Cave art

The discovery of prehistoric cave paintings in the nineteenth century led to the shocking realisation that humans have been creating art for over 30,000 years. Episode two reveals how the very first pictures were created, and how images may have triggered the greatest change in human history.

To discover the first two dimensional paintings we need to look at the art created in caves such as Altamira, Chauvet and Lascaux; these were created roughly 35,000 years, the time Archeologists identify with a ‘creative explosion’.

The first of these cave paintings were discovered in Altemira by Marcelino Sanz de Sautuola, and his 8yr old daughter Maria, in 1879. The paintings they discovered on the walls of the caves were of animals such as aurochs, a long extinct relative of the bison. As these matched similar stone-age images he had seen, Sautuola concluded they were prehistoric. When the caves were opened to the public, however, they were considered a hoax, and unfortunately despite trying to clear his name, his discovery was not scientifically accepted until long after his death. Following this the caves of Lascaux and Chauvet came to light, and it is said that when Picasso saw images of the caves he declared “we have learned nothing”.

Today artists create images of every aspect of life, but back then the images were almost exclusively of animals,  in particular horses, bison and reindeer. The expert Henri Breuil believed the paintings to be linked to rituals that increased the chances of a successful hunt, however more recent archeology has shown that the animals depicted were not those eaten by the people of the time. In addition some of the paintings were in very hard to reach areas of the caves and featured dots and lines. However, it is easy to take a modern view such as this and miss the point completely, that being how did we learn to project our 3D world into 2D.

There are very similar paintings to be found in the Drakensburg Mountains of South Africa, however unlike their European cousins, these were not produced thousands of years ago, but much more recently. These images were produced by the San “bush men” and although they do not produce paintings like this today, Professor David Lewis Williams discovered papers from the late nineteenth century by a German settler that documented the life and rituals of the San people. It became clear to Williams that their religion was based around traveling in a trance state to a spirit world and that they documented in these pictures their experiences of the trance. Often these transitory states involved animals, and the animals depicted were normally large or powerful, such as the Eland, that were respected by the San people. Williams also noticed another similarity with their European counterparts, that of the dots and lines.

Research into altered states, such as the trances of the San people, show that on entering these states, visual disturbances similar to migraine aura that involved lines and dots occur. Furthermore, these images can also be produced through sensory deprivation, for example from being placed deep in a cave for a long time. Prehistoric people, it appears, had hallucinations , which took the form of things that were close to them, such as the horses, bison and aurochs. These hallucinations were remembered and prehistoric people then recreated them on the walls of their caves.

Returning to the European palaeolithic caves, it seems that 12,000 years ago people stopped painting. We don’t know why, but the discovery of Göbekli Tepe, in Southern Turkey may hold the answer.  When excavated the site revealed monolithic pillars built around 12,000 years ago, dated to just the time that the paintings in caves seem to stop. These stone pillars feature carvings of animals such as those in the caves. The effort in creating these stone pillars would have required considerable  labour and organisation, the workers for example, all needed feeding. Recent research has shown that modern wheat can be traced to wild wheat that grows within 20 miles of this site, which has lead scholars to speculate that this was the birthplace of agricultural farming and, in turn, complex society,'civilisation', itself.

Purpose: The primitive anthropological meaning of genital ornamentation is not
clearly defined and the origin of penile intervention for decorative purposes is lost
in time. Corporeal decoration was practiced in the Upper Paleolithic period. We
discuss the existing evidence on the practice of phallic piercing, scarring and
tattooing in prehistory.
Materials and Methods: We studied the archaeological and artistic evidence
regarding explicit genital male representations in portable art made in Europe
approximately 38,000 to 11,000 years ago with special emphasis on decorations
suggesting genital ornamentation.
Results: Archaeological evidence that has survived to our day includes 42 phallic
pieces, of which 30 (71.4%) show intentional marks to a different extent with a
probable decorative purpose. Of these ornamental elements 18 (60%) were recovered
from the upper Magdalenian period (11,000 to 12,700 years ago) in France
and Spain, and 23 (76.7%) belong to the category of perforated batons. Decorations
show lines (70% of objects), plaques (26.7%), dots/holes (23.3%) or even
human/animal forms (13.3%). These designs most probably represent skin scarification,
cutting, piercing and tattooing. Notably there are some technical similarities
between the motifs represented and some designs present in symbolic
cave wall art. This evidence may show the anthropological origin of current male
genital piercing and tattooing.
Conclusions: European Paleolithic art shows decoration explicitly represented
in a high proportion of portable art objects with a phallic form that have survived
to our day. Decorative rituals of male genital tattooing, piercing and scarification
may have been practiced during Paleolithic times.

