images on the walls and vault of the cave, which overwhelmed the human mind.

The Old Stone Age (Paleolithic) is the earliest but longest period, at the end of which all kinds of art appeared, which are characterized by external simplicity and realism. People did not connect the events with nature or themselves, they did not feel the space.

The most outstanding monuments of the Paleolithic are the drawings on the walls of the caves, which are recognized as the first type of primitive art. They are very primitive and represent wavy lines, prints of human hands, images of animal heads. These are clear attempts to feel part of the world and the first glimpses of consciousness among our ancestors.

The paintings on the rocks were made with a stone chisel or paint (red ocher, black charcoal, white lime). Scientists argue that along with the emerging art, the first rudiments of a primitive society (society) arose.

In the Paleolithic era, carving on stone, wood and bone develops. The figurines of animals and birds found by archaeologists are distinguished by the exact reproduction of all volumes. Researchers say that they were created as amulets-amulets that protected the inhabitants of the caves from evil spirits. The oldest masterpieces had a magical meaning and oriented man in nature.

Different tasks facing the artists

The main feature of primitive art in the Paleolithic era is its primitivism. Ancient people did not know how to convey space and endow natural phenomena with human qualities. The visual image of animals was originally represented by a schematic, almost conditional, image. And only after a few centuries, colorful images appear that reliably show all the details of the appearance of wild animals. Scientists believe that this is not due to the level of skill of the first artists, but to the various tasks that were set before them.

Contour primitive drawings were used in rituals, created for magical purposes. But detailed, very accurate images appear at a time when animals turn into an object of veneration, and ancient people thus emphasize their mystical connection with them.

The heyday of art

According to archaeologists, the highest flowering of the art of primitive society falls on the Madeleine period (25-12 thousand years BC). At this time, animals are depicted in motion, and a simple contour drawing takes on three-dimensional forms.

The spiritual forces of hunters, who have studied the habits of predators to the smallest subtleties, are aimed at comprehending the laws of nature. Ancient artists convincingly draw images of animals, but the man himself does not receive special attention in art. In addition, not a single image of the landscape has ever been found. It is believed that ancient hunters simply admired nature, and feared predators and worshiped them.

The most famous samples of rock art of this period were found in the caves of Lascaux (France), Altamira (Spain), Shulgan-Tash (Urals).

"Sistine Chapel of the Stone Age"

It is curious that even in the middle of the 19th century, cave painting was not known to scientists. And only in 1877, a famous archaeologist, who got into the Almamir cave, discovered rock paintings, which were later included in the UNESCO World Heritage List. It is no coincidence that the underground grotto was called the Sistine Chapel of the Stone Age. In rock art, one can see the confident hand of ancient artists who made the outlines of animals without any corrections, in single lines. In the light of a torch, which gives rise to an amazing play of shadows, it seems that three-dimensional images are moving.

Later, more than a hundred underground grottoes with traces of primitive people were found in France.

In the Kapova Cave (Shulgan-Tash), located in the Southern Urals, animal images were found relatively recently - in 1959. 14 silhouette and contour drawings of animals are made in red ocher. In addition, various geometric signs were also found.

The first humanoid images

One of the main themes of primitive art is the image of a woman. It was caused by the special specifics of the thinking of ancient people. The drawings were attributed magical powers. The found figures of naked and dressed women testify to the very high level of skill of ancient hunters and convey the main idea of ​​the image - the keeper of the hearth.

These are figurines of very full women, the so-called Venuses. Such sculptures are the first humanoid images symbolizing fertility and motherhood.

Changes that took place during the Mesolithic and Neolithic eras

In the Mesolithic era, primitive art undergoes changes. Rock paintings are multi-figure compositions, on which you can trace various episodes from people's lives. Most often scenes of battles and hunting are depicted.

But the main changes in primitive society occur during the Neolithic period. A person learns to build new types of dwellings and builds structures on piles of brick. The main theme of art is the activity of the collective, and fine art is represented by rock paintings, stone, ceramic and wooden sculpture, clay plastic.

Ancient petroglyphs

It is impossible not to mention the multi-plot and multi-figure compositions, in which the main attention is paid to the animal and man. Petroglyphs (rock carvings that are carved or painted), painted in secluded places, attract the attention of scientists from all over the world. Some experts believe that they are ordinary sketches of everyday scenes. And others see in them some kind of writing, which is based on symbols and signs, and testifies to the spiritual heritage of our ancestors.

In Russia, petroglyphs are called "petroglyphs", and most often they are found not in caves, but in open areas. Made in ocher, they are perfectly preserved, because the paint is perfectly absorbed into the rocks. The subjects of the drawings are very wide and varied: the heroes are animals, symbols, signs and people. Schematic representations of the stars of the solar system have even been found. Despite the very respectable age, the petroglyphs, made in a realistic manner, speak of the great skill of the people who applied them.

