Subject Areas |
Art and Culture
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Anthropology |
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Archaeology |
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Visual Arts |
History and Social Studies
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World History - Ancient World |
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World History - Europe |
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Time Required |
| Lesson 1: One class period
Lesson 2: One class period
Lesson 3: One class period
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Skills |
| Visual discrimination and interpretation
Verbal, written, and artistic expression
Logical reasoning |
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Additional Data |
| Date Created: 06/05/02 |
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Date Posted |
| 6/5/2002 |
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Cave Art: Discovering Prehistoric Humans through Pictures
Introduction
In this lesson, students travel to the past to explore how people in earlier times used art as a way to record
stories and communicate ideas. By studying paintings from
the Cave of Lascaux and other caves in France, students
discover that pictures are more than pretty colors and
representations of things we recognize: they are also
a way of communicating beliefs and ideas. In many cases,
this is what gives us clues today about what happened
long ago, especially when there are no written records
left behind.
This lesson gives students the opportunity to understand
and appreciate the power of art to tell stories, communicate
ideas, and promote understanding of the world around
us. In this lesson, students learn about images created
by people in pre-history and the stories those pictures
tell -- both for the people who created them and for
us today as we try to understand what life was like
many, many years ago.
Learning Objectives
After completing this lesson,
students will be able to:
- verbally demonstrate an understanding
of how paintings and drawings help convey significant
ideas and events and how people today understand the
past from putting together stories and history from
these images.
- Explain how pictures function
as symbols, recognizing the way in which the relationship
between pictures and words allows images to convey
meaning.
- understand how to "read" a
picture and put together a series of images in a way
similar to that of putting together words to form
a story and gain knowledge about the past.
Guiding Questions:
How do people express ideas through art? What can we learn
about people who lived long ago by looking at a picture?
Why do people use images to tell stories and to communicate?
What did people use to record important events in their
lives or history long ago? How has art been used throughout
history to tell stories or to show us what people in other
times and places considered important?
Preparing to Teach this Lesson
This lesson requires you to access Web pages through
EDSITEment-reviewed Web sites. You may share these pages
with your students at individual computer stations,
assign small groups to share several computers, display
computer-projected images to the whole class, or print
out the pages and distribute copies to students.
The following EDSITEment-reviewed Web sites, which are
all featured in this lesson, contain not only specific
information about the featured caves in France, but
a range of helpful background information about prehistoric
humans and their art:
For background information on a variety of archaeological
topics, you might want to visit the EDSITEment-reviewed
resource ArchNet.
You can type a topic in the Search field on the home
page or browse the Museum links, which contain color-coded
identifiers for Old World Archaeology.
For further background information on prehistory and
archaeology, you might also want to visit Emuseum
of Minnesota State University Mankato, accessible
through Internet Public
Library. From the home page, click on sections titled
"Prehistory" and "Archaeology" on
the right-side menu.
Also, the following print resources can provide background
information as well as detailed descriptions of the
prehistoric art of the caves:
The Cave of Lascaux: The Final Photographs by
Mario Ruspoli. Harry N. Abrams, 1987.
Dawn of Art: The Chauvet Cave: The Oldest Known
Paintings in the World by Jean-Marie Chauvet,
Eliette Brunel Deschamps, Christian Hillaire, &
Paul G. Bahn. Harry N. Abrams, 1996.
The Shamans of Prehistory: Trance and Magic in the
Painted Caves by Jean Clottes, David Lewis-Williams.
Harry N. Abrams, 1998.
Suggested Activities
Lesson 1: Introduction
to the Era of Cave Painting
Lesson 2: Explore
the Cave of Lascaux
Lesson 3: How
Did the Flintstones Really Live?
Extending the Lesson
Lesson
1 Introduction to the Era of Cave Painting
Begin by asking students to
think about where they have seen pictures that communicate
specific information to people, such as directions.
Guide the discussion to include international symbols
frequently seen, such as: no smoking, handicapped,
man, woman, no parking, airport, etc. Ask students
to think about why these pictures work well (e.g., people
who can't read the language can still understand what
is being communicated). You can also invite students
to think about how they might tell someone who isn't
here about something important, if the student can't
write and the person they want to communicate with doesn't
have a telephone or email. What if the student was moving
to another area, and wanted to leave behind information
about his or her house and neighborhood for a family
moving into the house who didn't speak English? How
can you give information or tell a story without using
words? What story might a picture tell? After students
have the opportunity to talk about how to communicate
when written and spoken language are unavailable, discuss
how every picture tells us something, and that some
pictures' meanings are more obvious than others.
Ask students what they know about or have heard about
cave people: What do they know about the life of these
people? When and where did they live? What animals lived
when the cave people lived? What did cave people use
animals for? What tools did they have? Why do we call
them cave people?
How are their lives similar to and different from our
lives today? Where do we get our information about the
cave people? You can create and show students a timeline
of the Paleolithic era, during which the Lascaux cave
paintings were made, by using the information on Timelines
of History, 1
Million BC - 3300BC, available through the EDSITEment-reviewed
resource Internet Public
Library. Select the dates relevant to the cave paintings
and the people who created them, for example:
- 250-100,000 The period of the Lower Paleolithic.
