“Prehistoric cave paintings are exactly what the name says, paintings in caves from prehistoric times. They are from a really long time ago and they were the first known from of art by humans. People probably did this when they had some free time and nothing really better to do besides sit around and do nothing.” That is what I thought to myself before watching Werner Herzog’s film Cave of Forgotten Dreams. Many people do not understand the importance of these old pieces of art and what they can tell about past life. After watching this film and listening to the commentary from the filmmaker and the people he interviews, it is easy to understand what these paintings are about, what they are used for, and why we should care. Prehistoric paintings
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Cave lions, horses, rhinos, and many more animals were found painted on the walls. A lot of time and detail often went into their faces to truly show what the animal was like [Image 2]. Quite often different techniques were used to really bring the paintings alive. Animals were sometimes drawn with more legs than normal suggesting them running [Image 3]. Animals were drawn with their mouths wide open to show their roars, grunts, and whinnies [Image 4]. Rhinos were drawn with fierce faces to show them engrossed in battle. The different curves and edges to the walls helped to play with the shapes of the animals. These curves and edges also made it possible for light from torches to flicker about and make it look as though the animals were moving and …show more content…
From things like the skulls of animals to the paw prints and claw marks of bears they were able to discover what creatures had lived in the cave throughout time. A wall of red handprints was found [Image 5] and investigated by scientists. They were able to conclude that the wall had been created by one man approximately six feet tall with a slightly crooked pinkie finger. They also discovered that he had done some other hand printing further back in the cave. This was a huge discovering as it told the scientists a lot about this past human and what he was like. Researchers were about to remove millimeters of sediments to get geological info. Calcite growing all around the cave solidified the theory that these caves were extremely old and had laid untouched for thousands of
Cave lions, horses, rhinos, and many more animals were found painted on the walls. A lot of time and detail often went into their faces to truly show what the animal was like [Image 2]. Quite often different techniques were used to really bring the paintings alive. Animals were sometimes drawn with more legs than normal suggesting them running [Image 3]. Animals were drawn with their mouths wide open to show their roars, grunts, and whinnies [Image 4]. Rhinos were drawn with fierce faces to show them engrossed in battle. The different curves and edges to the walls helped to play with the shapes of the animals. These curves and edges also made it possible for light from torches to flicker about and make it look as though the animals were moving and …show more content…
From things like the skulls of animals to the paw prints and claw marks of bears they were able to discover what creatures had lived in the cave throughout time. A wall of red handprints was found [Image 5] and investigated by scientists. They were able to conclude that the wall had been created by one man approximately six feet tall with a slightly crooked pinkie finger. They also discovered that he had done some other hand printing further back in the cave. This was a huge discovering as it told the scientists a lot about this past human and what he was like. Researchers were about to remove millimeters of sediments to get geological info. Calcite growing all around the cave solidified the theory that these caves were extremely old and had laid untouched for thousands of