And now research is ongoing to get closer to deciphering the unique messages left by our distant ancestors.

Bronze Age

In the Bronze Age, which is associated with the main milestones in the history of primitive art and humanity as a whole, new technical inventions appear, metal is mastered, people are engaged in agriculture and cattle breeding.

The themes of art are enriched with new plots, the role of figurative symbolism increases, and geometric ornament spreads. You can see scenes that are associated with mythology, and images become a special sign system that is understandable to some groups of the population. Appears zoomorphic and anthropomorphic sculpture, as well as mysterious structures - megaliths.

Symbols, through which a variety of concepts and feelings are conveyed, carry a great aesthetic load.

Conclusion

At the earliest stages of its development, art does not stand out as an independent sphere of human spiritual life. In primitive society, there is only nameless creativity, closely intertwined with ancient beliefs. It reflected the ideas of the ancient "artists" about nature, the surrounding world, and thanks to it, people communicated with each other.

If we talk about the features of primitive art, then we cannot fail to mention that it has always been associated with the labor activity of people. Only labor allowed the ancient masters to create real works that excite descendants with the vivid expressiveness of artistic images. Primitive man expanded his ideas about the world around him, enriching his spiritual world. In the course of labor activity, people developed aesthetic feelings and an understanding of beauty took place. From the very moment of its inception, art had a magical meaning, and later existed with other forms of not only spiritual, but also material activity.

When man learned to create images, he gained power over time. Therefore, it can be said without exaggeration that the appeal of ancient people to art is one of the most important events in the history of mankind.

Primitive (or, otherwise, primitive) art geographically covers all continents except Antarctica, and in time - the entire era of human existence, preserved by some peoples living in remote corners of the planet to this day.

Most of the most ancient paintings were found in Europe (from Spain to the Urals).

It was well preserved on the walls of the caves - the entrances turned out to be tightly filled up millennia ago, the same temperature and humidity were maintained there.

Not only wall paintings have been preserved, but also other evidence of human activity - clear footprints of bare feet of adults and children on the damp floor of some caves.

Reasons for the emergence of creative activity and the function of primitive art Man's need for beauty and creativity.

beliefs of the time. The man portrayed those whom he revered. People of that time believed in magic: they believed that with the help of paintings and other images, one could influence the nature or outcome of the hunt. It was believed, for example, that it was necessary to hit a drawn animal with an arrow or spear in order to ensure the success of a real hunt.

periodization

Now science is changing its opinion about the age of the earth and the time frame is changing, but we will study by the generally accepted names of the periods.
1. Stone Age
1.1 Old Stone Age - Paleolithic. ... to 10 thousand BC
1.2 Middle Stone Age - Mesolithic. 10 - 6 thousand BC
1.3 New Stone Age - Neolithic. From 6 - to 2 thousand BC
2. Bronze Age. 2 thousand BC
3. Age of iron. 1 thousand BC

Paleolithic

Tools of labor were made of stone; hence the name of the era - the stone age.
1. Ancient or Lower Paleolithic. up to 150 thousand BC
2. Middle Paleolithic. 150 - 35 thousand BC
3. Upper or late Paleolithic. 35 - 10 thousand BC
3.1 Aurignac-Solutrean period. 35 - 20 thousand BC
3.2. Madeleine period. 20 - 10 thousand BC This period received its name from the name of the La Madeleine cave, where murals related to this time were found.

The earliest works of primitive art date back to the Late Paleolithic. 35 - 10 thousand BC
Scientists are inclined to believe that naturalistic art and the representation of schematic signs and geometric figures arose simultaneously.
Pasta drawings. Impressions of a human hand and a disorderly weave of wavy lines pressed into the wet clay with the fingers of the same hand.

The first drawings from the Paleolithic period (Old Stone Age, 35–10 thousand BC) were discovered at the end of the 19th century. Spanish amateur archaeologist Count Marcelino de Sautuola, three kilometers from his family estate, in the cave of Altamira.

It happened like this:
“An archaeologist decided to explore a cave in Spain and took his little daughter with him. Suddenly she shouted: “Bulls, bulls!” The father laughed, but when he raised his head, he saw on the ceiling of the cave huge, painted figures of bison. Some of the bison were depicted standing still, others rushing with inclined horns at the enemy. At first, scientists did not believe that primitive people could create such works of art. Only 20 years later, numerous works of primitive art were discovered in other places and the authenticity of the cave painting was recognized.

Paleolithic painting

Cave of Altamira. Spain.
Late Paleolithic (Madeleine era 20 - 10 thousand years BC).
On the vault of the cave chamber of Altamira, a whole herd of large bison, closely spaced to each other, is depicted.


