An Analytical Study on Essence of European Prehistory Cave Paintings

Document Type : Research Paper

Author

Faculty Member of Higher Education Center for Cultural Heritage and Head of Museology Department , Tehran,

Abstract

Abstract
 The discovery of cave paintings made by Upper Paleolithic artists in Western Europe was an astonishing find about the human past. They were discovered in the late nineteenth century and involved the scientific community with the new subject under the title of prehistory art. Since the discovery of the astonishing relics, several theories proposed by different specialists with special motivations, that each of them have their special point of view which present own interpretations. Those theories involved researchers in the fields of archaeology, anthropology, art history, sociology and other relevant disciplines after their finding out. There is a basic question here that what the motivations were for the artists’ to make cave paintings. This research attempted to identify the theories regarding the essence of cave paintings since their discoveries that presented and discussed among scientific circles. The discovery of cave art in Western Europe raises many interesting questions and has also forced archaeologists and anthropologists to rethink many of their previous conceptions about the essence of cave paintings. After cave art was finally accepted (in the late 1890s) as genuine products of Paleolithic people, scholars’ interpretations of its meaning have involved through different stages. Once the first examples of cave art were discovered, theories began to emerge that attempted to explain the phenomenon. This research identified here five major hypothesis, with dates and main proponents as follows: 1-Art for art’s sake The proponents of this model asserted that the artwork was created for purely aesthetic purposes of pleasurable viewing and as an expression of personal urges to make images devoid of any symbolic meaning.2- Totemism, which has been practiced by a number of societies throughout time, constitutes a special relationship between a human group or clan, and an animal species. – 3-Hunting magic- the goal of hunting magic is to ensure successful hunts. Evidence to support this theory within Upper Paleolithic parietal art has focused on paintings of animals that appeared to be wounded and the presence of marks that looked to be representations of weapons. 4- Structuralism- This theory believed that the images were drawn in pairs and assigned the category of ‘maleness’ or ‘femaleness’ to specific groups of animal images. Additionally, apart from the more obvious drawings of human genitalia, they assigned the more cryptic signs as representing male or female genitalia based upon how narrow or wide they were. 5-Shamanism is a religious “technique of ecstasy. Shamans enter altered states of consciousness – trances – at will, in order to achieve some socially-mandated end, such as healing the sick, changing the weather, predicting the future, or conversing with spirits..Consequently being different theories and approaches proves the fact that Paleolithic art has no specific function, but this art created to respond to different incentives and requests, and understanding of cave paintings requires a periphrastic pluralism. Understanding of true intentions of prehistoric artists requires consensus of different disciplines, although the ethno archeologists have obtained valuable results with their presences among primitive tribes, but multidisciplinary studies on cave arts can be explain more effective.

Keywords

References

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