Stone Age and Art: Why did an ancient people draw on the rocks? What and how to draw a primitive person.

Why primitive people painted animals on which they hunted, in such large quantities? Only with a purely aesthetic purpose, enjoying the process itself? But why did they choose so uncomfortable for creativity, poorly illuminated, often hard-to-reach caves, their remote corridors and passages? Why, after the end of his work, they did not enjoy her by humiliation, but were destroyed - spears and darts in it? Reply to these questions help ethnographic observations for nations, back in the XIX - XX centuries, preserved the primitive way of life.

It is known that Australian aborigines before the start of hunting performed a special rite: painted on the sand figure kangaroo and during the ritual dance stuck their combat spears into the animal. At the same time, they believed that, hitting the animal drawing, and in the animal itself during the hunt. Obviously, I also believed primitive. Here you can bring the words of Karl Marx about fetishism: "A fantasy creates fantasy creates an illusion from a fetishist, as if the" insensible thing "can change its characteristic properties for only to satisfy his whim." A similar illusion was created in primitive participants of the magic ritual, symbolizing the death and murder of an animal. "Finding a fantasy" performers turned out to imitate hunting in the hunt, ritual-magic "killing" animal in the real murder of the beast.

The roots of primitive faith in magic should be sought in the material and social conditions of people's lives. The primitive state of humanity is sometimes depicted full of bliss when people like balovni nature received from it in the form of gifts everything needs for life. But the difficulties of primitive people, about the harsh, sometimes tragic conditions of their life are eloquently talking about the following numbers: almost 50% of Neanderthals did not live up to their twentieth. Crokenonian has an average life expectancy of 20 years. Women and children were in the most difficult situation: 38% of Neanderthals died, without reaching 11 years, almost none of the women lived to 25 years. Peteitrontrops and Synantrophopov had a mortality rate even higher: 68% of Synantrophopov did not reach 14 years.

These data were obtained by scientists when studying bone remains of primitive people. High level Mortality was most often the result of frequent hunger strikes, deadly injuries during the hunting of large animals, which was natural and natural to the undevelopment of the productive primitive forces, poverty and weakness of primitive equipment. People of that era had only the simplest tools of labor made from stone, bones, wood. They were rude and could not provide regular power supplies. The livelihood of the oldest people mined the hunt, fishing, collecting. However, a primitive hunter, despite all his skill and art, often remained without mining, and fisherman without fish: the beast disappeared from the forest, the fish left the river. The vegetable food could be mined only within certain months of the year.

Labor activity of primitive people, all the efforts of our distant ancestors who used to provide themselves and their relatives to the existence, often ended to no avail. This caused them a state of uncertainty in their forces, insecurity in the future. Absence real fundsGuaranteeing reliable and permanent results of production activities, and were the main reasons why the stone-century man addressed the search for irrational means of practical impact on nature. Similar tools And there were magical rituals and rites. So economic undeveloped, weakness primitive mankind, expressed in the practical impotence of a man in front of nature, and was the social background on which faith in magic grew.

Primitive people were convinced that by means of the execution of magical rites, they come into contact with supernatural powersthat might protect them from the elements of nature from all evil forces and creatures to help achieve one or another practical goalwhich they are not able to achieve through real techniques and means. Specific forms of witchcraft were created by each genus, a tribe, a community on their own, the result of which was countless manifold magic rituals and rites. Scientists described and systematized literally thousands of witchcraft rituals and beliefs that have existed of different nations at different times.

Researchers opened cave pictures, called "Vondzhina", in the natives of North-West Australia.

To have a good rain, a good harvest, a lot of livestock. For this, the natives were drawn under the "Vondzhina" what they needed.

Going to search for food, hunting, the people of the primitive community were not confident in success. After all, more than once, even fitted, the beast ran away from them. How to ensure good luck?

The man tried to inspire the animal that it was he waiting for him. He reincarnated into future prey, put on the mask of the beast, hesitated his habits, behavior who knew perfectly.

The hunters were going in a secret place, dressed up, arranged magic dances, ceremonies, "Outstanding" prey and "killing" her. In the drawn contour of the animal flew darts, arrows.