the rock engravings that have been identified so far appear the most. The rock engravings found in the Tırşin Plateau, rock engravings that have played an important role in the chronology of eastern Anatolia, have not been visited for 40 years for various reasons. The rock engravings that were found in the region called Nordiz, in the Gürpınar district of Van, at 2850 m above sea level, were carved into andesite rock blocks with the percussion technique. Although they have been damaged due to environmental and human factors over time, there are still tens of rock engravings which can be seen. Figures

The veracity of the carbon isotope dating attempts relating to the rock art in Chauvet Cave is reviewed, together with the merits of their criticisms. The attribution of the cave art to the Aurignacian is validated by several factors and stylistic objections are refuted. The question of the ethnicity of the Aurignacian artists is also considered, leading to the cognisance that they are very unlikely to have been ‘anatomically modern’ humans. There is currently no sound evidence that the ‘Aurignacians’ were not robust Homo sapiens people, i.e. Neanderthals or their descendants. The gracilisation humans experienced in the Final Pleistocene and Holocene is attributed not to evolutionary processes, but to cultural intervention through breeding preferences leading to the neotenous features characterising present-day humans.

Art and the Form of Life takes a classic theme—philosophy as the art of living—and gives it a contemporary twist. The book examines a series of watershed moments in artistic practice alongside philosophers’ most enduring questions about the way we live. Coupling Tino Sehgal with Wittgenstein, cave art with Foucault, Nietzsche with Stanley Kubrick, and Walter Benjamin with the Bauhaus, the book animates the idea that life is literally ours to make. It reflects on universal themes that connect the long histories of art and philosophy, and it does so using a contemporary approach. Drawing on great philosophical works, it argues that life practiced as an art form affords an experience of meaning, in the sense that it is engaging, creative, and participatory. It thus effects a fundamental renewal of experience.

To Nurith, my mother, who with infinite love taught me how to look at paintings 1. To draw a line by candlelight I n his memoirs, the painter Giorgio de Chirico returns to his childhood with particular attention to the times and events surrounding the death of his father. In his description of that period clouded by death, there are two particular episodes that invite us to draw a connection between de Chirico's experience of loss and mourning and the developing sense of his vocation as an artist. The first episode had taken place a few weeks before the death of Giorgio's father.

People have had the moon’s number for a very long time. We figure the moon’s phases were counted by calendar priests in ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia at least 5000 years ago, and the unwritten record of prehistoric megaliths and symbolic carvings on monumental stones
has prompted some to speculate the builders of Stonehenge in southern England and Newgrange in Ireland also numbered the moon’s days. In fact, the late Alexander Marshack identifi ed “time-factored
notations” from the upper paleolithic in fragments of antler and bone. In The Roots of Civilization (1972), he argued these sequences of marks indicate lunar talllies. In 1982, American anthropologist W. Breen
Murray reported a large petroglyph panel at Presa de la Mula, in northeast Mexico, and interpreted its 24-cell grid of 207 “tally” marks as a count of seven cycles of the moon. The age of the carvings is
unknown, but through style they are associated with nomadic Archaic hunters and could be hundreds, if not thousands, of years old. Murray also analyzed tine counts of antler petroglyphs in the same desert
basins of northern Mexico and found they routinely exceed the number encountered on real antlers. Lunar numbers—7, 14, 15, 28—are common, but Murray speculated the month counts could reference
more than the moon and have something to do with biological cycles of the game.

