Geography, History and Human Universal Culture:

[Montuno]

International Cannagraphic invites you to a walk through the History of Humanity, through its achievements and its miseries, in an attempt to know and celebrate both the branches of diversity that distinguish us in a thousand peoples, as well as the common trunk that makes us one people.

 

[Montuno]

The Humanoid Stain
Art lessons from our cave-dwelling ancestors :

© Julia Wald

The Humanoid Stain | Barbara Ehrenreich

Cave art, with its faceless humanoids and capacity for silliness, seem to know something we now strain to imagine: better ways to spend our time.

thebaffler.com

 

[Montuno]

At less, 64.000 years ago:​

Neanderthals painted rock art in the Ardales cave:​

A study of the pigments found in the Ardales cave (Málaga; Andalucía; Spain) has confirmed that the cave paintings were intentionally made by Neanderthals, as was stated in 2018, and that it is one of the oldest cave art samples in the world:​

Photo: UCA

Abel GM
Journalist specialized in the field of history and travel.
updated to August 24, 2021 2:06 PM ·


Cave paintings have fascinated researchers for decades, both for their meaning and for how they were painted or even when they date from. Now, a study carried out by several European research entities has concluded that the pigments that decorate the stalagmites of the Ardales cave (province of Malaga, Spain) were intentionally scattered on the rock at least 64,000 years ago. This confirms the thesis proposed in 2018 according to which it is rock art painted by Neanderthals , although different from that made by Homo sapiens .

An article published in February 2018 already stated that “these paintings are the oldest cave art in the world and, more importantly, at least 20,000 years older than the arrival of modern humans in Europe, which suggests that they must have a Neanderthal origin”. However, after its publication , it was discussed whether they were really intentionally scattered pigments or could have appeared due to natural processes , such as the outcrop of iron oxide on the rock surface.

The new study has analyzed various factors such as the texture and composition of the pigments in the so-called Room of the Stars, supposedly painted by Neanderthals, and has compared them with other pigments found in the same cave to reach the following conclusions: “ The remarkably different texture and composition of the geological samples indicate that the pigments used in the paintings did not come from outcrops of known coloring material in the cave. We confirm that the paintings are not the result of natural processesand we show that the composition of the painting is consistent with a recurring artistic activity. Our results reinforce the hypothesis that Neanderthals used these paintings and the large stalagmitic dome that houses them symbolically for an extended period of time.”

Neanderthals used pigments to create rock art and had a much richer symbolic behavior than previously assumed.

Although the paintings found in the Ardales cave are simple in appearance and it is difficult to intuit the forms, there are lines that are clearly thicker than others that, according to the study, were made by spreading the pigments by splashing. The research therefore confirms that Neanderthals used the pigments to create cave art and that, as the article published in 2018 stated, "they had a much richer symbolic behavior than previously assumed." Something that adds to the list of evidence that this species had more developed skills and culture than traditionally thought.

Los neandertales pintaron arte rupestre en la cueva de Ardales

Un estudio de los pigmentos hallados en la cueva de Ardales (España) ha confirmado que las pinturas rupestres fueron realizadas intencionadamente por neandertales, como se afirmó en 2018, y que se trata de una de las muestras de arte rupestre más antiguas del mundo.

historia.nationalgeographic.com.es

 

[Montuno]

An investigation published in 'Science' discovers that the Neanderthals were the authors of the first cave art​

Paintings in La Pasiega. Photo: P. Saura

Paintings in Maltravieso. Photo: H. Collado

Joao Zilhao.
02/23/2018

Science magazine publishes in its latest issue an investigation with the participation of ICREA researcher João Zilhão, from the Seminar of Prehistoric Studies and Research of the UB (SERP-UB), in which new dates are presented to date the Paleolithic art of three Spanish caves. The new uranium-thorium (U-Th) dating method, based on the radioactive disintegration of uranium, has made it possible to date the art of the caves of Ardales (Málaga), Maltravieso (Cáceres) and La Pasiega (Cantabria) in, at least , 64,800 years old. These are the oldest dates currently known for art worldwide. In fact, the new dates certify that the authorship of the paintings was in charge of Neanderthals.
«It is shown -says Zilhão- that the Neanderthals painted on the walls of caves for at least 65,000 years, tens of thousands of years before the first anatomically modern populations of African origin did so. Therefore, we can conclude that, cognitively and symbolically, Neanderthals were no different from modern humans."
In the three caves now studied there are geometric motifs, figures of hands in negative and speleothems (mineral deposits such as stalagmites and stalactites) painted, all done in red. The dates obtained for these works are prior, at least 20,000 years, to the arrival of modern human groups in Europe. The dating method that has been applied to them, that of uranium-thorium (U-Th), allows us to date very small samples (a few milligrams) of existing calcite deposits below and above the paintings. The aforementioned method does not have the limitations imposed by the carbon 14 test, which is only applicable to a small number of cave motifs made with organic matter and which affects the integrity of the paintings. Thus, it has been possible to know that in the cave of La Pasiega a linear sign (scalariform) was made at least 64,800 years ago; that in the Maltravieso cave, a negative hand was made at least 66,700 years ago, and that in the Ardales cave, a formation of speleothems was covered with paint —as can be seen by the concentrations of color that are preserved in it — at least 65,500 years ago.