(NG, Oct. 1988, p. 447)
- 100k-35,000 This is the Middle Paleolithic.
- 35k-25,000 BP In Australia Aboriginal rock paintings
were made as far back as this time.
(SFEC, 2/28/99, p.T4)
- 35k-10,000 The Upper Paleolithic Period. There was
considerable variation in the types of tools that
were used and according to prehistorian J.D. Clark,
a new self-awareness or concern for matters that had
no relation to fulfilling biological needs. This is
shown by the burial of the dead together with food
and weapons.
(NG, Oct. 1988, p. 447)(Enc. of Africa, 1976, p.165)
- 33k-9,000 BC Europe's Upper Paleolithic age.
- c30,400 BC Radiocarbon date for the Cave paintings
at Chauvet, France. The first period of cave art is
called Aurignacian.
(NH, 7/96, p.18,70)
- 28,000 BC Homo sapiens (modern). Skull of adult
male found by French workmen (L. Lartet) at Cro-Magnon,
France in 1868.
(NG, Nov. 1985, p. 573)
- 28,000 BC The Cussac cave in France was found in
2000 to contain drawings from this time. Bones of
5 people from the Neolithic era were also found.
(SFC, 7/5/01, p.A8)
- 15,000 BC The cave art of Paleolithic man of Lascaux,
France dates to this time. It contains some 600 paintings,
1,500 engravings, and innumerable mysterious dots
and geometric figures.
(NG, Oct. 1988, p.434,485)
- 10,000 BC The Paleolithic period comes to a close.
- 10,000-3500 BC The Neolithic or New Stone Age.
(WH, 1994, p.19)
- 9,600 Radiocarbon date for the cave paintings at
Le Portal, France. The last period of cave art is
called Magdalenian.
(NH, 7/96, p.18)
Lesson
2 Explore the Cave of Lascaux
Invite students to explore the
cave paintings at the EDSITEment-reviewed resource Cave
of Lascaux.
In the lesson, your students
will take a virtual tour of the Cave of Lascaux, the
site of some of the earliest known art recorded by humans.
(This tour and information cited below are all available
on the EDSITEment-reviewed Cave of Lascaux Web site.)
Discovered in 1940 by four teenagers on an excursion
into the French hillside, the cave is a series of spaces
which displays vast amounts of imagery painted by Paleolithic
(Stone Age) humans. There are more than 600 animals
depicted in Lascaux; of these the horse is the most
predominant, followed by bison, ibex, aurochs (an extinct
type of ox), stags, mammoths, reindeer, bears, felines,
rhinoceros, and a few birds and fish. These animals
represent the types of fauna that was known to Paleolithic
humans. In addition to the animal figures there are
signs depicted (which are associated with the animals),
and one lone human figure, drawn with animal characteristics
(the man's head resembles a bird's). These images give
us a glimpse into the minds and lives of early humans
of prehistory.
The area in southwestern France where the Cave
of Lascaux is located and the slopes of the Pyrenees
Mountains are known for their many Paleolithic caves.
These rock shelters and natural limestone caverns provide
an ideal environment for preserving the prehistoric
art. Of the more than 130 caves in the area, the Cave
of Lascaux is the most famous -- but all the caves stand
testament to the fact that that early humans had complete
mastery of the artistic elements we know today: engraving,
sculpture, painting, and drawing.
Today, the caves are not open
to the public; they were closed in 1963 after it was
determined that carbon dioxide from visitors' breath
was causing the artwork to deteriorate. But the marvelous
art of the caves can still be enjoyed in The Cave at
Lascaux Web site.
Explain that entering the Web site captures the experience
of the French students who were a few years older than
your students are now when they discovered the cave
in 1940. With this Web site from the French Ministry
of Culture, your students can feel the same thrill of
discovery the four French teenagers felt. Point out
that the cave and its paintings had existed for 17,000
years, and that it was remarkable to find them in such
excellent condition.
As a class or at individual computer stations, students
can take the virtual tour of the cave and identify animals
they discover. Record their findings and other images
they note or observations regarding cave painting. For
more background on the Caves of Lascaux,
click the "Discover" and "Learn"
buttons on the main page.
Prompt a discussion by asking the class what they see
in the various pictures. After they respond, point out
that these paintings show bison, deer, and other animals
that the cave people were familiar with in their everyday
lives. Tell them that these images give us a peek into
what life was like for people thousands of years ago.
Have students think about why the cave people made these
paintings. Consider the following questions:
- What were the cave artists trying to say?
- Why do you think that there were so many animals
and not as many people in the paintings?
- What can the paintings tell us about other aspects
of the life of cave dwellers or Paleolithic people?
- How did they make these pictures if there were no
stores to buy paint and brushes or tools for carving?
- What colors are prominent in the paintings, and
what natural sources might provide these pigments
if they didn't have crayons or markers?
Record answers and then guide students in checking
the Web site under the sections title "Techniques,"
"Archeological Artefacts," and "Dating
Methods" and explain to students what the text
says.
