Paleolithic Art 1

Even though the article dismisses the idea that religion is the reason for the Paleolithic Art I think it was still present. I agree mostly with the statement “It is not that the many rock art researchers who see art as magic and mystical are totally wrong; it is rather that they have taken good observations on mystical components of Paleolithic art and extended them universally to the entire art.”(10) I think that the lives of these people were partially devoted to religion and that it was depicted in art. I don’t believe that the cave art, more precisely the art deep in the caves, had many religious ties (the art on the walls under the rock abris at the entrance of caves also was linked more to religion). I think the other art such as ivory, antler, and mud sculptures found in open air sights can be linked more to religious ideas than the cave art.

Paleolithic demographics of more young than adults have been found to hold true in most cases. I linked this back to the mammoth story in Hot Springs where only the remains of “unsavvy, risk-taking young bulls”(44) were found because they were the only ones to venture down to and try eat the good greenery and tasty minerals. I then remembered a part earlier in the article that talked about how “most early peoples steered clear of caves.”(35) This whole concept put together reminded me of teens and graffiti in places such as under bridges and under overhangs and in places such as caves where most people wouldn’t see it. This made even more sense when I looked at what was on the walls of the caves. Things such as naked women, killing animals, and sometimes even men with erections were depicted on the walls. The things drawn on the walls were of common interest of teenage boys of that time just as they are now. So over all I think that it was young teen males such as ourselves that ventured down into the deep caves and created the “art made by beginning drawers.”(45)