A rethinking of current models
The recognition of the first symbolic and artistic capacities of humanity is a current topic of debate in the scientific field. Traditionally, these abilities were only attributed to the first populations of modern humans, which emerged in Africa around 200,000 years ago and arrived in Europe around 40,000 years ago. Despite this and in recent years, new discoveries have proposed that Neanderthals decorated their bodies with ocher and beads, and that they made small signs (mainly lines) on bones and stones. The results now published open new perspectives of study that imply a rethinking of the current models on the origin of symbolic thought and the expansion of the first artistic capacities of humans.
'Although somewhat different in aspects of their facial morphology, were Neanderthals human like us, or were they a separate, different, less intelligent offshoot that went extinct without offspring? This issue has been under discussion since the first Neanderthal fossils were discovered in the mid-19th century”, explains Zilhão. The researcher points out that the work now published in Science shows that Neanderthals were not different from the cognitive and symbolic point of view, and that "these defining characteristics of our species have appeared in the initial stages of human evolution, more than half a million years old. What this implies is "a view of human evolution in which the known fossil variants are to be interpreted, all of them, as ancestral, as belonging to our ancestors, not as belonging to different species. That is to say that, throughout most of its existence, the human species has been much more diverse than today: it is not fossil humanity that is abnormally heterogeneous, it is current humanity that is abnormally homogeneous! », he concludes.
The article published in Science, "U-Th dating of carbonate crusts reveals Neandertal origin of Iberian cave art", gathers the results obtained by an international multidisciplinary team made up of fourteen researchers from Spain (Isabel I, Barcelona, Alcalá de Henares and Cadiz, ICREA, Ardales Cave Interpretation Center and Junta de Extremadura), Germany (Max Planck Institute, Neanderthal Museum and University of Cologne), England (Universities of Southampton and Durham), Portugal (University of Lisbon ) and France (CNRS). In the case of the University of Barcelona, João Zilhão signs as a researcher for the SERP-UB group, led by Professor Josep Maria Fullola. The research has been supported by the Environment Research Council (Great Britain),
Simultaneously, the journal Science Advances publishes another study by a group of authors led by Zilhão and another member of the research team that publishes the Science work. With the title «Symbolic use of marine shells and mineral pigments by Iberian neanderthals 115,000 years ago», this article documents that the deposit in which the perforated and painted shells of the Los Aviones cave (Cartagena, Murcia) were found has an age between between 115,000 and 120,000 years. This result confirms that Neanderthals used sophisticated pigment mixtures and practiced body ornamentation long before such behaviors could be documented among early modern humans in Africa.

Items Reference:
DL Hoffmann, CD Standish, M. García-Diez, PB Pettitt, JA Milton, J. Zilhão, JJ Alcolea-González, P. Cantalejo-Duarte, H. Collado, R. de Balbín, M. Lorblanchet, J. Ramos- Munoz, G.-Ch. Weniger, AWG Pike2†, “U-Th dating of carbonate crusts reveals Neanderthal origin of Iberian cave art” , Science , February 2018. Doi: 10.1126/science.aap7778
Dirk L. Hoffmann, Diego E. Angelucci, Valentín Villaverde, Josefina Zapata, João Zilhão, «Symbolic use of marine shells and mineral pigments by Iberian Neandertals 115,000 years ago» , Science Advances , February 2018. Doi: 10.1126/sciadv.aar5255

More information here:


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Una investigación publicada en ʻScienceʼ descubre que los neandertales fueron los autores del primer arte rupestre

www.ub.edu

 

[Montuno]

67.000 years ago:​

Maltravieso (Malnaughty; Cáceres, Extremadura; Spain): the longest hands in the world:​

AUTHOR​

Lourdes Gomez​

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A study published in Science shows that a cave painting from Cáceres is the oldest known to date. And the most shocking thing: it was the work of a Neanderthal.