In this issue, naturalist Bernie Taylor returns to the Griffiffith  Observer and explores detailed connections between lunar counts among traditional peoples and animal behavior. He last appeared in the August, 2006, issue with his 2005 Boeing writing contest article “Are There Geese on Cygnus 3?” He has written two books and hundreds of articles. In Biological Time (2004), he examined the relationship between the rhythms of plants and animals and the cyclical performances of the sun and moon. His work has generated high interest at biological conferences. Fish and game biologists are using his hypotheses to study and manage natural resources. Mr. Taylor has also spotlighted and analyzed archaeological evidence that suggests our ancient and prehistoric ancestors also understood the world and managed their access to its resources in terms of time measured and marked by the sun and the moon.

Rock art, as a part of various debates in today’s archaeological practice and theory, is evaluated as a multi-layered cultural product of humankinds’ physiology, psychology, cognition, social identities and relations with the nature. Therefore, researchers tend to understand rock art in the context of both the individual and the society, through questions of what, why, when and how. The meaning and the symbolism behind this cultural production gives important revelations in interpreting the cultural and cognitive evolution of individuals and societies from prehistoric times to the present day. Furthermore, new approaches and scientific analyses produce new results regarding the techniques employed and the dating of the rock art. In this thesis titled “Rock Arts Highland of the Van-Hakkari”, the act of depicting as an important theme within the cultural and cognitive process of humankind, is evaluated through the rock art examples found in the Van-Hakkari Region regarding concept, description and meaning.

Odisha state lies in the south- eastern part of India. The state has recorded more than a hundred rock
shelters with interesting evidences of rock paintings and engravings. Numerous geometric symbols,
dots and lines are found along with the animals, and human paintings and engravings dating from late
Pleistocene period onwards. Many of the geometric shape and patterns found in rock art of Odisha are
enigmatic in nature. Painted figures have been found executed in monochrome, red and white or
sometimes in combination with shades of yellow color.

