Cave+Paintings+and+Rock+Art

Early Communication __ [|petroglyphs] __ __ [|inukshuks] __ __[|Pinterest - petroglyphs and pictographs]__ media type="youtube" key="wZrZxyRBAlM" height="175" width="312"

Cave Paintings and Rock Art

Cave paintings are paintings on cave walls and ceilings, and the term is used especially for those dating to prehistoric times. The earliest European cave paintings date to the Aurignacian, some 32,000 years ago.[1] The purpose of the paleolithic cave paintings is not known. The evidence suggests that they were not merely decorations of living areas, since the caves in which they have been found do not have signs of ongoing habitation. Also, they are often in areas of caves that are not easily accessed. Some theories hold that they may have been a way of communicating with others, while other theories ascribe them a religious or ceremonial purpose.

Rock art is a term used in archaeology for any human-made markings made on natural stone. They can be divided into:

Petroglyphs - carvings into stone surfaces Pictographs - rock and cave paintings

In addition, petroforms and inukshuks are rock art made by aligning or piling natural stones. The stones themselves are used as large markings on the ground. Both petroglyphs and pictographs can be parietal, meaning on the walls of a cave or rock shelter, open-air (meaning they are made on exposed natural outcrops) or monument-based which are made on stones consciously deposited.



The earliest evidence of painting derives from archaeological sites in two rock-shelters in Arnhem Land, in northern Australia. In the lowest layer of material at these sites there are used pieces of ochre estimated to be 60,000 years old. Archaeologists have also found a fragment of rock painting preserved in a limestone rock-shelter in the Kimberley region of North-Western Australia dated at 40 000 years old.[12] Pigments from the "Bradshaw paintings" of the Kimberley are so old they have become part of the rock itself, making carbon dating impossible. Some experts suggest that these paintings are in the vicinity of 50,000 years old and may even pre-date aboriginal settlement.[13][14]

[|more Native American Rock Art]








 * Answer these questions. **
 * Use CSRQ **


 * 1) When were cave paintings created?
 * 2) What is the date of the earliest known European cave painting?
 * 3) What does evidence suggest about the cave paintings?
 * 4) What would be possible evidence of habitation?
 * 5) What are some of the theories for the purpose of cave paintings?
 * 6) What does "rock art" mean?
 * 7) What are the two kinds of rock art?
 * 8) How are the two kinds different?
 * 9) Where has the earliest evidence of rock art been found?
 * 10) When and where were these paintings created?
 * 11) Why can the "Bradshaw paintings" not be carbon dated?
 * 12) How old do some experts guess as the age of the "Bradshaw Paintings."?
 * 13) What settlements may these paintings predate?