Obviously, without such sacraments, the tribe did not risen to start hunting. Obviously: the whole rite in the smallest details was transferred to the following generation as the most valuable heritage. (3)

As well as the procedure of hunting witchcraft, amosles and talismans, various items, which possess the unusual effects of impact on the worldcapable of bringing a person to good luck and health.

When in the last century, one African sorcerer has discovered a cache with talismans, they counted them about 20 thousand. This kind of museum went to he inheritance, and the old man diligently replenished him.

What was just not there!

A pot with a red clay, in which the rooster feather was stuck, parrot feathers, human hair, various figures. It also stood a small chair and lay the mat, so that the talismans could relax, so to speak, humanly. The sorcerer cared for treasures and then in one, then another - depending on the need - she led mercy and help. For yourself and for others.

Easter Island. This is a tiny landclock, lost in the boundless Pacific Ocean. Such a name gave him Europeans who opened the island on the eve of the Easter holiday. Several centuries, the imagination of the researchers excited the gigantic stone figures of mysterious people, unknown as what fell there.

And in 1955, an expedition headed by the Norwegian scientist and a traveler by Tour Heyerdal went to the distant island.

Tour Heyerdal and his comrades lived on the island whole year. They learned a lot about the life of the natives agreed with the signs and prohibitions that were inherited from the distant ancestors.

Modern inhabitants of the Easter Island did not begin work, without having sacrificed a baked chicken, did not begin to seriously, do not ask the spirits to traditional ceremonies, dances in their honor, prayer singing. At every step of the spell, happy talismans, tips with the spirits of the dead ancestors. Heyerdal learned about the existence of carefully hidden generic caves. He managed to penetrate one of them. Before descending to the cache from his head, strand of hair was cut off - thus, he was considered dedicated to the secret of the cave. The entrance to it "guarded" the ancestor buried there.

The scientist saw a plate with ancient mysterious letters, fantastic features of animals and birds, allegedly possessed special magic power. One of the birth stones portrayed a dog's head with a widespread, dumbfounded mouth and beveled eyes, such wild, that they could rather belong to the wolf or fox. There were also birds, poultry, a flat stone with a relief image of two twisted snakes.

Heyerdal asked, in what the meaning of these stones. The islander showed a snake and said that the double figures had twice as much force.

Meanwhile, the inhabitants of the island were considered Christians

Europeans brought them their religion, her rites, customs, the doctrine of Christ as the only God, from which the whole life of man depends. But the beliefs of distant ancestors, the centuries that exit on this lonely island were closer and clearer the religious commandments of the alien God because of the ocean.

The local priest complained to Tour Heyerdal that his parishioners-natives continue to read their distant ancestors. If the priest knew about the secret caves, where the islanders made ancient religious rituals!

Funny detail: The homework of the priest considered his ancestor ... Whale, thrown on the shore of the bay. All his attempts to prove the stubborn woman that people, like everyone around, created God, did not lead to anything.

"She answered everything to him," Hayerdal tour writes, "that he, albeit a priest, cannot know anything about it, and she heard it from her father." He also told his father, in turn he learned about it from his father, and whether it was not to know that - after all, he himself was the whale! "

We perceive the world otherwise than our distant ancestors. Now students are already primary classes Associve correctly answer questions "Who?" Or "What?", Share objects for animated and inanimate.

Primitive people, distinguished from the animal of the world and even closely related to him, could not be able to spend a clear boundary between animal and inanimate nature. It seemed to them that they were in close relationship with all the world around the world - stones, trees, animals ...

Moreover: people believed that plants and animals were those distant ancestors, which began their own genus.

Giving births and tribes that were engaged in fisheries, the sacred progenitors were fish, marine animals: the islander-household trainer did not accidentally named the Father of China, the biggest marine animal. The hunters chose a kangaroo, a bear, gatherers of root, berries and nuts were honored by the sacred plants beneficial.