İnsanlık tarihinin başlangıç noktasının tam olarak bilinmemesine
rağmen ortaya konulan insan eseri ürünler ile yaşanmış kültürler bizlere
bazı ipuçları vermektedir. Yaşam alanları, yemek kültürleri, inanışları ve
giyim kültürleri gibi birtakım bilgilerin araştırmalar sonucunda ortaya
çıkarılan eserler aracılığıyla öğrenilmesi mümkündür. Bu konuda
özellikle mağara veya kaya resimleri, ana tanrıça figürinleri önemli
referans kaynakları arasında yer almaktadır. Dünyanın çeşitli
bölgelerinde ele geçmiş sayısız eser ile günden güne açığa çıkan yeni
bulgular tarihi referansların daha bilinçli bir biçimde sorgulanarak
dönemle ilgili belirsizliklerin ortadan kalmasında önemli bir adım teşkil
etmektedir. Geçmişe uzanan kültürel yolculukta medeniyetlerin giyim ve
kuşam biçimlerine mağara ve kaya resimleri ile ele geçirilen figürinler
üzerinden tanıklık edilen birtakım araştırmalar, zorlu yaşam koşullarına
karşın insanoğlunun doğaya karşı verdiği mücadeleyle yaşamda kalma
savaşının somut göstergelerine ışık tutmaktadır. Temelde çıplak derisini
örtmek için geliştirdiği yöntemlerle yaşamının ve soyunun devam
etmesine olanak sağlayan ilkel dönem insanları, bu öğretilerini zihinsel
yetenekleri sayesinde geleneksel sistemlerle birleştirip gelecek kuşaklara
aktarmasını başarmıştır. Çalışmada İşlevsel ve günlük kullanımının
dışında çeşitli ritüellerin de bir parçası olarak sembolik bir değerle
donanan giysilerin Paleolitik ve Neolitik dönem buluntu örnekleri
üzerinden incelenerek ortaya konulması amaçlanmıştır. Buluntuları
oluşturan temel materyaller arasında ana tanrıça figürinleri, gömülerden
elde edilen giysi ve donatı parçaları ile mağara duvar resimleri yer
almaktadır.
STRUCTURED ABSTRACT
Humanity, who probably provided their need of dressing in
Paleolithic and Mezolithic ages with the animal leathers that they hunted,
soon started to use both the raw materials of the dresses they wore and
the technology that allows them to process that materials. Especially
changing climatic conditions must have directed humans to wear more
suitable dresses. After the formation of primitive village conditions and
changeover to manufacturing, humans started to tame the animals that
they hunted before. Particularly after taming the sheeps, some weaving
must have been made with the wools of these animals and the need of
dressing must have started to be resolved in this way.
In the studies carried out on the examples obtained from the
published materials regarding the Neolithic Age, beginning from the
Palaeolithic Age, the first stages of the clothing culture, a process that
runs through history from the ice age to today, were studied on. The
studies generally revealed the findings about the clothing style of mother
goddess figures and sculpture of both eras. At the same time, examples
of weaving found on funerary chambers along with the cutters, piercers,
and bızs (a tool used for piercing) made of bones, horns or stones found in the caves from Palaeolithic Age and similar findings of the Neolithic
Age strongly support our knowledge about the clothing culture of these
two eras. It is possible to state that this process first began for the
purpose of being protected from the cold and then turned out into a
psychological action with the coverage of the reproductive organs. In
some examples mother goddesses were found to be naked, where some
others were half clothed either on the upper or lower body, and some
others had varying styles of head-dresses. Their symbolic indications
have not changed, though they varied typologically.
The history of clothing which began by benefiting from the fur of
wild animals also sets an example of the first battles fought by the
humans against nature. Both improving their ability to hunt wild animals
day by day and managing to stand out before difficult weather conditions
are among the first attainments of humanity.
This symbol of fertility is more glorified with humans adopting the
agricultural life after the cave life. As the symbol of fertility and
reproduction, the woman has always maintained this characteristic,
which turned out to be sacral. She became the main theme of ritual
ceremonies, which led to differences in ceremony clothes. These
differences may be extended to tattoos made on many parts of the body,
different materials worn on the body or on the clothes, and head wrapping
styles along with the qualification and quantification of the clothes.
Men remained in the background in these terms. Therefore, no
information was found about these two eras suggesting that males are
sacred. However, the daily activities of men such as hunting were drawn
on the walls of the caves and houses. In some depictions where the
individuals in a clan were drawn together, women appear to be different
from men with their clothes. As this is the situation, it would be better to
tell about the clothing culture based on women, rather than men.
Looking at the found pieces, it might be said that the images and
figures of mother goddess were generally made steatopic with exaggerated
body measurements, as the symbol of fertility. The girdles wrapped on
the wrists and hips of mother goddesses, headwear on their heads, hair
braids, etc. are the indicators of the importance of fertility and
reproduction for the society.
Another remarkable thing in the Palaeolithic Age is the depiction of
mixed creatures as humans and animals, which are considered to be
shamanic clothes worn in ritual ceremonies. Within this context, the
depictions on the walls of the cave Les Trois Freres in France are quite
interesting. These pictures showing creatures that wore headwear in the
form of a deer and bull head, with human bodies and feet of a different
living thing drive us to suspicion about the convention of clothing in the
ritual ceremonies of the era. Likewise, another depiction in the Lascaux
Cave in France which shows a human with a face like the head of a bird
is also considered to be drawn with a similar purpose. The pictures show
that not all the members of the clan wore in this way. When the animals
known to be sacred in that era, especially benefited as food by the
humans, were being drawn on the walls of the caves, they were depicted
in a hunting scene. The animal cult is as valued as the mother goddess
cult. In the examples found in Latmos from the Palaeolithic Era, it was
seen that the women’s clothes had a remarkable style. Women’s clothes
with the part down the waist covered with an apron-like dress also had
geometric shaped weaving designs. They were also depicted in a different
way than men with steatopic features.
The hunter man found in Çatalhöyük is one of the clearest
depictions of the Neolithic era. The scene depicts the hunter in a hide of
a wild animal like a leopard that covers below his waist. The revolution
of agriculture of the Neolithic era stands for the development line of
societies and is a milestone for humanity. Therefore, a number of
innovation and variation came into human’s life with the Neolithic era,
such as food, shelter, obtaining new products out of variable raw
materials, burying the dead, and daily life. With the beginning of
agriculture, foodstuffs such as wheat were grown and the carnivorous
society turned into an herbivorous society. However, it is possible to say
that this change was slower in clothing, as the most effective solution to
be protected from cold was still the hides of animals. Animal hides have
continued and continue to be an essential element of clothing, as needs
shape the production.
As the source of food and protection from cold, animals are a ring
of the chain that takes humanity to tomorrow and are irreplaceable.
Reproduction and fertility were identified with women and embodied with
depictions of mother goddess. When both concepts are taken together,
their importance for human being is understood well.
Human beings learned how to tame animals, as they wanted to
benefit from their flesh, milk, and skin further. They made life easier
thanks to their ability to use their brains more effectively than the other
beings. This process goes on today, as well. The purpose of keeping pace
with the ever-changing technology is in fact an indicator of human’s effort
to gain access to elements that make life easier. Any society that keeps
pace with the process faster is considered as a developed society, whereas
a slower society is considered as an underdeveloped society. Clothing
culture was carried from the Palaeolithic era to this day thanks to
technological innovations through this graphic of changes. The shift of
conventional weaving techniques to the hands of machines throughout
time is another accomplishment of the societies that have kept pace with
the process faster. However, any society that has not quitted its customs
would not be considered as underdeveloped in terms of clothing.