Panel of bison. Located on the ceiling of the cave. Wonderful polychrome images contain black and all shades of ocher, rich colors, superimposed somewhere densely and monotonously, and somewhere with halftones and transitions from one color to another. A thick layer of paint up to several cm. In total, 23 figures are depicted on the vault, if we do not take into account those of which only outlines have been preserved.

Fragment. Buffalo. Cave of Altamira. Spain. Late Paleolithic. They illuminated the caves with lamps and reproduced from memory. Not primitivism, but the highest degree of stylization. When the cave was discovered, it was believed that this was an imitation of a hunt - the magical meaning of the image. But today there are versions that the goal was art. The beast was necessary for man, but he was terrible and elusive.

Fragment. Bull. Altamira. Spain. Late Paleolithic.
Nice brown shades. The tense stop of the beast. They used the natural relief of the stone, depicted on the bulge of the wall.

Fragment. Bison. Altamira. Spain. Late Paleolithic.
Transition to polychrome art, darker stroke.

Font-de-Gaume cave. France

Late Paleolithic.
Characterized by silhouette images, deliberate distortion, exaggeration of proportions. On the walls and vaults of the small halls of the Font-de-Gaumes cave, at least about 80 drawings are applied, mainly bison, two indisputable figures of mammoths and even a wolf.

Grazing deer. Font de Gome. France. Late Paleolithic.
The image of the horns in perspective. Deer at this time (the end of the Madeleine era) replaced other animals.

Fragment. Buffalo. Font de Gome. France. Late Paleolithic.
The hump and crest on the head are emphasized. Overlapping one image with another is a polypsest. Detailed work. Decorative solution for the tail. Image of houses.

Wolf. Font de Gome. France. Late Paleolithic.

Cave of Nio. France

Late Paleolithic.
Round room with drawings. There are no images of mammoths and other animals of the glacial fauna in the cave.

Horse. Nio. France. Late Paleolithic.
Depicted already with 4 legs. The silhouette is outlined in black paint, retouched in yellow inside. The character of a pony horse.

Stone sheep. Nio. France. Late Paleolithic. Partially contour image, the skin is drawn on top.

Deer. Nio. France. Late Paleolithic.

Buffalo. Nio. Nio. France. Late Paleolithic.
Among the images, most of all are bison. Some of them are shown as wounded, arrows in black and red.

Buffalo. Nio. France. Late Paleolithic.

Lascaux cave

It so happened that it was the children, and quite by accident, who found the most interesting cave paintings in Europe:
“In September 1940, near the town of Montignac, in the South-West of France, four high school students went on an archaeological expedition they had planned. In place of a long-rooted tree, there was a gaping hole in the ground that aroused their curiosity. There were rumors that this was the entrance to a dungeon leading to a nearby medieval castle.
There was also a smaller hole inside. One of the guys threw a stone at it and, from the noise of the fall, concluded that the depth was decent. He widened the hole, crawled inside, nearly fell over, lit a flashlight, gasped, and called out to the others. From the walls of the cave in which they found themselves, some huge beasts were looking at them, breathing with such confident force, at times it seemed ready to turn into a rage, that they became terrified. And at the same time, the power of these animal images was so majestic and convincing that it seemed to them as if they had fallen into some kind of magical kingdom.

Lasko cave. France.
Late Paleolithic (Madeleine era, 18 - 15 thousand years BC).
Called the primitive Sistine Chapel. Consists of several large rooms: rotunda; main gallery; pass; apse.
Colorful images on the calcareous white surface of the cave.
Strongly exaggerated proportions: large necks and bellies.
Contour and silhouette drawings. Clear images without layering. A large number of male and female signs (rectangle and many dots).

The scene of the hunt. Lasko. France. Late Paleolithic.
genre image. A bull killed by a spear butted a man with a bird's head. Nearby on a stick is a bird - maybe his soul.

Buffalo. Lasko. France. Late Paleolithic.

Horse. Lasko. France. Late Paleolithic.

Mammoths and horses. Kapova cave. Ural.
Late Paleolithic.

KAPOVA CAVE- to the south. m Ural, on the river. White. Formed in limestones and dolomites. Corridors and grottoes are located on two floors. The total length is over 2 km. On the walls - late Paleolithic picturesque images of mammoths, rhinos

Paleolithic sculpture

Art of small forms or mobile art (small plastic)
An integral part of the art of the Paleolithic era are objects that are commonly called "small plastic".
These are three types of objects:
1. Figurines and other three-dimensional items carved from soft stone or other materials (horn, mammoth tusk).
2. Flattened objects with engravings and paintings.
3. Reliefs in caves, grottoes and under natural canopies.
The relief was knocked out with a deep contour or the background around the image was shy.

