Presentation for the MHC lesson on the topic: Primitive art. Painting of the primitive era. "Animal" style Plots and themes

Primitive art is distinguished as a special kind of art, not only chronologically, because of its antiquity. Of course, the fact that people already tens of thousands of years ago were actively engaged in creativity and were not much inferior in this respect to their civilized descendants is of great importance. However, no less important is the content of primitive art, which reflects the spiritual world of our ancestors. And in this, the decisive role is played by the images with which primitive art is filled.

Who are the smaller brothers - another question

Many believe that primitive art, above all pictorial art, which has come down to us in the best possible preservation, almost entirely consists of only animal images - both in rock paintings and in figures carved from bones. This is, of course, an exaggeration, there were other important images of primitive art - but the "animal style", without a doubt, was the most striking and for a long time the most important. Animals were of great importance for primitive people, who ensure their existence primarily by hunting and gathering. The relationship was very confusing, with religious and kinship elements. Then people really perceived animals as brothers, and there was no division into "lesser" and "elders", or this division was not in favor of man.

The visual image of animals in primitive art could be represented both as a schematic, almost conventional image, indicating only the outline and the main distinctive features of the creature, and in a very detailed, colorful, authentically showing all the details of the appearance and nuances of animal behavior. Scientists believe that this is most likely due not to the level of artistic skill of ancient artists, but to various tasks of primitive art. Probably, when there are schematic, conventionally primitive drawings or carved animal figures, they were created for highly specialized magical purposes - use in rituals, for example, ensuring a successful hunt for a given animal or forcing it to roam exactly where people live. And detailed, colorful, accurate and highly artistic images of animals refer to those cases when animals were the object of worship, when people emphasized the mystical connection between themselves and them.

The first "mirror" of humanity

It is no secret that for European art since the Renaissance the image of a woman is central. It turns out that art paid special attention to a woman almost from its very first steps - in any case, among the images of anthropomorphic, human-like creatures, primitive art was the first to single out the female image. These are the so-called Paleolithic Venuses, of the most ancient ones accurately identified as of artificial origin, refer to the period 45-40 thousand years ago (there are objects that are 70 thousand years old, but experts are not sure that these are the fruits of human creativity, and not bizarre formations of natural origin) ...

These small figures carved from stone, according to most scientists, had a cult character: it was not a portrait of a particular woman, it was a dedication to the feminine principle of nature, possibly the first emerging concept of the Mother Goddess, synonymous with life and fertility. This idea is suggested by the features of this female image - the face of the figure is either absent altogether, or completely conditional, without individual features; but there are pronounced signs of a woman as a creature that gives life - wide hips, large breasts. In general, this is more a symbol of the feminine than the woman herself - however, this is the first real image of a person in primitive art. The male image appears here later and it has an applied meaning to a greater extent: at first, these are just schematic drawings depicting hunters in hunting scenes. That is, men at this stage of primitive art are not an intrinsic image, but only a necessary means for performing magical rituals. Much later, anthropomorphic bone figures and drawings appear, which are usually interpreted as images of spirits, supernatural beings and the first deities.

How beautiful this world is ...

Scientists rightly point out that primitive art practically does not know such a genre as a landscape. But this does not mean that he lacks an idea of ​​the surrounding reality. Another question is that this representation was not only symbolic, but also to a large extent abstract, therefore it manifested itself in abstract images. For example, various geometric shapes and other symbols that first appeared in rock paintings and miniature sculptures as separate signs, and then began to compose ornaments.

Combinations of simple dots, wavy lines, circles, triangles (regular and inverted), spirals, checkerboard patterns, parallel stripes, zigzags and much more - primitive man had a good imagination. These signs had a magical meaning, which intensified after the appearance of ceramics. Ceramics is a separate type of primitive art due primarily to the fact that it was covered with various ornaments. It is here that these ornaments, according to experts, for the first time clearly create the image of the division of the world into three parts - the lower, underground; medium, terrestrial, water; upper, heavenly, airy, supernatural. In addition, with the help of these symbols, phenomena of the real world were designated - the movement of the sun and moon, stars, the flow of rivers, even those other plants important for humans.

