Stunning! Awesome! And .......

[shatto]

...... Maybe 32,000 Years Old!



In 1994 in Southern France, three cavers made an astonishing discovery after following an air current coming from a cliff and digging into a cave that had been sealed for 20,000 years. Inside the long-hidden Cave of Chauvet-Pont-d?Arc, the cavers were the first modern humans to lay eyes upon paintings estimated to be some 32,000 years old ? the oldest known to exist. Those paintings are the subject of a 3D documentary called ?Cave of Forgotten Dreams? by Werner Herzog.

[1cheap1]

I wonder what the artist was smoking when he/she did that. Maybe it was done on a government grant.

[VetteOwner]

lol me and art dont get along...

well ok me and abstract art dont get along. i understand good paintings of scenery, people, flowers, fruit etc as it takes talent.

paint splatter, colored lines, one shade of blue canvas is not art!!!its kindergartners gone mad!!!

same with some sculptures, ones that kinda move and are balanced or of people or something yea thier cool but not crap that looks like it fell off a crane and mangled on the ground!!! nor random scrap welded together, thats called freshman welding project 101....

back on topic its kinda neat because if you look close its a buncha overlapped paintings of possibly a cougar or some jungle cat head from the side

[shatto]

You might be interested to know they were done by primitive men, deep in a cave and, if it is like others, there is no soot on the ceiling from torches......

[theholycow]

I'm not really equipped to appreciate the aesthetic value, but it does raise some thoughts...

What paint/ink was used that did not degrade after so long? What conditions did it have to endure? Deep in a cave it may be subject to condensation, drippings, mold, and creepy crawlies (that's a scientific term for bugs ).

Why would someone choose to draw that there?

...ok, maybe not as many thoughts as I implied.

[VetteOwner]

i can prolly answer the location they chose: A its instant house, no need to build rain free shelter and or warm shelter in the cold if nature made a nice hole already. if you were lost in the jungle in monsun season and had the choice between makign your own cutting up and finding tons of logs, branches, leafy plants as a roof etc or just walking into a cave i belive everyone would choose the cave.

conditions is an interesting one, but all caves are different some are dry(dryish) others are like a wet sponge.

i read about that types of ancient "ink" was used but cant remember now...google will have the answer. i thought it had somehting to do with animal blood and cinders/ash...

the why? i dunno... the native americans used to draw things like that of old battles or animal killings or great hunts, possibly somehting along those lines of an important to thier society animal? potentially very dangerous animal to avoid? possibly to tell a story? i doubt anyone will know for sure...

the soot thing: it doesnt say how far in they were, could be near the entrance, could face east/west so sunlight can light it too, could have lit a small fire on the ground not necessarily torches, also doesnt say how high the cave is so it may be several meters high where soot wouldnt deposit easily just too many unknown to us variables

not to discredit any of your questions the holy cow but just possible answers that i could give

[Ford Man]

Originally Posted by VetteOwner

the why?

Maybe he got tired or looking at empty walls. Home decor. Why do we hang pictures on out walls?

[theholycow]

Originally Posted by VetteOwner

not to discredit any of your questions the holy cow but just possible answers that i could give

That's what I was going for, interesting discussion of the issues that I can appreciate about it.

If it's just for decoration, how did someone arrive at the idea of the concept of decoration in general or of drawing on your home's wall in specific?

If it's for communication of a story or a threat, did Og have to invite people over to see what he drew, or did people tend to just walk through his home?

[VetteOwner]

could lived in close quarters in a "pack" sorta thing.

decoration is a neat theory, i dunno when we humans first started decorating walls...google to the rescue!

[1cheap1]

His wife keep nagging for some new deco wall pics, in blue.