The findings in the Maltravieso cave have caused a turning point in what refers to the evolution of the symbolic capacities of the human being. The paintings analyzed in this study are a negative hand embodied in this cavity in Cáceres, a painted staircase in the Pasiega cave (Cantabria) and some stalagmites with remains of pigments in the Ardales cave (Málaga). The work has shown that these are the oldest artistic representations known to date. The oldest is the one from Cáceres, with some 66,700 years old.
The dating has been made possible by a variation of the uranium-thorium method. In the words of Hipólito Collado, head of Archeology at the Ministry of Education and Culture and Equality and president of the International Federation of Rock Art Organizations (IFRAO): “what is measured is not the representation of rock art itself, but some calcite concretions that grow on top. Therefore, what we are dating is something that was formed when the cave art representation was already made. What we don't know is the transit time between when the calcite concretion starts to grow and when the painting was done."
Hipólito Collado, head of Archeology of the Junta de Extremadura. Photo: Lourdes Gomez

Neanderthal artists​

That a negative hand from the Maltravieso cave has been dated at around 66,700 years old represents two milestones: that it becomes "the oldest painting to date found in the world" and the certainty that they were painted by Neanderthals: “It is evidence -and perhaps the highlight of the study- that this hand was made by a Neanderthal.
Until now, the dates we had only reached approximately 40,000 years ago, a time when both species, homo sapiens and Neanderthals, were living together on the Iberian Peninsula. What is clear to us, or at least there is no archaeological data to say the contrary, is that at the time the Maltravieso hands were being made -66,700 years- there was no specimen of our species on the peninsula. At that time the only ones who were here, to date and according to the data we have, were the Neanderthals. Therefore, if only they were there, the only ones who could make these cave art representations are Neanderthals”, in the words of Hipólito Collado, an active part of this revolutionary research.
General view of the Maltravieso Cave panel

symbolic capacity​

Detail of the hands in the cave, with enhanced visibility

Until now there was no convincing evidence to show that Neanderthals had symbolic capacity; Moreover, historically they had been considered inferior to homo sapiens in terms of their symbolic capacities. The research in which archeology professionals from the Junta de Extremadura have participated, among many other entities and institutions, changes everything: “it means changing the paradigm we had regarding who could make cave art. Until now, what we had in mind is that the Neanderthal had very limited symbolic capacities and that he was incapable of making cave art representations on wall supports. Now we can show it, that they did have those symbolic capacities, that they did leave those messages because their mind, their thinking was already prepared”,
The prehistoric sanctuary of Maltravieso, in the heart of Cáceres, which we can already consider today as the cradle of world cave art, cannot be visited.
It has an interpretation center located next to the cavity, where there is a replica of part of the cave. Your visit is free.

Location and contact: Avenida de Cervantes s/n in Cáceres
Hours: Tuesday to Saturday from 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.
Posted on March 1, 2018
Text by Lourdes Gómez for her column Extremadura DesVElada

 

[Montuno]

(1)- Neanderthal man, much more human than previously believed​

The findings about its behavior in recent years have broken with the image of a simple and wild species that was held about it. We analyze the discoveries that have changed the vision of this species.​

This replica of a Neanderthal skeleton found in Israel suggests it was intentionally buried.
Photo: CC

David Llobet
June 21, 2019, 12:30 | updated to January 18, 2021, 09:31

For many years, it was believed that Neanderthals were a species of hominid that had little or nothing to do with the current human being (Homo sapiens sapiens). Historically considered stupid and wild creatures , new studies and discoveries made in the last decade have shattered most of the myths and beliefs that were held about this species. From the way of hunting to the artistic expressions that they developed or that they also buried their dead, the vision that traditionally existed about the Neanderthal man has taken a radical turn.

Neanderthals inhabited Eurasia from approximately 400,000 years ago until their disappearance 40,000 years ago. It is already known that the current human being that inhabits this area of the planet inherited between 1.5% and 2.1% of genetic material from Neanderthals. Indeed, both species lived together for thousands of years sharing more than just the habitat that surrounded them, and the latest discoveries have shown that Homo Neanderthalensis is much closer to Homo sapiens than traditionally believed for many years. These are the recent findings that have brought the behavior of Neanderthals closer to that of modern humans.

1.- They were not savages​

The image of brutal and especially violent beings has haunted Homo Neanderthalensis for many years. This belief has traditionally been based on the existence of fractures and holes found in many of the Neanderthal fossils found so far. However, recent studies have shown that this hominin was no more aggressive than Homo sapiens.

