The oldest paintings: Chauvet Cave
Cauvet is a series of caves lying along the outskirts of southern Paris, France. It’s discovery was made in the winter of 1994 and it is said to be the first site that gives an account to the way early man lived, dating back to well over 30,000 years ago. Chauvet is named after Jean-Marie Chauvet, one of three Speleologists who discovered it. The walls of Chauvet house a story that belongs to creatures of the time of its beginning as some of them are no longer living on earth. Early man worked with very limited mediums such as coal and clay and graphite and yet he was still able to produce a very detailed, smooth and vital image that with its added lines of contour and shape, appears to be revolving around the interior of the room. In a succession of reds, rust, black and brown hues, there are herds of bison, elk, horses, bears, lions, rihnos and a bull or two that retell of the times when man use to have to hunt down his own food source in order to survive. It is interesting to note that while our modern society has rather made fun of those who lived before us, of their slow and simple ways, one look at the walls in the Chauvet Caves and one can clearly see the proof that our early ancestors had the gift of being able to capture life just as it was back then. The cave bears true testimony of their intelligence and leaves us a doorway into the world as they saw it.
Posted on April 30th, 2011 by admin
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