Paleolithic Art

Although tools and weapons demonstrate the ingenu­ity of Upper Paleolithic peoples, artistic expression pro­vides the best evidence of their creativity. Some have argued that artistic expression was made possible by a newly evolved biological ability lo manipulate symbols and make images. However, the modern-sized brains of

In fact, just as many of the distinctive tools that were commonly used in Upper Paleolithic times first ap­pear in the Middle Paleolithic, so too do objects of art. In Southwest Asia, a crude figurine of volcanic tuff is some 250,000 years old." While some scholars contest whether this was carved, those who believe it is state that it indicates that people had the ability to carve all sorts of things from wood, a substance easier to work than volcanic tuff but rarely preserved for long periods of time. Furthermore, ochre "crayons" from Middle Paleolithic contexts in various pans of the world must have been used to decorate or mark. In southern Af­rica, for example, regular use of yellow and red ochre goes back 130.000 years, with some evidence as old as 200.000 years Perhaps pigments were used on people's bodies, as well as objects, as the 50,000-year-old mam­moth-tooth churinga discussed in Chapter 8 might sug­gest.

The presence of bone flutes and whistles in sites, some up to 30,000 years old, documents music played a role in the lives of Upper Paleolithic peoples. But again, such instruments may have their origin in Middle Paleo­lithic prototypes, such as the probable Neandertal flute dimensionally— no small achievement for these early made the artists made use of bulges and of the rock to impart a more  three dimensional feeling, the paintings are in hard-to get suitable surfaces in more accessible untouched. In some caves, the lamps by

Which the artists worked has been found; these arc spoon-shaped objects of sandstone in which animal fat was burned. Experimentation has show-n that such lamps would have provided adequate illumination over several hours.

The techniques used by Upper Paleolithic peoples to create their cave paintings were unraveled a decade ago through the experimental work of Michel Lorblanchet. Interestingly, they turn out to be the same ones used by aboriginal rock painters in Australia. Lorblanchet's ex­periments are described in the following Original Study by science writer Roger Lewin.

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