Exploring Lascaux Caves Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Exploring Lascaux Caves - Assignment Example Other pigments were derived from animal bone and vegetable sources. With these components, developing a color palette from these materials seems to be a difficult undertaking. In addition, to be regarded as an artist during this time one had to either be self-trained or apprenticed from a painter in the tribe. The art depicted in the cave is primarily about the fauna that early man knew, for this reason, the sole purpose of painting was for ritualistic sake. In terms of societal status, others would adore a painter due to their expertise and their ability to decorate caves and other ritualistic locations (McCully 19). As stated earlier, the Lascaux was painted during the Palaeolithic time during the emergence of the modern man, Homo sapiens. The Lascaux cave is located near the French village of Montignac and was discovered in 1940 by a group of boys who were hiking the woods (McCully 3). The Palaeolithic period dates back to 40,000 to 14,000 B.C., existing in this timeline, early humans only worried about basic needs, food and shelter. Life seems to have been simple then and painters, in my opinion, were celebrated because they were able to add richness to the then simple life. The painters made rituals, around communal fires, more enticing with enhanced experience due to the paintings. The main materials used in these descriptive wall paintings are already listed above and include pigments from clay ochre, animal bone, vegetable among other natural sources. According to McCully, the technique utilized in developing the drawings and engravings was through the spraying of pulverized color pigment s from the listed materials (15). The pigments were fitted inside a tube, created from bone, wood or plant materials. This technique was successful due to the painting lasting a long time and it was effective across all surfaces throughout the Lascaux cave comprised of subterranean complex. The paintings in the cave are