Journey Through the Ice AgeSome of the oldest art in the world is the subject of this riveting and beautiful book. Paul Bahn and Jean Vertut explore carved objects and wall art discoveries from the Ice Age, covering the period from 300,000 B.P. to 10,000 B.P., and their collaboration marks a signal event for archaeologists and lay readers alike. Utilizing the most modern analytical techniques in archaeology, Bahn presents new accounts of Russian caves only recently opened to foreign specialists; the latest discoveries from China and Brazil; European cave finds at Cosquer, Chauvet, and Covaciella; and the recently discovered sites in Australia. He also studies sites in Africa, India, and the Far East. Included are the only photographic images of many caves that are now closed to protect their fragile environments. A separate chapter in the book examines art fakes and forgeries and relates how such deceptions have been exposed. The beliefs and preoccupations of Paleolithic peoples resonate throughout this book: the importance of the hunt and the magic and shamanism surrounding it, the recording of the seasons, the rituals of sex and fertility, the cosmology and associated myths. Yet enigmas and mysteries emerge as well, particularly as new analytical techniques raise new questions and cast doubt on our earlier suppositions. A comprehensive, up-to-date analysis of all that has been discovered about Ice Age art, Bahn and Vertut's book offers a visually rich link with the past. Some of the oldest art in the world is the subject of this riveting and beautiful book. Paul Bahn and Jean Vertut explore carved objects and wall art discoveries from the Ice Age, covering the period from 300,000 B.P. to 10,000 B.P., and their collaboration marks a signal event for archaeologists and lay readers alike. Utilizing the most modern analytical techniques in archaeology, Bahn presents new accounts of Russian caves only recently opened to foreign specialists; the latest discoveries from China and Brazil; European cave finds at Cosquer, Chauvet, and Covaciella; and the recently discovered sites in Australia. He also studies sites in Africa, India, and the Far East. Included are the only photographic images of many caves that are now closed to protect their fragile environments. A separate chapter in the book examines art fakes and forgeries and relates how such deceptions have been exposed. The beliefs and preoccupations of Paleolithic peoples resonate throughout this book: the importance of the hunt and the magic and shamanism surrounding it, the recording of the seasons, the rituals of sex and fertility, the cosmology and associated myths. Yet enigmas and mysteries emerge as well, particularly as new analytical techniques raise new questions and cast doubt on our earlier suppositions. A comprehensive, up-to-date analysis of all that has been discovered about Ice Age art, Bahn and Vertut's book offers a visually rich link with the past. |
Contents
Preface and Acknowledgements | 6 |
Cave Life | 10 |
THE DISCOVERY OF ICE AGE ART | 14 |
THE OLDEST ART IN THE WORLD | 24 |
A WORLDWIDE PHENOMENON | 27 |
MAKING A RECORD | 48 |
How OLD IS THE ART? | 58 |
FAKES AND FORGERIES | 77 |
ART IN THE OPEN AIR | 128 |
WHAT WAS DEPICTED? | 134 |
READING THE MESSAGES | 170 |
CONCLUSION | 212 |
Notes | 214 |
222 | |
236 | |
240 | |
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Common terms and phrases
Abri Altamira Angles-sur-l'Anglin animal figures antler Apellániz Ariège artists Aurignacian aurochs Azilian Bahn Barandiarán Bednarik Bégouën bison bone Bosinski Breuil Cartailhac carved Castillo cave art cave walls cent charcoal Chauvet Cave claimed clay Clottes cm long colour Cosquer Cougnac Couraud d'Azil dating decorated caves deer Delluc Delporte depictions Dordogne Duhard engraved Enlène Europe example female figurines fragments Gargas Gönnersdorf GRAPP Gravettian Grotte hand stencils head horse human ibex Ice Age Ice Age art images incisions interpreted Isturitz ivory Laming-Emperaire Lascaux layer Leroi-Gourhan Lorblanchet Magdalenian male mammoth marks Marshack Mas d'Azil motifs Niaux non-figurative objects ochre painted Palaeolithic art Pales panel parietal art Pech Merle perforated period pigment plaquettes portable art Probably Magdalenian produced Pyrenees radiocarbon recent reindeer rock shelters scholars seen signs Solutrean Spain species specimens St Péreuse 1976 statuettes stone style technique tion traces Trois Frères Tuc d'Audoubert Upper Palaeolithic vulvas