The cave of Lascaux (near Montignac. Dep. Dordogne, France) seems to be an important expression of the cosmovisions of Palaeolithic man, approximately 17,000 years ago. In two contributions for this journal I present a short overview about the main results of my research work concerning some striking rock picture panels in this grotto. Both articles are based on a special so-called “integral methodology”, which includes ways and results from several natural sciences and humanities, like archaeology, astronomy, ethnology, cartography, mythology, photogrammetry, scientific study of religion, semiotic and symbolism. In this first part some rock paintings in the “Hall of Bulk”, the “Axial Diverticle”, and the “Ship” arc studied in detail The scientific analysis indicates that the rock pictures among other things show seasonality and are related to certain celestial phenomena. In one case a composition of paintings in the “Axial Diverticle” points to the representation of the course of the moon related to important time of the animals seasons. In a second case the representation of au aueroclis with a cluster of six spots floating above his back, to be found in the “Hall of Bulb”, may illustrate the Pleiades in a constellation, which is similar to the well-known Bull of our today*» sky. It is suggested that the people of Lascaux noticed a special star phase of this open cluster - the heliacal setting around the autumnal equinox - an fixed this special time in the year by a rock painting on the walls. This scientific result is further substantiated by traditions referring to the Pleiades, which are handed down by ancient people throughout the world.

Uranium-Thorium (U-Th) datations  of the panel 78 (Hall XI, gallery C) from La Pasiega cave (Puente Viesgo, Cantabria, Spain), have provided a longer than expected chronology for its most ancient pictorial element, a scalariform pattern, contemporaneous to the Neanderthalian context  in the Iberian Peninsula and later augmented by Anatomical Modern Humans (AMH). The interpretations  of these late pictorial elements coupled to archeological remains and Genetics not only oppose common theories about Prehistoric Art by demonstrating that they belong to a single continuum of summary of state associated to the Agricultural knowledge, but also illustrate a new theory about first AMH Wave-of-Advance through Mediterranean Sea based on a Agricultural Value Network shared by Neanderthal and Sapiens that has played the role of accelerator.

El uso de animales para señalar las posiciones del sol, la luna además de estrellas para componer el calendario en numerosos grupos indígenas del mundo, nos sirve para explicar la lógica de la simbología del arte paleolítico. Los Lakota tienen  coincidencias climáticas, en cuanto a modo de vida, caza de bisonte y sobre todo un calendario que los emparenta directamente con los seres humanos del magdaleniense franco-cantabrico. Este libro intenta aportar un punto de vista más simple y humano del paleolítico superior.