Relief

One of the first finds, called small plastics, was a bone plate from the Shaffo grotto with images of two fallow deer or deer:
Deer swimming across the river. Fragment. Bone carving. France. Late Paleolithic (Madeleine period).

Everyone knows the wonderful French writer Prosper Mérimée, author of the fascinating novel Chronicle of the Reign of Charles IX, Carmen and other romantic novels, but few know that he served as an inspector for the protection of historical monuments. It was he who handed over this disc in 1833 to the Cluny Historical Museum, which was just being organized in the center of Paris. Now it is kept in the Museum of National Antiquities (Saint-Germain en Le).
Later, an Upper Paleolithic cultural layer was discovered in the Shaffo Grotto. But then, just as it was with the painting of the cave of Altamira, and with other pictorial monuments of the Paleolithic era, no one could believe that this art is older than the ancient Egyptian. Therefore, such engravings were considered examples of Celtic art (V-IV centuries BC). Only at the end of the 19th century, again, like cave painting, they were recognized as the oldest after they were found in the Paleolithic cultural layer.

Very interesting figurines of women. Most of these figurines are small in size: from 4 to 17 cm. They were made of stone or mammoth tusks. Their most notable distinguishing feature is their exaggerated "corpulence", they depict women with overweight figures.

"Venus with a goblet". Bas-relief. France. Upper (Late) Paleolithic.
Goddess of the Ice Age. The canon of the image is that the figure is inscribed in a rhombus, and the stomach and chest are in a circle.

Sculpture- mobile art.
Almost everyone who has studied Paleolithic female figurines, with some differences in detail, explains them as cult objects, amulets, idols, etc., reflecting the idea of ​​motherhood and fertility.

"Willendorf Venus". Limestone. Willendorf, Lower Austria. Late Paleolithic.
Compact composition, no facial features.

"The Hooded Lady of Brassempouy". France. Late Paleolithic. Mammoth bone.
The facial features and hairstyle have been worked out.

In Siberia, in the Baikal region, a whole series of original figurines of a completely different stylistic appearance was found. Along with the same as in Europe, overweight figures of naked women, there are figurines of slender, elongated proportions and, unlike European ones, they are depicted dressed in deaf, most likely fur clothes, similar to "overalls".
These are finds at the Buret sites on the Angara River and Malta.

conclusions
Rock painting. Features of the pictorial art of the Paleolithic - realism, expression, plasticity, rhythm.
Small plastic.
In the image of animals - the same features as in painting (realism, expression, plasticity, rhythm).
Paleolithic female figurines are cult objects, amulets, idols, etc., they reflect the idea of ​​motherhood and fertility.

Mesolithic

(Middle Stone Age) 10 - 6 thousand BC

After the melting of the glaciers, the usual fauna disappeared. Nature becomes more pliable for man. People become nomads.
With a change in lifestyle, a person's view of the world becomes broader. He is not interested in a single animal or a random discovery of cereals, but in the vigorous activity of people, thanks to which they find whole herds of animals, and fields or forests rich in fruits.
Thus, in the Mesolithic, the art of multi-figured composition was born, in which it was no longer the beast, but the man who played the leading role.
Change in the field of art:
the main characters of the image are not a separate animal, but people in some action.
The task is not in a believable, accurate depiction of individual figures, but in the transfer of action, movement.
Many-figured hunts are often depicted, scenes of honey gathering, cult dances appear.
The nature of the image is changing - instead of realistic and polychrome, it becomes schematic and silhouette. Local colors are used - red or black.

A honey harvester from a hive, surrounded by a swarm of bees. Spain. Mesolithic.

Almost everywhere where planar or three-dimensional images of the Upper Paleolithic era were found, there seems to be a pause in the artistic activity of people of the subsequent Mesolithic era. Perhaps this period is still poorly understood, perhaps the images made not in caves, but in the open air, were washed away by rain and snow over time. Perhaps, among the petroglyphs, which are very difficult to accurately date, there are those related to this time, but we still do not know how to recognize them. It is indicative that small plastic objects are extremely rare during excavations of Mesolithic settlements.

Of the Mesolithic monuments, literally a few can be named: Stone Grave in Ukraine, Kobystan in Azerbaijan, Zaraut-Sai in Uzbekistan, Mines in Tajikistan and Bhimpetka in India.

In addition to rock art, petroglyphs appeared in the Mesolithic era.
Petroglyphs are carved, carved or scratched rock art.
When carving a picture, ancient artists knocked down the upper, darker part of the rock with a sharp tool, and therefore the images stand out noticeably against the background of the rock.

