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Rock and cave paintings

Rock and cave paintings are basically the same, and seem to have served very similar purposes. The only difference is that rock paintings are outside, and don’t preserve as well as cave paintings.

Fumane cave Chauvet cave Lascaux cave

Since all early human developments seem to have started in Africa (with the possible exception of Home erectus), you might expect cultural developments such as rock and cave art to have started there too. And maybe they did. But the oldest African rock painting so far found is only about 27 ky old. However this could easily be a result of the better preservation conditions in Europe. Certainly many of the examples of African rock art that are causing excitement as present are fairly recent.

The mountainous areas of Europe have been thrust up quite recently in geological terms. So they have far more caves than many other places. And this could easily be the reason why far more paintings have been found there.

Although we will be concentrating on Europe (not least because I live there) ancient art has now been found more or less everywhere that modern humans migrated to.

According to Wikipedia, rock paintings have been found dating back to the ‘Upper (later) Palaeolithic’ 40 ky ago. Unfortunately the article didn’t tell us where these very old paintings are.

Fumane Cave

The oldest example I’ve found so far is Fumane cave on the southern edge of the Alps, and dated to 32-34 ky ago. Unfortunately the paintings themselves have all been destroyed by freezing and thawing over time. And all that is left are a few fragments that were found on the floor. Scientists have decided that this one is of a human figure with the head of an animal.

It looks pretty primitive, compared to the rich imagery, from later times, that we are used to. So although the dating of such things is not as certain as is sometimes claimed, the scientists are happy with this one.

Chauvet cave

Another example is Chauvet Cave in southern France. The Chauvet paintings are altogether more controversial. The paintings are exquisite, and fully up to the standard that we have come to expect. This one, of a cave bear, even has shading to bring out the detail. And yet radio carbon dating says that they are nearly as old as the Fumane paintings, at 30 ky.

Many scientists refuse to accept this date, and deny that the Chauvet paintings can be much more than some 15 ky old.

But we’re entitled to wonder whether they are being a bit hasty. Both cultural and technological developments tend to come in spurts (even if the spurts aren’t always as sudden as they at first appear). Think stone tool kits for example (more).

Or the Industrial revolution. One minute everything had to be done by muscle power. The next, steam was harnessed and mankind was freed for ever (hopefully) from this cruel limitation.

In the case of the Chauvet caves we’re probably still talking a few thousand years or so, equal to a hundred generations or more. That’s plenty of time for huge advances. Think how much has changed since the Romans.

But the sceptics could be right. Radio carbon dating is a difficult technique. And it can lie if it’s not done properly. First, the sample has to be big enough. The specks of carbon scraped off the walls for the dating of cave art tend to be incredibly tiny. So there just aren’t that many carbon atoms for producing a definitive result. Second, in important cases it’s vital that the results are cross checked by at least one other lab. It seems that all the dating work for Chauvet cave was done by a single lab in France.

There is certainly a case to answer here. We will have to wait and see what transpires.

Lascaux Cave

Lascaux is perhaps the most famous of the palaeolithic caves. So famous indeed, that it had to be closed to the public because the paintings were deteriorating. Instead a replica has been created for us ordinary folk to visit. Lascaux is also allegedly the oldest of the European ‘fine art’ caves (if you ignore Chauvet that is). The oldest paintings have been dated to around 17 ky, and the youngest some 15 ky. This picture is so good that I suspect it comes from the replica cave.