RESUMEN:
En un abrigo bajo roca, que domina el valle por el que discurre el río Baias (Álava), en los limites entre Ribera Alta y Baja, se localizan pinturas y grabados de tipo esquemático, de carácter postpaleolítico.
LABURPENA:
Erriberagoitiaren eta Erriberabeitiaren arteko mugan, Baia ibaiak (Araba) zeharkatzen duen harana ikusmenean duen haitzulo azpiko aterpe batean, Paleolito ondoko eskema-motako pinturak eta grabatuak daude.
SUMMARY:
Under a rock shelter that overlooks the valley through which the Baias River fl ows (Alava), on the border between Ribera Alta and Ribera Baja, we fi nd a group of schematic paintings and engravings in the post palaeolithic style.

ii. The terminal Pleistocene is marked by the sudden reversal of several million years of continuous encephalization, when the cranial volume of humans abruptly began to plummet. The Upper Paleolithic (UP) witnesses the cessation of biological evolution and the onset of an evolutionary mode centered exclusively on culture. By adapting to their calibrated models of reality, archaic populations underwent rapid physiological/psychological transformations. It is contended that the UP ‘creative explosion’ illustrates the attempt to counter cognitive losses inherent in cumulative cultural evolution and incipient self-domestication.

The Salinas district of Central New Mexico, and particularly the Jumanos pueblo cluster, a sub region of this area, formerly populated by Tompiro speakers, has long been known to have been a cultural amalgam of influences from the Rio Grande pueblos, the Plains to the east, and the Jornada Mogollon to the south.  Similarities in ceramics and architectural styles have long  been cited as evidence of the Jornada Mogollon cultural influence in the Jumanos cluster.  Jornada Mogollon iconography is conspicuous at two prominent Tompiro sacred sites within what appears to be a bounded sacred landscape as seen in pueblos to the north.  This paper suggests that Jornada Mogollon belief systems may have culturally influenced the inhabitants of the Jumanos pueblos more than previously realized.

Dans l'état actuel des connaissances, la représentation, c'est-à-dire la traduction graphique d'un élément de la réalité, apparaît à l'aube du Paléolithique supérieur, vers 35 000 avant notre ère (date calibrée). Ce phénomène coïncide donc avec l'installation de notre humanité, celle de l'homme de Cro-Magnon, en Europe. Dès le départ, l'image apparaît sous trois formes, qu'elle conservera d'ailleurs durant les vingt-cinq millénaires que durera cette période de la préhistoire : l'art sur parois rocheuses en grotte (art pariétal) ou en plein air (art rupestre) et l'art sur support mobile (art mobilier).

The Panel de las Manos in the Cave of El Castillo appears to be based on ancient asterisms, signs, or constellations. This paper shows the celestial location of the artwork in the Panel de las Manos. Coordinates: 43.2923 N, 3.9655 W. Star chart date: 40,600 BC.