At the indigenous people of Australia, scientists have discovered up to 700 ancestors, 56 could be attributed to subjects and phenomena of nature, most of the animals and plants. People called themselves their names, considered the sacred ancestors to the creators of the world, the creators of existing customs, orders, and later - the creators and custodians of public morality.

What was the worship of plants and animals? (In science they are called totems, and the associated complex of beliefs and rituals - totemism.)

On the one hand, their strictly setting was forbidden to destroy and eat. They were under special protection, and disrespect for them often became the cause of strife, hostility between different tribes.

On the other hand, in a certain time The year "ancestors" was specially killed. And the murder and eating of the sacred animal took place on a special, carefully developed magical ceremonial. People wanted to take on the extraordinary properties of a powerful ancestor. They were convinced that in this way to the Union with him. (3)

The masterpieces of ancient rock painting are amazed not only far from the art of people, but also mastty artists. Their creators have long been sunk in the darkness of thousands of years, but their work continue to live, admiring distant descendants. Neither the scarce palette of paints nor the lack of brushes nor bad illumination prevented primitive artists beautifully and realistically reflect the world around them.

Self-expression or ancient magic?

The first drawings of primitive artists, I made up scientists, were discovered in Spain in the second half of the XIX century. These drawings were not so primitive as it would be expected. It turned out that primitive artists painted no worse than many representatives modern art. After Spain ancient fashionable painting Detected in other European countries, and then almost on all continents, except Antarctica. Paleolithic cave painting mainly devoted to animals. With development primitive communities In the mesolite and neolithic in the plots of drawings, in addition to animals, the images of people, their interaction with each other and animals began to be met. An images of certain religious rites appeared, and the UFologists differ in a number of drawings even aliens and flying plates.

Some drawings of cave, painting are made in one color, when creating others, several colors were used. It should be noted that primitive artists did not have a rich palette, they used only natural dyes. Kaolin gave them white color; Ossociation - red or yellow; Manganese - black. They also used hematite, mergel, quartz, soot, charcoal, plants and blood of animals. To protect the pattern from erosion flowing along the walls with water in the paint, a wood resin was added or an animal fat. Thanks to such tricks, cave painting for the millennium survived its creators.

When creating drawings, paints were applied with fingers, later, hollow tubes from birds of birds and some similarities of homemade brushes began to be used to apply them. It happened, the contour of the drawing to give it a clarity and expressiveness of prehistoric artists scraped or knocked out. To create the effect of volume, the drawings were often applied to the protrusions of the walls that were chosen with great skill. Because of the poor light or its full lack of masterpieces cave painting Created under the light of fires or torches.

Why did the ancient artists spend so much time for creativity? We can no longer ask about it, but scientists put forward their assumptions about this. For example, Henri Brelie saw in rock paintings Part of the rituals of "Hunting Magic". Ancient artists painted the herd of bison pierced by the spears of animals, thus attracting good luck on the hunt. According to other researchers, artists simply reflected the world around, expressing their creative start.

The main artists were women and children?!

When the first rock paintings were discovered, no one doubted that they were created by men. Primitive woman For a long time, it was considered a clogged being without a shadow of intelligence, capable only to give birth and draw the children, maintain fire and extract the skins. However, it was worth the scientist in detail to study the prints of the palms left by the ancient artists, as the views changed. In publication scientific journal National Geographic American researchers directly suggest that the ancient rock paintings were performed by women. Such a conclusion was made on the basis of the analysis of the prints of palms found on the walls in the caves next to the ancient rock paintings. It turned out that the length of the phalange and the proportions of the fingers correspond to the female palm. It turns out that the authors of about 75% of discovered rocking drawings were women. It was previously established that children were also involved in art creativity in the caves.

It turns out that the "team", consisting mainly of women, partly from children and men, and was created masterpieces of cave painting. Among such masterpieces drawings from the cave background de Gom in Dordon. In this cave, numerous images of mammoths, bison, wild horses, deer and other animals have been discovered.