More than three million years ago, the process of the 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, mastering new territories, encountered unfamiliar natural phenomena and formed the first centers of primitive culture.

Among the ancient hunters, people with outstanding artistic talents stood out, who left many expressive works. It is impossible to find corrections in the drawings made on the walls of the caves, since the unique masters had a very steady hand.

Primitive thinking

The problem of the origin of primitive art, reflecting the way of life 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 - the illusory and the realistic. It is believed that such a combination had a decisive influence on the nature of the creative activity of the first artists.

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

The emergence of art

In the middle of the 19th century, the 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 proven. As a result of the discoveries, it was established that the monuments of art appeared much later than the tools of labor.

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 is represented 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 the ancient hunters.

It must be admitted that in the minds of the ancestors, art did not stand out as a separate sphere of activity, and not all people had the ability to create images. The artists of that era had 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 Ancient Stone Age (Paleolithic) is the earliest, but longest period, at the end of which all types of art appeared, which are characterized by external simplicity and realism. People did not associate the events taking place with nature or themselves, 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 obvious attempts to feel like a part of the world and the first glimpses of consciousness in our ancestors.

Painting on the rocks was done with a stone chisel or paint (red ocher, black coal, white lime). Scientists argue that along with the emerging art, the first rudiments of a primitive society (society) arose.

In the Paleolithic era, stone, wood and bone carving developed. The figurines of animals and birds found by archaeologists are distinguished by an accurate reproduction of all volumes. Researchers claim 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 orientated man in nature.

Different challenges faced by 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 initially represented by a schematic, almost conditional, image. And only several centuries later, colorful images appear that reliably show all the details of the external 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 posed to them.

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

The flourishing 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 outline 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 man himself does not enjoy 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 and worshiped predators.

The most famous examples of rock art of this period are found in the caves of Lasko (France), Altamira (Spain), Shulgan-Tache (Ural).

"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 received the name "Sistine Chapel of the Stone Age". In the rock art, one can see the confident hand of ancient artists who made the outlines of animals without any corrections, in uniform lines. In the light of a torch giving birth to an amazing play of shadows, it seems that the volumetric images are moving.

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

In the Kapova cave (Shulgan-Tash), located in the Southern Urals, images of animals were found relatively recently - in 1959. 14 silhouette and contour drawings of animals are made with red ocher. In addition, various geometric signs have been 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 to magical power. The found figures of naked and dressed women testify to a 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 obese women, the so-called venus. Such sculptures are the first humanoid images symbolizing fertility and motherhood.

Changes during the Mesolithic and Neolithic

During the Mesolithic era, primitive art underwent changes. Rock paintings are multi-figured compositions on which you can trace various episodes from the life of people. Most often, scenes of battles and hunting are depicted.

But the main changes in primitive society take place during the Neolithic period. Man learns to build new types of dwellings and builds structures on piles of bricks. The main theme of art is the activity of the collective, and fine art is represented by rock paintings, stone, ceramic and wood 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 the person. Petroglyphs (rock carvings that are embossed 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. Others see them as a kind of writing, which is based on symbols and signs, and testifies to the spiritual heritage of our ancestors.

In Russia, petroglyphs are called "writings", and most often they are found not in caves, but in open areas. Made with ocher, they are perfectly preserved, since the paint is well absorbed into the rocks. The theme of the drawings is very wide and varied: the characters are animals, symbols, signs and people. Even schematic images of the stars of the solar system have been found. Despite the very venerable age, the petroglyphs, made in a realistic manner, speak of the great skill of the people who applied them.

And now research is continuing to get closer to deciphering the unique messages that were 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 in general, new technical inventions appear, the development of metal takes place, people are engaged in agriculture and cattle breeding.

The theme of art is enriched with new plots, the role of figurative symbolism is increasing, and geometric ornament is spreading. You can see scenes that are associated with mythology, and the images become a special sign system, understandable to some groups of the population. Zoomorphic and atropomorphic sculptures appear, as well as mysterious structures - megaliths.

Symbols, with the help of 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 a person's 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 must 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 bright expressiveness of artistic images. Primitive man expanded his ideas about the world around him, enriching his spiritual world. In the course of work, people developed aesthetic feelings and an understanding of the beautiful. From the very moment of its inception, art had a magical meaning, and later it 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.

