The rock art is everyone Prehistoric drawing or artistic expression that are imprinted on rocks and caves, since the man of this time embodied his art there and developed a large part of his life in these caves to take refuge from predators and inclement weather. By case is that their artistic expressions are basically found in these places.
Artistic expression carried out by prehistoric human beings, on stones, in caves and caverns
This artistic manifestation is considered one of the oldest on record, since there are testimonies that actually go back very far in time, 40 thousand years, that is, after the last ice age.
The first artistic expressions of which there is a record were made in stones and for example, those characterized by the use of this support have been called rock.
The concept comes from the Latin language where rupes refers to stone. Any artistic creation that is made on stone will be called rock art.
In any case, it should be noted that although cave painting is a primitive artistic expression, as we have just pointed out, it can also be found and very present by the way, in historical times after those mentioned and in almost all parts of the planet earth. , although the most prominent were carried out in Spain and France.
Historical records and most representative cases
But turning the hands of the clock further back in time we will say that rock art extended during three recognized periods in the history of human beings: the Paleolithic, the Mesolithic and the Neolithic. The first one that goes from approximately two million before our era and up to 10,000 BC; the next one runs between 10,000 and 7,000 B.C. and finally the Neolithic one that includes the remaining three thousand years that continue to our time.
In these times, the human being was nomadic, that is, he lived in different places, moved frequently and found it difficult to settle in one place, sedentary lifestyle is more typical of the human being of our era.
Meanwhile, human beings depended on hunting and gathering food as they passed for their subsistence.
In the Mesolithic this begins to change ...
Among the oldest expressions of rock art is Paintings in the Altamira Cave, in Santallina del Mar, Cantabria, Spain.
Regarding the magnificent conservation that many of these artistic pieces present, even despite the erosion, it should be mentioned that it is precisely because of the support on which they have been painted that they have been painted over time.
Meanwhile, the existence of these fabulous creations clearly shows that since time immemorial the human being was involved and committed to art.
Now, with regard to motivation, we find that in some cases cave paintings have a strong magical-religious charge, being used for the sole reason of being the prelude to a successful hunt. When it comes to this type of situation, it is common for them to be found in the most remote and hidden areas of the cavern or cave, on the other hand, when the artistic manifestations are arranged in view of all it is believed that it is the consequence of the simple adoption of art as one more activity within the daily life of those times.
In France, more precisely in the Lascaux cave, and in the figure of the Venus of Willendorf, which is presumed to date from 20,000 BC. It is where this that we mentioned above lines is best expressed and immortalized, since in the first case of the cave there are representations painted in charcoal and pigments of figures of bulls, bison and human beings having hunting elements, a fact that is interpreted as a faithful account of the daily life of the man of those times, and the Venus reveals an image of a woman with large hips and breasts that is supposed to symbolize the fertility of the female.