In the south of Ukraine, in the steppe, there is a rocky hill of sandstone rocks. As a result of strong weathering, several grottoes and sheds were formed on its slopes. Numerous carved and scratched images have long been known in these grottoes and on other planes of the hill. In most cases, they are difficult to read. Sometimes images of animals are guessed - bulls, goats. Scientists attribute these images of bulls to the Mesolithic era.

Stone grave. South of Ukraine. General view and petroglyphs. Mesolithic.

To the south of Baku, between the southeastern slope of the Greater Caucasus Range and the coast of the Caspian Sea, there is a small Gobustan plain (a country of ravines) with highlands in the form of table mountains composed of limestone and other sedimentary rocks. On the rocks of these mountains there are many petroglyphs of different times. Most of them were discovered in 1939. Large (more than 1 m) images of female and male figures, made with deep carved lines, received the greatest interest and fame.
Many images of animals: bulls, predators and even reptiles and insects.

Kobystan (Gobustan). Azerbaijan (territory of the former USSR). Mesolithic.

Grotto Zaraut-Kamar
In the mountains of Uzbekistan, at an altitude of about 2000 m above sea level, there is a monument widely known not only among archaeologists - the Zaraut-Kamar grotto. Painted images were discovered in 1939 by local hunter I.F.Lamaev.
The painting in the grotto is made with ocher of different shades (from red-brown to lilac) and consists of four groups of images, in which anthropomorphic figures and bulls participate.

Here is a group in which most researchers see bull hunting. Among the anthropomorphic figures surrounding the bull, i.e. There are two types of "hunters": figures in robes widening downwards, without bows, and "tailed" figures with raised and stretched bows. This scene can be interpreted as a real hunt of disguised hunters, and as a kind of myth.

The painting in the grotto of Shakhta is probably the oldest in Central Asia.
"What does the word Mines mean," writes V.A. Ranov, "I don't know. Perhaps it comes from the Pamir word "mines", which means rock."

In the northern part of Central India, huge rocks with many caves, grottoes and sheds stretch along the river valleys. In these natural shelters, a lot of rock carvings have been preserved. Among them, the location of Bhimbetka (Bhimpetka) stands out. Apparently, these picturesque images belong to the Mesolithic. True, one should not forget about the uneven development of cultures of different regions. The Mesolithic of India may turn out to be 2-3 millennia older than in Eastern Europe and Central Asia.

Some scenes of driven hunts with archers in the paintings of the Spanish and African cycles are, as it were, the embodiment of the movement itself, brought to the limit, concentrated in a stormy whirlwind.

Neolithic

(New Stone Age) from 6 to 2 thousand BC

Neolithic- New Stone Age, the last stage of the Stone Age.
periodization. The entry into the Neolithic is timed to coincide with the transition of culture from an appropriating (hunters and gatherers) to a producing (agriculture and/or cattle breeding) type of economy. This transition is called the Neolithic Revolution. The end of the Neolithic dates back to the time of the appearance of metal tools and weapons, that is, the beginning of the copper, bronze or iron age.
Different cultures entered this period of development at different times. In the Middle East, the Neolithic began about 9.5 thousand years ago. BC e. In Denmark, the Neolithic dates from the 18th century. BC, and among the indigenous population of New Zealand - the Maori - the Neolithic existed as early as the 18th century. AD: before the arrival of Europeans, the Maori used polished stone axes. Some peoples of America and Oceania still have not fully passed from the Stone Age to the Iron Age.

The Neolithic, like other periods of the primitive era, is not a specific chronological period in the history of mankind as a whole, but characterizes only the cultural characteristics of certain peoples.

Achievements and activities
1. New features of the social life of people:
- Transition from matriarchy to patriarchy.
- At the end of the era in some places (Anterior Asia, Egypt, India) a new formation of a class society took shape, that is, social stratification began, the transition from a tribal-communal system to a class society.
- At this time, cities begin to be built. One of the most ancient cities is Jericho.
- Some cities were well fortified, which indicates the existence of organized wars at that time.
- Armies and professional warriors began to appear.
- One can quite say that the beginning of the formation of ancient civilizations is connected with the Neolithic era.

2. The division of labor, the formation of technologies began:
- The main thing is simple gathering and hunting as the main sources of food are gradually being replaced by agriculture and cattle breeding.
The Neolithic is called the "Age of Polished Stone". In this era, stone tools were not just chipped, but already sawn, polished, drilled, sharpened.
- Among the most important tools in the Neolithic is an ax, previously unknown.
development of spinning and weaving.

In the design of household utensils, images of animals begin to appear.

An ax in the shape of an elk head. Polished stone. Neolithic. Historical Museum. Stockholm.

Wooden ladle from the Gorbunovsky peat bog near Nizhny Tagil. Neolithic. GIM.

