Every suggested meaning of prehistoric art is always either spiritual, proto-scientific, or socially meaningful.
How do we know they weren’t just some random graffitis from random people back then, similar to the tons of shitty wall-arts we see in our cities?
I guess we find them in isolated caves because that’s the only ones that were able to “survive” this long.
In: Culture
Speaking about the cave drawings in southern France and northern Spain:
Some of the art is extremely well-formed, like the ones in Lascaux. Those weren’t haphazardly drawn—there was training and practice. We also see stylistic differences by area and time, meaning there was communication about the art and learning involved—a spread of communication. The art also features specific themes, indicating subject matter wasn’t random. Dick and pussy drawings can be found at these sites, too. Interestingly, the earliest drawings are the most realistic when pornographic. As time goes on, the most recent images (still over 10,000 years old) are the most abstract and stylized, giving us insight into the artists’ mindset when drawing. A lot of stuff might be more casual—like a popular subject was handprints. Putting dye on the hand then pressing the hand onto the cave wall, or putting the hand on the cave wall and then blowing the dye onto the wall around the hand so we get a negative print.
But one thing that’s important to remember is that there was a lot of labor involved in creating these drawings, so they couldn’t have been done casually or haphazardly. While it’s easy to pick up a can of spray paint today, it was a laborious and skilled process to create the white, black, yellow, and brown shades of color used by the artists. There was experimentation to create the colors. grinding, mixing, and then transportation of all of the colors to the spot where the drawings were made
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