It is curious that they are fulfilled in various manners, and the oldest linear drawingsmade of black and red paint. There are amazing polychrome compositions created at a later time. It is worth remembering about the famous Lyasco Cave, open by French schoolchildren in September 1940 near the town of Montignac. On the walls of the cave, hundreds of yellow, red, brown, performed by ocra, soot and mergel, animal images, deer, goats, bulls, bison, horses, rhinos were turned out to be on the walls of the cave. They were all fulfilled with such skill that some even had an assumption of a grand draw, arranged modern artists. However, there was no question of anything about the drawing, all the drawings were genuine and very ancient. Soon the cave Lyasco called " Sicstinskaya Kapella Primitive painting. "

One of the masterpieces of cave painting was discovered relatively recently, in 1995, in the sew cave in France. Ancient artist with the help of ocher, hematite and wood coal Pictured on its walls of mammoths, bison, bison, horses, deer, cave lions, bears, wild rams, as well as hyena, panther and owls. The most interesting thing is that these drawings turned out to be the most ancient of those known - they are 31 thousand years old. It is surprising that at the same time they are made with astounding skill. Specialist in rock painting French scientist Jean Clott said: "People who drew it were great artists."

And now it's time to recall the famous cave Altamira in Spain, with which the history of the study of ancient cave painting began.

Picasso was admired by the masterpieces of Altamira

Visiting the cave of Altamira and examined her rock painting, famous artist Pablo Picasso exclaimed: "After Altamira, all the decline! Neither of modern artists I could not write a similar! " He was admired by the expression of drawings, their composition, selection of paints, a subtle taste of an ancient painter, knowledge of proportions and features of animal movement. To Altamira, no one even suspected that the people of the Stone Age were able to create the most real masterpieces of painting. It was in this cave that the very first drawings of the late Paleolithic times (35-10 thousand BC) were discovered (35-10 thousand BC).

This cave, located 30 km from the city of Santander (Cantabria), in 1868 she accidentally discovered a shepherd. True, nothing special, except bones and animal horns, he did not yet find. In 1875, the cave first visited the Count de Savtol, he managed to detect only the stone tools of the Paleolithic man, but there was nothing sensational in this discovery. In 1879, the Count decided to inspect the cave once again, took a 6-year-old daughter Maria. It was she who showing his finger into the cave ceiling, suddenly shouted: "Bulls, bulls!" Her father laughed, but still raised his eyes to the ceiling and froze from amazement: there were huge colorful figures of bison. Some of them, an ancient artist depicted on the spot, others in dynamics - with inclined horns rushing to the enemy. The graph began to carefully inspect the ceiling and the walls of the cave, and he managed to detect a number of drawings made by black, brown and red paints.

Animal drawings were made with high skill and great realism. Savtola published a message about his find, but scientific world I met him with an obvious distrust. It ended in that the drawings of the Altair cave were recognized by fake and for a while they forgot about them. The opening of Savtoole was remembered in 1895, when the French archaeologist Emil Rivière found the drawings of a primitive person on the walls of the La Mut cave in Dordon. After this find, scientists have begun a thorough examination of walls and ceilings of all the caves known for that period. In dozens of caves in Spain and France managed to detect rock painting.

Some drawings hid the stalagmites, others were covered with limestone crust, but it was clear that they were very ancient, and there could be no talk about any fake. After that, scientists paid close attention to the 270-meter cave of Altamira and its unique drawings. Researchers came to the conclusion that their age is about 20 thousand years. In 1902, alas, after the death of the recorder of the Count de Savtole, the rock painting Altamira was recognized as genuine. The cave began to visit numerous tourists, therefore, due to the violation of the microclimate, the ancient drawings began to collapse. Altamira had to close to visit, only scientists began to start at a limited time. Next to the cave organized the museum complex, in 2001 they opened precise copy Panel Big Plafon, since then tourists, without breaking the cave, can see what tens of millennia are hidden in it.

In the previous article we talked about how you can play with a child in prehistoric times and introduce it to life and life of primitive people. And today we will pay attention to the art of those years and we will try to act as an artist.

Skilled artists

Tell your child a story: "Once one Spanish archaeologist Marcelino de Sautola explored an ancient cave. With him was his little daughter Maria. Somehow the girl decided to look at the departure of the cave, and, having taught the father, shouted: "there is a bull! Bull!" Father began to calm down her daughter: "Where does the bulls come here?"