For the Neolithic forest zone, fishing becomes one of the leading types of economy. Active fishing contributed to the creation of certain stocks, which, combined with the hunting of animals, made it possible to live in one place all year round.
The transition to a settled way of life led to the appearance of ceramics.
The appearance of ceramics is one of the main signs of the Neolithic era.

The village of Chatal-Guyuk (Eastern Turkey) is one of the places where the most ancient samples of ceramics were found.

Cup from Ledce (Czech Republic). Clay. Culture of bell-shaped goblets. Eneolithic (Copper Stone Age).

Monuments of Neolithic painting and petroglyphs are extremely numerous and scattered over vast territories.
Their accumulations are found almost everywhere in Africa, eastern Spain, on the territory of the former USSR - in Uzbekistan, Azerbaijan, on Lake Onega, near the White Sea and in Siberia.
Neolithic rock art is similar to Mesolithic, but the subject matter becomes more varied.

"Hunters". Rock painting. Neolithic (?). Southern Rhodesia.

For about three hundred years, the attention of scientists was riveted to the rock, known as the "Tomsk Pisanitsa".
"Pisanitsy" refers to images painted with mineral paint or carved on the smooth surface of a wall in Siberia.
Back in 1675, one of the brave Russian travelers, whose name, unfortunately, remained unknown, wrote:
“The prison (Verkhnetomsky prison) did not reach the edges of the Tom, a stone is large and high, and animals, and cattle, and birds, and all sorts of similarities are written on it ...”
Real scientific interest in this monument arose already in the 18th century, when, by decree of Peter I, an expedition was sent to Siberia to study its history and geography. The result of the expedition was the first images of the Tomsk petroglyphs published in Europe by the Swedish captain Stralenberg, who participated in the trip. These images were not an exact copy of the Tomsk inscription, but conveyed only the most general outlines of the rocks and the placement of drawings on it, but their value lies in the fact that they can be seen drawings that have not survived to this day.

Images of the Tomsk petroglyphs, made by the Swedish boy K. Shulman, who traveled with Stralenberg across Siberia.

For hunters, deer and elk were the main source of livelihood. Gradually, these animals began to acquire mythical features - the elk was the "master of the taiga" along with the bear.
The image of the elk plays the main role in the Tomsk petroglyphs: the figures are repeated many times.
The proportions and shapes of the animal's body are absolutely correctly conveyed: its long massive body, a hump on its back, a heavy large head, a characteristic protrusion on the forehead, a swollen upper lip, bulging nostrils, thin legs with cloven hooves.
In some drawings, transverse stripes are shown on the neck and body of moose.

On the border between the Sahara and Fezzan, on the territory of Algeria, in a mountainous area called Tassili-Ajer, bare rocks rise in rows. Now this region is dried up by the desert wind, scorched by the sun and almost nothing grows in it. However, earlier in the Sahara meadows were green ...

- Sharpness and accuracy of drawing, grace and grace.
- A harmonious combination of shapes and tones, the beauty of people and animals depicted with a good knowledge of anatomy.
- The swiftness of gestures, movements.

The small plastic of the Neolithic acquires, as well as painting, new subjects.

"Man Playing the Lute". Marble (from Keros, Cyclades, Greece). Neolithic. National Archaeological Museum. Athens.

The schematism inherent in Neolithic painting, which replaced Paleolithic realism, also penetrated small plastic arts.

Schematic representation of a woman. Cave relief. Neolithic. Croisart. Department of the Marne. France.

Relief with a symbolic image from Castelluccio (Sicily). Limestone. OK. 1800-1400 BC National Archaeological Museum. Syracuse.

conclusions

Mesolithic and Neolithic rock art
It is not always possible to draw a precise line between them.
But this art is very different from the typically Paleolithic:
- Realism, accurately fixing the image of the beast as a target, as a cherished goal, is replaced by a broader view of the world, the image of multi-figured compositions.
- There is a desire for harmonic generalization, stylization and, most importantly, for the transfer of movement, for dynamism.
- In the Paleolithic there was a monumentality and inviolability of the image. Here - liveliness, free fantasy.
- In the images of a person, a desire for grace appears (for example, if we compare the Paleolithic "Venuses" and the Mesolithic image of a woman collecting honey, or Neolithic Bushman dancers).

Small plastic:
- There are new stories.
- Greater craftsmanship and mastery of craft, material.