He was not aware of himself as a man, but at the same time, it indicates that his consciousness was occupied with all other images - images of hunting. The animalistic theme in the painting of primitive hunters is quite natural. The practical significance of the object was emotionally reinforced in the art and mythology of totemism, which explains the origin of the people of a given tribe by the birth (or transformation) from the beast.

The materials of fine art allow us to assume that the first impulse to comprehend the truly human in oneself arises as an awareness of the female nature, is intuitively felt in relation to the woman-parent.

Paleolithic Venus

The first images of a person are the so-called Paleolithic "Venuses", created in the period XXV-XVIII thousand BC. Clay figurines found in many regions of Europe (Czechoslovakia, Italy, France), the Far East, Asia - all of them are stylistically very similar to the famous Venus from Willendorf (Lower Austria). Art critics have noted the exaggerated signs of gender characteristic of sculpture (large breasts, bulky belly, possibly indicating pregnancy, heavy wide hips). The absence of individual features (identity of proportions, schematically shown limbs, similarity in the image of the hairstyle, untreated faces, sometimes the head is only outlined) indicates that maternal qualities, generalized features of a woman in her reproductive function were emphasized in these images. The female body was perceived as the source of life. The underlined maternal features of the Palaeolithic Venuses are a magical guarantee of procreation. In addition, these small figurines reproduce human features in a clear and naturalistic way for the first time. In the phylogenetic process of self-knowledge, in contrast to the zoomorphic hypostasis, a person for the first time perceives himself in a female form.

The image of a woman-life-giver in primitive art is associated with a pattern of ideas about fertility not only in the human world, but also about the reproduction of animals, about successful fishing and the calendar reproduction of life cycles. The episodic appearance of male characters in Paleolithic painting is included in the same thematic cycle: seasonal fertility in the natural world, the circle of life and death. Male characters become permanent heroes of art only by the era of the middle stone (VIII-V millennium BC).

In the Mesolithic compositions, there is a constant regularity that determines the general stylistics of the images:

• As a rule, these are very dynamic hunting scenes. Note that female Paleolithic images symbolize some ideas, but do not reproduce any plot. The accentuated dynamics of moving figures, the emphasis on the event plan prompts the conviction that a person is now aware of himself as an active being. In addition, the hero of Mesolithic art has attributes that characterize meaningful labor activity: bows and arrows, boats, chariots.
• In contrast to the naturalistic images of "Venus", the figurines of hunters are rendered rather conditionally. The movements are exaggerated, the bodies are disproportionate. Female images do not disappear in the Mesolithic era, but they seem to lose their sacred significance. They appear in everyday scenes related to the extraction of food: rock paintings from Tassilin Ajer and Fezzan in the African Sahara depict women collecting honey, women with cows near huts. Their figures are also conventional and disproportionate, the characters are depicted in action. Gender differences turn out to be insignificant.
• The images of animals retain the realistic stylistics of the Paleolithic. The schematism of anthropomorphic images in contrast to realistic profile images of animals persists not only in the Neolithic era. Similar features can be observed in the art of the nascent civilizations of Egypt and Crete. The stylistic originality can be explained by the dominant semantic images of consciousness. The realistic and detailed images of animals indicate a special close attention to the object of the hunt.

Different stylistics in the depiction of an animal (realism) and a person (convention) may be an indicator that the anthropos of the era of the middle stone distinguished itself from the natural world and opposed it. He realized that he was different, he overcame his zoo-morphism as something inherent in him from the very beginning. Material from the site

The tendency to schematize the image of a person is observed in ancient art up to the birth of the styles of large civilizations. This process, perhaps, reflects a characteristic pattern: the more a person surrounds himself with a number of cultural objects, the less the need to depict his physical appearance. This assumption is confirmed by numerous images of the Bronze Age: the petroglyphs of Central and Central Asia, Altai, Karelia, depicting a man on a chariot, resemble an ornamental pattern in which the eye does not immediately detect the plot. This may mean that a person defines himself not through physical qualities and external properties, but through the objects and attributes of activity and culture created and produced by him.