The current human being that inhabits Eurasia inherited between 1.5% and 2.1% of genetic material from Neanderthals

Researchers at the University of Tübingen, Germany, compared the lesions on the skulls of Neanderthals and Homo sapiens and found that they were very similar. Using a database that collected hundreds of fossils from both species, they analyzed head trauma from all populations of these hominins from the Upper Paleolithic in Western Eurasia. The results showed that there were no significant differences in the prevalence of lesions in each other.

As Rosa María Tristán, science communicator, explains, “ Neanderthals were always presented to us as obtuse, savage, cannibalistic, low-intelligence beings, and that image was transmitted in the media ”. In this sense, she points to the change that has occurred among scientists. "Now, the scientific community in general bets that they probably had a complex symbolic language and that their disappearance has nothing to do with the fact that they were the 'dumb cousins' and that we could with them."

Analysis of injuries to animal bones caused by Neanderthals show that hominids were expert hunters.​

Photo: Age Fotostock

2.- The first artists​

Another of the classical conceptions that has been held about Neanderthals is their lack of symbolic and artistic capacity, an ability that was attributed exclusively to Homo sapiens. The surprise came when an investigation carried out by Spanish scientists and other nationalities shattered this belief. The researchers analyzed the cave paintings found in three different sites in the Spanish geography: La Pasiega (Cantabria), Maltravieso (Extremadura) and Ardales (Andalusia).

The result of the analysis determined that the paintings were 65,000 years old. This implies that they were made more than 20,000 years before the arrival of Homo sapiens in the Iberian Peninsula, so the study concluded that the authorship of the cave art was due to Neanderthal man. This was one of the discoveries that most revolutionized the scientific community since, not only was it seen that Neanderthals were also artists like the current human being, but that they were so long before modern humans with what the discussion of the cognitive capacities of each other.


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CANNIBALISM CAME WITH CLIMATE CHANGE​

This new vision gains even more strength thanks to the findings produced in Saint Cesaire and Arcy-sur-Cure in 2012 (France) that revealed that Neanderthals also decorated their bodies with ornaments. For Antonio Rosas, paleoanthropologist and researcher at the CSIC, this is one of the most important discoveries that has changed the traditional view of this species. “These findings produced a strong impact on our way of understanding this human group. It was found that Neanderthals had certain capacities for symbolic thought until then only reserved exclusively for Homo sapiens”.
(Continúe...)

 

[Montuno]

(2)- Neanderthal man, much more human than previously believed​

3.- Specialized hunters​

One of the most recent discoveries that has shed light on the Neanderthal way of life concerns their hunting skills. Until recently, it was believed that the techniques they used to hunt were based solely on direct contact with their prey , with the risk that this entailed. However, researchers at the Archaeological Center and Museum for the Evolution of Human Behavior in Neuwied, Germany, developed a new theory by analyzing injuries to the bones of two 120,000-year-old deer caused by Neanderthals (humans current arrived in Europe around 40,000 years ago) that were found in the east of the Germanic country.

By observing the type of perforations and using microscopic images and ballistic tests, the scientists managed to glimpse how the injuries were caused and even what the angles of impact were. The conclusion they reached was that these injuries were due to impacts caused by short-range wooden spears. This hunting technique based on ambush and ranged weapons suggests that Neanderthals needed cooperation and communication among themselves to carry out this technique.

On the other hand, a study carried out with individuals found in caves in Iraq and Belgium analyzed the teeth and found traces of starch and other foods such as legumes, roots and tubers that, due to their state, showed that they were cooked before being eaten. This discovery not only proved that Neanderthals knew how to cook but that they were somehow able to control fire.

"The Neanderthals had capacities for symbolic thought until then reserved exclusively for Homo sapiens," says paleoanthropologist Antonio Rosas

Photo: Age Fotostock

4.- They were buried​

One of the most controversial questions about the abilities of Homo Neanderthalensis is whether or not they intentionally buried their dead. The remains of a 50,000-year-old individual found in 1908 in the Chapelle-aux-Saints cave in France led its discoverers to believe that it was buried through a funerary ritual based on the fetal position of the body and the tools that buried it. accompanied. However, this theory was widely refuted for more than a century until, in 2013, new studies of the site pointed to a funerary use.

An international team of researchers worked for thirteen years in the Chapelle-aux-Saints cave where they carried out new excavations to contextualize the place. As a result of the investigations, they found more remains of Neanderthals, specifically two children and one adult, along with bones of bison and reindeer. In addition, they studied the groove where the first Neanderthal was found one hundred years ago and, thanks to geological analysis, determined that it was not a natural cavity but rather an intentionally excavated one. They also did an analysis of the fossil discovered in 1908 and concluded that the body had been quickly covered to protect it.Although they could not determine whether this practice was part of a funerary ritual or purely pragmatic, they did demonstrate intentionality in the burial.