Achievements

Paleolithic
- Lower Paleolithic
> > fire taming, stone tools
- Middle Paleolithic
> > out of Africa
- Upper Paleolithic
> > sling

Mesolithic
- microliths, bow, canoe

Neolithic
- Early Neolithic
> > agriculture, animal husbandry
- Late Neolithic
> > ceramics

Eneolithic (Copper Age)
- metallurgy, horse, wheel

Bronze Age

The Bronze Age is characterized by the leading role of bronze products, which was associated with an improvement in the processing of metals such as copper and tin, obtained from ore deposits, and the subsequent production of bronze from them.
The Bronze Age succeeded the Copper Age and preceded the Iron Age. In general, the chronological framework of the Bronze Age: 35/33 - 13/11 centuries. BC e., but different cultures are different.
Art is becoming more diverse, spreading geographically.

Bronze was much easier to work than stone and could be molded and polished. Therefore, in the Bronze Age, all kinds of household items were made, richly decorated with ornaments and of high artistic value. Ornamental decorations consisted mostly of circles, spirals, wavy lines and similar motifs. Particular attention was paid to jewelry - they were large in size and immediately caught the eye.

Megalithic architecture

In 3 - 2 thousand BC. appeared peculiar, huge structures of stone blocks. This ancient architecture was called megalithic.

The term "megalith" comes from the Greek words "megas" - "big"; and "lithos" - "stone".

Megalithic architecture owes its appearance to primitive beliefs. Megalithic architecture is usually divided into several types:
1. Menhir is a single vertically standing stone, more than two meters high.
On the Brittany Peninsula in France, the so-called fields stretched for miles. menhirs. In the language of the Celts, the later inhabitants of the peninsula, the name of these stone pillars several meters high means "long stone".
2. Trilith - a structure consisting of two vertically placed stones and covered by a third.
3. A dolmen is a building whose walls are made up of huge stone slabs and covered with a roof made of the same monolithic stone block.
Initially, dolmens served for burials.
Trilit can be called the simplest dolmen.
Numerous menhirs, triliths and dolmens were located in places that were considered sacred.
4. Cromlech is a group of menhirs and triliths.

Stone grave. South of Ukraine. Anthropomorphic menhirs. Bronze Age.

Stonehenge. Cromlech. England. Age of Bronze. 3 - 2 thousand BC Its diameter is 90 m, it consists of boulders, each of which weighs approx. 25 tons. It is curious that the mountains from where these stones were delivered are located 280 km from Stonehenge.
It consists of triliths arranged in a circle, inside a horseshoe of triliths, in the middle - blue stones, and in the very center - a heel stone (on the day of the summer solstice, the luminary is exactly above it). It is assumed that Stonehenge was a temple dedicated to the sun.

Age of Iron (Iron Age)

1 thousand BC

In the steppes of Eastern Europe and Asia, pastoral tribes created the so-called animal style at the end of the Bronze Age and the beginning of the Iron Age.

Plaque "Deer". 6th century BC Gold. Hermitage Museum. 35.1 x 22.5 cm. From a mound in the Kuban region. The relief plate was found attached to a round iron shield in the chief's burial. An example of zoomorphic art ("animal style"). The deer's hooves are made in the form of a "big-beaked bird".
There is nothing accidental, superfluous - a complete, thoughtful composition. Everything in the figure is conditional and extremely truthful, realistic.
The feeling of monumentality is achieved not by size, but by the generalization of form.

Panther. Plaque, shield decoration. From a mound near the village of Kelermesskaya. Gold. Hermitage Museum.
Age of Iron.
Served as a shield decoration. The tail and paws are decorated with figures of curled up predators.

Age of iron

Age of Iron. The balance between realism and stylization is tipped in favor of stylization.

Cultural ties with Ancient Greece, the countries of the ancient East and China contributed to the emergence of new plots, images and visual means in the artistic culture of the tribes of southern Eurasia.

Scenes of a battle between barbarians and Greeks are depicted. Found in the Chertomlyk barrow, near Nikopol.

Zaporozhye region Hermitage Museum.

conclusions

Scythian art - "animal style". Striking sharpness and intensity of images. Generalization, monumentality. Stylization and realism. primitive art

Anyone endowed with a great gift - feel the beauty surrounding world, feel harmony lines, admire the variety of shades of colors.

Painting- this is the artist's attitude captured on canvas. If your perception of the surrounding world is reflected in the artist's painting, then you feel an affinity with the works of this master.

Pictures attract attention, fascinate, excite the imagination and dreams, evoke memories of pleasant moments, favorite places and landscapes.

When did they appear first images man-made?

Appeal primitive people to a new type of activity for them - art - one of the greatest events in human history. Primitive art reflected the first ideas of man about the world around him, thanks to him knowledge and skills were preserved and transferred, people communicated with each other. In the spiritual culture of the primitive world, art began to play the same universal role that a pointed stone played in labor activity.