The conventionality and schematism of the images also testify to the fact that in ancient times a person is a kindred, collective being. In the visual arts of the beginning of civilizations, everywhere we are faced with a very generalized image of a person. Suffice it to recall the geometrized figures in the paintings of ceramic vessels of Homeric Greece, pre-dynastic Egypt, etc. The growth of realistic tendencies is observed only with the strengthening of individual manifestations in

Man has always gravitated towards art. Proof of this is the numerous rock paintings around the planet, created by our ancestors tens of thousands of years ago. Primitive creativity is evidence that people lived everywhere - from the hot African savannah to the Arctic Circle. America, China, Russia, Europe, Australia - everywhere ancient artists left their marks. One should not think that primitive painting is completely primitive. Among the rock masterpieces, there are also very skillful works, surprising with their beauty and technique of execution, painted with bright colors and carrying a deep meaning.

Petroglyphs and rock paintings of ancient people

Cueva de las Manos cave

The cave is located in the south of Argentina. For a long time, the ancestors of the Indians of Patagonia lived here. On the walls of the cave, drawings were found depicting a scene of hunting wild animals, as well as many negative images of the hands of teenage boys. Scientists have suggested that drawing the outline of the hand on the wall is part of the initiation rite. In 1999, the cave was included in the UNESCO World Heritage List

Serra da Capivara National Park

After the discovery of many monuments of rock art, the area located in the Brazilian state of Piauí was declared a national park. Even in the days of pre-Columbian America, the Serra da Capivara Park was a densely populated area, a large number of communities of the ancestors of modern Indians were concentrated here. Rock paintings created with coal, red hematite and white gypsum date back to 12-9 millennia BC. They belong to the Nordesti culture.

Lasko cave

A monument of the late Paleolithic period, one of the best preserved in Europe. The cave is located in France in the Weser Valley. In the middle of the 20th century, drawings were discovered in it, created 18-15 thousand years ago. They belong to the ancient Solutrean culture. The images are located in several cave halls. The most impressive 5-meter drawings of bison-like animals are in the Hall of the Bulls.

Kakadu National Park

The area is located in the north of Australia, about 170 km from the city of Darwin. Over the past 40 thousand years, aborigines have lived in the territory of the current national park. They left curious examples of primitive painting. These are images of hunting scenes, shamanic rituals and plots of the creation of the world, made in a special "X-ray" technique.

Nine Mile Canyon

A gorge in the United States in eastern Utah with a length of almost 60 km. It was even nicknamed the longest art gallery because of a series of petroglyphs on the rocks. Some are created using natural dyes, others are carved directly into the rock. Most of the images were created by the Indians of the Fremont culture. In addition to the drawings, cave dwellings, well houses and ancient grain storage facilities are of interest.

Kapova cave

An archaeological monument located in Bashkortostan on the territory of the Shulgan-Tash reserve. The length of the cave is more than 3 km, the entrance is in the form of an arch 20 meters high and 40 meters wide. In the 1950s, in four halls of the grotto, primitive drawings of the Paleolithic era were discovered - about 200 images of animals, anthropomorphic figures and abstract symbols. Most of them are created using red ocher.

Valley of Miracles

National Park Mercantour, which is called the "Valley of Miracles", is located near the Côte d'Azur. In addition to natural beauty, tourists are attracted by Mount Bego - a real archaeological site, where tens of thousands of ancient paintings of the Bronze Age were discovered. These are geometric shapes of unknown purpose, religious symbols and other mysterious signs.

Altamira cave

The cave is located in the north of Spain in the autonomous community of Cantabria. She became famous for her rock paintings, which are made in polychrome technique using a variety of natural dyes: ocher, hematite, coal. The images refer to the Madeleine culture that existed 15-8 thousand years BC. The ancient artists were so skillful that they managed to give the images of bison, horses and boars a three-dimensional appearance, using the natural unevenness of the wall.

Chauvet cave

Historical monument of France, located in the valley of the Ardèche river. About 40 thousand years ago, the cave was inhabited by ancient people who left behind more than 400 drawings. The oldest images are over 35 thousand years old. The murals are perfectly preserved due to the fact that for a long time they could not reach Chauvet; it was discovered only in the 1990s. Unfortunately, tourists are not allowed to enter the cave.