5.- They cared for the sick​

In 1957, the body of a 50,000-year-old Neanderthal was discovered in a cave in Iraqi Kurdistan with multiple injuries and health problems. From a strong blow to the side of the head, the amputation of his right arm from the elbow, serious injuries to his right leg as well as a progressive deterioration and loss of his hearing.

The patient lived to an advanced age so he needed the care and help of his peers to survive

New analyzes of this individual carried out in 2017 revealed that of all the injuries suffered, hearing loss is the ailment that made it most vulnerable to predators and the dangers of the Pleistocene. This study concluded that the patient, who lived to an advanced age, needed the care and help of his peers to survive.

In addition, another study carried out with a Neanderthal found in the El Sidrón cave in Asturias showed that this species medicated itself. It was discovered that the individual in question suffered from an abscessed tooth which must have caused him intense pain. The analysis of the tartar in the teeth of the body studied found traces of DNA from a fungus that acted as a natural antibiotic and that the Neanderthal used to alleviate the pain he suffered. Rosa M. Tristán assures that "if they decorated, painted, cooked, medicated, buried their dead, cared for their elders, etc., it is clear that they were more similar to us than was thought a few years ago."

long way to go​

The discoveries that have been made in the last decade have been progressively changing the vision that until then had been held of the Neanderthal as a species clearly inferior in all aspects to Homo sapiens. To the point that we are already beginning to talk about whether it is possible to compare the cognitive abilities of both species. For Antonio Rosas this is not an easy question to answer. “In my opinion, Neanderthals and Sapiens share much of the neural underpinnings that lead to superior operational intelligence. However, I think that some functions of thought, subtle but very relevant, could be different”.

In this sense, it recognizes the change in mentality that has taken place in recent years but also the prejudices that continue to accompany Homo Neanderthalensis. “ Today there is a tendency to see Neanderthals as a different human group but with the same evolutionary and even legal status as current humans. However, the image of Neanderthals as primitive and even morally inferior beings still remains in the collective imagination. There is still a certain way to go”, says Rosas.

El hombre de Neandertal, mucho más humano de lo que se creía

Los hallazgos sobre su comportamiento en los últimos años han roto con la imagen de especie simple y salvaje que se tenía sobre ella. Analizamos los descubrimientos que han cambiado la visión de esta especie.

www.nationalgeographic.com.es

 

[Montuno]

Homo Sapiens art:​

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(1)-Altamira, the first great work of art:​

« After Altamira, everything seems decadent »​

(Pablo Picasso)​

In the summer of 1879, Marcelino Sanz de Sautuola entered the Altamira cave, located next to Santillana del Mar, with his eight-year-old daughter, María Faustina Sanz Rivarola. Our student of Prehistory already knew of the existence of the cave, since he had news that one of his sharecroppers, Modesto Cubillas, had discovered it while hunting in 1868. But it was one of the many caves in the area and no one had given importance.


Among the bushes was the entrance to the cave. The house is the old guard.


Currently, access to the cave is inside the Altamira Museum, which offers the appearance of this modern building.

Sautuola himself visited the cave in 1878, he went through it completely, but he only saw some traces of schematic paintings that he did not attribute to the human hand. However, that day, some paintings on the ceiling of the second room, a very low ceiling at the time (today the floor has been lowered to make it easier to see) caught the girl's attention, who entered the second room and told her father with a “Look Dad! Painted oxen!”, as narrated the following year, 1880, by Don Marcelino in his work “ Brief notes on some prehistoric objects from the Province of Santander ”, in which he showed a reproduction of the vault that contains the largest number of paintings .

But Don Marcelino did not know what was coming with his publication. At that time, the clashes were constant among prominent members of the scientific community and the then greatest experts in rock art, such as Gabriel de Mortillet and Cartailhac, denied the possibility that such naturalistic paintings could have been made by Paleolithic men. And it was not surprising that a claim of this magnitude should be questioned, although perhaps not with the iniquity of questioning the honor of the discoverer by suggesting that he himself painted them in the year between his first and second visits. to the cave.

Marcelino Sanz died shortly after and did not have the fortune to see how his detractors went back on his words and tried to restore his honor, which Cartailhac did, who published a "Mea culpa d'un sceptique" in 1902, acknowledging his mistake and showing his respect and admiration for Sautuola.

This debate about the authenticity of the paintings and their recognition as an artistic work carried out by Paleolithic men supposes a long process in which the studies on Prehistory will be defined and ends around 1902, after the discovery of other caves in France. that contain Parietal art and the exposure and influence of Henri Breuil's studies on this art, which substantially changed the opinion of researchers on the matter.

