rock art is the name given to the first artistic productions carried out by human beings during the Prehistory. This artistic production emerged during the Paleolithic period, around 30,000 years ago, and continued to be practiced during the subsequent period, the Neolithic.
The rock art consisted mainly of paintings made on cave walls, but also other manifestations were verified, notably sculptures and ceramics, in a longer period recent.
The images consisted mainly of representations of animals, humans, celestial objects and hybrid figures of humans and animals. Various hunting scenes were also depicted in the paintings.
Greek stamp commemorating the International Year of Women featuring a Neolithic female deity *
Scholars on the subject point out that the representation of hunts also had a dimension that transcended the representation, since that possibly the people of that time, when painting an animal on the wall, they were putting their own animals. By attacking animals in hunting scenes, people would weaken the animals before the actual practice of foraging, a situation that would later favor them.
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The materials used for the paintings were pieces of charcoal from their fires and other substances used in coloring. Bones, horns and teeth were also used in the making of sculptures that also expressed situations and beings in the daily lives of people in Prehistory.
Despite being a primitive art, it cannot be considered inferior to what is done nowadays. The refinement of shapes and the diversity of production are considered to be of great quality.
Examples of rock art can be found in the caves of Altamira, Spain, and Lascaux and Chauvet, France. One of the best known examples of sculptures from the prehistoric period is the so-called Venus de Willendorf, a sculpture representing the female figure and possibly also the fertility of cycles agricultural.
* Image Credit:Lefteris Papaulakis and Shutterstock.com
By Me. Tales Pinto
Would you like to reference this text in a school or academic work? Look:
PINTO, Tales dos Santos. "What is rock art?"; Brazil School. Available in: https://brasilescola.uol.com.br/o-que-e/historia/o-que-e-arte-rupestre.htm. Accessed on June 27, 2021.