Tadrart-Akakus

Once upon a time, on the territory of the hot and practically barren Sahara, there was a fertile and green area. There is a lot of evidence of this, including rock paintings found in Libya in the Tadrart-Akakus mountain range. From these images, you can study the evolution of the climate in this part of Africa, and trace the transformation of the flowering valley into a desert.

Wadi Methandush

Another masterpiece of rock art in Libya, located in the southwest of the country. Drawings of Wadi Methandush depict scenes with animals: elephants, cats, giraffes, crocodiles, bulls, antelopes. It is believed that the oldest were created 12 thousand years ago. The most famous painting and unofficial symbol of the area is two large cats fighting in a duel.

Laas Gaal

A cave complex in the unrecognized state of Somaliland with perfectly preserved ancient drawings. These murals are considered the most surviving among all on the African continent, they date back to 9-3 millennia BC. Basically, they are dedicated to the sacred cow - a cult animal that was worshiped in these places. The images were discovered in the early 2000s by a French expedition.

Bhimbetka rock dwellings

Located in India, in the state of Madhya Pradesh. It is believed that erectus (Homo erectus - Homo erectus), the direct ancestors of modern people, still lived in the Bhimbetka cave complex. The drawings discovered by Indian archaeologists date back to the Mesolithic era. It is interesting that many of the rituals of the inhabitants of the surrounding villages are similar to the scenes depicted by ancient people. In total, there are about 700 caves in Bhimbetka, of which more than 300 are well studied.

White Sea petroglyphs

Drawings of primitive people are located on the territory of the archaeological complex "White Sea Petroglyphs", which includes several dozen sites of ancient people. The images are located in a place called Zalavruga on the shores of the White Sea. In total, the collection consists of 2000 grouped illustrations depicting people, animals, battles, rituals, hunting scenes, and there is also a curious picture of a man on skis.

Petroglyphs of Tassilin-Adjer

A mountain plateau in Algeria, on the territory of which there are the largest-scale drawings of ancient people found in northern Africa. Petroglyphs began to appear here from the 7th millennium BC. The main plot is hunting scenes and animal figures of the African savannah. The illustrations were made in different techniques, which testifies to their belonging to different historical eras.

Tsodilo

The Tsodilo mountain range is located in the Kalahari Desert in Botswana. Here, over an area of ​​more than 10 km², thousands of images created by ancient people have been discovered. The researchers claim that they cover a time period of 100 thousand years. The earliest creations are primitive outline drawings, while the later represent an attempt by artists to give drawings a three-dimensional effect.

Tomsk Pisanitsa

Natural museum-reserve in the Kemerovo region, created in the late 1980s with the aim of preserving rock art. On its territory there are about 300 images, many of them were created about 4 thousand years ago. The earliest date back to the 10th century BC. In addition to the works of ancient people, tourists will be interested in looking at the ethnographic exhibition and museum collections that are part of the Tomsk Pisanitsa.

Magura cave

The natural site is located in northwestern Bulgaria near the town of Belogradchik. During archaeological excavations in the 1920s, the first evidence of the presence of an ancient man was found here: tools, ceramics, jewelry. Also, more than 700 samples of rock paintings were discovered, created presumably 100-40 thousand years ago. In addition to the figures of animals and people, they depict stars and the sun.

Gobustan reserve

The protected area includes mud volcanoes and ancient rock paintings. More than 6 thousand images were created by people who lived on this land from the primitive era to the Middle Ages. The plots are quite simple - scenes of hunting, religious rites, figures of people and animals. Gobustan is located in Azerbaijan, about 50 km from Baku.

Onega petroglyphs

Petroglyphs were found on the eastern shore of Lake Onega in the Pudozh region of Karelia. Drawings dating back to 4-3 millennia BC are placed on the rocks of several capes. Some illustrations are quite impressive 4 meters in size. In addition to the standard images of people and animals, there are also mystical symbols of unknown purpose, which have always frightened the monks of the nearby Murom Holy Dormition monastery.

Rock carvings in Tanum

A group of petroglyphs discovered in the 1970s in the Swedish commune of Tanum. They are located along a 25-kilometer line, which in the Bronze Age was believed to have been the shore of a fjord. In total, archaeologists have discovered about 3 thousand drawings, collected in groups. Unfortunately, under the influence of unfavorable natural conditions, petroglyphs are endangered. Gradually it becomes more and more difficult to distinguish their outlines.