(Continúe...)

 

[Montuno]

​

(2)-Altamira, the first great work of art:​

« After Altamira, everything seems decadent »​

(Pablo Picasso)​

Established the authenticity of the paintings, the debate on the work itself begins. The divergence between the researchers centers around the chronological precision, the mysterious purpose of the same and their artistic and archaeological value. These issues affected not only the Altamira cave, but all the Quaternary cave art discovered.

Using the carbon 14 method, researchers Laming and Leroi-Gurhan dated the Altamira paintings to between 15,000 and 12,000 years BC. They therefore belonged to the Magdalenian III period.

THESE PAINTINGS ARE COLORFUL!!!



One or two colors were used that were obtained with mineral pigments (carbon for black, ocher or iron oxide for red or yellow...) or organic (manganese, for grey), most authors agree that it was enough By dissolving them in the water collected in the cave itself, then when applied, the wet rock wall absorbed the paint and the large amount of dissolved limestone crystallized it, giving it sufficient durability.

THEY PAINTED AND IN WHAT WAY!!!:
The Altamira artist first engraves the desired figure on the cave wall with a sharp stone. Later he paints over the engraving, marking the outline in black with charcoal. The filling goes in ocher. He uses water to dilute the pigments and applies them either by hand or with a pad of vegetable matter or by blowing (airbrushing) with a hollow bird bone and projecting them as if it were a blowgun. The painter could illuminate the room with marrow lamps, which give an intense and clean light and do not blacken the walls. The natural humidity of the cave fixes and maintains the freshness of the colors. in the end yesClearer highlights could be simulated by scraping the rock, and in any case, very advanced and precise gradients appear, together with perfectly defined lines, integrating very complex drawing structures. The following image shows very well the process of marking the outline of the figure with a graver (a harder stone) in a painting only sketched of a bison facing left in the upper left corner, and then painting it with charcoal. before filling in color as it appears in the other figure of a headless bison looking up:


The style achieved by these painters (we do not know if it was just one or several, if it was men or women who made the drawings, not even if they were all done in a short interval of time or the elaboration of the main ceiling was a matter of several generations) is very personal and perfectly defined. Let's take it off the wall so we can appreciate it as if it were a painting:


the shrunken bison
(Continue..)

 

[Montuno]

​

(3)-Altamira, the first great work of art:​

« After Altamira, everything seems decadent »​

(Pablo Picasso)​

the shrunken bison
It is one of the main figures on the ceiling. In it we can see very well how the painter begins by pointing out the perimeter of black paint, and then fills in. Many think that she is a female because they interpret that the udders are perfectly drawn and although she is seen in profile, the two hind legs can be seen but only one front. She highlights the profile of the eye and the forehead, but also the way of drawing the hair. the shrunken bisonit is one of the most expressive and admired paintings of the whole set. It is painted on a bulge of the vault. The artist has managed to fit the figure of the bison, shrinking it, folding its legs and forcing the position of the head downwards. All this highlights the spirit of naturalistic observation of its director and the enormous expressive capacity of the composition. Take a look at his position on the rock, with the lighting forced to appreciate the relief:







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Alpha male of the bison herd

This male with his highly identified sexual attributes is for me one of the most stylized figures in the cave and perhaps the best work of drawing of the entire Palaeolithic. We can appreciate a precious style of lines with smooth curves, beautiful faces and suggestive shapes. There are clear disproportions between the size of the head and the body, but the legs of the animal are also especially stretched, which increases its presence. In this figure there are no drawings of hairs in the contours, as happens with the others. The precision in the drawing of the parts, the detail of the hooves and the styling of the neck, hips and even the tail are prodigious.



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male bison in profile


This other bison figure is a little rougher than the previous one, but let's not forget that we are looking at drawings from at least twelve thousand years ago!!! It shows a profile position but its four legs are seen in a very natural way, that is, the painter's intention is to show us a depth in the drawing, by partially showing us the legs that are at the back of the drawn object. This figure shows better than others the technique of blowing the paint through bone canes to get the fillings. We return to look at the hairs that are drawn in some contours. The horns are the best in the whole cave and the legs are beautiful.

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lying down and looking back


In more than one place I have seen that this figure tends to be identified with a female. I wouldn't know how to choose, because there is nothing to indicate it, although her face is so graceful that it looks more like a gazelle than a bison. Her posture with her face looking backwards makes us pay attention to her expression, the ear next to the eye and under the horn and the general sensation she produces of being seated, but alive, looking at something that happens behind of the. Here we find only two legs, although the two hind haunches are present.