Ask students about other challenges cave people might
have encountered in painting on cave walls and ceilings.
Record their answers and add elements they may leave
out: pitch-black darkness, irregular surface of the
rocky walls, steepness and height, adherence of the
pigment to the surface, etc. You might remind students
of what happens when they draw with chalk on the sidewalk.
Elicit speculation about how the Paleolithic people
overcame some of these challenges. If there were no
electricity, flashlights, or matches, what did they
use for lighting? What would the objects for lighting
look like? Instruct them to look at the lamps and other
tools on the site.
For reading students, print out or direct them to the
online games and activities on the Cave
of Lascaux site for a useful assessment of what
they learned.
Lesson
3 How Did the Flintstones Really Live?
To give your students a broader understanding of cave
paintings and Paleolithic humans, students can explore
other caves in France and compare their findings from
several caves. They can then describe what is common
to all the cave art they saw, and note some of the unique
aspects of art in different caves.
The Cosquer Cave
This Web site describes the Cosquer Cave located at
Cape Morgiou, near Marseilles on the Mediterranean Sea.
The unique feature of this cave is that it contains
several dozen works painted and engraved between 27,000
and 19,000 years ago. It is decorated with a variety
of land animals, but also with seals and auks, fifty-five
hand stencils, and numerous digital markings, dozens
of geometric symbols, as well as the extraordinary representation
of a "slain man." Like the Cave at Lascaux,
the Cosquer Cave is closed to the general public in
order to keep it protected, but a virtual tour of the
cave is available at this Web site.
For a general overview, you can check out the following
features:
Map
of coastline of France
Overview
of Cosquer Cave
Diagram
of cave with red dots that contain hyperlinked images
to the cave's contents
Prehistoric
handprints
The Cosquer Cave tells us a bit more about human activities
during the Paleolithic period. Students should be delighted
to see stencils and positive and negative impressions
of human hands similar to ones they have made as art
projects for parents. Point out that some fingers are
shortened or missing. Ask students what they think the
significance of this evidence is. (Scholars speculate
that it could indicate deliberate [ritual] or accidental
mutilation, or perhaps a form of coded communication,
similar to sign language for hunting rituals or instructions,
according to information on the Web site.)
The
Cave of Chauvet-Pont-d'Arc
This cave Web site has general background information
on the evidence for Aurignacian peoples found in Germany,
Austria, France, Spain, and Slovakia. Click on "Time
and Space," "Archaeological Context,"
and, for climate and environmental conditions, click
on "Geographic Context." According to the
information found on the Web site, this archaeological
site is a particularly important find for the Upper
Paleolithic period because the cave was found in the
Ardeche region of France, not the area generally associated
with a proliferation of cave art sites. Not only are
there animals here rarely depicted in cave art-for example,
lions-but also the dynamic and sophisticated quality
of their representation is extraordinary.
Student Activity Worksheet K-2
Teachers: Customize the attached worksheet [link to
activity work sheet outlined below] by linking it to
cave images that you've discovered in the cave Web sites
above. Working with groups of students, tell them that
they are going on an exploration and encourage them
to report their findings in the spaces below next to
each question.
[Note: You may want to suggest several specific good
images to use, and provide the actual links for the
Chinese Horses, Reindeer, the man with the bird-like
head all from Lascaux.]
[Note: The worksheet below could be designed as a page
from a journal, and the writing spaces next to each
question should be spaced out as the lines in composition
paper. Entries should be able to be typed in next to
each question, and then printed out (along with the
picture).]
http://www.culture.gouv.fr/culture/arcnat/lascaux/en/index.html.
Click to find a secret place (Teacher may add links
to the other caves mentioned and assign groups to explore
each cave and report on their findings using this worksheet.)
- Where do you think you are?
- What do you see?
(Add Links for animals)
- What kinds of animals can you see?
- What colors do you see?
- Who do you think made these pictures?
- Why?
- What do these pictures tell us about who created
them?
Extending the Lesson
- Invite students to create pictures, paintings, collages,
etc. that show something about life in the Paleolithic
period using the kinds of images and techniques used
by the cave artists. When everyone is finished making
their pictures, put the images together in a book
or exhibit for other students, now and in the future,
to look at. The teacher can guide students in arranging
the book or exhibit and labeling objects so that the
project reflects what the class has learned.
- As a reading extension, you might also want to obtain
a copy of the following picture book, about a little
girl who becomes a cave artist: First Painter by Kathryn
Lasky, illustrated by Rocco Baviera (DK Publishing,
2000).
- For a related type of prehistoric art originating
from different time periods and parts of the world,
introduce your class to Rock Art. Depending on your
location within the U.S., you can relate the cave
paintings to the more recent rock painting in your
school's geographic region. The EDSITEment-reviewed
resource ArchNet
includes a section on Rock
Art that contains links to several on the topic
of prehistoric art around the world, including: Contemporary
Approaches to World Rock Art, EuRA (European Rock
Art), and the Ancient World Web. For general introductions
to the archaeology of rock and cave paining, see "What
is Rock Art?" from Arizona State University, Deer Valley Rock Art Center.
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