Prehistoric Cave Art

Superior Essays
Introduction

In our fast paced, modern day world we tend to overlook common day skills that have become routine. Our ability to speak and articulate sets us aside from other mammals and forms of life. With this ability comes a skill that has been crafted and evolved through centuries, this is the ability to write. Interestingly enough, nearly 60,000 years ago, the earliest form of writing was discovered and it was located on eggshells. Better yet is the article’s definition of writing, “the concept of writing in essence, is the transference of thought or language into a re-readable form”. With that being said, this essay will briefly go through the some of the different eras and systems of writing to feature some of the unique traits and
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In order to save and record different stories, culture, and heritage cave dwellers developed a strategy to create impressions along the walls of the caves, as long as 32,000 years ago. These forms of art were not complex in nature but simply depicted the ability of the age. For example, in a cave named “Pech Merle” dating back to 25,000 BP, a self-portrait consisted of a hand print imprinted on the cave wall. Perhaps this follows the ideology that other than visually seeing their hand the cave dwellers did not have modern day mirrors and reflections to do a self-portrait based on their facial features and body structure. The study of the ancient cave art broaches the long-standing debate regarding the parallels between the mental abilities of the Neanderthal people and those of latter day humans. Perhaps the greatest importance, this form of art serves modern day scientists and learners is that, “it shows the interaction between our primitive ancestors and the world as they perceived it”. (Whitaker, …show more content…
These scribes were educated specifically in the subject of writing and went through a tedious process to receive their title. First, scribes followed the lead of family members who were first slaves (sons and fathers). Next, the sons would go to school and become educated in order to “inherit” the position of scribe after their fathers before them. What were the jobs and positions of the scribes? They consisted of: “Monumental buildings were erected under their supervision, administrative and economic activities were documented by them, and tales from the mouths of Egypt’s lower classes or from foreign lands survive.” While the rest of the civilization were required to join the military if war required, and pay taxes to the royals, scribes were exempt from these requirements. The scribes, in this era, were so highly favored that there were many exclusions that put them higher than the average class of people. In addition to the exemption for taxes and military they also did not have to participate in strenuous work and instead appointed low class civilians to do the work instead. The writing style developed by the Egyptians was ancient Hieroglyphics and Hieratic. The writing began as pictures that signified different words. These words then later transferred to represent different sounds and became an early form of phonics. One of

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