What is the origin of art and writing? The origin of ancient art and early written inscriptions may be connected with the stars, but a study was needed to find graphic evidence. The connection between star patterns and ancient art and inscriptions found on artifacts from the northern hemisphere might be found if a study was made using astronomical star chart software and photos and illustrations of ancient art and inscriptions. What was done? Hundreds of graphics were created to illustrate the concept, which was explained on a series of television shows, academic papers, and Archeoastronomy Animations. It was discovered that ancient art such as cave paintings and petroglyphs could be interpreted as an ancient artist's impression of the night sky using the images that fit well in a particular star pattern. It was discovered that early writing was actually a form of astronomical notation. It was discovered that over time a form of that astronomical notation became the alphabet. It was discovered that the Bible and most ancient documents were written in a style that could be called astral because it was based on star patterns. These findings mean that almost all ancient art and early inscriptions may be astral. Astral art or astral inscriptions can be placed over star maps for the epoch they were created and they should somehow fit depending on how you look at it. These decipherments are from my personal point of view. There was a way of thinking about graphic communications that may have escaped modern scholarship for the most part because of the linear way we write today does not attempt to place the signs and symbols over the stars as the ancients did. It appears that cave art, mobile art, and petroglyphs were based on ancient asterisms. Ancient writing attempted to portray what was above into stone or onto a clay tablet, wood block, leather, etc. So above, as below meant that astral inscriptions were in a way heavenly. The term ​ catasterism​ does not adequately describe inscribing or engraving the likeness of an asterism in the sky onto stone or clay, etc. What is known about astral observations, astral renditions in artifacts, and astral notation? Something, such as an ancient constellation or asterism, is understood to be a recognisable pattern of stars that can be mapped using astrocartography. The saying " It is written in the stars " does not specify which stars in particular " it " is written in. This common phrase is used to portray something as destined because of astral or astrological indications, but it may also imply any number of celestial phenomena in a vast assortment of celestial combinations and interpretations. What if the saying " It is written in the stars " originally meant that a particular inscription or artistic design was observable in the night sky in patterns of stars? Following this line of thought, these so-called " stars " may be assumed to be seen in the starry sky to form letters, lines of text, and inscriptions. The classical Greek and Roman constellations are still seen as pictures in the stars and the signs of the zodiac are seen over the stars of the zodiac. The hypothesis of this concept is that almost all ancient art, engravings, and inscriptions are based on the patterns of naked eye stars in the northern circumpolar region and suggests that they could have in some ways been used as primitive star maps to tell time of night and time of year as well as latitude on Earth. Some ancient art may have a practical astronomical use. The names of the Astral Art Exhibits exhibits are listed in sections. Sections are organized by date. A graphic inscription that was created near the date of 33600 B.C.E. would be found in the 33600 B.C.E. section. Exhibits include an abstract and internet link. The Astral Epigraphy exhibits are organized by sections including papers, television shows, and Archeoastronomy Animations that are listed in chronological order based on publication date. Exhibits include an abstract and internet link to the paper or animation. The conclusions section describes some steps these studies may take. The Appendix includes sections about the grid system used to create the graphics, input, and metadata.

During 2015 and 2016, caves with rock paintings in which red paint is intensively used were discovered in the Arslanlı and Doğu Sandal villages of Erdemli, Mersin. The main purpose of this article is to introduce these recently discovered caves to the academic community. The landscape of the caves, their physical properties, and the rock art will be presented and the data we obtained will be evaluated within the context of other examples so far found in Anatolia.

1939) : Analysis of motifs in images, stories, and allegories; interpretation of themes through historical, cultural, or social context; revelation of "symbolic values"; iconographic synthesis; and discovery of intrinsic meaning. ART HISTORY Rushing, W. J. (1987). Ritual and myth: Native American culture and Abstract Expressionism. In E. Weisberger (Ed.), The spiritual in art: Abstract painting 1890-1985 (pp. 273-296). Los Angeles, CA: Los Angeles County Museum of Art; New York: Abbeville Press. Tucker, M. (1992). Dreaming with open eyes: The shamanic spirit in 20th century art and culture. San Francisco, CA: Aquarian/Harper. Levy, M. (1993). Technicians of ecstasy: Shamanism and the modern artist. Norfolk, CT: Bramble Books. Weiss, P. (1995). Kandinsky and old Russia: The artist as ethnographer and shaman. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.