What prompted a person to think of depicting certain objects? How do you know if body painting was the first step towards creating images, or if a person guessed the familiar silhouette of an animal in a random outline of a stone and, having cut it, gave it a greater resemblance? Or maybe the shadow of an animal or a person served as the basis for the drawing, and the imprint of a hand or a step precedes the sculpture? There is no definite answer to these questions. Ancient people could come up with the idea of ​​depicting objects not in one, but in many ways.
For example, to the number the most ancient images on the walls of caves of the Paleolithic era are also human handprints, and a disorderly weave of wavy lines, pressed into the damp clay with the fingers of the same hand.

The works of art of the early Stone Age, or Paleolithic, are characterized by simplicity of forms and colors. Rock paintings are, as a rule, the contours of the figures of animals., made with bright paint - red or yellow, and occasionally - filled with round spots or completely painted over. Such ""paintings"" were clearly visible in the twilight of the caves, illuminated only by torches or the fire of a smoky fire.

At the initial stage of development primitive fine arts didn't know laws of space and perspective, as well as composition, those. intentional distribution on the plane of individual figures, between which there is necessarily a semantic connection.

In living and expressive images rises before us life history of primitive man era of the Stone Age, told by him in the rock paintings.

Dance. Painting by Lleid. Spain. With a variety of movements and gestures, a person conveyed his impressions of the world around him, reflecting in them his own feelings, mood and state of mind. Frantic jumps, imitation of the habits of an animal, stamping feet, expressive hand gesturescreated the prerequisites for the emergence of dance. There were also martial dances associated with magical rituals, with the belief in victory over the enemy.

<<Каменная газета>> Arizona

Composition in the cave of Lascaux. France. On the walls of the caves you can see mammoths, wild horses, rhinos, bison. Drawing for primitive man was the same "witchcraft" as a spell and ritual dance. “Conjuring” the spirit of the drawn animal by singing and dancing, and then “killing” it, the person seemed to master the power of the animal and “defeat” it before the hunt.

<<Сражающиеся лучники>> Spain

And these are petroglyphs. Hawaii

Paintings on the Tassili-Adjer mountain plateau. Algeria.

Primitive people practiced sympathetic magic - in the form of dancing, singing, or pictures of animals on the walls of caves - to attract herds of animals and ensure the continuation of the family and the safety of livestock. The hunters acted out successful hunting scenes to draw energy into the real world. They turned to the Mistress of the Herds, and later to the Horned God, who was depicted with the horns of goats or deer to emphasize his leadership in the herds. The bones of animals were supposed to be buried in the ground so that animals, like people, would be reborn from the womb of Mother Earth.

This is a cave drawing in the Lascaux region of France from the Paleolithic era.

Large animals were the preferred food. And the Paleolithic people, skilled hunters, destroyed most of them. And not just large herbivores. During the Paleolithic, cave bears completely disappeared as a species.

There is another type of rock paintings, which is of a mystical, mysterious nature.

Rock paintings from Australia. Either people, or animals, or maybe not both...

Drawings from West Arnhem, Australia.

Huge figures and a number of little men. And in the lower left corner, something is generally incomprehensible.

And here is a masterpiece from Laskaux, France.

North Africa, Sahara. Tassili. 6 thousand years BC Flying saucers and someone in a space suit. Or maybe it's not a spacesuit.

Rock painting from Australia...

Val Camonica, Italy.

and the next photo is from Azerbaijan, Gobustan region

Gobustan is included in the UNESCO heritage list

Who were those "artists" who managed to convey to remote eras the message of their time? What prompted them to do this? What were the hidden springs and the driving motives that guided them?..Thousands of questions and very few answers...Many of our contemporaries are very fond of being offered to look at history through a magnifying glass.

But is it really all that small?

After all, there were images of the gods

In the north of Upper Egypt is the ancient temple city of Abydos. Its origin dates back to prehistoric times. It is known that already in the era of the Old Kingdom (about 2500 BC), the universal deity Osiris enjoyed wide veneration in Abydos. Osiris, on the other hand, was considered a divine teacher who gave the people of the Stone Age diverse knowledge and crafts, and, quite possibly, knowledge about the secrets of the sky. By the way, it was in Abydos that the oldest calendar was found, dating back to the 4th millennium BC. e.

Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome also left a lot of rock evidence to remind us of their existence. They already had developed writing - their drawings are much more interesting, from the point of view of studying everyday life, than ancient graffiti.

Why is humanity trying to find out what happened millions of years ago, what knowledge ancient civilizations had? We seek the source because we think that by uncovering it, we will know why we exist. Humanity wants to find where is the starting point from which it all began, because it thinks that there, apparently, there is an answer, “what is all this for”, and what will happen in the end ...

After all, the world is so vast, and the human brain is narrow and limited. The most difficult crossword puzzle of history must be solved gradually, cell by cell...