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mooing bison
I leave one of the lesser-known figures for last, but one that has more expressive force, both because the animal is shown mooing and with a tense expression, and because of the perfect proportion of the different parts of the animal. This drawing, together with the one of the female bison lying down, were the ones used by Henri Breuill to expose his studies on Parietal art to international researchers, which changed the opinion of the international scientific community about the veracity of the antiquity of the paintings. .

 

[Montuno]

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(4)-Altamira, the first great work of art:​

« After Altamira, everything seems decadent »​

(Pablo Picasso)​

In Altamira the bison is the most numerous animal. They appear in all sixteen, standing, mooing, lying down, with their heads turned, etc. Almost everyone is focused on the spectacular 18 x 9 meter ceiling. The artist paints them very realistically, with many details (snout, eyes, horns, fur, sex, hooves, tail, etc.), it is seen that he knows their anatomy and behavior very well, which suggests that he hunts them to eat them, or that he has plenty of time to observe them when the hunter abandons them after his hunt at the cave entrance.



In a show of perfectionism, the painter takes advantage of the natural projections of the rock to paint over the bison and obtain absolute realism with the sensation of relief that is produced. In addition to the bison, Altamira has horses, wild boars, goats, reindeer, mammoths and a monumental hind of 2.25 meters.





the great doe, the largest of all the figures represented, is 2.25 m. It manifests a masterful technical perfection. The stylization of the extremities, the firmness of the engraved line and the chromatic modeling give it great realism. However, it accuses a certain distortion, surely caused by the close point of view of the author. Below the neck of the doe appears a small bison in black outline. Let's not forget that the ceiling was very low (in this area not much more than four or four inches), and you had to get into a very awkward position to paint. But certainly, if only because of its size and position on the ceiling , is one of the main figures, so much so that the dome has sometimes been interpreted as a large mural showing two large groups of animals, the deer and the bison.



The ocher horse, located at one end of the vault, was interpreted by Breuil as one of the oldest figures on the ceiling. This type of pony must have been common on the Cantabrian coast, since we also see it represented in the Tito Bustillo cave, discovered in 1968 in Ribadesella.


(Continue...)

 

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(5)-Altamira, the first great work of art:​

« After Altamira, everything seems decadent »​

(Pablo Picasso)​

In addition to these beautiful animals, in Altamira there are also symbolic, abstract and "tectiform" signs, an adjective that was too successful at the time, which is also due to Breuil in his aforementioned study exhibited in 1902 before the "French Association for the advancement of of the sciences' and which means 'in the form of a hut'. We will talk about them in more depth soon, but let's say now that we don't know their meaning, they could be traps, labyrinths or sexual allusions to fertility and fecundity.




Artistically, the Altamira cave painters solved several of the technical problems that plastic representation had to face since its origins in the Palaeolithic.

such were:

• anatomical realism,
• the volume,
• the movement and
• the polychromy.

So we can say that in Franco-Cantabrian cave art (South of France and Spanish Cantabrian Coast) the paintings are polychrome, they do not form scenes but are independent and sometimes superimposed animals. The human figure hardly appears. No movement is represented, the figures are very realistic and each cave shows a certain specialization in a certain species (Altamira bison). The figures are in remote and recondite places. But we can also deduce, in the words of Jose Antonio Lasheras (director of the Altamira National Museum and Research Center) that « That first art is multiple and diverse, complete from its oldest examples, current in techniques and styles, since something of all of them seems being in it, perhaps for all this it excites us and still links us «

Faced with these prodigious bison, full of elegance and strength, the result of enormous mastery and imagination, one wonders if Paleolithic men were, as some think, brutes, rough and savage, or on the contrary they were sensitive, mystical and aesthetes. In this regard, a few years ago we have witnessed a curious discussion in various media about the sex of the alleged sole author of the main bison figures in the cave. It is not important at all, of course, although it is always important to discuss and exchange opinions on the great cultural events of humanity. That is why we also ask you, who do you think he painted in Altamira, a man or a woman?
(Continúe...)