RUSSIAN AND ENGLISH
АННОТАЦИЯ.  Отправной точкой для исследования стало обнаружение в индийской «Махабхарате» и армянском эпосе «Неистовые сасунцы» (иначе: «Давид Сасунский») общего уникального мотива:  Колеса Судьбы / Времени, вращающегося в подземной пещере. Автор склонен объяснять это совпадение параллельным развитием и первичной рационализацией в двух традициях очень древних, архаичных общеиндоевропейских, и не только индоевропейских, мифологических представлений, связанных с пещерой. Эти представления реконструируются на материале мифов, сказаний и легенд о чудовищах, героях или царях, заточенных или спящих в пещере. Во всех такого рода сюжетах время для персонажа, находящегося в пещере, не течет линейно, но представляет собой последовательность циклов, как бы движется по кругу. Авторы многочисленных исследований, посвященных мотиву «король под горой», ранее привлекали фольклорные данные из трех регионов: Кавказа, Балкан, Центральной / Северной Европы; в статье впервые добавляется к этому индийский эпический материал (Парашурама, периодически выходящий из пещеры в горе Махендра; пять Индр, заточенных в пещере под горой; пребывание в пещере побежденного «прежнего Индры»  -  Бали). Структура сюжетов данного круга продиктована, как показало исследование, связью образа пещеры с мифоритуальным комплексом идей «рождение – смерть – новое рождение (плодородие)». Автор высказывает предположение, что эта связь могла сформироваться  еще в самый ранний период истории человеческой культуры (средний и верхний палеолит).
ABSTRACT.  The starting point for the research was a unique common motif "the Wheel of Destiny/Time rotating in an underground cave" featuring in both the Indian epic "Mahabharata" and the Armenian epic "Daredevils of Sassoun". The author is inclined to explain the coincidence by the parallel development and primary rationalization in two traditions of the archaic Indo-European (and not only Indo-European) mythological views. The reconstruction of these views is based on the material provided by myths and legends about a monster, king or hero confined to a cave or asleep in it. Earlier works concerned with the "king asleep in mountain" motif dealt with the stories found in the folklore of the three regions: the Caucasus, the Balkans and Central/Northern Europe. In the present article some episodes from the Indian epic (story of Parashurama who regularly emerges from his cave in the Mahendra mountain; five Indras confined in a mountain cave; the confinement of the defeated "former Indra", Bali, in a cave) for the first time are recognized as belonging to the same circle of motifs and plots. The research has revealed that the structure of the motifs belonging to this circle is governed by the strong link that existed between the image of a cave and the mytho-ritual complex of ideas "birth  -  death  -  rebirth (fertility)". The author suggests that this link might have been established in the earliest period of the humans’ cultural history (Middle and Upper Paleolithic).

The discovery of Paleolithic rock art in the open air, which, from years 1990 became very important in the Iberian Peninsula, opened more prospective on the interpretation of graphics of the groups of hunters in southern Europe. The development of research, both in the field of stylistic analysis, and in the
site Siega Verde, as in the analysis of archaeological contexts, as in the site of Foz Côa, defined the facets the most innovative of the Upper Paleolithic, creating a very different geography as the traditionally allowed for the Iberian Peninsula. Current research continues to provide new data which satisfy the Paleolithic–postpaleolithic sequences, in which the painted and engraved symbols marked and defined the territory of the oldest groups, constituting the ideological basis for the claim of these territories by the territory of the oldest groups, constituting the ideological basis for the claim of these territories by heirs more direct

This work brings to light "master's hands" in animal representation painted in the Cantabrian cave of La Pasiega A. It was managed by combining classical morpho-anatomic approaches used in art history. Three stylistic groups were constituted. Two correspond to isolated personalities: we named them the Master with outlines divided in two and the Master with expressionist outlines. In the present state of our research, six animals belonging to different genera were made by the first, and three by the second. The third group corresponds to a workshop style. Keywords: Palaeolithic Art, La Pasiega A, stylistic analysis, attribution, Master with outlines divided in two, Master with expressionist outlines Résumé: Ce travail met en évidence des "mains de maître" dans les représentations pariétales d'animaux peints de la grotte cantabrique de La Pasiega A. Il a été mené en combinant les approches morpho-anatomiques classiques utilisées en histoire de l'art. Trois groupes stylistiques ont été constitués. Deux correspondent à des personnalités isolées: nous les avons appelés le Maître aux Contours dédoublés et le Maître aux Contours expressionnistes. Dans l'état actuel des recherches, six animaux appartenant à des genres différents sont le fait du premier, trois du second. Le troisième groupe, quant à lui, correspond à un style d'atelier.

​ ​ The art in the Cave of the Trois­ Frères ​ appears to be based on ancient asterisms, signs, or constellations. This graphic is a rendition of a dying bison. The bison image may have persisted for thousands of years in this form. The proper motion of the stars would eventually require designs that better fit the sky at that time. Star charts are for 15,300 BC. Observatory: Cave of the Les Trois­ Freres, France. Coordinates:43.0322° N, 1.2117° E