Cave paintings in Alta

Primitive people lived not only in a comfortable warm climate, but also near the Arctic Circle. In the 1970s, in the north of Norway near the city of Alta, scientists discovered a large group of prehistoric drawings, consisting of 5 thousand fragments. These paintings depict human life in harsh weather conditions. Some illustrations contain ornaments and signs that scientists have not been able to decipher.

Coa Valley Archaeological Park

An archaeological complex created at the site of the discovery of prehistoric painting that belongs to the Paleolithic and Neolithic periods (the so-called Solutrean culture). There are not only ancient images, some elements were created in the Middle Ages. The drawings are located on rocks that stretch for 17 km along the Koa River. Also in the park is the Museum of Art and Archeology, dedicated to the history of the area.

Newspaper Rock

In translation, the name of the archaeological site means "Newspaper stone". Indeed, the petroglyphs that cover the rock resemble a typical typographic print. The mountain is located in the US state of Utah. It is not known for certain when these signs were created. It is believed that they were applied to the cliff by the Indians both before the arrival of the European conquerors on the continent, and after that.

Edakkal Caves

One of the archaeological treasures of India and all mankind is the Edakkal caves in the state of Kerala. In the Neolithic era, prehistoric petroglyphs were painted on the walls of the grottoes. These characters have not yet been deciphered. The area is a popular tourist attraction; visiting the caves is possible only as part of an excursion. Self-entry is prohibited.

Petroglyphs of the archaeological landscape of Tamgaly

Tamgaly tract is located about 170 km from Almaty. In the 1950s, about 2 thousand rock paintings were discovered on its territory. Most of the images were created in the Bronze Age, there are also modern creations that appeared in the Middle Ages. Based on the nature of the drawings, scientists put forward the assumption that an ancient sanctuary was located in Tamgaly.

Petroglyphs of the Mongolian Altai

The complex of rock signs, located on the territory of Northern Mongolia, covers an area of ​​25 km² and stretches 40 km in length. The images were created in the Neolithic era more than 3 thousand years ago, there are drawings and older ones, 5 thousand years old. Most of them depict deer with chariots, there are also figures of hunters and fabulous animals resembling dragons.

Rock painting in the Hua mountains

Chinese rock art was discovered in the south of the country in the Hua mountain range. They represent figures of people, animals, ships, celestial bodies, weapons, painted in rich ocher color. In total, there are about 2 thousand images, which are conventionally divided into 100 groups. Some pictures add up to full-fledged plots, where you can see a solemn ceremony, ritual or procession.

Swimmers Cave

The grotto is located in the Libyan desert on the border of Egypt and Libya. In the 1990s, ancient petroglyphs were discovered there, which are more than 10 thousand years old (Neolithic era). They depict people swimming in the sea or in another body of water. That is why the cave was named by its modern name. After people began to visit the grotto in large quantities, many of the drawings began to deteriorate.

Horseshoe Canyon

The gorge is part of the Canyonlands National Park, which is located in the US state of Utah. Horseshoe Canyon became famous for the discovery of ancient drawings by nomadic hunter-gatherers in the 1970s. The images are printed on panels about 5 meters high and 60 meters wide, they represent 2-meter humanoid figures.

Val Camonica petroglyphs

In the first half of the 20th century, in the Italian valley of Val Camonica (Lombardy region), the largest collection of rock paintings in the world was discovered - more than 300 thousand drawings. Most of them were created in the Iron Age, the latest belong to the Kamun culture, about which ancient Roman sources write. It is curious that when B. Mussolini was in power in Italy, these petroglyphs were considered proof of the origin of the highest Aryan race.

Valley twifelfontein

The most ancient settlements appeared in the Namibian Twifelfontein valley more than 5 thousand years ago. Around this time, cave paintings were created depicting the typical life of hunters and nomads. In total, scientists have counted more than 2.5 thousand fragments, most of them are about 3 thousand years old, the youngest are about 500 years old. In the middle of the 20th century, someone stole an impressive part of the slabs with petroglyphs.