Ask the child, could any animals be in the cave? Come up together several options. Then continue the story: "Minestino went deep into the cave and froze in amazement. No, there was not one bull there! And the whole flock! Bison stood, lay, beat hoof. And they were all drawn on the wall of the cave, each one and a half or two meters, and so naturally and realistically, they could really be confused with alive. "

Consider the image of the bridges drawn on the wall of the cave.

Scientists for a long time I could not believe that these are creations created at the dawn of mankind. At one time it was even believed that this is a joke of some modern artist.
Show your young "archaeologist" a few more cave drawings.

Carefully examine the pictures and ask the question: What unites the drawings of primitive people, what do they have in common? True, they all depict animals. Why drew them ancient man? Not plants or landscapes. Remind your "discoverer" about games when you get acquainted with life in prehistoric times. And your child guess that all the vital activity of primitive people was associated with animals, which provided their food, clothes, the skin (on the slags of the mammoth bones).

Pay attention to the child to the art and skill with which drawings are made. Appearance, parts of the body, poses of animals - the observation helped correctly all this. Why did primitive people paid so much attention to the details? Without it, the hunt would not be possible.

Unprecedented prehistoric animals

Show the child illustration of ancient animals, compare them with modern.

Platibelodon
Pakiqet
PantioLambda
Arsynoteries
Titanidees.
Sodelont
Forakos.

Amazing creatures! Read more about them can be found on the site "World of Animals". Say the names of each of them, for sure, they will not leave the young "scientist" indifferent. The child will have to do and come up with his own similar sophisticated names, for this, draw an imaginary prehistoric beast.

Spend another game on imagination and fantasy: Pay attention to the young researcher on the features of the appearance of animals and come up with the "talking" names for which you can easily guess who is who. For example, look for among all the presented instances of long-tailed polymatics.

Magic rituals

Scientists have found that the animals depicted in the caves were often with dents and scratches from stones and copies. Why? Let the child show their mental and creative skills And make assumptions.

Ancient people believed that the drawn animals were alive, they felt pain, fear, born and died. Usually, primitive artists painted them before the hunt and played the scenes from it: how they pursue prey, track it, surround and scored by stones and spears. They believed that if the animal was drawn, then the real hunt would be successful. Often, people invested and magical meaning in these rituals that of real life Help them to train their body, develop consistency of actions.

Interestingly, fish are not depicted on rock paintings, although they were part of the human diet of the time. Reggerer let your explorer come up with their versions of the answer. Remind the child about animal image target. Of course, training, rehearsal of real hunt! And the fish was caught relatively simple, fishing did not require magical rituals.

Primitive paints

Remind the child that there were no modern brushes, no paints in the primitive era. What do prehistoric people draw whole herds of bulls? What kind natural materials Could able to paint and leave a color track? Perhaps in the life of your young "archaeologist" there is already an experience in acquaintance with clay, which is dirty clothes and hands. For example, when on the shore he mined construction material With great depth. Or the other "paint", which appears after sating a fire on a picnic in the forest - coal. Or traces on the fingers, tongue, teeth from the honeysuckle. All these are examples of natural paint.

Suggest a small researcher to independently guess, with the help of which primitive people could draw, and put several items in front of him: Feltolsters (or pencils, paints), toys (or something, not able to paint), and coal, chalk, colored clay, berries .
In addition, prehistoric people used colored minerals, shredding them and mixing with fat animals. You can mix fat-soluble dyes with sunflower or cream oil with a child.

Brushes in primitive times

Now offer the child to "invent" an ancient brush. Listen to all ideas, including the option to draw your finger, this is one of the correct answers. Then offer to make a prehistoric brush from the proposed items:

long hollow chicken bone with cropped ends (you can take from broth);
a bunch of wool (pets linen);
A piece of moss (if you find).

Ancient people from the bones made tubes and the moss was fixed or animal wool, and through the other filled its paint. Here is a brush and ready for use. Sometimes they painted just a moss or piece of skins.

