Lascaux Cave Art

A Journey in Prehistoric Art of the Lascaux and

Chauvet Caves of Southern France, and others…

Paleolithic Picassos?

Where are the caves? How were they discovered and when?

• And…there are other places in the world where painted caves exist!• Like Spain, South America, Australia, etc…

Discovery!

Chauvet Caves

The Artists• Lived approx.

17,000 to 30,000 years ago during the Stone age and the Ice age

How did they create the images?• Using bone, sticks, brush

made with animal hair, hands/fingers, and sharpened rocks

• Paints came from the earth - crushed and mixed with cave water to create color

• Dark caverns were lit with torches and prehistoric lamps: made with animal fat, etc etc

• In Lascaux, scaffolds and ladders were built to get to the high points.

What did the artists paint?• Why did they

paint and carve on the cave walls?

• Did they live in the caves also?

• What evidence of human life do we see in the caves?

What is the significance?• What is represented in

these paintings?

• Why are there so few images of humans?

• How does this artwork reflect life of prehistoric peoples?

Map of the Lascaux Caves - Southern France

Lascaux - Chinese Horses & Bulls

Chauvet

Lascaux - Shaft of the dead man

Reindeer - Lascaux

Lascaux - horse and harpoons, or plants?

Chauvet, horses

Chauvet

Chauvet

Chauvet - Ibex

Chauvet - bear

Chauvet - herd of rhinos

Chauvet

Chauvet

Chauvet

Chauvet

Hand Stencil - Chauvet

Horse with handprints at Pech-Merle

Bison from Altamira Caves - Spain

How do these cave drawings compare…

…to these animals of today?