Chumash painted cave

A national park in the state of California, on the territory of which there is a small sandstone grotto with murals of the Chumash Indians. The plots of the paintings reflect the ideas of the aborigines about the world order. According to various estimates, the drawings were created in the period from 1000 to 200 years ago, which makes them quite modern in comparison with prehistoric cave paintings elsewhere in the world.

Petroglyphs of Toro-Muerto

A group of petroglyphs in the Peruvian province of Castilla, which were created in the 6th-12th centuries during the Huari culture. Some scholars suggest that the Incas had a hand in them. The drawings depict animals, birds, celestial bodies, geometric ornaments, as well as people in a dance, probably performing some kind of ritual. In total, about 3 thousand painted stones of volcanic origin were found.

Easter Island Petroglyphs

One of the most mysterious places on the planet, Easter Island, can surprise you not only with giant stone heads. Ancient petroglyphs painted on rocks, boulders, and cave walls are of no less interest and are considered an important archaeological heritage. They represent either schematic representations of a technical process, or non-existent animals and plants - scientists only have to figure out this issue.

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

Painting- this is the artist's perception of the world captured on the canvas. If your perception of the world around you is reflected in the artist's painting, then you feel a kinship with the works of this master.

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

When did first images man-made?

Appeal primitive people to a new kind 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 transmitted, people communicated with each other. In the spiritual culture of the primitive world, art began to play the same universal role that a sharpened stone played in labor.

What prompted a person to think about portraying certain objects? Who knows if body painting was the first step towards creating images, or if a person guessed a familiar silhouette of an animal in the random outline of a stone and, having cut it, made it more similar? Or maybe the shadow of an animal or a person served as the basis for the drawing, and the hand or step print precedes the sculpture? There is no definite answer to these questions. Ancient people could have come up with the idea of ​​depicting objects not in one, but in many ways.
For example, to the number most ancient images on the walls of the caves of the Paleolithic era include human handprints, and irregular interweaving of wavy lines, pressed in wet clay by the fingers of the same hand.

For works of art of the early Stone Age, or Paleolithic, simplicity of shapes and colors is characteristic. Rock paintings are, as a rule, the outlines of animal figures. 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 bonfire.

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

In lively and expressive images, it stands before us the history of the life of a primitive man the era of the Stone Age, told by himself in rock paintings.

Dance. Lleid's painting. 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. Furious jumps, imitation of animal habits, stamping with feet, expressive hand gesturescreated the prerequisites for the emergence of dance. There were also warlike dances associated with magical rituals, with the belief in victory over the enemy.

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Composition in the Lasko cave. France. On the walls of the caves you can see mammoths, wild horses, rhinos, bison. Drawing for primitive man was the same "witchcraft" as an incantation and ritual dance. By “conjuring” the spirit of the painted animal with singing and dancing, and then “killing” it, the person seemed to master the animal's power and “conquered” it before the hunt.

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And these are petroglyphs. Hawaii

Paintings on the Tassili-Ajer mountain plateau. Algeria.

Primitive people practiced sympathetic magic - in the form of dancing, singing, or depicting 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 primacy 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 painting in the Lascaux region of France from the Paleolithic era

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

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

Rock carvings from Australia. Whether people, or animals, or maybe not that, and not another ...

Drawings from Western Arnhem, Australia.

Huge figures and little people nearby. And in the lower left corner there is something completely incomprehensible.

And here is a masterpiece from Lascoux, France.

North Africa, Sahara. Tassili. 6 thousand years BC Flying saucers and someone in a spacesuit. 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 the message of their time to distant eras? 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 asked to look at history through a magnifying glass.

But is it really so small in her?

After all, there were images of the gods

In the north of Upper Egypt is the ancient city of the temples 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 was widely worshiped in Abydos. Osiris was considered a divine teacher who gave the people of the Stone Age a variety of knowledge and crafts, and, quite possibly, knowledge about the secrets of heaven. 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 reminding us of their existence. They already had a developed writing system - 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 did ancient civilizations have? We are looking for the source because we think that by opening it, we will find out why we exist. Humanity wants to find where the starting point of reference is, from which everything began, because it thinks that there, apparently, there is an answer, “what is it all for”, and what will be 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 ...