38-thousand year old rock art has a lot in common with Monet
Southwestern France has become well known in recent years for several discoveries of cave art made by early modern humans. The most famous examples are the Lascaux amd Chauvet cave paintings.
But recently an engraving was discovered in the same region by a team of anthropologists, including Canadian Dr. Randall White at New York University.
The 38 thousand year old engraving — much older than the cave paintings — depicts an aurochs, or wild cow, using a series of dots punched into limestone.
The very purposeful technique, similar to impressionistic pointilism, provides greater insight into a regional pattern of art and ornamentation in the lives of the hunter-gatherers who lived there between 43,000 and 33,000 years ago.
Related Links:
- Paper in Quaternary International: A new Aurignacian engraving from Abri Blanchard, France: Implications for understanding Aurignacian graphic expression in Western and Central Europe
- Quirks & Quarks: Prehistoric Human Ancestors Made Engravings on Shells