Cave Painting and Graffiti

Paper Summary:

This paper examines how, from the earliest of times, humankind has used words and symbols to display needs desires and necessities to both the gods and other humans and how, the prehistoric sketches of Paleolithic man and the current scrawls of modern man, while on the surface seem to be absolutely different, are inherently the same. In particular, it compares two works, a red and black bison on the ceiling at Altamira, Spain from 30,000 to 10,000 BC, and a terrier and tic-tac-toe board from the side of a building, New York City, late 1980s AD.

From the Paper:

"The composition of the painting, or lack thereof seems to be rather significant in prehistoric art. The lack of connection to the horizon, or anywhere else, denotes some type of religious meaning. Whether this entails simply a celebratory incantation for the fact that the animal lives to provide us with more food, or allows the magic in a shamanic spell to become more powerful against the animals, one has no knowledge. But the art of the caves does not appear to be simple art for art's sake. Christensen says, "It has been suggested that painting may have served as teaching material in which the spoken word, music, dance and masks were involved." (343) The time of Paleolithic man was wild and uncertain, but one could say the same about the current times."

More papers on Cave Painting and Graffiti:

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• Essay # 136339 : "Daoism, Chinese Landscape Painting and Japan."

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