At home, it is permissible to replace moss with a piece of cotton wool. Explain the baby that this is also a plant, cotton. In the extreme case, you can do and cotton stick. A homemade brush to fill beet juice and proceed to creativity.

Draw a primitive

Find a large cobblestone on a walk and use it as a canvas. If the weather does not allow, then in the name of the good goal, deliver it to the house little artist. Mountain locality residents can like no other to feel themselves with ancient creators and draw in the caves themselves. If it is not possible to get suitable stone, then under the table vertically put a large box and imagine yourself together with the child in a homemade cave.

Drawing methods: just with fingers, moss (or cotton), with a homemade brush (from a hollow bone), coal, color clay, berries, decoction of onion husks, dandelion juice or other strongly pigmented vegetables and fruits. And also modern, but, nevertheless, the natural dye is a thick solution of coffee.

What to draw? Animal that is most liked in your child. Or come up with your beast of the prehistoric era, give him a name, tell me how he lives, what is how to extract food. His appearance And the lifestyle is inextricably linked. If animal has powerful fangs, then he can not be a herbivore. But if he has a long neck that helps to reach foliage high trees, then he is just a herbivore.

What to do if the child does not get to pass all the details of animals exactly like primitive artists. Leave arbitrary prints, stains, blots, paint your eyes and ears - and your unprecedented prehistoric beast is ready. Color points are his traces. Bucket prints with moss - plants with which it eats or in which hides from primitive hunters.

It's time to play ancient hunters! Practice in agility and accuracy using instead of stones of tangle thread or crumpled paper.

After such ritual actions, primitive people always asked for forgiveness from drawn animals, because they considered them alive. Apologize and you with a child in front of your "rude" beast.

Like this, playing, you will get acquainted with a child with another edge the life of prehistoric people and get great pleasure, creating masterpieces in the style of primitive times.
The following articles are waiting for pictograms, caves of hands and embossed images.

Oksana Yaremchuk, Pedagogue additional education, psychologist

1. How cave painting was found.

In the past, scientists did not suspect that among prehistoric people there were real artists who knew how to create colorful drawings. Over 130 years ago, such pictures opened modern society One archaeologist from Spain. In the north of Spain, he spent excavations of a cave called Alpamira. One day he took his little daughter on the excavation. While the father was digging in the ground, his daughter fell into the deepening of a low cave and suddenly shouted "Dad, see, drawn bulls!". When the father went to the cave, he saw the images of Bizonov on her ceiling, as if frozen in bizarre poses on the run. Unknown prehistoric artists used red, black and brown paint.And they could achieve a surprisingly alive and surround picture. Following Altamira, the opening of other ancient caves with works of primitive art went.

Ancient artists learned to transfer not only the appearance, but also the nature of those animals on which the hunt was led. Deer depicted as sensitive and alerted, horses rapid and fast running, mammoths are slow and heavy

2. Riddles of the oldest drawings.

On the wall of one of the caves, such a drawing was found. The hunter from the head of the bird falls overnight. Bizon, whom the sharp spear penetrated, put the horns, a huge rhino go away. But what do these drawings mean, we are not yet known.

Scientists are known and other riddles, they are trying to figure out why prehistoric artists painted in depth dark caveswhere didn't get sunlight And for what they painted the bleeding animals.

This conclusion comes to some conclusions.

3. The man tried to "shake" the beast.

Primitive people were afraid that in the forests and on the plains, the animals were disappeared, on which they hunted, and fish will disappear in the water bodies. How to prevent this? Is it possible to affect animals? Most likely, some of them came to mind the idea that there may be a connection between animals and his image. If you depict these animals in the depth of the cave, they will be enchanted and will not be able to leave their edges. And if you draw an animal, such as a bear or rhino, wounded, it will be easier to kill it on the hunt.

To try to solve the appointment of ancient cave painting, scientists decided to explore the tribes that are engaged in collecting and primitive hunt. One of these tribes in Australia pretended to hunt magic ritual, hit by spears painted on the sand animal. So B. primitive society Began to emerge Vera in witchcraft, soul and magical connections with the outside world.