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Earliest upright humans ~
4.4 million years ago

First evidence of stone tools ~
2 million years ago

Homo Sapiens Sapiens (us) ~
120,000 - 100,000 years ago

PALEOLITHIC OR STONE AGE

CAVE ART

SPECIAL MEANING

• People return over generations
• Not living quarters
• Artifacts suggest gatherings
• Initiation rites? Nursery school?
• Shamanistic?

SUBJECT: ANIMALS

• Wooly Rhino -Ibex
• Wild horses -Bison
• Mammoth -Bear
• Panther -Owl
• Deer -Auroch

SUBJECT: PEOPLE

• Occasional stick figures
• Many handprints
• Also, geometric patterns ...
• Ex. Grids, circles, dots, fluting

TECHNIQUE

• Done w/ Red Ochre
• Some in charcoal ... Dating
• Remnants of stone lamps
• Small holes for scaffolding?
• Natural features of wall used

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EL CASTILLO CAVE

EL CASTILLO

• 40,000 years ago (1903)
• Oldest known cave paintings
• Oldest art is a blown red disk
• Also has handprints & animals
• Homo Sapiens vs. Neanderthal?

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CHAUVET CAVE

CHAUVET CAVE

• Discovered in 1994
• 30,000 years old
• Previously thought to be earliest

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LASCAUX CAVE

LASCAUX CAVE

• 17,000 -15,000 years ago
• Best known of Paleolithic Era
• Discovered in 1940 by teens
• Replica Lascaux II created
• "Hall of the Bulls"

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ALTAMIRA CAVE

ALTAMIRA CAVE

• Years ago
• 1st discovered in 1879
• Originally thought a hoax

OTHER CAVES

ROUFFIGNAC

PECH MERLE CAVE

What might have been the purpose of cave paintings?

What interpretation(s) seem the best? Worst?

What is the problem w/ interpreting artifacts from the Paleolithic Age?