 

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(6 and End)-Altamira, the first great work of art:​

« After Altamira, everything seems decadent »​

(Pablo Picasso)​

And finally, here is a video about Altamira that you won't stop liking:

Altamira, la primera gran obra de arte

«Después de Altamira, todo parece decadente» (Pablo Picasso) En el verano de 1879, Marcelino Sanz de Sautuola, se internó en la cueva de Altamira , situada junto a Santillana del Mar, con su hija d…

juanmuro52.wordpress.com

 

[buzzmobile]

These figures are only 1,000 years old. Petroglyphs pictured are found in Utah in Dinosaur National Monument.
Petroglyph and Pictograph Sites

 

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[Montuno]

Other paintings from different periods and sites, alluding to dog domestication :

 

[Montuno]

@buzzmobile :
These figures are only 1,000 years old. Petroglyphs pictured are found in Utah in Dinosaur National Monument.
Petroglyph and Pictograph Sites

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Pueblos de Oasisamerica; el pueblo Fremont de la cultura Anasazi :​

Fremont People (U.S.A):​

Entre las actuales localidades de Price y Myton de Utah, se encuentra una de las zonas mas ricas en el arte Fremont: el Cañón Nine Mile.

Ejemplo del estilo Fremont, este panel contiene los motivos más frecuentes: figuras antropomorfas trapezoidales, patrones de punto, ovejas y espirales.

Este grupo, elegido como ícono oficial que identifica al cañón en su conjunto, representa una escena de caza.

Al centro de imagenes cotidianas, resalta la representación padre-madre-hijo.

Representación característica antropomorfa: cuerpo trapezoidal, dedos separados, y peinados.

Initially it was considered a branch of the Anasazi culture, a culture that developed to the south; the Fremont peoples would have migrated bringing with them customs, forms of social organization and technology, as suggested by the presence of ceramics very similar to that of Mesa Verde in the Utah region.

stone knife

Currently, the greatest consensus places them as their own culture, where the hunter-gatherers of the western Colorado Plateau and the eastern Great Basin began to evolve into the Fremont culture about 2,000 years ago.

The term "Fremont" is used to describe dispersed groups of hunters and farmers, as diverse as the geographies they inhabited. Some evolved as farmers, others were nomads, and still other groups behaved in between these lifestyles.

There are distinctive elements between the Fremont and the Anasazi:

Singular style of basketry, which incorporates willow, yucca and other native fibers. Sheep and deer leather moccasins, very different from the woven sandals of the Anasazi. Thin, polished gray ceramic. Distinctive rock art; pictographs, petroglyphs and clay figures, representing trapezoidal human figures adorned with necklaces and hairstyles.

The Fremonts incorporated from the Mogollón culture, a maize known as Teosinte (probable ancestor of maize), which is resistant to drought, extreme environments and has a short growing season.

With the incorporation of a kind of corn ( "Fremont Dent" ), the development of agriculture begins.

Around 750 AD C. with favorable climatic conditions, sophisticated agricultural techniques and villages with semi-underground houses; they begin a period of splendor that would culminate around 1250.

The villages were small, unlike the Anasazi which once housed 2,000 people. In agriculture they used flood irrigation for corn, squash and bean plantations, some of the ditches were several kilometers long, and their traces can still be seen.

Between 1,250 and 1,500 AD. C., the culture collapses, the reasons are speculative, apparently two joint factors contributed: the decrease in rainfall, and the invasion of the Ute-Aztec peoples (Shoshone, Paiute and Ute).

Other sources:

Cultura de Fremont LocalizaciónyPersonas

La cultura Fremont o pueblo Fremont es una cultura arqueológica precolombina que recibió su nombre del río Fremont en el estado estadounidense de Utah , donde los sitios de la cultura fueron descubiertos por pueblos indígenas locales como los Navajo y Ute . En la cultura navajo, las pictografías...

hmong.es

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Oasisamérica: características y culturas • Skoool

Conocida por ser una importante área cultural, Oasisamérica abarca el suroeste precolombino. Descubre sus importantes características.

skoool.es

.

Cultura de Fremont - Wikipedia, la enciclopedia libre

es.m.wikipedia.org

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Fremont culture - Wikipedia

en.m.wikipedia.org

 

[Montuno]

(Joking): In the following painting, you see the man running chased by a swarm).

(Seriously): There are those who date the painting back more than a millennium).

 

[Montuno]

National Geographic.
History.
U.S.A.; México; Spain

Themes / Wars
spaniards and comanches, the war in new mexico

Towards the end of the 18th century, after having reached peace agreements with the Pueblo Indians and the Apaches, the Spanish of New Mexico faced the ruthless and warlike Comanches:

English:
Post in thread 'War' https://www.icmag.com/threads/war.18074832/post-18121539

Spanish:

Españoles y comanches, la guerra en Nuevo México

Hacia finales del siglo XVIII, tras haber llegado a acuerdos de paz con los indios pueblo y los apaches, los españoles de Nuevo México se enfrentaron a los implacables y belicosos comanches

historia.nationalgeographic.com.es

 

[El Timbo]

Great stuff! One of my favourite topics - I've been eating caveman style for the past 12 years - does wonders for you!